The costs of going big
Some points to highlight in getting younger people into the hobby. I currently live in Townsville and mostly model HO scale New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR), starting in the hobby at 15 years old. Now I am 25 with a home layout under construction depicting Westby (though significantly shorter).
Living in Townsville, I've joined a local modelling club known as The Townsville and district scale modellers. As the name suggests, the club welcomes anyone involved in scale modelling, being that military, civilian, war gaming, model