mullie Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Better still Mullie is the classic all timer "Yes, and this is the kitchen where the present owner has just forked out half a million on entire new units and a hay burner come fire hazard - but, you could rip it all out and have enough room for Harrolds wine making " - Yo ! And, as we speak, there's an episode showing right now where I've just heard the Mr and Mrs false money laugh where the equally naff presenter has just said " Well, there it is, our mystery house. It's got 50 bedrooms, 90 holiday lets and its own mountain range all for one million under budget. So what do you think ( guys ) ? "Hmm" said Mrs Naff as she shuffled in her horsey green wellies then turned to her husband leaning dangerously on a crippling lunch of game pie and a bottle or three of claret." Well, we really were looking for a house wth a family bathroom so maybe we could knock 'em down another mil or two eh preciousness ? " Just seen the mystery house - a two up, two down, but hey ! It has got a FAMILY BATHROOM - YAY !! Reminder to self: don't post after I've been to the pub!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Better still Mullie is the classic all timer "Yes, and this is the kitchen where the present owner has just forked out half a million on entire new units and a hay burner come fire hazard - but, you could rip it all out and have enough room for Harrolds wine making " - Yo ! And, as we speak, there's an episode showing right now where I've just heard the Mr and Mrs false money laugh where the equally naff presenter has just said " Well, there it is, our mystery house. It's got 50 bedrooms, 90 holiday lets and its own mountain range all for one million under budget. So what do you think ( guys ) ? "Hmm" said Mrs Naff as she shuffled in her horsey green wellies then turned to her husband leaning dangerously on a crippling lunch of game pie and a bottle or three of claret." Well, we really were looking for a house wth a family bathroom so maybe we could knock 'em down another mil or two eh preciousness ? " Just seen the mystery house - a two up, two down, but hey ! It has got a FAMILY BATHROOM - YAY !! Reminder to self: don't post after I've been to the pub!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
signalmaintainer Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Mr. Robinson probably is laying out the styrene for a 7mm model of said house even at this moment. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&WR Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Allan said: "This is looking less and less like Watlington station every day !" Watlington as it should have been if the Grim, Wet and Rusty had had an Allan Downes instead of that Brunel fella? Just found another interesting building from Watlington in the form of Watlington Town and Market Hall. Worthy of the Downes touch? 535px-Watlington_townhall1.jpg Picture from Wikipedia released under Creative Commons Licence into public domain. I used to drive pat that every day on the way to work & have considered building it. There's a great folly-style gatehouse thing with crenelations further along the road I'm also tempted by. I settled for doing a long strip of flint-infilled brick wall instead, it was easier... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 WATLINGTON STATION. This little pocket sized station came out better than I thought it would - I always believed that for a model to have any impact it had to to have size and presence and Watlington, and as twee as it is, certainly has very little of that but makes up for it in so many other ways and none less so than by promoting a few "Ah's, bless it " as the way the wifey expressed her approval when she saw the finished model! Anyway, little Watlington, all finished. Cheers. Allan. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobhead Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Lovely work, Allan! The combination of stone and wood is very pleasing to the eye. Regards, Stefan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Another candidate for 'Escape to the Country.' Someone looking to retire in Minehead but shown a former railway station because it was within budget in 2008! Great work as usual. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 (edited) As heard on a recent episode of Escape to the country. Mrs well loaded Naff to presenter. " And not only has it got a family bathroom - we just had an ordinary bathroom you see and therefore the family couldn't use it and on saturdays we all got hosed down with the outside tap - but just look at that view and those magnificent hills !" "Yes" butted in the presenbter dead on cue and wanting his BBC pint and a pie " They're the Pennines and they come with the property, cosy front room, AND the family bathroom. "Pennines did you say, what are they ?" then turning to Mr Naff who was preoccupied pacing out the veggie patch the size of Kew Gedens " Well I never, look Harrold, our own little hill " "But of course" piped in the presenter now on the verge of starvation " You will have to mow them and that won't be cheap " "Oh, that won't be a problem " said Mrs Naff conveniently tweed up for the occasion " Grandma will take care of that, she's the one with all the money - you see she was a fence and owned Big Mary's Tart Shop in Bradford - totally loaded..." At which point I couldn't stand no more and puked outside the non family bathroom, and not in it, for obvious reasons. Edited July 26, 2014 by allan downes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Your knowledge of the programme is scarily good!!! Have you also seen 'Fantasy homes by the sea,' a programme also watched in our house where people travel round Britain and sunny parts of Europe looking at houses that don't really exist! Wish I could get a job like that!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 Yes Mullie, and one particular episode that comes to mind is where a sun seeking couple, Mr and Missus U V Ray, bought a disposable income Spanish Villa that three weeks after moving in, the Spanish transport department and descendants of all that got blown to hell in the Spanish Armada, built a ten lane motorway through their front room with a truck stop and whore house in the back garden. They're now back in England looking for a family bathroom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 26, 2014 Author Share Posted July 26, 2014 MORTONHAMPSTEAD ENGINE SHED. Second attempt this month !! Marking out the arched courses. Gable end in base colour. Talcum powder 'mortar' joint rubbed in between the stonework. After treatment with morter colouring - Colron light english oak wood dye. Two gables completed. Cheers. Allan 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 MORTONHAMPSTEAD ENGINE SHED. The side walls. There's no suitable commercial windows available for this so it was all down to the old methods of cut, hack, and hope ! Here then, marking out the windows apertures and arched coursing. Arched courses and cills cut out, reversed, and fitted. Wall talced and coloured. Window units cut out of styrene, coloured and fitted. There's only two visible on the rail side of the shed as the attached signal box, a redeeming feature of the Mortonhampstead engine shed, was nailed on to the side as a king of GWR afterthought but adds to the character. Cheers. Allan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 .A few hours later.and all boxed up - Yay ! Cheers. Allan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted July 27, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 27, 2014 Allan, do you cut the arches in the Wills sheet freehand, just using the Stanley knife? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 Allan, do you cut the arches in the Wills sheet freehand, just using the Stanley knife? Hi Stubby. What I use is a pair of good quality dividers where I keep turning them until they've almost cut through the material then finish off with the stanley knife. If it's a very small arch I then pierce it out as opposed to direct cutting then clean up with sandpaper. On larger arches, such as those above the front and back doors, I first mark them in with the dividers then go at it with the Stanley knife where cutting a larger arc is far easier than trying to negotiate a much smaller one. Cheers. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 MORTONHAMPSTEAD. THE SIGNAL BOX. This in fact was stuck to the sidewall of the engine shed much later and was built out of half timber and brick and not the way I've got it, built in stone to match everything else - as you do ! Regarding tiling a hipped roof I take copies/templates of the sub roof before gluing it down permanantly as it's far easier to tile roof sections flat down on the table. Cheers. Allan 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Funny, I thought you were retired yet you appear to never take a day off!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) When you retire Mullie you do one or two things. Build signal boxes or watch Escape To The Country. Today we had an excessively naff couple where the equaly excessively naff presenter took them around a top floor flat in Windsor where Mrs Naff asked what the building was at the end of the vegetable plot "Oh that " gushed the presenter "That's a folly and goes with the flat - it used to be Windsor Castle but the owner couldn't afford the bedroom tax " "Hmm" hmmed Mrs mega Naff " All that AND a family bathroom. Who do we make the cheque out to?" " Liz, she now lives in the flat below" advised the presenter as he tried to position himself so that Mrs Naff wouldn't notce the hole in his left sock and the total absence of a sock altogether on his right. " I see " beamed Mrs Naff as she scrambled in her handbag looking for her purse and a darning needle but remembered that Harold had borrowed it to buy some cabbage seeds that were on special offer at Morrinsons and not on offer at all at Asda " Who she then ? enquired Madame naff wondering where she could lay her hands on a cheap tiara just in case it was the Liz she was thinking it was. "Dunno" came the thick and uninformed answer "But we do belive she's also got a niffty pad in SW 1 and a trendy castle or two and if you're interested, she's open to offers " "All with family bathrooms I persume ?" chirped in Mrs grand Naff " We'll take all she's got - when Harrold returns from bloody Morrisons with my purse that is " Bxxxer the signal boxes, can't wait 'till tomorrows episode. Edited July 28, 2014 by allan downes Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Funny, I thought you were retired yet you appear to never take a day off!!! "Old modellers never die - They stanleyblade away." Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Popplewell Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) "Old modellers never die - They stanleyblade away." "Old modellers never die - They draperblade away." They keep on cutting forever and are recommended by Allan, and he should know, he's one of the best and possibly oldest modellers around. Mind you Bluebottle, as an allegory for fading away perhaps the stanley blade is perfect, and certainly from a poetical standpoint seems to scan much better than "draperblade away",I'm not quite sure why. Edited July 29, 2014 by iainp Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) ..... Allan, and he should know, he's one of the best and possibly oldest modellers around. Well, you got the second part right ! Cheers. Allan Edited July 29, 2014 by allan downes 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 MORETONHAMPSTEAD ENGINE SHED. The smoke vent. The easiest way to make the louvered slats I have always found is to chop up Slaters station fencing into the appropriate size. Of course, it's nor politically correct for the slats should be mounted edgeways on and at a falling angle, but hey, it looks OK don it bro's ?! Anyway it'll be alright on the night and here's how it was made and how it looks mounted atop the roof. Cheers. Allan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythocentric Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 'Maverick' Downes Strikes Again! A nice bit of lateral thinking there Boss! Though I trust that you used Slater's GWR station fencing? We don't want to have to be fighting off the rivet-counters with their overheated adenoid's because you did a naughty do we? Regards Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 In an effort I suppose to reduce congestion on British roads, it's just been announced on the radio that in january they are going to begin tests -in London???? !!!!! - on driverless cars. Well, I've got a better idea. Carless drivers. Your very own minister of transport and driver of 5 litres of unadulterated pollution. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 In an effort I suppose to reduce congestion on British roads, it's just been announced on the radio that in january they are going to begin tests -in London???? !!!!! - on driverless cars. Well, I've got a better idea. Carless drivers. Your very own minister of transport and driver of 5 litres of unadulterated pollution. Allan New excuse for being late for work: my car went without me!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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