MRJ 261

[Captain Kernow]

Nobody seems to have a problem swooning over the latest RTR yet getting someone else to build models seems to be looked down on in some quarters. As long as the article is written by the person who built the model or acknowledges it was built by someone else does it really matter?

 

Good modelling is good modelling regardless.

 

The articles does not go into the intricacies of how the model was built? Anytime they do, we read complaints that not everybody has a lathe, mill and all the other sundries. Dammed if they do, dammed if they don't

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

 

Craig W

Been trying to put my finger on this. I think it might boil down to what we can and can't relate to.

 

I can relate to someone who is a gifted 'all rounder' I think. Someone who does everything themselves and does it well. That Standard tank, lovely though it is, isn't in any way representative of what most of us can even aspire to, let alone achieve by our own efforts. It's been through the hands of three professionals and must consequently have cost the lucky owner a small fortune.

 

I find it much easier to relate to the lovely Fowler tank on another page, the work of just one talented modeller, Karl Crowther.

[dibateg]

Well, I suppose I ought to say something..

 

I've kit built locos most of my life, and ended up doing to earn an income after being made redundant. I decided that I didn't want to work for a company again and would be self employed. I was lucky to get an opportunity to work on model railways as my main job. I wondered how that would affect my enthusiasm, but I am still just as obsessed as before.

In a way I think we are all cheque book modellers to a degree - I have had locos built for me - I've bought second hand stock, I buy made up lengths of track. Nearly everything we buy was made by somebody else - even if it is kit. I just buy what I need/want and enjoy it.

It is very fulfilling to build up quality kits such as the MOK range, I'm lucky enough to have built half a dozen or so, they are a joy to build. 80016 reflects more the quality of the kit more than my skills, although I'm not saying it is an easy build - you have to know your metal bashing to get a good result. I have to admit - this is one model I would like to have hung on to. Having said that, I've had to tackle some real 'ringers', that's where the experience comes in.

 

I'm not a model engineer - just an experienced kit builder. I do have a lathe that gets used once in a blue moon. Years ago, I never thought that my work would end up in the MRJ,I didn't think that I could reach those dizzy height's.  I'm lucky to have a job I enjoy and I get to work when I want to! There is pleasure in building models, and in owning them - even if they were build by someone else. Hopefully my work gets to inspire and encourage others.

 

There is room for everyone.

Regards

Tony

[Craigw]

Tony,

 

I enjoy seeing good modelling - whatever the origins. I appreciate that something done by one person may feel more accessible to people - but we all have our strengths which is the reason there are full time painters  and people who weather models full time too.

 

MRJ has always had access to some seriously top shelf stuff and I happen to think that is a good thing myself.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

[Andrew Young]

Picked up a copy of MRJ 261 yesterday and have read most of it, plenty to inspire a bodger like myself!!

 

For me, I’ve no objection to people being paid to build models, to be a professional model maker you have to be good at it and MRJ is about showcasing fine modelling. Most of us have bought something we’ve not lavishly fettled from the bare materials at some stage or another, I know I have.

 

I’ll admit to drooling over the photo of 80016 and even my missus was impressed. The combination of an excellent kit (wish they were all like that!) built and finished by some of the best modellers in their fields. The only thing that shouted out that it wasn’t the real Loco was that the hex screw centres on the wheels hadn’t been filled. But then the exquisite lining and detail soon drew the eye elsewhere.

 

One day, I hope that my modelling skills develop sufficiently to tackle and complete an MOK kit to a good standard. Still a little way to go, but that photo is definitely an inspiration to get back to the modelling bench and crack on with some modelling to develop my skills.

 

Andrew

[Compound2632]

Well, even in this heavily Great Western-oriented issue, discussion is focusing on the non-Great Western items!

 

I'm looking again at the photo Tony's standard tank and find myself thinking that Paul Karau has slipped up for once - this really should have been on the centre-fold pages. In my copy, the LH and RH sides of the photo are out of kilter by about 1 mm.  

[Zero Gravitas]

For me, one of the great things about MRJ is that it has been both aspirational and inspirational - I’ve seen fantastic modelling in it, and I’ve tried to get my models to look more like the ones that I’ve seen. As such, it doesn’t matter to me that the modelling was the work of one person of several.

 

And, to offer a different perspective, many really good layouts are club layouts, which are de facto the creation of a group of people. What’s the real difference between a complete layout and single piece of rolling stock, when it comes to the nature of their creation?

 

Just because I can’t do it myself, doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it.

[Zero Gravitas]

I'm looking again at the photo Tony's standard tank and find myself thinking that Paul Karau has slipped up for once - this really should have been on the centre-fold pages. In my copy, the LH and RH sides of the photo are out of kilter by about 1 mm.

 

A centre-fold with staples? Exactly what kind of magazine are we talking about here?...

[Brinkly]

I really enjoyed this issue. The piece on Churchston provides me with hope for my own project! Robert's article on the older GWR autocoaches was also very interesting and shows how RTR items (in the form of Bachmann's 64xx) paired with high-quality kits can work so well: very enjoyable all in all.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[Compound2632]

A centre-fold with staples? Exactly what kind of magazine are we talking about here?...

 

In the dim and distant past, MRJ did once or twice include a loose folded A3 spread of a single photo, which one could mount (well, I did) without dismembering the magazine. The one I have in mind was a view of a bridge on Bramblewick.

[Mark]

I've had a fairly good look through it now and it's another excellent issue. For me, the most useful article is that by Gerry Beale himself on the conversion of the new Hornby Toad, something I'm planning on doing fairly soon myself, albeit a straightforward (I hope) conversion to P4. Putting P4 wheels on the RTR axles is something I've done before, so hopefully there is sufficient room for P4 wheelsets as well.

 

I can attest to the fact that Simon's Toad is a work of art, having seen it in the flesh, albeit I don't think he had weathered it by then. He's also made a jolly good job of a BR Standard brake van in the same scale, although I think that one was a kit, but very well done nonetheless. The research trip to the Forest of Dean is even mentioned.

 

Possibly the least relevant article for me is that on the GWR smokebox doors, which is slightly ironic, as I have always had a bit of a 'thing' about them myself. My interest in the subject stemmed originally from wanting to make a better job than the old K's whitemetal casting of long ago. My solution to that was a turned brass smokebox door (either bought or done for me by someone expert with a lathe) and then rather low-tec door fittings done by me. The result was a lot better than the K's cast version, if I say so myself, but probably wouldn't bear close scrutiny under a microscope.

 

I do admire (and, if truth be told, am more than a little intimidated by) the engineering involved on Mark Humphry's pieces, but I will never own, let alone be able to operate, engineering machinery of that nature.

 

The thought that the smokebox doors supplied by the exaulted likes of Finney and Mitchell are not good enough, rather astounds me, but I am happy to respect the fact that they don't 'cut it' for Mark. Let's put it this way, if he ever supplies his own smokebox doors commercially, I'd be happy to buy some from him!

 

I think I will try and put the article in context a little!

 

I first became aware of MRJ around thirty years ago and in those days I was in total awe of the work by the likes of John Hayes and many others along with the inspirational writings of Ian Rice in the various Wild Swan modelling publications that were coming out back then.

 

At the time I was in the middle of my first Engineering degree course before starting work. My modelling in those days was limited to making things from plasti-card or plastic kits and I had just started to buy Comet Coach Sides to make my scratch built Great Western coach building attempts quicker as I had never achieved satisfactory results trying to form coach tumblehomes from Styrene despite trying several different methods, all with their individual disadvantages. The first being a Sunshine Stock Corridor first circa 1986 comprising scratch built plastic bogies,  scratch built plastic roof, scratch built plastic chassis and interior. I had no machine tools other than a Stanley Knife and a ruler and in those days very little money. I think the whole cost of the coach was around £5 including sides, wheels, buffers and roof vents. I sold this one on Ebay over ten years ago to make way for a better replacement in the future.

 

At around this time the Mitchell/Finney/Brassmasters etched brass loco kits were starting to appear and so when I started work in 1990, the first month's pay went on a Brewster's Soldering Iron and a pre formed Pro-Scale Saint. Total disaster! The kit was pretty well unbuildable and in those days I didn't know of the existence of anything other than resin cored solder! I also vowed never to buy anything pre-formed again since the parts were all bent in the wrong places!

 

However I still wanted to carry on so I purchased a Mitchell 45xx having been inspired the June 1988 Railway Modeller Review where the etches were entirely flat. Even looking at the etches I could see the difference in quality. I had some experience of forming brass from forming the tumblehome on Craftsman DMU sides and Comet Coach Sides over radiators but forming a Firebox and tapered boiler was a bit more daunting. Even so, I had a go and although it wasn't perfect it certainly wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. I also had to learn the whole philosophy behind compensated Chassis. I was still working in OO in those days but I thought it was still worth trying compensation purely on the grounds of improved electrical pick up.

 

This kit got a lot further before being abandoned (I messed up the bunker area!) and I discovered proper solder, flux and glass fibre burnishing brushes in the process and a lot about soldering! The next attempt at the same kit was successful and resulted in a running loco although it still took me a long time to get there.

 

At this time I had entered into the design function at work and was gaining experience of creating parts using 3D Cadds Software. I very quickly recognised the modelling potential in this especially as I had seen my designs being printed out on an early 3D printer (Circa 1994). So I bought my first PC and tried to get a Cadds package that was as powerful as the one we had at work. No chance! I ended up with a package called Drafix Windows Cadd, which could only just about manage to do 2D work but I did get to grips with it.

 

I joined the Scalefour Society by accident in 1992 when the Bristol group had their AGM in Bristol and advertised free entry in MRJ. In the event it only free to S4 society members, but I decided to join and shortly afterwards I purchased a Finney 28xx to build in P4 with working inside valve gear. This one took about three years to complete and it sort of worked until I joined the Bristol Area Group around 1995 and tested it on Whitchurch and later Aberhafron. It couldn 't pull the skin off a rice pudding and wouldn't go round the sharp curves on Whitchurch, so I rebuilt it with a new motor and gearbox combination to get more lead in the boiler than the Portescap motor gearbox combination allowed.

 

On the strength of this 28xx embarrassment, I built a small test Layout (Chagford Road) to debug locos as they were being built in future! 

 

In 2000 I was persuaded to buy a Unimat Lathe by a Bristol Area Group member and proceeded to Scratch build a Hall. This was done as a project to experiment with Tender Drive, split axle pick up and sprung chassis and I didn't want to risk a Finney Kit on the exercise so it gave me a chance to play with the lathe. The sheet metal parts and rivet detail were drawn on my 2D cadds package and printed on paper. I then glued the paper onto some brass sheet using Pritt Stick and used the paper templates as a guide to score lines on the metal with a Stanley Knife and a GW models Rivet Press to Emboss the Rivets. The lathe was used to make all the turned parts. Mostly by Trial and Error. I had several goes before I got it right. This loco ended up winning the Novice Award in 2002 at Scaleforum, not because it was anything brilliant in my opinion. It was the only entrant!

 

Around sixteen years ago I started to develop a kit for a Western and the difficulty came from doing the body. I bought a decent 3D solid modelling package for this and a PC capable of running it, so I created the entire loco in 3D with the intention of creating a resin body. I tried a number of approaches to make the pattern for this. One was to create a set of etches, but it was difficult to get the final shape correct. So I looked at 3D printing the master pattern. I found a company who claimed they could grow the body in 1thou steps in the 'Z' (vertical) direction, which seemed ideal. However in the event the process they used caused large steps in the XY plane. It also came out 2mm too long!

 

I had already spent quite a lot of money at this stage on the body and I thought trying the 3D print route again would just be throwing good money after bad as the technology at that stage was still very much in its infancy, so I looked at other ways. The way that seemed the most attractive was to buy a CNC milling machine and make my own master pattern. The logic being that once I had made the initial investment irrespective whether the Western was successful or not, I would still have the machine at the end of it and not a large pile of unuseable 3D prints. I had no knowledge of CNC machining or 'G' Code so had to teach myself everything from scratch and make lots of mistakes in the process.

 

Over the years, I have found numerous things I can use the CNC machine for, although it is not as simple as turning it on and walking away, but once a programme is written, it can be used as many times as I like.

 

More recently I bought a bigger lathe to overcome some of the size limitations associated with the Unimat lathe. Both the new machine and the CNC machine were used to make the smoke box doors described in the article.

 

I don't claim to have any exceptional Engineering Skills. I am by trade a Stress Engineer, which means I spend my time doing calculations and analytical models to assess the mechanical integrity of aircraft engine components to make sure they meet life and strength requirements.

 

All of my limited modelling knowledge has been achieved by being inspired by the work of others and a stubborn reluctance to accept defeat and keep trying until I get the result I want. I have learnt a lot over the years because I have worked on the basis of self reliance rather than demanding others to tell me how to do things. that doesn't mean I am reluctant to seek advice, but I like to have a go first because then I can ask more intelligent questions based on the mistakes I may have made. Making mistakes and learning from them is the best way to improve in my experience.

 

So in summary, I guess the article is really aimed at those who, like me, are inspired to go the extra mile in pursuit of achieving their goals and to show that with modern technology the scope of practicality is a great deal broader than it was in years gone by. I realise that not everybody is interested in this type of modelling, but that if it inspires some people to have a go then it will have served its purpose particularly in this era of instant gratification.

 

Finally a few years ago Malcolm Mitchell wrote an article in MRJ where he described throwing the castings away from a 45xx kit on the basis that machined parts looked a lot crisper. My article is really about upgrading parts that were state of the art 20+ years ago and having a Great Western King with nicely polished smoke box door hinges properly bevelled has to be worth it to some of us!

 

Sorry to bore with this, but I felt it was worth pointing out that I don't have any special engineering skills or training with machine tools. I just see them as a means to achieve my modelling aims. I am sure a skilled machinist would be horrified by some of the things I do, but they work for me!

 

Regards

 

Mark Humphrys

[Zero Gravitas]

In the dim and distant past, MRJ did once or twice include a loose folded A3 spread of a single photo, which one could mount (well, I did) without dismembering the magazine. The one I have in mind was a view of a bridge on Bramblewick.

Yes - and the “Hurley” poster, with its caption “this is a model railway”... (Mr. Welch again...)

[Glover]

Mark ( Humphrys),

I have just one problem with your post: it should be an article in MRJ!

 

It is very interesting to hear a top class modeller talk about his journey to higher standards.

You've certainly progressed much further than I suspect most of us but your achievements do act as inspiration to those 'hammer & chisel' modellers like me.

 

Cheers,

 

Glover

[Siberian Snooper]

It's a pity the Auto coach article wasn't a bit more in depth, but the the author didn't build them. I have a Q & R to build from the Worsley Works etches.

[Not Jeremy]

I think I will try and put the article in context a little!

 

I first became aware of MRJ around thirty years ago and in those days I was in total awe of the work by the likes of John Hayes and many others along with the inspirational writings of Ian Rice in the various Wild Swan modelling publications that were coming out back then.....

 

.....Sorry to bore with this, but I felt it was worth pointing out that I don't have any special engineering skills or training with machine tools. I just see them as a means to achieve my modelling aims. I am sure a skilled machinist would be horrified by some of the things I do, but they work for me!

 

Regards

 

Mark Humphrys

 

 

Mark

 

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to talk us through your journey.

 

Article or not, you have just treated us to what is quite possibly the most erudite, balanced and interesting post that anyone has ever made (or ever will make) on an RMweb MRJ thread.

 

For which I thank you very much.

 

For what it's worth, I suspect it is the not giving up, throwing away and starting again and thinking through alternative possibilities that have got you to where you are now in modelling terms, rather than having something that others of us do not. I can think of several other friends and modellers who have achieved much with this sort of approach, which is what I am trying to do in my bumbling journey through the world of small trains.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to set out your thoughts and sharing them with us all.

 

Simon

[Captain Kernow]

I felt it was worth pointing out that I don't have any special engineering skills or training with machine tools. I just see them as a means to achieve my modelling aims. I am sure a skilled machinist would be horrified by some of the things I do, but they work for me!

 

Thanks also from me for the interesting background information, Mark.

 

Your modesty does you credit, but I am sure that most of us would nevertheless put you firmly in the 'very skilled' category!

 

Your work is always of the highest quality, surpassed perhaps only by your extremely high standards and determination to achieve the very best. If that constitutes 'being inspirational', then so be it.

 

I am extremely happy that this approach works for you and the results definitely speak for themselves.

 

The point I was trying rather clumsily to make was not that your work isn't inspirational, but that the use of such technology and advanced model engineering equipment isn't going to be possible for everyone, and I have to include myself in that. It doesn't mean that I or others don't want to hear about your work or that we don't marvel at your results. I wouldn't presume to speak for anyone other than myself, though, when I say that I can see no possible chance or opportunity for me personally to get to grips with the kind of CAD technology or engineering machinery that you have (so ably) trained yourself to use.

 

As such, I personally have to set my sights somewhat lower, but it doesn't mean that I don't want to see what others are achieving, in the pages of MRJ or elsewhere.

[Captain Kernow]

I've kit built locos most of my life, and ended up doing to earn an income after being made redundant. I decided that I didn't want to work for a company again and would be self employed. I was lucky to get an opportunity to work on model railways as my main job. I wondered how that would affect my enthusiasm, but I am still just as obsessed as before.

In a way I think we are all cheque book modellers to a degree - I have had locos built for me - I've bought second hand stock, I buy made up lengths of track. Nearly everything we buy was made by somebody else - even if it is kit. I just buy what I need/want and enjoy it.

It is very fulfilling to build up quality kits such as the MOK range, I'm lucky enough to have built half a dozen or so, they are a joy to build. 80016 reflects more the quality of the kit more than my skills, although I'm not saying it is an easy build - you have to know your metal bashing to get a good result. I have to admit - this is one model I would like to have hung on to. Having said that, I've had to tackle some real 'ringers', that's where the experience comes in.

 

I'm not a model engineer - just an experienced kit builder. I do have a lathe that gets used once in a blue moon. Years ago, I never thought that my work would end up in the MRJ,I didn't think that I could reach those dizzy height's.  I'm lucky to have a job I enjoy and I get to work when I want to! There is pleasure in building models, and in owning them - even if they were build by someone else. Hopefully my work gets to inspire and encourage others.

 

I didn't realise you were the builder of that lovely 2-6-4T, but well done indeed, it is most lovely. I appreciate that you didn't paint it and that someone else (Martyn Welch) weathered it, but it is indeed a real beauty.

 

I'm interested to see that you say you now make a living from building kits, although I must wonder that some potential customers may have expectations about the cost (to them) that are totally unrealistic, if you are to be able to feed your family and pay the mortgage. No doubt the more kits you build and the more experience you acquire, then the quicker it becomes to complete something, whilst at the same time maintaining (or improving) quality to the end customer.

 

I have dabbled in my time, initially when at university and then for a few years subsequently, building 4mm kits for a model shop, but the renumeration was absolutely lousy. When I was a student, I did do it for the money, as any meagre additional income was welcome, but as the years went by, I did it mostly for the pleasure of it and the experience it gave. One reason I stopped doing it was the realisation that I had very little modelling output for my own use over that 9 or 10 year period. I certainly couldn't have made a living from it during that time.

 

I hope the realisation on RMWeb that you have been responsible for that lovely item might bring you further offers of work. As you know, one does sometimes see people posting on this forum, enquiring whether anyone knows the details of a good kit builder.

[Not Jeremy]

Tim, I think you really are selling yourself short when you say

 

 

 

As such, I personally have to set my sights somewhat lower, but it doesn't mean that I don't want to see what others are achieving, in the pages of MRJ or elsewhere.

 

None of us (well there might be a very few) are good at everything, so in the context of yourself and Mark I might observe that you have created some beautiful and completed model railways, which objective I think I am right in saying Mark is still working towards (Chagford Road excepted, which I liked a lot)

 

And actually it was you I had in mind when I was thinking about what Mark had said, in terms of doggedly sticking at things and getting better at it.

 

I mean, Chunky Halt to your beautiful Kemilway/Airfix 4MT in how many years?

 

Apologies to people who don't know your modelling history,  Chunky Halt is an obscure reference to the 1970s and the joys of 2"X1" timber, Resin W and Superquick brickpaper.

 

Which reminds me, I have some coupling hooks to make out of etch waste once I have peeled the potatoes...

 

Simon

[Captain Kernow]

You are very kind in your comments, Simon, and I thank you for them, but without wishing to delve too deeply into the personal 'psychology' of it all, I increasingly find myself having difficulty climbing out of the 'Sheldon Cooper' ** mindset when it comes to trying new things. I am probably far too comfortable in my own 'comfort zone' (I mean, what's a 'comfort' zone for, if not to relax in, chill out and not have to be challenged by uncomfortable new notions!).

 

As such, I feel I know what my skill set is, what it's limitations are and how far I would have to go before I reached the boundary of said comfort zone.

 

This is what I meant in terms of being able to 'relate' to a model. Your lovely 'Toad' is one such model, because you have capitalised on your skills and experience of working in styrene sheet and have produced what is quite probably the 'definitive' model of that vehicle, in that scale.

 

 

**  For those who don't know Sheldon Cooper and 'The Big Bang Theory', - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory - I've personally not laughed so much in a long time.

[dibateg]

I didn't realise you were the builder of that lovely 2-6-4T, but well done indeed, it is most lovely. I appreciate that you didn't paint it and that someone else (Martyn Welch) weathered it, but it is indeed a real beauty.

 

I'm interested to see that you say you now make a living from building kits, although I must wonder that some potential customers may have expectations about the cost (to them) that are totally unrealistic, if you are to be able to feed your family and pay the mortgage. No doubt the more kits you build and the more experience you acquire, then the quicker it becomes to complete something, whilst at the same time maintaining (or improving) quality to the end customer.

 

I have dabbled in my time, initially when at university and then for a few years subsequently, building 4mm kits for a model shop, but the renumeration was absolutely lousy. When I was a student, I did do it for the money, as any meagre additional income was welcome, but as the years went by, I did it mostly for the pleasure of it and the experience it gave. One reason I stopped doing it was the realisation that I had very little modelling output for my own use over that 9 or 10 year period. I certainly couldn't have made a living from it during that time.

 

I hope the realisation on RMWeb that you have been responsible for that lovely item might bring you further offers of work. As you know, one does sometimes see people posting on this forum, enquiring whether anyone knows the details of a good kit builder.

Thanks Captain Kernow!

 

I'm in the lucky position of having no mortgage and we have not got children. My wife has her own income, so we are in a very comfortable position fortunately. That means I don't have to work too hard! I just need to earn enough to keep me in booze and clothes.

 

I'm working with an order book that has 2 years work ahead of me at the moment, I've never needed to advertise and I'm lucky in that I seem to have acquired lovely clients that appreciate my work. My philosophy was that I build commission as if they are for myself. This ensures the highest quality work - probably better than some of my own stuff! That means my work is not cheap, but as I explain, the cost of my work has nothing to do with the value of the model. People are paying primarily for my time ( which to me, and I expect most of us, is the most precious commodity ) and my skill and experience. It's not worth my time to try and paint some of the models - it's far more cost effective to send them to Warren Hayward or Paul Moore. If you have a model with a 4 figure value, it's would be a shame to skimp on the paint job.

 

Talking of skill, my story is also a journey. When I first started modelling I was able to get 60/40 flux cored solder from work, everything was made with that initially - white metal, brass, whatever. Because of my soldering skills ( the lack of! ) the guys at Wolverhampton club used to call me Mr Blobby! Great friends like Tony Wright and Richard Lambert showed me the way and I found how useful flux could be! I now use 7 different solders. Sitting down with people and passing on your skills is a very fulfilling thing to do. So I seem to have come from being inspired, to inspiring.  I know that the Guild is organising some modelling workshops - I hope to take part in that and possibly help others extend their model making.

 

Regards

Tony

Edited March 12, 2018 by dibateg

[Alex Duckworth]

How refreshing to read posts from modellers who admit that they started their career with some fairly awful results, and then improved with practice, determination and sheer hard work. I do understand that we are in an era of instant gratification, but I find it so sad to read posts that say, in effect, "I tried building a kit once but I wasn't very good at it". Neither was I - but I kept on trying and got better, and the same applies to most other modellers that I know. You have to put in the time and effort.

 

Alex.

[davknigh]

How refreshing to read posts from modellers who admit that they started their career with some fairly awful results, and then improved with practice, determination and sheer hard work. I do understand that we are in an era of instant gratification, but I find it so sad to read posts that say, in effect, "I tried building a kit once but I wasn't very good at it". Neither was I - but I kept on trying and got better, and the same applies to most other modellers that I know. You have to put in the time and effort.

 

Alex.

Having seen examples of your work in Scalefour News I have to say that your efforts have paid off, Alex. Your trio of Caley 3Fs was brilliant.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[Alex Duckworth]

Having seen examples of your work in Scalefour News I have to say that your efforts have paid off, Alex. Your trio of Caley 3Fs was brilliant.

 

Cheers,

 

David

Hello David - that's probably a different Duckworth, Steve not Alex.

[davknigh]

Hello David - that's probably a different Duckworth, Steve not Alex.

Oops. Wrong Duckworth. Well, Steve’s work does show what you can do if you stick with it and I’m sure your’s does too Alex.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[corneliuslundie]

The question is how much practice I will need to reach the standard I would regard as acceptable and whether I will live that long! I hope i am still learning and slowly improving, but there is a long way to go, even though there are plenty or areas that I am not particularly interested in, such as use of sophisticated machine tools. That is not meant of criticism of those who achieve marvels using lathes etc, but it is just not for me. However, that does not stop me admiring the work of those who do things differently. 

And to return to the usual topic of this thread, i haven't seen the issue yet as apparently it got lost on the way to Newtown (two crates of magazines failed to turn up last week at Smiths). So I am still living in hopes.

Jonathan

[queensquare]

Oops. Wrong Duckworth. Well, Steve’s work does show what you can do if you stick with it and I’m sure your’s does too Alex.

Cheers,

David

You may have got the wrong Duckworth on this occasion but Alex is no slouch either, his exquisite models have graced both MRJ and the Narrow Gauge Review in both 2FS and WW1 narrow gauge.

 

I would like to agree with what others have said, particularly regarding the need to 'keep at it' if those all important skills are to be acquired. The thing that has helped me more than anything is that I have been singularly fortunate in having great mentors that I could learn from. There are numerous names I could mention of those who have freely given me help and advice over the years but the most important to me is my great friend, and quite brilliant modeller, John Greenwood.

 

Like Tony I too now make a modest living building models for other people and am lucky enough to have work for the next eighteen months or so. We do have children and a mortgage but the latter is now pretty small and the former grown up and off the payroll! I do a fair number of shows around the country as a demonstrator and am always flattered by the praise I receive for the models on display although, as I always remind people, I only ever show models I'm satisfied with. I never bring the disasters that ended up in the bin or launched across the workshop - and there have been their fair share of those over the years - particularly in the early days. Those who never made a mistake, never made anything.

 

Jerry