For the past 50-odd years, all Hornby Railways products have been assigned a product code starting with R. The numbers are roughly sequential, with higher number meaning more recent releases. You could expect the letter to have been H for Hornby...

Always use warm water from the tap. It doesn't need to be hot, just baby bath warm. This will just help the process of the decal removal from the backing paper. There is no need to use fancy water such as distilled water. It will not improve...

It is best to varnish the whole model. By coating the whole model in varnish, you are guaranteed a uniform finish across the entire model. I do not think that it is possible to apply the exact amount of varnish to the area that is going to...

Photo etched parts are a negative photo image that is placed on to a thin piece of either brass, aluminium or stainless steel and all the exposed metal is etched away. This creates very fine parts. These parts are then used to replace plastic...

A resin kit is made from a liquid synthetic polyurethane resin, which is poured into a mould. Once it has set, the hardened model is removed from the mould revealing the model or model parts. In my experience there is a bit more flash with resin...

When you are at the final stages of making your model, apply a coat of gloss varnish this will give a nice smooth surface for the decal to adhere to. Once the varnish is dry, cut the decal from the backing sheet and float it in a bowl of warm...

Hornby model railways are OO Scale or 1/76th that is 4 millimetres to the foot (12 inches). It runs on a track with a gauge of 16.5mm (this is the gap between the inside edges of the track). This is one of the most popular scales to model with...

This is not as difficult as you would think. Normally you would dip your transfer in warm water to help remove it from the backing paper and soften the decal. Although the decal is still quite rigid, this is fine when going on to a flat surface....

The plastic used in most model kits is injection moulded polystyrene which has been used since the early 1950's. It is also used today in other everyday items such as car number plates and disposable knife and forks and food packaging. Before...

The simple answer is yes, it is advisable to varnish your decal, for a couple of reasons One being that if the model is going to be handled regularly the decal could be easily scratched off making the model look tatty. The other reason is that...

I personally wash all my plastic kits, I use warm soapy water (Washing up liquid) and a light rub over with a nail brush, while all kit components are still connected to the sprue (The sprue is the square frame holding all the plastic kit parts)...