allan downes

He's probably busy airbrushing some of my old RM pictures Jaz then later claim them to be his ! Thing is, I'm running dry myself and was thinking of doing the same... Cheers. Allan

Could be arranged Feebs, with the drinks on Robinson, and the meat pies on Leyland, what a night ! Cheers. Allan.

Well being married I suppose you could say I have, but I can' t speak, and ain't going to, for Iain though !! Cheers. Allan.

Ah now then guys, deffinately not one of ours, I wonder it Mike McDonald knows that, it's his layout, his tank ! Must give him a call... Cheers guys. Allan.

Thought you might like this, Hitler's worst nightmare !

Can't really think what inspired it right now Sasquatch, but whatever it was I would have built it using the " Rule Of Thirds" the founding principle behind all classical and subsequent architecture. Even a lamp hut ! Cheers. Allan.

Apart from the brass etched windows and card tiles, this building was built entirely from styrene where once upon a time I wouldn't have given the stuff a second look ! Back in the 70s Dave Rowe (Under Milk Wood, an absolute masterpiece in styrene and fire cement) and my self had this ongoing freindly rivalry over cardboard being the REAL model makers material and stryene for beginners and vice versa ! He was forever tagging me as a shoebox modelmaker and ond day challenged me to produce a scratchbuilt 4mm bycicle. Mine was an unforgivable mess made from a postcard while his was an impossibilty of sheer genius where the spokes were human hair and his only diversion from styrene !!! And I've been using styrene eversince. And cardboard of course....

Have to tell you about that series title Jonte. I sat in a pub in Hemel Hemstead with Cyril Freezer for three hours trying to come up with a name for a new scratchbuilding series and after ten pints apiece, several renderings of " Maggie, Maggie May" and getting chucked out on our ear, we came up with that. Cheers. Allan.

OMG Peter, but that is truly a work of art, awesomely breathtaking. Anyway, where on earth have you been ! Welcome back anyway, the forum was starting to get sloppy without you around to keep us on our toes !! Cheers. Allan

Quote of the week. "I'll get my coat" Iain C Robinson.

That last shot, The Chester (ish) Rows, I'd forgot all about them but now I've seen them again I can tell you where they are - on a shelf in the Peco Modellarama and have been for the last thirty years or so. The studwork was all made from stripwood and the panel infills a watery mix of pollyfilla.In those days I was a masachist to the cause ! LNER, many thanks again for your time and effort and sharing it all with us. Best regards. Allan.

"You're very welcome sir (anything to see an old man cry!)." What makes me cry now a days LNER, is not Civiv Splendour anymore, but the sheer splendour of Robinson and Leyland - just how is an old codger like me supposed to follow the magnificence routinely churned out by that pair ? - it's a conspiracy, that's what it is !! - s'not fair.... As I type this from under the bed... Cheers and again, many, many thanks. Allan.

Thanks for all your time and effort LNER,I really do appreciate it. Now I got a little confused there as the original coverage was photographed by Brian Monahan and appeared in the 1980? issue of the Railway Modeller and that, as shown here by your good self, was covered by John Priest for Cyril J Freezer when he went over to Model Railways as editor. At the time when he left the Railway Modeller Sydney Pritchard, who owned the magazine, phoned me up asking me not to stay loyal to Freezer as it would have been bad for competition so we agreed that it would be alright to write the odd article every now and then but not "every bxxxxy month"! Also in those days, it proved quite expensive to "run with colour" and not many did, but the Modeller gave me center page spread with "Civic Splendour" in full colour and nobody ever heard the end of it, and now that you've revived it, they never will !! So once again LNER, many thanks for putting it up. Cheers. Allan.

I remember that "journey" well Iain as I thought "Who is this imposter out gunning the Colron Kid !" Then I remember your drawings and thought "This guy's gonna be a hard act to follow " and I was right ! - then to top it all off, my mate Lionel goes haring off to Scotland in search of his new found hero ! Anyway, I wouldn't have had it any other way - then, or now. Cheers Mate. Allan

Oh dear Taz, I forgot all about those, early experiments with computer chads ! In order to give the bricks some tone variation, I dabbed on PVA glue here, there, and everywhere, which breaks down the wood dye penetration when colouring the brickwork. That signal box is awefull but at the time it passed muster as there wasn't that much scratchbuilt stuff around - it was either Superquick or nothin, and christ knows where the tiles came from, confetti I should imagine... Anyway, thanks for all your time and effort taken to put them up, most appreciated. Cheers. Allan

Thanks LNER, it was that long ago that I last saw it that I've forgotten what it even looked like ! Anyway, I'll look foreward to seeing it again so many thanks in advance. Cheers. Allan,

And that was so ! When we first met it was at Central Hall where I was exhibiting 'Candelford Mill' a 20 ft Pyruma and Colron epic that I had up for sale that Sidney Pritchard (Peco) immediately slapped a cheque in my hand for a swift grand and the following day he arrived to buy it after learning from his son-in-law that it was up for sale. Anyway, and dressed like a Maffia hit man, he came up to me, pulled a massive wad of notes out of his inside jacket pocket ( where at first I thought he was going for a gun!) and said " Hey, me a buya da layouta, OK ?" then when I explained that it was already sold he just said " So OK, now it isa unsolda " ! but it ended up quite amiably as I hobbled home with two shattered knee caps ( joking of course!) and an invite to his massive house in millionaires row, Northwood to discuss terms and beef steaks ! Cheers. Allan.

Meanwhile, some facts. It was built for a very wealthy Italian who was Maffia connected and wanted London !!!! Anyway, he would take photo's of London buildings on his way to work then get me to knock up something similar and where shops were concerned, name them after certain film stars and celebs, footballers, boxers etc and none of which I ever met but only spoke to over the phone as they ordered the next build and all of whom he was connected to - I had an order book for full on epics that would have taken an eternity to build so I escaped to the wild frontiers of North East Lincolnshire in a futile and unsuccessfull attempt to get away from it all ! However, as the layout progressed and certain celebs fell out of favour, they got moved to the backstreets while I had to build new buildings for those that had been 'forgiven' and brought back to the front of the layout - whole scenes and months of work would suddenly be ripped up as he had yet another 'vision' and got slung under the baseboards - I could have finished the whole thing in about a year and that's why it never got finished even in six - and, even then, scrapped ! This was the "Year Of The Computer Chad" - a small oblong punchout the size of a four mil brick, and every square inch of brickwork was laid in individual 'bricks' and a 30 foot retaining wall put me into NHSS glasses ! There was about 2,000 Prieser/Merton figures, hundreds of white metal road vehicles ALL built and painted by him, and thousands of accessories, detailing packs and you name and up to the point of abandonment, it cost around £60,000 in labour costs alone and this was when I had to take up modell making full time and, in fact Iain, when I first met Lionel and got to know your work because of him. And, it never ran... Allan.

Thanks Iain, but how you gonna match it ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers Mate. Allan.

Yes, that was it, although it was covered in quite a few issues as work progressed so the dedrailed wagon scene may have come later. Also, the rambling industrial complex appeared in the Constructor when Cyril Freezer took over as editor. Cheers. Allan.

Just been thinking about that 'Civic Splendour' layout guys. If anyone has pics please feel free to stick 'em up on here - I need the ego lift ! Cheers. Allan.

Hi Richard. 'Civic Splendour' was the name the Railway Modeller gave it as, at the time it, was photographed half way through construction and it didn't have an official name. I worked on it for six years and with only a few weeks to go for completion, the owner scrapped it and went O Gauge!! However, it ended up in his loft where over the years it got crushed beneath packing cases, suitcases and tons of other junk that finds it's way up into lofts and that was the last I ever saw or heard of it. Sadly I have no photographs of it, not even the RM issue it appeared in otherwise I would put it up on here. Cheers. Allan.

And do you wanna know what a 4mm GWR Pannier is doing out in Colorado hauling a rake of empties on an O16 layout? Then ask Chris Nevard who set it all up just to prove that scalees can mix - with the help of a little Nervard magic and a trick lens!

Talking of Colron, it took 20 plus tins of various shades to colour this O 16 layout and the only paint used was to colour the track.

I gave myself 10 to 1 that you'd say that Iain !! Of course you're right.... Cheers Mate. The Colron Kid.