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

[allan downes]

Gentlemen all, thank you so much for your caring comments, you'll never know how much we appreciate them - what a fantastic bunch of guys you really are !

 

Anyway gents, she's out !!! Came out this morning still firing only on one cylinder but she has to take it easy and the first sign of any problems - she's back in pronto !

 

When wifey gets back to being and looking herself she wants me to put up a pic of her holding a big 'thank you' card - maybe a week or so.

 

Anyway, here's a few more pics for you, a bit blurred but that's usually the way when taken in a bad light indoors.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

Allan and Sylvia.

 

[mullie]

Best wishes to 'wifey' hope she feels better soon.

[Mythocentric]

Delighted to hear Mrs. D is out and about. Hope she went gently on you with the kitchen, though I must admit the thought of the Boss doing the dishes under the shadow of the rolling pin does conjure up some amazing images. Best wishes to Mrs. D and I hope you are soon back to full health!

 

Regards

 

Bill

[allan downes]

Work in progress.

 

The makings:

 

The outcuts to the left are kept and could be used for infill detail on the next building.

 

As I said before, building Tudor is  brain numbingly slow and what you see here represents a whole days work - I could walk to Chester and back quicker.

 

BTW,wifey's doing just fine but I'm not - busted my teeth on  a biscuit, on a Good Friday, on the dentist's day off  and now I'll be sucking  my dinner through a straw until next tuesday !

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

[The White Rabbit]

If members would like to do a get well card, I think I can help.

 

If you can PM me, I can cut and paste your names (usernames?) onto a large label and stick this to a hard copy greetings card and post it to Allan... 

 

If you want to 'sign', then if you send an electronic image of your signature as a Jpeg and attached to the PM, I can extract it and 'paste' it into the card. 

 

I think we'll make a joint card to both of you... 

 

Thanks for the PMs so far. Shall we say the cut-off is 0900 next Tuesday (22nd)? 

[allan downes]

Then I left the second floor panel infill detail out - yoicks !

 

Cheers.

Allan

 

 

Say cheese !!!

 

 

[allan downes]

OK. that's three feet plus now, so how far do we go ?This could go on forever, or until I run out of cardboard, glue, and Chester !

 

You can't help but notice workshop fallout clinging to the windows like a disease.This is  clearly noticeable when using clear styrene for glazing so I used Acrylic Sheet instead, and results ? no difference whatsoever, white particles clinging to every window no matter how many times you dust them off ! So guys, any ideas on how to combat this ?

 

Anyway, another million pictures.

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

Edited April 19, 2014 by allan downes

[The White Rabbit]

You can't help but notice workshop fallout clinging to the windows like a disease.This is  clearly noticeable when using clear styrene for glazing so I used Acrylic Sheet instead, and results ? no difference whatsoever, white particles clinging to every window no matter how many times you dust them off ! So guys, any ideas on how to combat this ?

 

I think it's an electrostatic thing. I had a similar problem with a diorama which was being placed behind perspex, there were some loose plaster 'shavings' from a minor adjustment on the ground surface and the odd hundred grass fibres which relocated themselves to the inside of the perspex when it was installed. We got round that by 'polishing' the perspex on a flat surface with a duster until most of the static charge had dissipated - I'm not sure what you could do here. It needs someone who is better at electronics than I to make a constructive suggestion but I do wonder if it would be possible to use a flocking tool somehow, perhaps in reverse, to repel the particles or attract them to something else? 

[allan downes]

A fiddly business, windows and bays.

 

These are built up using  Evergreen micro-strip but what would have made things a lot more accurate when cutting to exact lengths  would have been a micro-strip chopper and I'm not sure but I think some body called 'Northwest Shortline'  make one - anyone ever heard of it ?

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

Edited April 19, 2014 by allan downes

[3737]

Yes:

http://www.nwsl.com/uploads/chap1_TOOLS_04-2014.pdf

 

and here are some cutters as well:

http://www.micromark.com/special-cutting-tools.html

 

But are you sure you need one?

 

This is magnificent work!

 

Leen.

[allan downes]

Thanks for that Leen, but I can't imagine a razor blade chopping through 80thou and upwards styrene strip,. For to do this even with a heavy duty stanley knife blade I almost have to  hit it with a hammer !

 

But I might just give one a go.

 

Cheers.

 

Allan

[BlackRat]

There a plastic version available which I bought a cpl of years ago at the Exeter show, about 15 sovs.

 

Save your money, a complete and utter waste of 15 smackers!

[Mythocentric]

Hi Allan

 

The NorthWest Shortline Chopper is an excellent piece of kit! I bought one when I had to cut up loads of fancy corbelling made up from Evergreen strip in two pieces 2 and 3mm long. With the chopper it was a doddle. I've used it for all sorts of stuff since then. There are two available, the Original and the Chopper2 with the latter being an improvement. They cost a bit (around 45 sobs in the UK) but I ordered mine directly from NorthWest Shortline in the US and it actually came cheaper and arrived within a week. Money well spent!

 

Regards

 

Bill

Edited April 19, 2014 by Mythocentric

[Ian Smeeton]

Work in progress.

 

The makings:

 

The outcuts to the left are kept and could be used for infill detail on the next building.

 

As I said before, building Tudor is  brain numbingly slow and what you see here represents a whole days work - I could walk to Chester and back quicker.

 

BTW,wifey's doing just fine but I'm not - busted my teeth on  a biscuit, on a Good Friday, on the dentist's day off  and now I'll be sucking  my dinner through a straw until next tuesday !

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

TUDOR IN THE MAKING 001.JPGTUDOR IN THE MAKING 002.JPGTUDOR IN THE MAKING 003.JPGTUDOR IN THE MAKING 005.JPG

 

Allan, I would have thought that with all the offcuts, and a suitable dose of plasticweld, you would have remade your tooth in mock-tudor fashion before the dentists recorded message wishing you a 'happy  Easter'had finished playing.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Removed a/c]

Could you use a dryer sheet for dusting the windows? I would screw it up first to remove the stiffness. 

[allan downes]

Right gang, see what you think of this.

 

To try and combat this dusty windows menace I've tried a little experiment which was namely to leave the carrier film on the glazing sheet resulting in an opaque appearance.

 

Of course, by doing this it meant I couldn't glue the glazing in place as it would lift the carrier film so the glazing is held in place around the extreme edges by border strips behind each window,

 

Now it's quite possible that this being a town building and more than likely offices, windows of this nature might  not look out of place but wouldn't quite look right on any other kind of building - cottages, houses etc.

 

Anyway, here's the pics and your verdict would be appreciated.

 

Cheers.

Allan.

 

[teaky]

I know what you're suggesting Allan but having every window opaque doesn't look quite right to me.

 

(someone will probably now post a picture of an entire factory with opaque windows!)

[The White Rabbit]

I think I'm with teaky. The opaque windows look good for bathrooms and offices with blinds drawn, but that's for modern office blocks rather than Tudor/mock buildings. Even assuming the upper floors are for offices, then I think it looks too much like a Bank Holiday. Even with a real * of a boss who insists staff don't look out of the windows (in case it wears out the glass...) then there's always a handful of blinds that would be up or creased/pushed in. In such old buildings, chances are some windows would also be open? 

 

My suggestion, for what it's worth, is peel the backing sheet off, 'polish' that surface with a clean/new 'yellow' duster (test with a pinch of grass fibres, if they don't fall off after you invert the sheet, polish some more...) cut to shape and then install 'normally'. You may need to use a vacuum on the [finished] exterior, but that should be sufficient to remove any detritus. 

[Mythocentric]

Hi Allan

 

Along the lines of The White Rabbits suggestion, I use 1mm acrylic clear glazing sheet intended for doll's houses. The static is caused by peeling off the protective sheet itself. To prevent dust pick-up, before you polish it, giving it a quick spray with monitor screen cleaner (or the stuff you clean your glasses with - same thing!) which has an anti-static element helps a lot. However you'll probably find that any dust, etc can be blown off after a few days anyway as the static charge discharges itself.

 

Regards

 

Bill

Edited April 20, 2014 by Mythocentric

[allan downes]

Thanks for all the tips guys, and Bill, I've just started to use the dolls house acrylic sheets myself, got them off the web somewhere, and I'm not convinced yet that there's any advantage over clear plastic.

 

As I look at the windows now directly in front of me under normal house lighting they look completely dust free - it's the sunshine shots that really pick up the dust - and everything else that shouldn't be there !

 

Looks like now I've got to break into the building and bays to peel off the protective film....

 

I'm going to bed.

 

Cheers.

Allan.

Edited April 20, 2014 by allan downes

[The White Rabbit]

I'm envious, I wish I could have those sort of lie-ins... 

[C&WR]

Bit later than Tudor, but here are George Washington's teeth:

 

 

Best wishes to you both!

[allan downes]

Corner building under way.

 

Any guesses as to what the turret was made out of ?

 

Here's a clue.

 

Petra might wear one and, if not, Robinson most definitely would !

 

Cheers.

Allan

 

[Mythocentric]

SNIP: "Petra might wear one and, if not, Robinson most definitely would !"

 

Tartan Lycra cycling shorts?

 

Regards

 

Bill

[Jaz]

Thanks, Guys...so very much. Yes, I will drop in every now and then (if only to give Al someone to take the p out of!) I am missing the craic already...and perhaps things will get less mad and I will have more time at some point. Thank you all for the lovely comments and Allan for being an inspiration and a gentleman.

cheers for the noo,

Iain

I only just caught up as I tend to be so busy. Sorry to hear you won't be posting so much. Although that means somewhere more of your work will be available  .

I want to just thank you for all the inspiration you gave me. Yours ands Allans work was a real eye opener. Different styles but both really enviable work. This thread is still in my opinion one of the best here on RMweb, and a real show case for excellence.