Whoop-de-do, hooray, and other exclamations of unbridled delight... Chufferduffers once again are able to meet at Pentrecagal!

But I am ahead of myself. Tuesday April 28th Colin hosted Chuffers at his house in Cilgerran, where we feasted on his excellent home-made soup, cheesey rolls and stuffed olives, and imbibing on an offering from his cellar, this time an Italian selection from the South, vintage 2003. Appropriately enough we watched an old DVD of Jancis Robinson, part of her series on wine! (not a locomotive in sight...)

On to last Tuesday, after a break of several months, curry was once again on the menu...

Pat had brought along a show-and-tell laser cut kit of a 4mm shop, which he has modelled as a florist.

The only commercial bits are the figures, courtesy of Preiser, and the shell of the building. Everything else has been painstakingly modelled in plasticard, paper and card - plus all the painting, except for the figures.

I forgot to include something to compare the size, but as a for-instance, the figures are less than an inch high. Herewith the pictures:

And three more:

Outside the front of the shop:

and some packets of seeds on display: 

Still work-in-progress, so more pics of the finished shop at a later date. Watch this space!

Things haven't been dormant down in the Taf valley. Although the Station Master has been unable to do much to his Lynton and Barnstaple layout due to inclement weather, he was in touch with a guy who does 0 gauge 3D printing, and who advertised the L & B crane. Pete inquired about one in 009 scale, and in due course:

Here it is straight 'out of the box' yet to be fettled and painted:

Pete's prowess with the paint brush is about on par with Pat's, so we can look forward to a worthy addition to the L & B layout in days to come.  

As we are in L & B mode, here is a video clip from our archives of one of Colins loco's running through Cilgerran onto the turntable, and back into the Gorge to do service at St Dogs.

Thats about it for this one.

Steady away,

Shaun.