Iain C Robinson

Allan, I love the cottages. The stonework is perfect and the windows are so sharp. The roof just needs a few touches, which you are probably going to do anyway- the hazel spars over the windows in the thatch and the dressed detail at the apex of the roof, which I guess could be done with more of that wool.Then I reckon you would be much more pleased with it. I think the wool has worked amazingly well and it sure beats human hair or plumber's hemp...or melted styrene as I once used Anyway what's not to like when halfway through your model it looks like an old english sheepdog! Top job, and as always, you have made me think cheers, Iain

Did you say....cathedral...??? Noooooooooooooooooo! Iain, ex member of RMWeb

I wish I could have seen the Shredded Wheat thatch, for me that is up there with the best of them..,.and kudos to you, runs as required, for even trying it. That is thinking out of the (cereal) box! cheers, Iain

Very nice work, Al. I was a bit doubtful about the wool idea, but I see you had it all under control from the first. On a different tack altogether, here are some shots of a street in 2mm/ft that I am building for Paul Churchill from this forum (Tormouth) I have more structures that are still under construction (including a mock-Elizabethan pub!) and I'll post those when they are finished. Apologies to folk who have seen this on my blog. cheers, Iain The provenance of these paintings in the antique shop is under some doubt...

That is absolutely superb work...the cliffs look completely real. I had better get my finger out cheers, Iain

I will try and get these in while Allan is distracted with his thatch (somehow that didn't come out right?) Anyway, here is a shot inside my slate mill with a 3D printed waggon from Penistone Works by Mark Greenwood. The chunk of slate waitig to be sawn is a lump of Das (what else) and even though I copied a photograph it was tricky to get such a seemingly straightforward thing to look right. Here's a photo of my Das Swan Song, a model of Gara Bridge waiting shelter in 4mm. I made the walls first and scribed them, then laid another coat of Das on for the Quoins. The slates are hand cut and placed individually. Finally an overbridge made from Wills coarse stone which was fun. The girders are scratch built with Archer rivet transfers...why I didn't use the Wills vari-girder I don't know! cheers, Iain

Lovely work Allan, and the light really sets the stone off. I'm looking forward to the thatching. cheers, Iain

I did thatch a model of a cottage roof with Pyruma fire cement a long time ago, stippled it with a toothbrush and it gave a good representation of Norfolk Reed, but it has probably disintegrated by now! cheers, Iain

Thank you, Allan, but now I feel guilty. Because the slates are from York Modelmaking, their strips of self-adhesive slates which work out in 4mm as almost "marchioness" size (12" by 22") I must confess that I reduce everything down to procedures that need as little skill as possible... cheers, Iain

So here's some shots of the station building on Kingsford for my customer. It was a bit of a saga as I first made it to replicate Kingsbridge, then John, my customer, saw Martin Goodall's stunning Burford model. No pressure then. So I altered the buildings to accomodate the overall roof. At this point, Lee Robinson's advocacy of Foamex and Palight as a substrate for the stonework began to get through to me, helped by a kind friend sending me a wad of the stuff. That was it. I decided to rebuild the whole thing again in Palight, and I'm so glad I did. Das is great for old cottages, like the one big Al is modelling with his customary chutzpah here. But for structures that have to exhibit regularity and clean lines, Das is a big struggle...it can be done, but Foamboard is much quicker. I went and built the overall roof out of the stuff, too, 2mm mostly. As usual, the whole sordid business is written up on my blog. The windows, incidentally, are etched by PPD in Lochgilphead to my artwork...although I would draw them and output them on the cameo now. The clerestory roof is made with the cameo. What a fiddle, perhaps I should have etched that! Some pics...thanks to John for his patience...and yes, I will get back to work now :-) cheers, Iain

Nice finish already on those cottages Allan. The wall looks as if it has had years of limewashing which has gradually worn off...a really nice effect. Going back to the half-timbered Wolf Hall lookalikes :-) I am at a loss to know, as I always have been, how you cut material so accurately and with such consistency. Amazing! The Elizabethan stuff got the thumbs up from the real model maker, by the way...she says I can't cut that accurately even with the cameo cutter! cheers, Iain

For anyone that still remembers me on here...I have let Allan carry the can of wood dye for too long and I still haven't managed to come up with a windmill to beat his. My customers, bless them, have been keeping me very busy but I can put a couple of the projects on here for you to have a look at. Here's a wee signal box made for a 4mm scale line based on Kingsbridge. The box itself is mostly Gara Bridge, but my customer asked me to put a porch on...and I'm glad he did, as I think it improves it. Of course, when these shots were taken by Petra, I hadn't got round to putting railings across the windows or a name on the box. Full-ish details of how I made the model are on my blog ... but suffice to say that foamex was the main material in the build and that the windows were cut with the Cameo Cutter, a bit of kit that has saved me so much tedious and repetitive work. Here's Jason's thread about the Cameo Cutter on RMWeb. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/ Hope you like these, I will put some more models up as time permits Iain The light coming from the skirting board isn't the latest in stylish uplighters...I just hadn't fixed the wall on when the shot was taken!

" and thanks Iain C Robinson for the eighty five notifications - yep, the great man himself is back even though not in person !" Was it only 85? Sorry, I slipped up there Allan. You did say that if I liked 100 of your posts I could come back on this forum occasionally....? cheers, Iain PS some amazing work on here as usual...whatever you are on Allan, (unless it's still Colron), I will have some! :-)

The bus looks great, Paul, hard to believe it's 2mm/ft! cheers, Iain

I'll be on it soon!

Fantastic! The funicular is amazing. I am also gobsmacked that you managed to illuminate that tiny lamp outside the box...that will add to the atmosphere for sure. cheers, Iain

This is a beautiful sequence, so well modelled and photographed and with the trademark "Mikkel" magic! I enjoyed this very much. cheers, Iain

I like the overall roof, and it's pretty appropriate too! I also like your work with the herbage, it's blending in nicely now. I'm just making a 4mm overall roof at the moment...I am quite envious of those roof support brackets on the 2mm scale one. Very good progress, anyway! cheers, Iain

Paul, it looks great...I love the night time shot and as for the video...really rather enjoyable! I was worried about the light escaping from the roof join but you have coped with that rather well. A description of how you worked the electronic magic would I am sure be of great interest to folks, even if it did baffle me! cheers, Iain

PS, I rated that craftsmanship/clever for your scenic work, not my signal box, in case anyone gets the wrong idea ! cheers, Iain

That really does look great! Makes all the difference...and I really like that yard lamp. The path is a great idea and of course 100% prototypical. So nice to see things coming on like this. cheers, Iain

I think it will look fine, Paul. I think I should have weathered the box more, but I don't think it looks out of place. Signal boxes seem to have been kept while the motive power arrangements of necessity had to be upgraded. I like the yard lamps, too! cheers, Iain

Allan, I do hate to say this because your head is big enough already...but that cathedral tower is dangerously close to perfection...

I'd agree with Ben about burying the building although that might make it more expensive... the steps would be good too, easier to CAD them than make by hand.It's looking very 1930's and even in the raw state has a seaside feel. cheers, Iain

Those signals are amazing, Paul! I'm glad the signal box spurred you on to fit the signals in place. The working lights are impressive. cheers, Iain