"In days of old when modellers were bold (or at least, a lot younger than we are now!) and the internet wasn't invented, modellers went in search of inspiration and at Pendon their search ended"....

Many of you will know of 'Pendon' (www.pendonmuseum.com), and those of you still living in blissful ignorance should follow the link! I first visited in 1970, went home and tore up my model of 'Swanage' station building and made two promises. first to model better and second to model for Pendon. I'm still working on the first, but in 1983, having successfully completed a test piece -

I was asked by Roye England & Howard Fuller whether I'd take on 'The Council Houses' -

(this is a recent image of one of the buildings and the closest to the original condition).

The prototypes were well-built in local brick and are a group of three semi-detached buildings. The plan was to model them in various stages of completion, from a 'ground-floor' model (up to the window lintels), the second to be complete to roof-timber level with all internal walls, floor-joists etc in place, and the third complete - painters still working on one side but a family moving into the very end house.

'Yep, OK, I'm on' Five years later, and the first model (or at least it's third iteration) was at the museum

I was then asked by the modelling team to take on another model 'as a matter of urgency' (about another five years work) but as THAT model progressed, other pressures - both family and work) got in he way and in the end I pulled out, handing over to the Museum the partially completed work on both models.

Fast forward to August 2013 - about 40 years down the track (my working drawings of the council houses were actually penned at an Army camp in Kent during the 'Miners Strike!) and my club (the REC at Farnborough) had a 'Boys Day Out' to both Pendon & Didcot - and of course at Pendon I was re-united with the council houses! A check of the 'situation map' showed that the other two houses had been re-allocated - or so I thought.

A quick enquiry with the staff showed this was not, in fact, the case - so here I am, 40 years older but now (semi) retired and with time I hope to complete the models. The two houses are still 'in the flat' but actually substantially more complete than I remember leaving them (However they are my models - I recognise the handwriting!) - however the brickwork may need its colour 'adjusted' to take account of Pendon's current lighting.

So what's next? Well, as each brick/stone/tile is individually scribed and painted, this is NOT going to be a quicky project, and updates to this particular blog will be few & far between. What I need to do next is to scribe card with multiple brick courses, then paint them in various hues (like colour swatches) to see which (if any) come closest to the prototype bearing in mind the 'Vale lighting.

Regards

Ian