Little Muddle

[KNP]

16 minutes ago, Gedward said:

 

Those cobblestones look perfect from where I'm standing.

 

Where there's a 'Wills' there's a way......!

[A1X]

I love your layout Knp , but do you know anything about this ?

[KNP]

36 minutes ago, A1X said:

I love your layout Knp , but do you know anything about this ?

 

Yes, she did PM me a few days ago but this layout is not portable so I was unable to help.

Those pictures must be over 5 years old as I have made many changes, trees etc but the most noticeable one is no Colonels wife fishing!!

 

Thanks for passing this on.

[A1X]

1 minute ago, KNP said:

 

Yes, she did PM me a few days ago but this layout is not portable so I was unable to help.

Those pictures must be over 5 years old as I have made many changes, trees etc but the most noticeable one is no Colonels wife fishing!!

 

Thanks for passing this on.

Ok sorry if I sounded like a busy body just noticed that no mention of builder etc or picture credits . A top layout needs to have its credit.

[KNP]

And now we look through the big door

 

 

 

Whoops, just seen I must have knocked the shed and its moved off its base.

Anyway I thought you wouldn't mind so left it as is for now.

 

 

 

Edited March 28 by KNP

[teaky]

I wonder how long it will be before Mick notices the shed nudging?

[Mick Bonwick]

13 minutes ago, teaky said:

I wonder how long it will be before Mick notices the shed nudging?

 

17 minutes!

[Sandhole]

On 10/06/2021 at 12:07, KNP said:

The Fordson N is waiting in the wings to make it's appearance in a new cameo at Middle Farm.

Just waiting for some figures to arrive from Modelu (in the post) and then I can set the scene.

So you will have to be patient and just settle for some arty pictures of the tractor posing on a puddle!

 

 

 

As you can imagine these pictures are much larger (depending on what you view this on of course) than the actual model so they pick wort's and all....

 

 

A few points from somebody who drove tractors for a living.
This is almost too dirty. In your time period, this machine would have been treated like a Rolls Royce, which, to the farmer, it was.
It may well get this filthy, if your local landscape is waterlogged and has thick mud. You would not have slurry as we know it. The beasts would be bedded down on straw and the muck would be solid not liquid. The steering wheel would not be rusty or dirty. A driver is handling this every day, it would get a polished surface and would be kept clean because the driver would want to stay clean.
I feel guilty about saying all this, but this is a lovely model and will  fit in to your great layout with a slightly more gentle weathering job.
You are, of course, completely free to tell me to 'go forth and multiply.'
Keep up the great work,
Regards,
Chris.

[DonB]

Standards are slipping, or at least shed is slipping off its perch.

The engine shed door gang have yet another project on which to hone their procrastination skills.

Edited June 11, 2021 by DonB
spellin

[Worsdell forever]

27 minutes ago, Sandhole said:

A few points from somebody who drove tractors for a living.
This is almost too dirty. In your time period, this machine would have been treated like a Rolls Royce, which, to the farmer, it was.
It may well get this filthy, if your local landscape is waterlogged and has thick mud. You would not have slurry as we know it. The beasts would be bedded down on straw and the muck would be solid not liquid. The steering wheel would not be rusty or dirty. A driver is handling this every day, it would get a polished surface and would be kept clean because the driver would want to stay clean.
I feel guilty about saying all this, but this is a lovely model and will  fit in to your great layout with a slightly more gentle weathering job.
You are, of course, completely free to tell me to 'go forth and multiply.'
Keep up the great work,
Regards,
Chris.

 

Agree, as for muck spreading, it could have still been done by hand, and a horse and cart could be worked by one man, with an experienced horse he would set it walking slowly while he griped the load off the back. Using a tractor would need two men. But on the majority of farms back then, especially smaller ones, the tractor took pride of place and was kept in good order, just as the horses were that it replaced.

[Donw]

18 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said:

 

Agree, as for muck spreading, it could have still been done by hand, and a horse and cart could be worked by one man, with an experienced horse he would set it walking slowly while he griped the load off the back. Using a tractor would need two men. But on the majority of farms back then, especially smaller ones, the tractor took pride of place and was kept in good order, just as the horses were that it replaced.

 

Muck spreading used to be done with a cart and often several farmhands with the advent of a tractor that pulled the cart instead of the horses. I am not sure when muck spreaders became common certainly by the 1970s.

Don

[Sandhole]

You would find tractor pulled muck spreaders in the 1930's.
They would be rare. The spreaders would be ground powered.
They would be rare.
Your machine would pull a trailor with farmhands on it. I think.
The driver might get off the tractor and join them. TOTALLY wrong, but I've done it.

 

[Sandhole]

1 hour ago, Donw said:

 

Muck spreading used to be done with a cart and often several farmhands with the advent of a tractor that pulled the cart instead of the horses. I am not sure when muck spreaders became common certainly by the 1970s.

Don

The Ferguson rear muck spreader arrived in the 1950's certainly.
The center flail type came in in the 60's.
The Ferguson could be powered by the Ferguson 65, to my mind the perfect tractor.
The flail type needed extra HP to get the flail turning . Tractors evolved.
I'm sorry, I'm guilty of taking over this thread and I apologise!

 

[Fishplate]

14 hours ago, KNP said:

And today we look through the letterbox....

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Agree with @Gedward on the cobbles and I like the view across to the Unicorn. But I can't remember a building that spans the road? There are still hidden corners in Little Muddle. Does the Squadron Leader have an aerial picture he could share please?

[KNP]

On 11/06/2021 at 20:46, Fishplate said:

 

Hi Kevin,

 

Agree with @Gedward on the cobbles and I like the view across to the Unicorn. But I can't remember a building that spans the road? There are still hidden corners in Little Muddle. Does the Squadron Leader have an aerial picture he could share please?

 

It would be this one which is another one of Little Muddles afterthoughts as the area was originally open with a large pair of wooden gates with a side gate.

If you look at the end wall you can see where the lead work has been painted on over the original, another one of those jobs I was going to sort.

This layout evolves over time

 

 

 

Original construction, picture taken unbelievable on the 10th Jan 2012 - wow...really!!!

 

 

Note, the first floor window on the side elevation is still there to this day just hidden by the extension and you can see the line of the original harbour wall.

then the stone building at the rear before it was rendered and now replaced with The Unicorn

Edited March 28 by KNP

[Sandhole]

30 minutes ago, KNP said:

 

It would be this one which is another one of Little Muddles afterthoughts as the area was originally open with a large pair of wooden gates with a side gate.

If you look at the end wall you can see where the lead work has been painted on over the original, another one of those jobs I was going to sort.

This layout evolves over time

 

 

Original construction, picture taken unbelievable on the 10th Jan 2012 - wow...really!!!

 

 

Note, the first floor window on the side elevation is still there to this day just hidden by the extension and you can see the line of the original harbour wall.

then the stone building at the rear before it was rendered and now replaced with The Unicorn

Your buildings are SUPERB!

[Fishplate]

Thank you very much  Kevin. I love the evolution.

 

Maybe in the future you'll have to have an archeological dig scene showing one of your old foundations. Or one that you never knew of  . . . . . . 

 

John 

[KNP]

Quietly now we move up and pass through the trees.

Pushing our way into the grass of the field, careful don't disturb the grazing sheep and up the slope.....

There we see, resting in a siding, a Toad all on its own.

It's sleeping, dreaming no doubt of all those adventures its had of being pulled here and pushed there.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28 by KNP

[Donw]

4 hours ago, Sandhole said:

The Ferguson rear muck spreader arrived in the 1950's certainly.
The center flail type came in in the 60's.
The Ferguson could be powered by the Ferguson 65, to my mind the perfect tractor.
The flail type needed extra HP to get the flail turning . Tractors evolved.
I'm sorry, I'm guilty of taking over this thread and I apologise!

 

 

A lot would dpend on the size of the farm I think small farms would tend to get them later possibly when second hand ones became available as bigger farms upgraded.  My information came from chatting with farmfolk in Corve Dale Shropshire mid 70s and they were reminiscing about good old days. Farming can be a lonely job Muck spreading with a group was a change from say ploughing. Farming can be a lonely life. I remember one old boy long retired who remarked that Horses were better company than a tractor.

 

Don

[St Enodoc]

30 minutes ago, Donw said:

 

I remember one old boy long retired who remarked that Horses were better company than a tractor.

Interesting. As part of my engineering degree we studied socio-economic aspects of engineering ("The Engineer in Society" for those of a certain age), one of which was the mechanisation of agriculture in the Third World. An unintended consequence of that was the loss of a ready supply of natural fertiliser, beautifully summed up by our lecturer in just three words:

 

"Tractors can't sh1t".

[Sandhole]

3 hours ago, Donw said:

 

A lot would dpend on the size of the farm I think small farms would tend to get them later possibly when second hand ones became available as bigger farms upgraded.  My information came from chatting with farmfolk in Corve Dale Shropshire mid 70s and they were reminiscing about good old days. Farming can be a lonely job Muck spreading with a group was a change from say ploughing. Farming can be a lonely life. I remember one old boy long retired who remarked that Horses were better company than a tractor.

 

Don

Having been lucky enough to work on a small farm with horses muck spreading and doing land work, They were great company.
You treat 'em right and they work from your voice. I could stand on the wagon of muck and call 'walk on''' and 'whoa' and Major would do just that, without me touching the reins.
Put me in one of these monstrous machines these days, I probably couldn't start it.

[KNP]

Now let me tell you a story...

Pull up a chair and I will begin.

 

You might not be aware but Middle Farm is run by Mr & Mrs Brown who have three helpers, Jack, Jill & Jim who are at this very moment sitting behind the farm on the bank having a chat.

Mr Brown is on his way to join them to discuss their next jobs.

Well, he thought he was.

After ploughing Three acre field he pulled into the farm forecourt and got out to shut the gate.

At this point a rather irate Mrs Brown stormed out the house and told him in no uncertain terms to get that orange thing back into the field and clear up the mess.

Bit puzzled Mr Brown asked why to find the local bridge club was on their way for a fortnightly meeting in the farms parlour that he had obviously forgotten about.

Mrs Brown is telling him how she has spent ages cleaning and tidying up the house plus getting the food ready for her visitors so surely he could imagine her annoyance when she looked out the window and saw all that mud?

 

It is at this point we have joined them.

 

 

 

What the outcome will be I don't know as Mr Brown is saying he has a farm to run and Mrs Brown is arguing back she has her bridge club to run - she is chair you see.

I have a feeling we all know who will win!!!!

 

Blue blobs again as this is a test run for the figures positioning, already been moved a few times in trying to get the 'feel' right.

 

 

Edited March 28 by KNP

[Ponthir28]

Mrs Brown wins. We all know happy wife happy life.

 

[John Besley]

21 hours ago, KNP said:

 

It would be this one which is another one of Little Muddles afterthoughts as the area was originally open with a large pair of wooden gates with a side gate.

If you look at the end wall you can see where the lead work has been painted on over the original, another one of those jobs I was going to sort.

This layout evolves over time

 

 

Original construction, picture taken unbelievable on the 10th Jan 2012 - wow...really!!!

 

 

Note, the first floor window on the side elevation is still there to this day just hidden by the extension and you can see the line of the original harbour wall.

then the stone building at the rear before it was rendered and now replaced with The Unicorn

Just out of interest what do you do with your old buildings once you've updated (rebuilt) the area 

[Stubby47]

12 minutes ago, John Besley said:

Just out of interest what do you do with your old buildings once you've updated (rebuilt) the area 

The squadron leader uses them as target practice, instead of buses on bridges.