In response to Customer demand (as represented by his Blue Sky Tiger Team, not real people), Santa moved production from the North-pole to Shengzien and out-sourced delivery this year. (1,400,000,000 presents may be lost in the system, but there's a new Logo and Mission Statement, and Reindeer pate is on special offer.)

Looked you up up on Santa's faulty computerised tracking system. Pleased to report you have been a good boy this year, so that's not the problem. Unfortunately, although you signed for it, the courier left the microscope in a hedge because you were out…

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 24/12/2019 10:31:09

Slightly different but look up Willard Wigan **LINK** he is an amazing chap and if you search his site or google you can find his life history. He was once at the Harrogate ME show displaying his incredible work,

Merry Christmas all

John

Martin, it passes Avast OK on my PC.

A very fine sculptor, in two senses of the word.
I saw him at Harrogate and then again at an exhibition in Sheffield a few years ago.

Well worth seeking out if you're near an exhibition.
Bill

The Gingerbread house is incredible, and as for the Willard Wigan creations well…. you can through whatever superlatives at them and they would be very apt. Thanks to Michael and JohnF for the links.

Michael –

You will probably be able to get one secondhand in a couple of years – I suspect at the current rate of shrinkage they will be used to produce Waggon Wheel biscuits from next year and be out of date a couple of years after that as not being able to work small enough!

Have a happy, peaceful (and productive!) Christmas.

Nick

This is more a case of what I was given for Christmas. My son works on track renewals and track development in SW Australia, based in Sydney. Obviously a busy time as the fires rage through the region. Whilst making a visit to one of the suppliers, he noticed a BIG pile of scrap iron in the corner of the yard and on asking was told that it had come from the Harbour Bridge constructed in the 30's, removed on a recent bridge repair contract.

This could have been a pile of 'gold' for collectors of memorabilia, so thinking of Dad's Christmas present asked for a couple of the rivets from the scrap pile. Attached is a photo of a 7/8" x 5" rivet from a butt strap joint. Just look at the way the head was set (the preformed head was lost when it was flame cut from the joint). And we model engineers look for perfection !

my wife misunderstood my explanation of the memorabilia and assumed you'ld been given a chunk of girder to make a whole miniature replica bridge from. Now there's a challenge!

pgk