The Jabberwock... large scale Steampunk in the garden...

[Ben B]

 

And Hast Thou Slain the Jabberwock?

 

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

...

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!"

 

Lewis Carroll, "The Jabberwock" (from "Alice's adventures through the looking glass") 1872

 

I mentioned this with a pic on the Realistic Modelling thread, though I'm aware it's not terrifically realistic.  It's probably better off here anyway.

 

 

Some years ago, a friend from Uni ended up as a kind of artistic project director for a community group up in the Lake District, and she was asked to put on a sculpture trail themed around "Alice in Wonderland" in the formal gardens of Rydal Hall, Ambleside.  She in turn asked me and my wife to contribute some work, and in my case, that was to produce a Steampunk interpretation of the Jabberwock (she knew I was into the scene, and a model-maker, and I agreed without really considering how much work a sculpture rather than a model).  I ended up trying to approach it from a logical angle- what would a steam locomotive look like to someone or something who had no concept of the technology?  I kept coming back to those lines in the poem, and imagined a steam engine as seen from low-down on the ground by some primitive animal... plus there are railways in "Through the Looking Glass", Alice is specifically mentioned to be travelling in a carriage with a load of anthropomorphic animals.

 

The crane thing came after seeing the (standard gauge) breakdown crane at Ingrow Station, and it looked suitably monster-like;  here's a couple of more recent pics of it, from when I was assigned to the Civils team on the KWVR to document some of the Bridge 11 replacement-works for the railways house mag.

 

 

 

Doesn't it look like some sort of pre-historic monster?

 

It led it turn to this, knocked-up from a cheap 0 gauge (ish) toy train set;

 

 

It proved the concept, but might have been a biiiiit too big to make full-size...

 

Anyway, the idea evolved a bit as I realised not only how big the damned thing would be, but also because it needed to be transportable in my Vauxhall Zafira.  Even with building it in sections, and playing car-Tetris, it was a tight squeeze.  And because the place were a bit funny about me laying even a short stretch of 2ft track in the gardens, it ended up becoming a really Steampunk-esque catterpillar-tracked, vertical-boilered monstrosity made from scrap wood and all sorts of odds and ends.  The concept ended up that this was a genuine machine that had been taken over by something/someone, and was rampaging around the woods gathering wood to burn to power it.  Anyway, the piece was very well received, and I enjoyed not only the project, but the plethora of concept designs, drawings, and experimental models I built whilst working out the final form of the model.

 

It stuck in my mind though, and a while later, when I was going through some boxes in the loft, I came across this concept model;

 

 

Not in good nick after storage up in the roof... this is the 'railway' concept model, before I went over to having it on caterpillar tracks (this one was designed to run on an old Triang 'Big Big' shunter chassis).  It wasn't in good enough nick to run, and I'd not been a hundred percent happy with the design I used.  I decided I wanted to approach it again.

 

 

After browsing around on the internet, I came across a rather nice vertical-boiler, self-propelled dockyard crane, and decided it would do the job.  I wanted to make something to run on G track in the garden (for the long-planned garden railway; I wanted something a bit arty and unusual, rather than the classic tank-loco-and-four-wheelers).  The above arrangement, with the boiler and crane as a single unit that pivoted on the chassis, seemed more logical than my original design with it all fixed more like 'Chaloner', though it would be a bit top-heavy for narrow gauge compared to the inspiration (the prototype I was basing it off being sg).

 

 

The build needed to be a bit heavier-duty than the light experimental models.  the basis of the model was a lot of ply stripwood (I had a lot of scrap in stock, a by-product of having been a DT Tech in the last job), around an old Tomy turntable that turned but locked in place.  Then it was breaking out the bits boxes for the detailing...

 

 

A proper kit-bash, this beast.  

 

 

Note the wires for the working eye-lamps, the battery unit for which was in the vertical boiler.

 

 

Paint was black, then dusted with browns and greys.  The cloth was meant to be a shredded, failing bit of tarpaulin to look like skin.  

 

 

Shot low-angle, it achieved the desired effect, a steam-powered crane that looked, from certain angles, like a hideous monster...  Not quite visible here is the 'tail', a pair of bolster wagons with logs to give the impression this had once been a woodland/logger engine.  The only problem was that I didn't have anywhere really suitable to photograph it, the above shots being taken at my in-laws garden.  The summer rolled around though, and with a weekend in Wales planned, I thought some moody, pictures in a cloud-strewn forest might be an option, with additional effects from USB-powered steam generators.

 

 

A rather jolting journey to Wales though didn't do the model any favours, and the first night was spent with the superglue putting it all back together.

 

 

The working lights also didn't.  I couldn't identify the wiring fault, and didn't have a soldering iron anyway, so a late-evening trip to Lidl got me some keychain torches to use instead.  A bit of rebuilding of the eye/lamps accommodated them easily enough.

 

 

rarrr.

 

 

It looked suitably spooky with the steam generators running.

 

 

You know, you can normally rely on Wales to look miserable, but no; bright, gorgeous sunshine for the daytime shots.  A bit of set dressing (some laser-cut playing cards I did for an 'Alice' themed chair at work, and some Rocking-Horse Flies, also from the first show in the Lakes).

 

 

Phil, of this parish, likes the occasional odd-ball project for Garden Rail, so it got a feature.  The plan had been to create some more 'Alice' themed locomotives and rolling stock, but it's sadly on-hold with the present end of the world situation, as all the bits I'd gathered are in store away from the house.  The Jabberwock needs a bit of work to bring it up to scratch, it depends on if it's allowed to be a slightly odd shelf-queen on the mantlepiece or not whilst I build the railway for it to run on...