Who remembers Sturmey Archer.

I have long held the belief that OO gauge finescale modelling could really do with a half decent representation of a pushbike,,,, the black plastic offering that we all use has it's Merit's but for me that is part of the problem every pushbike on just about every model looks exactly the same and having taken a measuring stick to one recently it appears that in OO land all adults ride a kids bike anyway as it is definitely on the small side.

I do remember seeing an LMS layout based around an inland port/waterway that had a "proper" pushbike leaning against a shed and it was one of the finest pieces of modelling I have seen,,, ever,,, the layout was wonderful but the pushbike casually leaning against a shed was even better.

Now this may transpire to be compete madness but I have offered myself a challenge to make a pushbike which will hopefully look better than the one's I already have and I am already toying with the idea of it having spokes, as after playing about on the workbench in my lunch hour recently I reckon it can be done!!

Not without the usual assistance from my Joe 90 magnifying helmet,,, the milk bottle was a challenge, so were the spectacles in the opticians window, but we shall see,,, I will also keep you abreast of developments,,[that's more like it],,, but this is something else to keep the old grey matter confused and it is also a little project I can fiddle with on the kitchen table,, in the warm.

Another bit of good exhibiting news is we have been invited to the Steam Open Day at Barrow Hill in September,, ho ho,,, all them chuffs and puffs wandering about to give it all a bit of 12" to 1' scale realism,, and the beer in that part of the world is more than half decent as well!!!!

If you don't hear from me again the little men in their white coats have probably taken me off to meet Messr's Sturmey and Archer,,, who apparently sold out in the 1980's to some Egg Noodle manufacturing company in Taiwan!!!!! Is nothing sacred. 

  

N.U.J,,,,,,He look's sort of familiar!!!!

Was it something I blogged???,,, I do hope I haven't upset anybody at the AuntieBeeb.
After my light hearted rant last week on the "Weather Forecast plus some Blog" we appear to have hit a raw nerve!!!
All them autoqueue readers,,, sorry journalists,,, have thrown their toys out of the mineral wagon and gone on strike.

Doubtless it's all about a fair day's pay for a fair day's autoqueue reading,,, we have no idea how hard it is sitting on the sofa reading a hard days night,, especially at 6am,,, "they have no idea have they Billie".

Journalist's,,,, mmm,,, Banker-W's,,,, Estate agents,,,,politicians,,,, they are all in the same pontoon as far as we are concerned,,,,, wasn't the same in George's day,, now he was a proper journalist,,, had his own pencil's and sharpener on him at all times,,, and he knew how to use a them,,, he got that good at it the NUJ named a river after him,,, those were the days,,, black and white characters,,, smokey scene's,, factory's,, canals,, and L.S Lowery scribbling away on an old envelope in the middle distance.

I wonder if anyone ever told him he looked like Oswald Mosley

That's more like it.

Shot's like this I find quite emotional,,, silly old sod,, but click on the pic please.

What a lovely scene,,, and I know exactly where this shot was taken,,, in fact my brother in law was brought up in one of those houses in the background, progress has seen fit to demolish all these atmospheric dwellings to make way for a synthetic ski slope!!!!! Come the revolution brother's someone will pay!!!

A D9 on it's home shed,,, Sheffield Neepsend I guess mid 1930's,, wonderful.

I am hoping my efforts do the original proud and we are even more pleased to announce that due to the sudden rise in shed temperature:
the gorilla has replaced his private's back in their fur lined box,,,
the cat has returned and taken up it's favoured and relaxed position in front of the heater,,,
I have been soldering with fingers that have a new found sense of the infamous touchy feely.

This weekends efforts have seen a complete set of reversing rod apparatus appear,, we are well on the way to having some safety valves, and a smokebox door, and a large steam pipe down one side of the boiler, and after a quick rummage through one of my many bit's boxes I have found a chimney and dome which after some judicious fettling should add to the general Gortonaura of well being.

I also occasioned upon an Alexander kit for a GC 4000 gallon tender which with many of my other projects has been gathering dust in the office for a considerable number of years,,, but it has now most definitely shot past the,, "will come in handy one day"  category.

This is what can happen when we have a working temperature and perhaps more importantly there is no rugby on the box at the weekend,,, still don't really believe what I saw from Dublin last weekend.

As mentioned on one of last weeks epistles [just thought I'd drop that one in,, 2 entry's in one week] the management have now committed in public that both the D9 and Valour will be on show at future exhibitions,, not necessarily finished but they will be on show!!!!

Also found out last year that attempting to spray paint in damp murky sheds is not conducive to acceptable paintwork,,, which is a bit of a mystery really co's when I was gainfully employed in the the motor trade just about every body shop I visited worked out of a damp and murky shed,,,, but I don't have the benefit of one of those industrial heaters that when turned up to regulo 5 look like the blast pipe of a BAC Lightning on take off with reheat fully engaged,,, those were the days,,, 56 Sqdn Akrotiri,,, taking off at dusk,,, a sight and sound I will never forget.

Anyway enough of all this sentimental cobblers,,, I would have included a picture of the aformentioned model but for some reason my digital box brownie has hit a phase of not wanting to play,,,,, hope it isn't temperature related???

I know I know we are lagging behind target.

This should come in handy especially at a future bash,,, somewhere "south west" of the capital.

It's the board from that well known party game  Swinedonometer,,, a favourite of all the RCTS lads from down Wiltshire way.

What you do in a quiet corner of the exhibition is stand 7' 9" away from the board,, which has been previously mounted at 58" from the centre of the bull to floor level, and you throw darts at it,,, now this is where it get's quite complicated.

If you hit a 14 you have to shoot round all the layouts and take the numbers of class 2251's you can see.

If you hit a 20 it's King's,,, 19 is Castle's,,,, 18 is Hall's,,,  17 is Grange's,,, 16's is Manor's and so on and so on and so on.
Now it all gets a little bit hyper and arguments usually ensue because by the time you have worked down to 12 or 13 people are getting a bit confused primarily because it has suddenly dawned on them than without a magnifying glass they all look pretty much the same,,, excluding the weathering of course.

Still it keeps them entertained and is certainly better than modelling in a cold shed.

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY!!!!

Are we back on track yet?? Please let me know.

This game is the copyright of Salmon Pastures Wind-Up Productions Limited.

Time for a rant

You know who this is I'm sure,,, it's the dotty blonde caledonian autoqueue aritiste from the early morning BBC weather forecasts and she has a lot to answer for,,,, she gave me her personal assurance last week that it was going to start warming up.

I'm not her biggest fan,,, far from it,,, and it's not because she's caledonian,,, BUT,,, I do remember her from about 3 years ago on some early evening chat show rambling on about hobby's,,, another guest was Pete Waterman,,,, now you don't need to be a genius to identify what Pete was going to talk about,,, her reaction was very predictable,,, she scornfully announced she prefers rugby players, he-men and anything muscular,,, probably or preferably by the name of Billie!!!! and she thought Pete should grow up and get a life!!!!

What a muppet.

Another thing I could easily have a good rant about is why have the BBC decided to turn the early morning news programmes into some informative hybrid youth club,,,, it's all so predictable,,, here's the sports geezer,,, before he or she tells us what he's got to offer they have a little light hearted banter with Billie or Soozie,,, get on with it fer chrisakes,, me porridge is congealing,,, oh and here's the business geezess,,
EY-UP playmates,,, tha'll never guess whats 'appened to thee shares,,, they've plummeted,,, bloody plummeted,,, I'll be avin a gass wi some fella from't BP just after break,,, well I'll gu to foot of our stairs,, ee seems to gnu wat he's onabout but I can't tell abloddy word he's saying!!!

I'm not surprise dear,,, I'm from north of the trent myself,,, but,,, what are we trying to achieve with all this appeasement now we have moved everyone to Manchester,,, Andy Capp was and is a cartoon character,,, not an accurate image of your typical north country working chap.

I feel much better now,,, I really do.

Anyway back to Jockina's inaccurate forecast,, Ha ha,,, I ventured up't shed and she was right,,, the ice was slowly melting on the inside of the windies [after about half an hour of me having my gas bottle heater on regulo 3],,,, but it was still cold enough to affect the gorilla's privates,,, so I donned my steptoe modelling gloves and the only reason I knew I was soldering something was due to the acrid aroma of burning flesh,,, I certainly couldn't feel anything.

The cat who is a seasoned campaigner in arctic modelling came in,, rooted about under the workbench for about 3 minutes and then even she cleared off,,, the next time I saw her she was relaxing on top of the fridge with that "you must be mad working up their look".

I called it a day and so not much to report on the modelling front at the moment..

STOP PRESS,,, Oh yes we have,,, we have been invited to Trainwest Exhibition in Melksham Wiltshire. Only about 20 miles from Swinedon,,,,, I hope it's not contagious.
Which year??? to be confirmed,,, that's always a good sign when they don't know which year they can fit you in.

I am assured security will be adequate to tight but I'll be taking my aluminium underpants just in case,,, they are a strange bunch these types that are instinctively attracted to Swinedon,,, I've already got a visa but I may need professional help in ironing out any wrinkles in translation.
 I can also see I may have to invest in some corporate flat caps for this one!!!!!
Just hope I don't end up next to the Morris Dancers!!!! Only joking Geoff,, only joking.

Anyway when I know when I'll let you know,,, we will have to start saving though,,,, I'm sure by 2015/6 my mate Max will be treading the boards again and as it's a 2 day bash I'm bound to upset somebody and I may  need his help,, and from what I've heard he don't come cheap!!

My Assistants !!

The snow has vanished,,, overnight almost,,, Brillo the cat is alive and well and patroling her patch and that only leaves the other part of the dynamic trio,,, Tetley Tea Bag.


On the first day of the snows as the temperature inside t'shed was less than inviting I decided I'd have an admin day,,,, I needed all manner of things for the airbrush,, some MekPak and various other odds and sods that always come in handy,, or hopefully they will,, one day,, as the shed and garage seem to be inundated with such objects which I am convinced will come in handy one day!!

Anyway I ordered by email from 3 different suppliers and within hours had received confirmation of orders from all 3. GREAT,,, in a couple of days I can get cracking.]['

A couple of days became 3 or 4,,, then a week,,, then 10 days,, and nothing from any of them,, which I saw as odd as I had used all of them before and reordered due to excellent service and communications.

On day 12 I sent all 3 an email advising their confirmation of order numbers and in return they all sent the post office shipping numbers to trace parcels,,,, one of them however did mention that due to the recent snows he was aware that some orders were taking longer than normal as postman these days are not obliged/allowed to deliver in the snow due to our old friends Elf & Safety,,, mmm I thought I'll give it another couple of days and then let them have it.

The next day I return from work and the first question is,,, has any stuff arrived????
"Well not exactly but I have found this",,,says Helen handing me a red card from the postman advising that I have 3 parcels to collect from the post office,,, dated 12 days before!!!

Now the red card from the postie was also quite distinctive in that it had about 50 odd small terrier type teeth marks in it and it did look a little worse for wear.

Now Tetley Tea Bag loves everybody,,, except the postman,,, and every day he attempts to push something through the letterbox she sets off and is at about 30,000 feet and still climbing within about 15 seconds,,,,
the message from the postie was found behind the settee,,, now I'm not a fileaholic, far from it, but even I don't file things behind the settee,, we sat down together on the same settee and I confronted her with the chewed card from the postie!!!!

Her ears turned to jelly,,, her expression went back to orphanage,,, which is where we got her from,, and she lifted a back leg offering a wonderful display of pink bits which she usually offers when needing a bit of solace,, 2 minutes later she was back to normal and wandering around as if nothing had happened!!

Life was bad enough with the cat assisting when soldering,,,, but I certainly don't need the dog causing confusion in the goods inwards department!!!!

Anyway the good news is myself and the cat spent the whole day D9ing on Saturday and it won't be long before we have some worthwhile pics to display,,, just watch this space!!!

Train Sets BBC4

I don't watch much TV,,, as compared with others,,, but I am glad I was informed by the management that there was a programme I might like to watch on Train Sets last night on BBC4,, as the gorilla in the shed and his teste's still haven't thawed out I thought I would keep warm and be "enlightened".

To be quite honest I was expecting the usual condescending tone's endorsing the average Jo's perception of railway modelling & in particular modellers, you know the sort of thing,,, never grew up, anorak's, school blazer's,, caps and short trousers,,, and I qualify on each account.

I WAS PLEASANTLY SUPRISED, most people interviewed & commenting on the hobby were either professor's,  informed journalists or Pete Waterman,,, and not forgetting our old friend's Iain Rice &
Bob Schultz-Symes, [apologies for spelling Robert but it would have been a lot easier if you had been called, Wolshea, Walshart, Walchear, Smythe].

In short it was a history of railway modelling from the early 1900's to date, sure I knew of Bassett Lowke but I never realised he was such a towering influence on the hobby,,, thank the lord he was,,,more than that he just about started the whole thing,,, Frank Hornby provided me with my first blistered fingers from winding up a very crude 0 gauge clockwork mechanism, and I never knew Iain got started by making steam engines out of old toilet roll core's at the age of three,,, shep, Valerie and a baby elephant urinating all over Johnny Morris's pit boots spring to mind,,, I never knew he was on Blue Peter,,, but should it surprise us,,, NO not really.

It was a fascinating insight into the best hobby in the world and hopefully BBC will put it on a video and sell it through the NRM.

For me the highlight was a comment made right at the end by some guy who is obviously a railway nut but seemed to suggest he didn't have either the time or patience to turn his passion into models,,, his view was something along the lines of  "thank the lord for railway modellers,,, it won't be long before all the people who worked on steam have shunted off to Valhalla Railways and without their efforts being regularly put on show at exhibitions the future generations will have no idea of what a steam railway even looked like".

Thank you sir whoever you were,,, another lady from Manchester University also commented that young boys in the early 50's trainspotted in daylight and modelled in the evenings, and every dad  [except the one above] used in Frank Hornby's advertising smoked a pipe,,, and guess what,, so did mine!!!

I will also view Thomas the Tank engine in a completely different light in future,,, and Lord I wish this snow would disappear as I now know what cold turkey is like,,,, I haven't been up't shed for over a week!!!

Don't know what I said but the stats on last weeks offering rocketed to 56 in 48 hours!!!!! and most of them emanated from the good old USofA perhaps that's where my pal has cleared off to with his NuCast kit,,, whoever you were your support is much appreciated,,, and I shall wear it at all times.
Thank'yall, enjoy the rest of your day, missing ye'ralready and,,,,, where did you get "gotten" from????