Pragmatic Pre-Grouping - Mikkel's Workbench

[wenlock]

I've only just caught up with this! Really excellent, I'd never have thought off printing on wood:-)

[shortliner]

I can't find it but I sure there is a article about building a walking man on the net. I have a vague feeling it was on a narrow gauge or Japanese forum and he "pushes a cart" - I was trying to find it because I thought it may be converted to suit your horse - maybe someone else remembers it?

[Silver Sidelines]

Hello Mikkel

 

Full of admiration.  We still have a real one in the garage from our last house move but one - tea chest that is.  It is good to see new uses for existing products.

 

Regards

 

Ray

[Mikkel]

They look the business to me; the things haven't changed over the years. Back in the 1980s, I fitted a lot of pallet racking for Banbury Tea Warehouses at Crewe, and had to move hundreds of the things. After emptying at the blenders, most were sold on to removal companies and pot-banks; they were the preferred container to send ware around the country from Stoke, so would crop up at locations far from wholesale tea-merchants.

 

Are they still in use I wonder. Looking at the web I can see fancy ones made for home and shop decoration, but not sure if they are still used for actual shipping?  

[Mikkel]

I can't find it but I sure there is a article about building a walking man on the net. I have a vague feeling it was on a narrow gauge or Japanese forum and he "pushes a cart" - I was trying to find it because I thought it may be converted to suit your horse - maybe someone else remembers it?

 

Thanks for that Shortliner, I Googled it and eventually found this page which is probably what you mean? Fascinating stuff!

 

http://www.belfieldhall.co.uk/belfield/ngr/walkingman_01.html

[Mikkel]

Thanks Mickey - and what a great site.   Sections on tea and cotton already bookmarked for bedtime reading. I may save those on coconout fibers and Manila hemp for a sleepless night! 

[Siberian Snooper]

On the subject of walking horses, the last time I went to Expong, they had a shoe box challenge ie build a diorama in a shoe box. One of the entrants was a Douglas horse tram, with the legs of the horse operated by a set of cams on the leading axle of the tram, it was very effective.

[rockershovel]

Love the tea chests. We moved house several times when I was small and they were an ever-present feature.

[Silver Sidelines]

Hello Mikkel
 
Just added a picture of our tea chest. 



Just spotted that there is an interesting 'porter's trolley' next to it - came from the Liverpool area.
 
Regards
 
Ray

 

Edit - Height 610mm, width 510mm and depth 410mm (24 inch x 20 inch x 16inch)

Edited April 5, 2015 by Silver Sidelines

[raymw]

Hi Mikkel,

 

I like what you have done, but not having any printable wood veneer, and thinking if I did it would probably wreck my laser printer, I sort of pinched a bit of your artwork and fiddled with photoshop and cad. In ps, you can generate a streaky background, (I guess other software can do similar, deliberate or accidental). I then loaded it as a background image into the cad software, and drew a flattened out box shape. (The tabs can be bigger, and corners of tabs angled to avoid overlap of top/bottom with the corner). I work in 7mm and even at that larger scale I found it tricky to assemble, I used a UHU stick adhesive. I think a solid shape, to wrap the paper around would be better. wrt corner strips - somewhere i have a roll of aluminium foil adhesive tape, but I think the adhesive may be too bulky. Alternatively I was thinking of using a silver gel pen. I've attached an image of the sheet. The tabs can be bigger, and more per page, but just a proof of concept. I expect before long, one of the download, 'print your own' guys will be doing similar, for a fiver a sheet.

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

[shortliner]

Thanks for that Shortliner, I Googled it and eventually found this page which is probably what you mean? Fascinating stuff!

 

http://www.belfieldhall.co.uk/belfield/ngr/walkingman_01.html

Well done - I spent half an hour trying different combinations of word , totally without success! And that was what I was trying to find!

[Mikkel]

On the subject of walking horses, the last time I went to Expong, they had a shoe box challenge ie build a diorama in a shoe box. One of the entrants was a Douglas horse tram, with the legs of the horse operated by a set of cams on the leading axle of the tram, it was very effective.

 

That reminded me of something I'd seen once, not a shoebox though. Edit: The horse action starts at 1:00.

 

Edited April 4, 2015 by Mikkel

[Mikkel]

Hello Mikkel

 

Just added a picture of our tea chest. 

 

 

Just spotted that there is an interesting 'porter's trolley' next to it - came from the Liverpool area.

 

Regards

 

Ray

 

Very nice. Bah Kisat seems to be in Sumatra, Indonesia. Green tea?

[Mikkel]

Hi Mikkel,

 

I like what you have done, but not having any printable wood veneer, and thinking if I did it would probably wreck my laser printer, I sort of pinched a bit of your artwork and fiddled with photoshop and cad. In ps, you can generate a streaky background, (I guess other software can do similar, deliberate or accidental). I then loaded it as a background image into the cad software, and drew a flattened out box shape. (The tabs can be bigger, and corners of tabs angled to avoid overlap of top/bottom with the corner). I work in 7mm and even at that larger scale I found it tricky to assemble, I used a UHU stick adhesive. I think a solid shape, to wrap the paper around would be better. wrt corner strips - somewhere i have a roll of aluminium foil adhesive tape, but I think the adhesive may be too bulky. Alternatively I was thinking of using a silver gel pen. I've attached an image of the sheet. The tabs can be bigger, and more per page, but just a proof of concept. I expect before long, one of the download, 'print your own' guys will be doing similar, for a fiver a sheet.

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Ray

 

Hi Ray, great to see this being done in 7mm also. This sort of design is clearly more sensible than my laborious one, and is an advantage of paper over the thicker veneer. A solid shape in the middle does make paper crates more sturdy I feel, although in 7mm it would have to be quite a substantial bit of material. Maybe one of the cheap modern lightweight materials, eg the stuff used for sticking flowers in, or a polysterene block?

 

Yes, definetely don't want to put those veneer sheets through a laser printer. Although I imagine some photo printer types might be adjustable for paper thickness?

Edited April 4, 2015 by Mikkel

[Silver Sidelines]

Well spotted Mikkel

 

It has been in our possession since the late 1980s.  It had been used previously by our friends for their house moves - so who knows how old it is.

 

Regards

 

Ray

Very nice. Bah Kisat seems to be in Sumatra, Indonesia. Green tea?

[Stubby47]

Lego bricks can be used to form the shape of the box - lightweight and consistent.

 

BTW - how big is a tea chest? 2ft x 2ft x 3ft high ?

Edited April 4, 2015 by Stubby47

[Mikkel]

Not sure. The TIS in Mickey's link doesnøt seem to say. I took my cue from the skiffle scene and guesstimated the height: http://michaelcooper.org.uk/C/skiffle.htm

[Siberian Snooper]

That reminded me of something I'd seen once, not a shoebox though. Edit: The horse action starts at 1:00.

 

That looks very much like the horse and tram but in a different setting.

[Stubby47]

According to Wikipedia, "Sizes vary from 400×400×620 to 500×500×750 mm."

[rockershovel]

 ........love the coconuts!  

Edited April 4, 2015 by rockershovel

[Mikkel]

 ........love the coconuts!  

 

Yes me too, DCC sound could never match that! 

[Mikkel]

According to Wikipedia, "Sizes vary from 400×400×620 to 500×500×750 mm."

 

Thanks Stu. So 750 mm, that works out at approx. 9.8 in 4mm scale. The largest of mine are 10 mm.

[Silver Sidelines]

The one that I have pictured is 610mm high, and 510 x 410 plan area.

 

Ray

[raymw]

I've a tea chest, maybe two out in a barn, I made the paper one a scale 2ft wide. I'll measure the full size one later today or tomorrow.

[Mikkel]

Just a thought would it be possible to use a square file and make a v grove in the back, and then fold them.

 

Since Pete said that I've been trying different ways to score the veneer sheet to allow folding of the crates. With a sharp tool, it tends to end like this...

 

 

 

A broader tool as suggested by Pete does help, especially if used very lightly. Below I've used the rear of a thick scalpel blade. You still get a light tear - but less visible now, and folding up the crates like this is certainly quicker than glueing on each side separately.

 

 

 

The two small crates on the left in the photo below were folded using the scoring technique. Not quite as neat as glueing on each side separately, but might work for large batches. The tea chests represent different types and sizes, some with metal sides and some without. Judging by photos I have seen, the metal edges don't seem to have been common until the 1920s or so.

 

 

 

The crates are strenghtened inside like this:

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, the sheet itself is quite forgiving and glue and paint can be scraped off without leaving much trace. The lettering is another matter. The print on the right has been treated to a light coat of Vallejo matt varnish!

 

 

 

Dave mentioned stencils. Some time ago I bought some letter stencils from Rotring to see what they could be used for. The one below is the smallest available, 2.5 mm capitals. I believe these are (were?) professionally used, but they must require some special technique as I really struggle with them. Especially alignment! More practice needed.

 

Edited April 4, 2015 by Mikkel