"Anything You Can do, I Can Do Better ! Robinson and Downes.

[HeatonLodge40]

I hope Allan’s son Shane doesn’t mind me announcing on here that Allan very sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning after a battle with cancer.

 

In typical fashion I know the reason for all the many recent posts Allan uploaded on this thread was solely to pass as much information and inspiration on to all his fellow modellers before the inevitable happened. So lets try and keep this thread going in his memory?

 

A real maestro of master model craftsman since the early ‘70’s Allan was up there with the very best of them..there’s still some of us who remember his ‘Downesplans’ published by Peco way back.

On top of that he was an all round great guy with a fantastic sense of humour and an inspiration to all of us. His willingness to guide me and try and pass on his skills I’ll never forget.

I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say he’ll always be remembered with affection and our thoughts are with Sylvia his wife and his family.

Rest in peace old mate.

 

Simon

[russ p]

That is so sad, the world of model buildings has lost one of if not the all time great.

I did wonder when Allan was posting a lot of photographs if he wasn't well

Thoughts to all his family at this extremely sad time, rest in peace Allan

[sp1]

That is very sad news - that you for letting us know. Allan has been part of my modelling since the 1970s - I have his Downes Plans books and still have some models I built from these. I even have some ‘Downes Glaze’ that I have never used.

RIP Allan

[monkeysarefun]

Thats a total bummer. Waiting for the Railway Modeller to arrive down here each month so I could read Allans latest article is one of my treasured memories of growing up in the '70's... 

Edited August 2, 2018 by monkeysarefun

[bgman]

RIP Allan and thank you.

 

My heartfelt condolences to his family.

 

Grahame

[KNP]

Very sad news and a great loss.

My thoughts and condolences to his family.

RIP

[westerhamstation]

What a loss R.I.P condolences to his family and many friends.

[aberdare]

A sad loss indeed, Allan gave me lots of encouragement in my work and always said he would visit one day, sadly that will never be, a great loss to us all.

 

RIP Allan and thoughts and condolences to his family and friends.

 

Jim

[Mikkel]

Very sad news. I didn't know Allan but his buildings and humour on this thread always inspired and lifted the spirits.

 

My condolences to Allan's family. 

[shortliner]

The world of Building Modelling has just lost its premier exponenent to that filthy disease - very sad indeed. Sincere condolences to Allan's family. RIP Allan

Edited August 3, 2018 by shortliner

[RJS1977]

.. Allan - did you ever make anything that went badly wrong?

 

Other than the windmill that wound up looking like "a cross between a Dalek and a helicopter", or the time he attempted to bake a Pyruma-coated building in the oven. The building caught fire, so he tried smothering the fire with a teatowel (which also caught fire!) and ended up dumping both the building and teatowel in the dustbin, which caught fire as well!

 

Allan's unique blend of exquisite model making and hilarious storytelling will be greatly missed.

[Andy Hayter]

What an inspiration he has been

 

RIP Allan

Edited August 3, 2018 by Andy Hayter

[Tony Teague]

I'm sure that Allan inspired many of us - me included - a massive loss to the world of model railways.

 

I hope that in due course someone will pick up the suggestion made here quite recently and produce an illustrated book of "The Buildings of Allan Downes" - I'd buy it immediately.

 

RIP Allan.

[New Haven Neil]

     

[DaveF]

Very sad news.  Allan was a real inspiration to modellers.

 

David

[Guest CLARENCE]

He will be missed, not only as a wonderful model maker, but an inspiration to all of us.

[Andy Y]

I hope Allan’s son Shane doesn’t mind me announcing on here that Allan very sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning after a battle with cancer.

 

 

I'm sorry I missed this yesterday.

 

Allan was certainly a character and my condolences to Shane, the family and Allan's friends.

 

An astonishingly prolific and talented modeller, not a bad musician by all accounts too. He certainly entertained many modellers with his contributions here and in the magazines and left his mark on the hobby.

[eastwestdivide]

Judging by the posts on this page alone, I think we can safely say he contributed to the sum of human happiness. 

[BlackRat]

As a young modeller back in the 70's, Pipers Mead became my inspiration.

 

Looked forward every month to Allan's articles, and still have them now well over 40 years later.

 

Luckily I was able to meet the great man at one of the Cardiff Shows in Sophia Gardens and had a great weekend exhibiting with the Cardiff 4 mm group and drinking beer.

 

Through the Internet and this site, I was able to communicate frequently with Allan, and although we haven't met since Cardiff, I regarded him as a sort of cyber buddy.

 

I know how ill he has been and despite that he has continued to try and inspire us all to the end.

 

The great man is at peace now, and I hope his family find comfort in that fact and how he has touched so many lives.

 

To this then 10 year old......Rest In Peace.....Legend!

Edited August 3, 2018 by BlackRat

[dibber25]

Oh, gosh! What can I say. I've only just picked up on this post.

The world of railway modelling has lost one of its 'greats'. I was fascinated by Allan's model-making from the days when he first started submitting to Model Railway Constructor, back in Steve Stratten's time in the 1970s. In those days his unique method used fire-clay cement for stonework but there were still those wonderfully detailed watermills. Later came the magnificent cathedral, its rose window made from the lid of a margarine tub. Like most great artists, Allan had his ups and downs and would 'disappear' from the scene - sometimes for several years - and then pop up again with something sensational. 

I had the great pleasure of hosting one of his returns, when he approached me as Editor of Model Rail and wanted to show off some of his latest offerings. To give it a nice rural feel, I called the series 'The Downes Way'. I went two or three times to his home. I recall being squashed inside the door of his garage workshop while I held up a huge white back scene behind his model of Scunthorpe Steelworks. The inside of the garage was a dull-grey-brown colour from floor to ceiling where Allan had expended countless cans of red oxide and grey primer to get the effect he wanted. Much of the Steelworks was made from recycled odds and ends, bottles and cans, yet it looked exactly right. A few minutes later I managed to knock a fine white metal horse and cart off the front of his layout. It didn't stop him giving me a number of his buildings to sell for charity. I still have one or two of them, awaiting a suitable place to sell them for a sensible price. 

I couldn't resist buying his Tintagel Post Office, which is the only model I have in my sitting room. He gave me a massive wooden industrial structure - a North American Sawmill but the one Downes structure I've never owned was one of his cottages or domestic buildings, much as I would have liked to. Allan's modelling was quirky. He never finished bits that you wouldn't easily see. Tintagel PO, for instance, has no slates on the back part of its roof. On one subject we always disagreed. He never put any interior detail in any of his models and I tried to convince him that the addition of some simple curtains inside the windows would make a big difference. I never succeeded in persuading him. Perhaps he felt it would slow him down, and it was the speed at which he worked which gave his creations their character. 

He suffered a stroke some years ago, and it seemed that would be the end of his model-making but amazingly, aged 80, he made a remarkable come-back and his recent models, including those black and white half-timbered structures from Ludlow are surely some of his best. 

Allan was truly one of a kind. Artistic. Creative. Eccentric - certainly. I was told that he was banned from York racecourse after once driving his Landrover across the course to make a hasty exit from a show. For many years at Model Rail he has been known to us all simply as 'Downsie'. Successive Editors, and photographer Chris Nevard, were invited to his home to see his latest creations. He was always welcoming, jovial and friendly, and as the time came for us to go home, he would disappear upstairs, pick up his guitar and fill the house with Apache, sounding for all the World just like Hank Marvin. 

Sincere condolences to his wife and family. (CJL)

Here is Fairford in 7mm scale done the Downes way:

[Ian J.]

It sounds like we've lost a significant contributor to our hobby. I never knew Allan although I had seen his posts here. I have no doubt that in the future, if I actually get to build a model railway, that I'll be referencing articles and posts by him on model buildings and their construction.

 

R.I.P., and condolences to all who knew him.

[Steamport Southport]

I'm another one who grew up with these wonderful models. In the early days of colour in the modelling magazines it was often an Allan Downes model taking centre stage.

 

 

RIP Allan

 

 

 

Jason

[Captain Kernow]

What very sad news. I was also inspired by his work, especially when he was first published. His work, and his output, was astonishing and superb. My deepest condolences to his family and may he Rest In Peace.

[Andy Y]

Lovely post Chris.

 

He never finished bits that you wouldn't easily see. Tintagel PO, for instance, has no slates on the back part of its roof. 

 

He'll have got inside the pearly gates only to find there's no bricks on the inside of the wall. Having photographed several buildings Allan had modelled I'm sure he did it to confound snappers who want to stick cameras where the viewer can't normally get to.

[gwrrob]

 

An astonishingly prolific and talented modeller, not a bad musician by all accounts too. He certainly entertained many modellers with his contributions here and in the magazines and left his mark on the hobby.

 

An absolute 'great' in our hobby and perhaps when the time is right RMweb can have some sort of tribute to the very talented modeller.