Monday 20 August 2007



Since my daughter left home, I've been able to move from a narrow room at the front of the house to this larger, square room at the back. She's very happy living in a flat with her pet rat, Nelson, and I'm very pleased with my dedicated model room. This is where I do most of my construction, and I have another room where I can spray without worrying about paint mist landing everywhere. There's good light from the window to the left in the second photo, and plenty of shelving for prospective builds. I'm looking into building a surface around the other two sides of the room, above the shelving, where I can put my trains. Railway modelling is my genuine hobby - scale modelling has been my job for the last twelve years. I've got plans for an L-shaped layout which can grow and take shape to suit the space. There's no noise back here, except for the duelling magpies in the garden, and if I get too lonely I can take my work into the lounge. How many modellers' wives let them sand and scrape sitting on the sofa? This means I work roughly nine or ten hours most days, but that's fine with me.