Shopping Trip

No, I didn't go to South Australia to look at hobby shops. But if I just happened to be there...

I did well at End of the Line Hobbies, in Victor Harbor, picking up a kit of a VR tank wagon and assorted other bits and pieces. They've got a particularly good assortment of the nuts and bolts and bogies and bottles of goo needed to make models.
Also of interest are the built up and painted kits they sell. Not cheap in absolute terms, and I view myself as a builder of kits so I'm not really a potential customer, but I can certainly see these models as good value.
Amongst other stuff I'm not directly interested in, there was better range of South Australian kits than I was aware existed.

Now, while I noticed that my VR Products tanker kit came without bogies and bought some at End of the Line, I didn't go so far as to check more deeply into the instructions looking for other bits that might be needed, which ran to brass wire, styrene sheet and a Model Etch handbrake stand. Fortunately, I was able to make up these deficiencies at Orient Express in Adelaide (well, in Unley, actually, a tram stop south of Adelaide's CBD grid). They support a decent range of local, US and British stuff, but the emphasis seems to lean to the European. I don't, don't, DON'T need to be thinking about how nice, and almost affordable, those models of Swiss electric locos are. Love those electrics with huge steam engine style driving wheels and coupling rods... Orient Express also seem to be strong in the DCC and digital sound electronicy stuff.

South Australian Hobby Centre in the Adelaide CBD seem to be no longer into model rail (though I was tempted by a couple of extremely nice Bandai kits of fighters from the old Star Blazers cartoon; fortunately their choking expense kept them out of my huge pile of unbuilt plastic).