Flying Snail

Sure if you're ever cooking up up a few Mk3's for our friends on the big isle, would you stick a few on the pan for us too? (or is the market for Mk3's already too well taken care of over there?)

I'm seasick just looking at that pic!

Very nice, I'd say it was a nice way to travel .... so long as they didn't put you to work to pay for your passage . I'll have a slightly different view of containers like those (and other river traffic) next week sitting in a 'biergarten' by the Rhine watching the boats go by Edit: I assumed you were on river traffic ... there's some rather large container barges on rivers like the Rhine, but is that actually a ship coming up an estuary?

I’m genuinely sorry to see KR Models go into liquidation. Whatever criticisms people may have had, nobody should take pleasure in a business failing, customers losing money, or years of work coming to such a painful end. That said, I found the tone of the liquidation statement difficult to accept. Keith has clearly put enormous time, effort, money and emotion into KR Models, and I do have sympathy for that. Outsourced manufacturing, especially in China, is complicated. Supply chains are difficult. Quality control can be challenging. Small manufacturers are under real pressure, and the model railway market is not an easy place to survive. But sympathy does not remove accountability. The statement places a lot of blame on influencers and social media commentary, but the reality is that much of the criticism did not appear out of nowhere. Customers raised concerns because, in many cases, the models had real and visible issues. Wheel problems, damaged parts, warranty returns, over-tightened screws and inconsistent quality were not invented by YouTubers. They were customer experiences. It is not fair to suggest that influencers alone created the problem. Influencers may have amplified criticism, and some may use strong language or chase engagement, but that does not automatically make their criticism invalid. In this case, I think Sam and others were giving views that were, broadly speaking, defensible based on the products people actually received. There is also a bigger point here. Other companies have managed outsourced manufacturing successfully. Accurascale have shown that high-quality modern models can be produced through overseas manufacturing. Accurascale are no longer a small company, of course, but I think KR Models can fairly be compared, at least in broad terms, with Murphy Models, which under the late Paddy Murphy also delivered highly regarded models through outsourced production. So the issue is not simply “China”, “the factory” or “the influencers”. The responsibility still sits with the brand that commissioned, approved and sold the product. Of course, social media influencers are not beyond criticism. Some lack experience. Some can be too dramatic. Some may have commercial relationships that are not always obvious to viewers. But when a reviewer highlights genuine quality issues, that is not sabotage. That is scrutiny. In a hobby where models can cost hundreds of pounds, customers deserve honest commentary before spending their money. The saddest part of this is that customers who paid upfront may now be left out of pocket. Blaming influencers for that feels misplaced. The business took the orders, managed the projects, chose the factories, approved the products and handled the finances. Those are commercial responsibilities. I wish Keith and everyone involved no ill will. But I do think the closing statement would have landed better with more accountability and less blame directed at the people who pointed out problems that many customers could see for themselves. Criticism is not the same as a campaign. Honest reviews are not the enemy of the hobby. In fact, they are part of what protects it.

Oh, very good indeed! I enjoyed that .... but then I like dogs too EDIT: I've just watched this 3 times and I'm still grinning - do yourselves a favour folks and give this a look

I'm in the same boat - notified about one of my two Hunslets (tbf I ordered the second one after I had paid off the first, so there's a big gap in my order dates), but nothing about my Park Royals yet. I'm in Ireland. Perhaps they're being picked and packed by separate teams?

Similar taxes on low value items from outside the EU are being implemented in Ireland (and across the EU) too. From July theres a €3 plus VAT charge on each individual item in parcels worth below €150 coming from outside the EU to Ireland (and that includes from the UK ) https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2026/0609/1576806-online-shopping-customs-duties-ireland-eu-regulations/

I'm probably a bit late coming to this as the July issue is nearly upon us, but the June 2026 issue of Railway Modeller has a nice article on how Glen Murphy made a OO9 model of Bord na Mona's 0-4-0 #2, aka RóisIn, in Stradbally Woodland Railway.

This is very nice indeed - as other posters have said, if full of character and very atmospheric. Lovely indeed!

HI @Mayner. I'm interested too. Can you forward me the pdf also please?

It'll be interesting to see what you get up to. You never know, IRM made the Y33 bogies available - so they might do something here too if there's enough interest.

oh, interesting ... what do you have planned?

These are great - some gems in there: love the Finona tram photo, but the bogman in me is drawn to the the turf wagons and the briquetting plant . That double decker livestock wagon is interesting too.

Very nice indeed - love the backscene!