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4mm Edwardian figures


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When I saw that Andrew had made some HO figures I wondered 'would they be suitable for smaller people' and now I know.

 

Thanks for posting up the pictures of the figures which look very good, at least now I know I can buy a set and not regret it and I do like to see a variation in height, the other information in your last post is also very useful, thanks.

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As mentioned previously on this thread I‘ve just created a small range of multi-part bantam sized loco crew for the steam age.  Here are a couple of photos of the first batch I’ve assembled and painted up.  I've added three of the Stadden 4mm figures to the group to show how they can be mixed in to give a realist grouping of different heights.

 

 

There are three bodies, four heads and three each of left and right arms, all different, so that about there are about fifty different useable combinations – and they fit better into the tight space of a footplate.

 

Contact me for a detailed flyer on these, price etc.:  kennclark@btinternet.com

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As mentioned previously on this thread I‘ve just created a small range of multi-part bantam sized loco crew for the steam age.  Here are a couple of photos of the first batch I’ve assembled and painted up.  I've added three of the Stadden 4mm figures to the group to show how they can be mixed in to give a realist grouping of different heights.

 

 

There are three bodies, four heads and three each of left and right arms, all different, so that about there are about fifty different useable combinations – and they fit better into the tight space of a footplate.

 

Contact me for a detailed flyer on these, price etc.:  kennclark@btinternet.com

 

They look very nice! Out of interest, what is the approximate height (either in model mm or scale ft/inches) of the figures?

 

Tony

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In H0 they are 5'8" and  5'7and a half".  In 4mm they are about 5' and 4'11".  Send me an email and I will send you 6 pages of details and photos, a couple of which show the figures beside Stadden 4mm ones.

 

Ken

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At the always excellent Epsom & Ewell show I picked up a second-hand Midland Record, and there was an article on Tom King's reminiscences as a driver around 1923, and he says:

"I remember a small gentleman called Tidman Masters, who carried the nickname 'The Mighty Atom'.  There were many small drivers on the L&NWR, apparently because the company preferred to take on as cleaners people who would be able to climb inside locomotive water tanks and clean them out. I remember that Tidman always carried a large wooden block around with him which he would place in the corner of the cab to enable him to look out of the spectacle glass.  This practice was quite common at Ryecroft shed, not just so that small drivers could see out, but also to enable them to reach the steam brake handle on goods engines, or the vacuum brake on passenger locomotives.  Often they used old wooden brake blocks, which were, apparently, fitted to many L&NWR engines so that the steel tyres on the wheels would not wear out or become flat."

 

Perhaps Ken could provide 4mm castings of brake blocks to convert the drivers from HO to OO?

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Wood brake blocks weren't only used by the LNWR, they were quite common amongst early railways. The were satisfactory at lower speeds and it was advent of increased speeds and higher weights that accelerated to move to cast iron.

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I had an email from Andrew Stadden this morning in which he told me:

 

'I have now started work on the next two sets of OO figures (Railway Staff/Workmen) and I will soon start posting photos of them on my website and facebook as the sculpts are completed. I will also convert the first two sets into seated figures.

 

All of these will also be available in HO scale.'

 

His website is: http://www.acstadden.co.uk

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I will be very interested to see what Andrew's second set of figures are like.  My own Bantams concentrate solely on loco crew but It is/was my intention if these sold well to do a further two bodies of station staff (jackets with collar and tie for one and waistcoat and shirt for the other), with a further three heads, two with station hat (one bearded), one bareheaded and some additional arms - pocket watch, short sleeved leaning and hanging loose.  This would then allow a pretty comprehensive range of possibilities for steam age railway staff.  Hopefully my figures will complement his - certainly they do at present.

 

"The Mighty Atom" - Is there a photo of this character?  As for brake blocks the only ones I have seen have been huge ones on photos of gunpowder wagons - Can't imagine even the Mighty Atom being able to lift one of these let alone carry one around with him.

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In respect of the different heights of people and (IMHO a good idea of..) mixing 3.5 and 4mm scale figures together, I'm reminded of a couple of instances where this seems to work (apart from Bernie Ecclestone stood between his Lawyers?).

1. Part of the history of Cornish Tin Mining that is related to visitors is that the low height of the tunnels created problems for new miners after WW1, as due to much better food in the Services (?) those who had served and servived WW1, on return to the mines found themselves much taller, they kept hitting their heads on the tunnel roofs.

2. Back in the 1960's, when I socialised in the New Forest area, myself at 5' 10" and my friends of a similar height, found when visiting 'country' pubs, that invariably all the locals did not even come up to the top of our shoulders, thus in a crowded pub, all we saw was a sea of caps around us, the advantage was the barman could see us easier....

 

Just a thought  :no:

Edited by Penlan
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In respect of the different heights of people and (IMHO a good idea of..) mixing 3.5 and 4mm scale figures together, I'm reminded of a couple of instances where this seems to work (apart from Bernie Ecclestone stood between his Lawyers?).

1. Part of the history of Cornish Tin Mining that is related to visitors is that the low height of the tunnels created problems for new miners after WW1, as due to much better food in the Services (?) those who had served and servived WW1, on return to the mines found themselves much taller, they kept hitting their heads on the tunnel roofs.

2. Back in the 1960's, when I socialised in the New Forest area, myself at 5' 10" and my friends of a similar height, found when visiting 'country' pubs, that invariably all the locals did not even come up to the top of our shoulders, thus in a crowded pub, all we saw was a sea of caps around us, the advantage was the barman could see us easier....

 

Just a thought  :no:

We're they drinking half pints as well ?

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In respect of the different heights of people and (IMHO a good idea of..) mixing 3.5 and 4mm scale figures together, I'm reminded of a couple of instances where this seems to work (apart from Bernie Ecclestone stood between his Lawyers?).

1. Part of the history of Cornish Tin Mining that is related to visitors is that the low height of the tunnels created problems for new miners after WW1, as due to much better food in the Services (?) those who had served and servived WW1, on return to the mines found themselves much taller, they kept hitting their heads on the tunnel roofs.

2. Back in the 1960's, when I socialised in the New Forest area, myself at 5' 10" and my friends of a similar height, found when visiting 'country' pubs, that invariably all the locals did not even come up to the top of our shoulders, thus in a crowded pub, all we saw was a sea of caps around us, the advantage was the barman could see us easier....

 

Just a thought  :no:

When doing my family research I have obtained the military records for my father and his uncle (my great uncle). My father who joined the territorial army in 1938 aged 19 his height was given as 5' 8", when he left the army in 1946 he was 5' 11". My great uncle was 5' 6" when he signed up in 1904 and had gained 2 inches before he was medically discharged in Feb 1914.

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Here is another of the wonderful Stadden figures I just took some photos of so he can go on my ebay store tonight.

 

Great fun to paint - I hope next time I paint him he chooses something else from his wardrobe other than these pinstriped trousers :-)

 

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Andrew C Stadden has put a photo of two new figures of railway workmen on his Facebook page.  This link is to his website, just click the Facebook link at the bottom.  They are of course up to his usual amazing standard.

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Thanks for that Chris. They look good.

 

I wonder if Andrew is working to a particular prototype uniform, or a generic style. The station master looks GWR'ish (http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveriesuniforms.html), although I was never sure whether there were one or two rows of buttons in the long coats at this time. The second row can easily be painted over, anyway! 

 

I expect that the top hat gentleman is an inspector of sorts, as by the Edwardian period I don't think station masters wore top hats anymore?

 

(edited to add "long" coats)

Edited by Mikkel
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Thanks for that Chris. They look good.

 

I wonder if Andrew is working to a particular prototype uniform, or a generic style. The station master looks GWR'ish (http://www.gwr.org.uk/liveriesuniforms.html), although I was never sure whether there were one or two rows of buttons in the long coats at this time. The second row can easily be painted over, anyway! 

 

I expect that the top hat gentleman is an inspector of sorts, as by the Edwardian period I don't think station masters wore top hats anymore?

 

(edited to add "long" coats)

 

Mikkel,

Yes I wondered about that one.  I am not an expert although in all the photos of the Cambrian I have seen I do not believe I have seen any top hats.  (The next picture I see will have one.)

 

It may be if it was a posh or important station then top hats would have still been worn.  if the worst comes t the worst then he can be just another figure.

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Top hats were the norm for station masters (agents) on the GNSR, certainly

 

I see that the second figure is wearing a kepi (if I've interpreted the photo correctly).  As I understand it the kepi was the hat of choice during the Victorian era on the railways but on the accession of her son he quickly changed the headgear of the military to the flat hat that was the norm through WW1 and which originated in the German militia cap of the Napoleonic Wars and became the student cap of Russia.  The railway companies very quickly followed suit, some replacing their kepis by 1903 and the rest very soon after, certainly by 1914.  If all the Stadden figures are going to be wearing kepis then they are going to be fine for the Victorian era but for only a very short period of the Edwardian one.  My own Bantam loco crew, by contrast, have flat hats or caps/bunnets which allows them to be used right through the grouping to BR days.  So check the contemporary railway staff photos for your layout period.

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I am sure Station Masters at very important stations had top hats for special occasions until much more recently. If we have a model of a young Queen Elizabeth we can use the top hatted gentlemen if we fancy modelling model Liverpool Street - but we will also need some corgis!

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I have just had an email from Andrew who says:

 

Unfortunately progress has been slow on these figures. As before I have had a load of commissioned work to get through, which is good for me but makes it difficult to progress with my own ranges of figures.

Anyway, I attach an image of the first station staff (which you may have seen before). Also rough versions of the seated figures (HO and OO) which I will cast out and turn into two full sets of ten figures.

 

If you have seen the figures he has already produced, you will know that these will be worth waiting for.

 

 

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A C Stadden has just announced on his Facebook page that he has completed his sitting down figures.

 

10665885_354997544668048_546503365504512

 

 

The trick will be to either paint them exactly the same so you can follow one person across the layout or else paint them so differently they do not appear the same.

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