Yet another post - this must be bit of a record, three within two weeks...

Busy weekend for a couple of Duffers. First of all on Saturday afternoon it was Coracle Racing on the Teifi at Cilgerran. After the professionals, the public were invited to have a go.
Never one to turn down a challenge, our intrepid Chufferduffer Patrick elected to take part in the novice race...

Sorry the pictures are low-res, but they were copied in a hurry. Here is Pat in the line-up:

He did well for first time out, and finished mid-field:

The following day, Sunday saw us at Midway Motors Classic and Vintage show, in Crymych.

Pat and Mary brought the MG along, and Emyr and I put up a limited Cardi-Bach display, together with the Crymmych Arms layout.
Pat left Mary to attend to the MG affectionardos, and helped me present the Layout. We sorely miss our third member:
"What class of pannier is that?" --Dont know. If Colin was here he could tell you...
"Is that a Bachmann or a Grafar chassis?" --Dont know. If Colin was here he could tell you...

I didn't take any pics of the layout, but as part of the Cardi-Bach display a Gentleman had brought along a model he has made of the 'John Owen', the first Loco to run on the line.

On the modeling front, I have added a derelict cottage to one of the hillsides on Dyffryn-y-Tallau:

No Chuffers tomorrow, as we are off to visit Ken Rathbone, a friend of Colins who has an extensive 00 gauge layout in a custom built shed, that he is going to operate for us. Pics may follow in a day or so.

Hwyl,

Shaun.

Patrick and I had a great day at the AVRS exhibition yesterday.
We took Crymmych Arms along for its third public outing, and it was very well received. Amazing the number of people who were unaware that there had ever been a station at Crymych. Most of our time was spent with Pat operating the layout and me explaining the history of Crymych to the punters.

Set-up went like clockwork, with the boards etc. going together perfectly - then we discovered I had left one of the transformers at home!
Luckily one of the second-hand stalls had one for sale, and we were also able to buy a jack-plug, so with a quick bit of soldering things were sorted and we were up and running.
Lots of familiar faces, including our old friend Mike from Llangadog (Easier to spell than Llanddeusant...) whom we hadn't seen for several months. Hope its not too long before the next time Mike.
Also it was great to see Chris from 'Mikes' Emporium in Cardigan. We are trying to get him into model railway construction, but so far he's sticking with militaria!
The Haverfordwest boys were their with their offering for this year: 'Pont Llanio' one of the stations on the old Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line. This generated a lot of interest, as Pont Llanio is only a few miles from Aberaeron.

This was the best shot I could get of it, as it stretched for almost 24 foot.
















Another view of the main hall at Llwyncelyn, with Pat and Crymmych Arms in the forground, and Ron sorting out Pont Llanio on the left.

Another nice local layout was Tilgate Green - the owner/builder lives somewhere in our neck of the woods, but we failed to get his name! Somewhere in the Boncath/Abercych area, we think.
Unfortunately the layout is a solid seven foot long board, so transport precludes it being shown more often.

Altogether a most enjoyable day. Next outing is only a week away, Sunday August 20th, at Midway Motors in Crymych. We are showing Crymmych Arms, so can expect quite a bit of local knowledge to help correct our mistakes!

TTFN
Shaun.

I said later today, didn't I... I tell fibs.

It's now Friday - five days later. The Woolen Mill Exhibition went down very well - organised by the Carmarthen Modellers Club, there were several exquisite examples of peoples imagination and talent.
One outstanding diorama was this one of a cricket match:

But the main attraction of course was Patricks 7mm narrow gauge. Pat's wife Mary did the honours for Saturday, while I was the relief man on Sunday.
Yet to have a name, it generated a lot of interest, together with the N gauge Western themed Mini layout.
Here is the 7mm:

With the N gauge next to it:

Sitting on top of the layout are the 7mm scale figures of Pat and myself that we had made by 'ModelU'.
Pat has started painting them, but ran out of time, so they are not quite complete:

The likeness of the one on the right to Patrick is really impressive. The strange stance was taken up as it is supposed to represent Pat as an engine driver on one of the 7mm locos.









One last picture - behind the scenes at the Mill:

Our next outing is up to Llwyncelyn, just outside Aberaeron, for the West Wales Model Railway Exhibition, organised by the Aeron Valley Railway Society. That will be this Sunday, August 13th.
We are just taking Crymmych Arms to this one, as Martyn is a bit pushed for space.

The following Sunday will see us at the Midway Motors Classic and Vintage Show, just outside Crymych, where the Cardi-Bach Society have been invited to participate, so Crymmych Arms will appear once again, together with Patrick and Mary's classic 'stretched' MGB.

Hope to see some of you at one or other of the venues.
Hwyl fawr,

Shaun.

As part of our private visit to Pendon the other week, Alan Buttler of 'MODELU' was on hand to offer his services in 3D image printing.
We took advantage of this, and Pat and I had ourselves scanned, and the images downloaded for printing. The finished figures arrived in the post last Tuesday in time for the Chuffers meeting.

They are in 7mm scale, to form part of Pats 7mm narrow gauge layout - Pat will be the engine driver, and I am portrayed as the fireman.
Here are the figures in the raw state that they arrived in, waiting to be painted:
The first is Pat, in a suitable pose at the controls of an engine

And this is yours truly, standing on the footplate with the coal shovel:

This is the layout in question:

Which Pat has been furiously working on until the small hours to get ready for its debut outing to the Welsh National Woolen Mill this weekend. I shall be going along later today to see how the exhibition is getting on, so hopefully I shall have some picture from there to share with you.