allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) Iain. Fish glue. Indeed it came in solid blocks - brown in colour, as implied made from fish bones, and, I believe, sometimes horse bones. It was melted down in a special pot and smelt like a navvies armpit - but it was all anybody had at the time that, apart from square tapered nails and slot head screws, that would successfully hold a chair together without it folding underneath your legs as you sat on it. Later you could buy it in granule form, same stuff but prettier to look at and kids would eat it if you didn't keep an eye on them ! When I built that shatteringly amazing and World changing model of Houton Mill, I used fish glue for the millrace and even imprisoned the water wheel in it to vast and deafening applause! For this I melted it in a saucepan on the stove, stank the house out, stupified the kids, knocked out the dog, slayed the cat and gave the wife a rash that started at her left ear and terminated at her right in three different shades of glowing pink - so now I've made your day telling you all that, I'm off to see if I can do something with this abortion of a model Arl Ro. Cheers. Allan. PS: all the blacksmiths detailing stuff arrived this morning after only ordering from Scalelink yesterday afternoon. 90 quids worth to be exact, most of it D&S and some of it from Duncan Models. There must be a hundred bxxxxy bits but watch this space for some seriously rapid painting - a can of matt black aerosol and a pile of talc!! - you'll see, none of this faffing about with cocktail sticks and 000 paint brushes. So, you can say good bye to another swift 50 ! Edited February 25, 2014 by allan downes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 It was melted down in a special pot and smelt like a navvies armpit....... Reminds me of a girl I once 'knew'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 As a child, I used to travel to my Grandmother's house in Small Heath, Birmingham, by bus. There was a glue factory somewhere near the Birmingham City football club, which was on the way there. My God! The stink! One conductoress told my mother she often had to stop the bus to be sick! Happy days (or not). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Stubby47 Posted February 25, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 25, 2014 Ideas for the next diorama : WW2 era urban bomb site Remote country coaching house Downton Abbey ( other large county houses are available ) Row of small shops ( such as The Shambles in York) Kent Oast house Bottle kiln works 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterkern23 Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Hi Peter. What a computer can't do. or any machine for that matter, is to apply that individual touch with it's imperfections that give the human touch its character. For example. Could a computer or a machine disign and produce something as eccentric as Tintagel Post Office where a few rough edges and imperfections only made possible by the human hand make it what it is? or another way of putting it is - what would you rather have hanging off a wall - a perfect photograph of Constables "Haywain" or a print of it and as unoriginal as that may be ? This is why I went back to old simple means and methods using old outdated materials - home made stone press, not Wills stone sheets, fire cement and carboard, not Das clay and Plasticard. Of course, what with no longer having to do it for a living I can do that whereas when I was, Tintagel PO would have been decked out in either Wills or Slaters stone sheets and in doing so, lost a lot of its character - a rough and ready prototype needs a rough and ready hand - and it got one ! - Or, broad brush strokes. Now in your valued opinion Peter, what looks best, less contrived and more convincing - including wrong roofs and wrong everything else ?! "Wrong" with character looks better than "Right" without it. Cheers. Allan. Totally agree bout the personal touch. However, if you received manufactured windows and they were wonky would you send them back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Totally agree bout the personal touch. However, if you received manufactured windows and they were wonky would you send them back? Most certainly, if I wanted wonky windows I could make then myself. However, there's a more valid reason. Windows and doors are about the only things on a building that are engineered - while bricks float about on a bed of lime - and they do, hence the 'give' in older buildings - doors and windows are machined so that they fit and function perfectly. So a builder would send back wonky windows as well ! But make do with wonky bricks... Cheers. Allan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Most certainly, if I wanted wonky windows I could make then myself. However, there's a more valid reason. Windows and doors are about the only things on a building that are engineered - while bricks float about on a bed of lime - and they do, hence the 'give' in older buildings - doors and windows are machined so that they fit and function perfectly. So a builder would send back wonky windows as well ! But make do with wonky bricks... Cheers. Allan. When does a Yorkshire brickie use seconds? When he can't get thirds! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythocentric Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Iain. Fish glue. Indeed it came in solid blocks - brown in colour, as implied made from fish bones, and, I believe, sometimes horse bones. It was melted down in a special pot and smelt like a navvies armpit - but it was all anybody had at the time that, apart from square tapered nails and slot head screws, that would successfully hold a chair together without it folding underneath your legs as you sat on it. Later you could buy it in granule form, same stuff but prettier to look at and kids would eat it if you didn't keep an eye on them ! When I built that shatteringly amazing and World changing model of Houton Mill, I used fish glue for the millrace and even imprisoned the water wheel in it to vast and deafening applause! For this I melted it in a saucepan on the stove, stank the house out, stupified the kids, knocked out the dog, slayed the cat and gave the wife a rash that started at her left ear and terminated at her right in three different shades of glowing pink - so now I've made your day telling you all that, I'm off to see if I can do something with this abortion of a model Arl Ro. Cheers. Allan. PS: all the blacksmiths detailing stuff arrived this morning after only ordering from Scalelink yesterday afternoon. 90 quids worth to be exact, most of it D&S and some of it from Duncan Models. There must be a hundred bxxxxy bits but watch this space for some seriously rapid painting - a can of matt black aerosol and a pile of talc!! - you'll see, none of this faffing about with cocktail sticks and 000 paint brushes. So, you can say good bye to another swift 50 ! As a child, I used to travel to my Grandmother's house in Small Heath, Birmingham, by bus. There was a glue factory somewhere near the Birmingham City football club, which was on the way there. My God! The stink! One conductoress told my mother she often had to stop the bus to be sick! Happy days (or not). The very stuff! I think it was made out of practically 'anything-that-moved' bones in reality. As DavidR pointed out we had a glue factory (we called it the bone works) not all that far away on King Street and we used to see high-sided lorries passing down Duckworth street, where we lived, carrying offal n' stuff from the abattoir (which wasn't all that far away in the other direction!) usually leaving a trail of blood, etc. to be rendered down in the vats. When the wind was in the right direction it would clear your sinus' right down to your toe nails! Ah! The golden days of our youth! Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev_Lewis Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I'm sure I read a story about how the GWR loco crews named a junction near Bristol "Bovril Junction" because of the smell that came for the nearby glue factory. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 (edited) When I was a kid, household glue was gum and the only thing it stuck together successfully was kids in general, these it would lock solid while everything else around them fell apart. The best glue was jam which stuck everything and anything whether you wanted it to or not . Support your local glue expert. Allan. Edited February 25, 2014 by allan downes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Today I found some renewed enthusiasm ( it was in the bottom of the sock drawer) and instead of whinging about short pitched roofes and wrong everything else in genera I just got on with it. So, the roadway is laid and the stone surface worked up, the river is on it's second layer of PVA, the walls have had their final morter wash and all the gaps in the roof have been filled with moss! - Yay !, Arl Ro will soon be built, long forgotten and just a bad memory - but I'll make up for it with the balacksmith's diorama and an extra can of Colron ! You see, I can live with something that's only 95% right but not with something that's 50% wrong. Cheers. Allan. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev_Lewis Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I do like this photo with the sky behind. OUTSIDE BASE SHOTS 004.JPG Just one percentage for you Allan. Arl Ro = 100% superb! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain C Robinson Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Allan, these cottages are superb as Kev rightly says, especially the slightly moody shots. Brilliant. However, since nobody else has mentioned it, I did note a Lincolnshire boggart lurking behind the last two shots, his unkempt hair hiding the hideous visage. Perhaps the excellence of you modelling attracted him...be careful or he'll snaffle the model and hide it in his pocketses... or then again perhaps you had the shot on time exposure and it's you. I thought I recognised the mullet... cheers, Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Iain C Robinson, on 25 Feb 2014 - 17:53, said: Allan, these cottages are superb as Kev rightly says, especially the slightly moody shots. Brilliant. However, since nobody else has mentioned it, I did note a Lincolnshire boggart lurking behind the last two shots, his unkempt hair hiding the hideous visage. Perhaps the excellence of you modelling attracted him...be careful or he'll snaffle the model and hide it in his pocketses... or then again perhaps you had the shot on time exposure and it's you. I thought I recognised the mullet... cheers, Iain Yes mate, indeed it tis I, and the hair is for real and NOT a rug !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm off now to give the stream its final stippling as the glue has just started to skin over so I'll leave you to make notes.... Cheers. Allan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Strange, I was enjoying looking at the Pictures of the post office at Tintagel, and a few hours later I am stood nearby looking again, as a 3 year old was sadly and tragically killed there today. Retirement can't come quickly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullie Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 "Renewed enthusiasm in the bottom of the sock drawer" surely this needs more explanation! My sock drawer is just boring just full of ....................................... well..........................socks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 "Renewed enthusiasm in the bottom of the sock drawer" surely this needs more explanation! My sock drawer is just boring just full of ....................................... well..........................socks! It's a vicious circle. Everything ends up in the sock drawer becase all socks eventually get lost in the washing machine, those that don't are odd colours anyway so I keep such stuff as enthusiasm, and my entire collection of Iain C Robinson prints of him when he had hair and a struggling 8 quid a page modelmaker in the 70's - and now? Well no wonder the price of oil has shot up! Cheers. Allan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium The White Rabbit Posted February 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 25, 2014 Allan, just what sort of a machine have you? Described as a vicious circle, known to the (not very local) constabulary and suspected of the abduction and forcible recolouring of socks, in collusion with your chest of drawers. It sounds like the most feared device known to man since the dreaded Yorkshire Wallet. (Shudder). For those brave enough, these are the adventures of one specimen http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6647 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) The White Rabbit, on 25 Feb 2014 - 22:40, said:The White Rabbit, on 25 Feb 2014 - 22:40, said:The White Rabbit, on 25 Feb 2014 - 22:40, said:The White Rabbit, on 25 Feb 2014 - 22:40, said:Allan, just what sort of a machine have you? Described as a vicious circle, known to the (not very local) constabulary and suspected of the abduction and forcible recolouring of socks, in collusion with your chest of drawers. It sounds like the most feared device known to man since the dreaded Yorkshire Wallet. (Shudder). For those brave enough, these are the adventures of one specimen http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6647 It's a new fangled all singing all dancing Samsung thing that plays a tune between every cycle ( and I swear we didn't know it did when we bought it - honestly!!) and after only a week it wouldn't do anything other than sing with an illustrious and, to be honest, a fearfull display of flashing disco lights - so after much hassle, and we're talking mega hassle here believe me, we eventually got some Asian lady who said you should'nt have bought it in the first place, what's wrong with a rock down by the river? then after two hours agreed to send out an engineer ( "....and of course, should anything go wrong, an engineer will respond immediately if not sooner, and of course, if he comes out you will be aware of a pig flying around your kitchen....) So, ten days later, yes, ten days, they sent someone out who double clicks on some button that we didn't know it had, which deactivated the child lock which we also didn't know it had at which it threw socks around with gay abandon and those that it didn't wash it chewed up instead and swilled them down the waste pipe. That never happened with my dear old mums copper stick and boiler...But she did get trapped in the mangle once out in the outhouse and we never knew she was even missing until we needed clean socks... Cheers. Allan. Edited February 26, 2014 by allan downes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) Tried a new water effect this morning -'excited water' Where shallow streams are concerned, the water 'dances' more than 'flows' and in doing so bubbles up and aireiates. So, to try and get this effect I let the PVA dry too dry for stippling but by dipping the brush constantly in clean water it 'reactivated' the glue at the same time as airiating it where it dried out as seen in the photographs. So Guys, white excited water ? - what do you think ? Cheers. Allan. Edited February 26, 2014 by allan downes 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain C Robinson Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Looks very effective indeed! cheers, Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Not long since got back from Lincoln Mercedes where we went with the intention of buying a 6.3 AMG S Class so knowing the boss man quite well and knowing his interests in modelling, I took along Tintagel PO where we got so wrapped up in mod speak, that he didn't show us the car, we didn't look either, and ended up going home with what we went in ! Cheers. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Vistisen Posted February 26, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26, 2014 Yes mate, indeed it tis I, and the hair is for real and NOT a rug !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm off now to give the stream its final stippling as the glue has just started to skin over so I'll leave you to make notes.... Cheers. Allan. Hi Allan, I just love the water and tried using PVA myself, I did not work at all. What about a video on how to do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allan downes Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Hi Allan, I just love the water and tried using PVA myself, I did not work at all. What about a video on how to do it? Me ?, make a video ? - yeh right !! Wonky wife, holding wonky camera.... hey, but wait ! You're not gonna belive this, but just as I was typing this post, the wifes daughter phones up asking her if she would like a video camera and is now sending it up !! - so, Vistiaen, you might get your video yet - Yay ! Cheers. Allan. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythocentric Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 (edited) Now you're talking Boss! ALLAN DOWNES - THE MOVIE! Who knows where it could lead too? A follow up movie with Iain perhaps...RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE HEDGEROWS! :wild: Right! I'm off to buy me popcorn! Bill Edited February 26, 2014 by Mythocentric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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