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The Colliery Band


1722
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Artwork (c) Owain fon Williams

 

So here it is, my cake box challenge plan. Inspired by the painting above and my own love of brass bands, I've decided a colliery brass band room with a siding behind is the way to go.The plan is to set it in Wales, so the next stage is to decide whether to use the Wills rough stone sheet for the band room, or to kitbash the Tin Chapel from the same company.

Edited by 1722
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IMG_20191017_184406.jpg.e2ff6924ea5beb1aae45f796bf113a1f.jpg

 

The first seedlings of progress have been made on ‘The Colliery Bandroom.’ I settled on the Wills Tin Chapel and spent twenty minutes with it this evening, ‘bashing’ it in places to (slightly) disguise it’s origins. 

 

Overall, I’m quite happy with the way things are starting to come together, albeit in a very basic way.

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Although they did and still do have some very fine Brass Bands the Welsh were generally more into choirs.   It was said you could tell when a Welshman died as he stopped singing.  

Silver Bands had two disparate origins.   1) Post WW1 silver finish instruments became popular and many bands upgraded to Silver instruments. Silver is very very very much easier to keep clean than Brass, and the Band changed their name to xxxxxxx Silver Band to reflect this.

2) Some successful Brass Bands with many more members than the 24 or so required for Contests would form a reserve Band which would be the "xxxxxxxxxxx Silver Prize Band"  to distinguish it from the main ensemble. later dropping the "prize" 

 

Silvering took the edge off the raspy tone of the cheap flimsy instruments of the Victorian and Edwardian eras but at some stage, not quite sure when, lacquering of brass instruments became the norm and this also takes the edge off the raspiness.     The trouble is the lacquer fails after a while.   I sometimes play a silver 4 valve Boosey and co Euphonium our Band bought second hand in 1930 and the plating is still pretty good. Its 2/3rds the weight of a modern Besson Euph.

 

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14 hours ago, 1722 said:

IMG_20191017_184406.jpg.e2ff6924ea5beb1aae45f796bf113a1f.jpg

 

The first seedlings of progress have been made on ‘The Colliery Bandroom.’ I settled on the Wills Tin Chapel and spent twenty minutes with it this evening, ‘bashing’ it in places to (slightly) disguise it’s origins. 

 

Overall, I’m quite happy with the way things are starting to come together, albeit in a very basic way.


I love the social history background to your model - looking good so far!

... and we are learning about brass instruments from David!
 

 

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There has been some more progress on the Colliery Band Room diorama. I’ve laid the cobbles and weathered them too, a simple wash of black paint. I’ll add a few extra shades in time to make a less uniform finish. The join between the cobble sheets isn’t great, so I’m going to try and cover it. The plan is to add some tufts of grass for starters.

 

Also done, but not photographed, is the stone walling around the band room.

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On 18/10/2019 at 10:45, DavidCBroad said:

Silvering took the edge off the raspy tone of the cheap flimsy instruments of the Victorian and Edwardian eras but at some stage, not quite sure when, lacquering of brass instruments became the norm and this also takes the edge off the raspiness.     The trouble is the lacquer fails after a while.   I sometimes play a silver 4 valve Boosey and co Euphonium our Band bought second hand in 1930 and the plating is still pretty good. Its 2/3rds the weight of a modern Besson Euph.

 

I had a beautiful "satin-silver" finish 4 - valve Sovereign Euphonium, which was a different finish to the standard polished silver. The inside of the bell was polished, so I don't think the sound was any different, but (I thought) it looked fabulous.

As for Ivor the Engine, never bettered in my view. Fantastic memories - looking forward to seeing how this model develops.

Edited by Keith Addenbrooke
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On 26/10/2019 at 10:41, Keith Addenbrooke said:

I had a beautiful "satin-silver" finish 4 - valve Sovereign Euphonium, which was a different finish to the standard polished silver. The inside of the bell was polished, so I don't think the sound was any different, but (I thought) it looked fabulous.

As for Ivor the Engine, never bettered in my view. Fantastic memories - looking forward to seeing how this model develops.

 

As a now somewhat retired brass musician, I don't play anywhere near as much as I once did. However, back in the 'height' of my playing career I purchased a Conn Trombone with a rose gold bell. The idea is that the rose gold gives a mellower, warmer tone (ideal for someone once describing as sounding like a chainsaw by a less than forgiving MD). Personally, I always prefer the look of the silver instruments. The Besson Prestige range are all absolutely beautiful instruments to look at. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

IMG_20191103_155438.jpg.f133749ac53bee22596c2e40f21e6c2f.jpg

 

More progress on the Colliery Bandroom recently. I've painted and quite heavily dry-brushed the band room. It still needs more work though, with a few more shades adding, as well as a wash to pull it together.

The same can be said of the walling. It needs more greys and a wash adding too.

There has been some static grass added, as well as some fencing which has also been dry-brushed. All told though, it's coming together, I feel. Slowly, but surely.

One thing that needs attention though: that horrific join between the cobble sets.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Work has progressed on the bandroom, but I think it will stall now due to a new arrival in the family, yesterday. 

 

Still, give the little lad a couple of years and it will be someone to play trains with! 

Edited by 1722
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  • 4 months later...

Brass bands are in my family, but I escaped the cult many years ago having both played and conducted!  Like 1722, I am a trombonist but my rose gold belled trombone is a (quite rare) King 5B Symphony, an experimental foray into a mixed usage instrument for the professional market!

 

One thing about silver bands - the finish is an awful lot easier to portray than rose gold!

 

Comment upon the original painting - that must be a soprano cornet (as it is very small) but the trombonist appears to be holding something smaller even than a soprano trombone! :laugh_mini2:  That would be very hard upon the ears!

 

Lastly, although Wales is known for its choirs, there are many very fine brass bands from the region, as my (Welsh) brother in law would be quick to point out, when he isn't performing in the band of The Regiment of The Price of Wales!

 

Congratulations on your new(ish) addition to the family, and hope you are all safe and well.

 

Steve S

Edited by SteveyDee68
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42 minutes ago, Persephone said:

Looking forward to seeing a 4mm Bb Bass modelled on it!

Whit Monday.jpg

 

That'a a  big 'un!  And  a brave chap to carry it without a strap.   Cirencester Band did a gig, I think it was remembrance day 2019, and the BBb Bass players strap broke in the bandroom and the Bass dropped on the deck, did about £2000 damage. New one is about £9500. He had to use the training Band single B and then borrowed our spare BBb for the Christmas Concerts.

The instruments in the original pic are just undersize.   The "Cornet"  players grip is wrong, That is how you hold a Bugle. On a cornet or trumpet the left hand goes around the vertical valves below the pipe which leads to the bell. The right hands big fingers go on top of the valves, the thumb under the lead pipe and the little finger through a ring or arc.  It quite easy to play Cornet right hand only, next to impossible to play with the left hand only.

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1 hour ago, DavidCBroad said:

 

That'a a  big 'un!  And  a brave chap to carry it without a strap. 

 

There is a strap, you just can't see it for the pad. You also can't see the padding I used to wear on my right shoulder!  Used to hate march jobs with a BBb, one of the reasons I gave up banding 4 years ago as it did for my back in the end, which is now one of the reasons I build my layouts at the height I do.

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