Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!

For all my ardent followers out there in the ether, sorry for no update last week but I was on a sanity break up at Noosaville. Okay it isn't quite beside the sea, but the Noosa River is close enough. So what has been happening in the last two weeks? Well I finally resolved the issue with MRRC of the dodgy Select decoder. After much toing and froing between Oz, the US and Germany, the sound config of the decoder wasn't fixed in a reasonable time. So Gary at MRRC offered a refund on the decoder which I accepted. This whole episode has left me a tad disappointed in the Select decoder. Now the other problem is that I have to put back the old electrics board in the EL Class, or put in a non sound decoder.

I also stumbled on an Aussie Ebay shop, Craftsman Scale Accessories, whilst researching lamp posts. They had a 10 pack of 12 volt grain of wheat lamps that looked rather good for a very good price ($17.50 + postage), so I placed an order. Within three days I had them but then was off on hols. I will place at least two on the station platform.

I was also able to do some minor modelling on hols. One afternoon was wet and anticipating such a scenario had packed one of Lachlan's building kits. So I spent some quality time (all of maybe five minutes) with my eldest before he left me for a nap, so I finished off the ranch house for him (another anticipated scenario!). For myself I also took with me the Ratio fence posts I will be using around the Hill farm. Ratio suggest gluing the wire (actually fishing line) to the posts, but I considered a better look of drilling holes through the posts. I was able to drill 12 posts at five holes each before my eyes started to blur! I only have 24 posts to go! I will also paint the posts I better shade of brown than the brown plastic to better suggest timber posts. Same for the fence wire. The clear fishing line won't cut the mustard, so I will paint them a rusty colour to better simulate real wire.

I received my tax refund the other day, so I am looking around for the next big purchase. NSWGR 49 Class or something from the UK or both. Maybe some second hand wheat wagons from Mr Mackie (??) or Trainorama variety pack or both (??). Some vids maybe (??). Some things to think about while at work this week ;-)

Until next time, ciao.