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


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Now you're talking Boss! ALLAN DOWNES - THE MOVIE!  :sungum:  Who knows where it could lead too? A follow up movie with Iain perhaps...RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE HEDGEROWS! :wild: :wild:

 

Right! I'm off to buy me popcorn! :jester:

 

Bill

 

I can see it all now Bill.

 

Two bearded has-beens slogging it through the jungle, one lost, the other looking for him - then stumbles across him, caked in Das clay, pockets wieghed down with modelling notes coppied from Allan Downes articles, past, present, and not yet written - " Ah ! Robinson I presume ? ! "

 

Cheers.

Allan.

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Hi Allan, the "excited" water looks like the real deal - I was trying to spot the trout leaping out. Did you add any colour in the process (between PVA layers) or is that the light refracting?

Cheers John

 

 Hi John.

 

No added colour, this was painted over the base first - black and dark green which grins through the PVA after it has dried.

 

However, if you're modelling a stagnant pond, or even a river, covered in algea, then a light gloss spray coat of Halfords " Rover Applejack Green "  over a brushed on coat of enamel thinners will do the trick where the acrylic paint will reject the spirit based thinners to good effect - but try it out first. 

 

Please pass this information onto Robinson with the accompanying bill - a swift five zero in used notes.

 

Cheers.

Allan

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I think you've been looking at too many old copies of Railway Ribaldry... I'd like to see a cartoon of that, with the jungle being drawn as the (exagerated) primitive conditions at an exhibition...  

 

I think you've got the texture right, but as far as the colour goes, I think the first picture's best. I've found colour is the tricky part, as water reflects the sky so much and the colour varies according to the sky's light ... (where's the smilie for an old lady sucking eggs?) Here's a few of my snaps of 'ruffled'/'agitated' water:

 

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post-16840-0-94245100-1393451783_thumb.jpg

 

 

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WR, absolutely brilliant pictures and thanks a million for sharing.

 

The difficulty in modelling water is trying to freeze the action of something on the move where anything must be better than painting your baseboard blue and calling it an ocean !

 

Of course, you could use real water but you can't scale it down as many an early Ealing sea  battle filmed in a  fish tank has proved in the past !

 

Cheers.

Allan

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I can see it all now Bill.

 

Two bearded has-beens slogging it through the jungle, one lost, the other looking for him - then stumbles across him, caked in Das clay, pockets wieghed down with modelling notes coppied from Allan Downes articles, past, present, and not yet written - " Ah ! Robinson I presume ? ! "

 

Cheers.

Allan.

Almost sounds like a scene from a Top Gear Special, which ones May and which ones Clarkson. mores to the point who's playing the Stig!

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Almost sounds like a scene from a Top Gear Special, which ones May and which ones Clarkson. mores to the point who's playing the Stig!

 

No use looking at me then, though I think I'd be pretty good as Continental Drift. Personal choice for the Stig would be Angelena Jolie (he says in the role of stereotypical male chauvinist!)

 

Bill :angel:

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WR, absolutely brilliant pictures and thanks a million for sharing.

 

The difficulty in modelling water is trying to freeze the action of something on the move where anything must be better than painting your baseboard blue and calling it an ocean !

 

Of course, you could use real water but you can't scale it down as many an early Ealing sea  battle filmed in a  fish tank has proved in the past !

 

Cheers.

Allan

 

Thanks Allan. I've learnt a lot from you, Mr R and the others on this thread, so I'm happy to contribute when I can ... 

 

I think 'difficulty' could be a candidate for understatement of the week. I've been taking photos for a while with a view to modelling a mountain stream - this is of the River Dart at Staverton Weir. 

post-16840-0-32301700-1393497826_thumb.jpg

 

I think Dave and Shirley Rowe did a model of a quayside scene (Exebridge Quay?) using real water, but that's the only model I remember seeing that looked convincing, as you say, it doesn't scale down well.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

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No use looking at me then, though I think I'd be pretty good as Continental Drift. Personal choice for the Stig would be Angelena Jolie (he says in the role of stereotypical male chauvinist!)

 

Bill :angel:

 

Ah yes, Angelina.  ISTR she was described as a woman designed by a committee of perverts...

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I remember them making that Simon when I stayed over for a weekend with them when down their way on buisines with Peco. ( Cyril said that in order to raise my fee to 30 quid a page, he'd have to lower Robnson's to eight ....)

 

Underneath the boards, and as was most typical of Dave, was a bewildering mass of wires, cogs, wheels,  springs, mechano bits, meat skewers, solonoids, weights and everything else as would have been approved by Heath Robinson - no, not the magnificent specimen that writes on here ! -  all just to open and close the lock gates and fill it/empty it with/of water.

 

But compared to his working dragline and the mechanics that went behind that.... well... everything else paled into insignificance !

 

Dave Rowe was a genius and one day as we were all walking over Dartmoor - Wifeys and modelamakers combined looking for an old half burried stone tramway which we didn't find - he told me that he was packing in modelmaking as there was more to life than just cutting up sheets of styrene then gluening them all back together again, and he hasn't made another model since.

 

Cheers.

Allan

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Hi everyone,

Can I just say what a marvelous time I have had working my way through this thread. Not just the inspirational and at times daunting quality of the modelling, but also the friendly, funny and entertaining banter.

My first attempts at building a model railway was back in.... surely not 1974. Terminated two years later due to a house move. Luckily kept some of the rolling stock and am now trying build a not totally accurate rendition of Barnsley in n gauge when it had two stations, around 1960.

If ever a thread had the perfect title this is it, and it just keeps getting better. :)

 

Terry

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I remember them making that Simon when I stayed over for a weekend with them when down their way on buisines with Peco. ( Cyril said that in order to raise my fee to 30 quid a page, he'd have to lower Robnson's to eight ....)

 

Underneath the boards, and as was most typical of Dave, was a bewildering mass of wires, cogs, wheels,  springs, mechano bits, meat skewers, solonoids, weights and everything else as would have been approved by Heath Robinson - no, not the magnificent specimen that writes on here ! -  all just to open and close the lock gates and fill it/empty it with/of water.

 

But compared to his working dragline and the mechanics that went behind that.... well... everything else paled into insignificance !

 

Dave Rowe was a genius and one day as we were all walking over Dartmoor - Wifeys and modelamakers combined looking for an old half burried stone tramway which we didn't find - he told me that he was packing in modelmaking as there was more to life than just cutting up sheets of styrene then gluening them all back together again, and he hasn't made another model since.

 

Cheers.

Allan

 

Ah, Dave Rowe...much missed. I remember seeing that working dragline and asking him about it...he was kind enough to answer my questions, but his chat was sprinkled with caustic wit and observations which left my eyebrows in the elevated position for days afterwards. A very funny and hugely talented man...don't think we'll see the like again.  His wife, Shirley was also an amazing modelmaker.  You were very lucky to know him well, although I know his practical jokes were something to look out for!  Modelling wise, I loved his "Unbder Milkwood....but I have already gone on about this, sorry!  :senile:  :senile:

cheers,

Iain

 

"Unbder Milkwood"? Banana fingers!

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Ivy overkill!!

 

Old cottages are covered in it, it's all that holds them together !

 

This is medium spong mixed in with neat PVA and teased out with an old dart point.

 

This stuff contains the water in the glue and takes an age to dry therefore plenty of time to work it.

 

What you see here is the 'first teasing' and it will need a few more in order to feather it out at the edges - as it is, it looks like some kind of lurgy from an old 50's B movie !

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

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Hi everyone,

Can I just say what a marvelous time I have had working my way through this thread. Not just the inspirational and at times daunting quality of the modelling, but also the friendly, funny and entertaining banter.

My first attempts at building a model railway was back in.... surely not 1974. Terminated two years later due to a house move. Luckily kept some of the rolling stock and am now trying build a not totally accurate rendition of Barnsley in n gauge when it had two stations, around 1960.

If ever a thread had the perfect title this is it, and it just keeps getting better. :)

 

Terry

 

Hi Terry and welcome to the Thread.

 

If you want to finish that layout only listen to one half of the partnership !

 

Cheers.

Allan.

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Thanks Allan. I've learnt a lot from you, Mr R and the others on this thread, so I'm happy to contribute when I can ... 

 

I think 'difficulty' could be a candidate for understatement of the week. I've been taking photos for a while with a view to modelling a mountain stream - this is of the River Dart at Staverton Weir. 

attachicon.gifStaverton Weir water 2 R.jpg

 

I think Dave and Shirley Rowe did a model of a quayside scene (Exebridge Quay?) using real water, but that's the only model I remember seeing that looked convincing, as you say, it doesn't scale down well.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

The foreground will look brilliant if you copy Allan's method of producing water, plus you need to take it back aways, before trying other techniques for the white water. Do please pop up lots of pictures

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Superb modelling of the cottages Allan.  Don't think much of the way you modelled the houses down the street in the fourth pic. though.

Derek

 

Don't tell anyone, but that wasn't Allan. The guy who did build them could certainly take a few lessons from the Boss though!

 

Bill

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