This weekend has been crammed full of railway modelling bits and bobs so I am feeling a little inspired right now. Firstly on the Saturday I was fortunate to attend the London Festival of Railway modelling at Alexander Palace on behalf of the 2mm Scale Association to do a demo at the show.
The show was good and I enjoyed myself. I don't normally do shows on the Saturday because of the crowds but this is the exception, mainly because I spent most of the day sat behind a table talking to lots of nice people. It was once again nice to speak to lots of people and it always helps with the enthusiasm when I get some positive comments about my modelling. I am just sorry that my style of demo is a bit 'traditional' to some but it is hard to come up with new approaches to doing such things.
This year was especially good for me, I had the company of Andy Hanson for the day as I gave him a lift to the show, and a specially thanks also goes to Alex Duckworth who agreed to spend the day sat next to me on the demo table. It really felt a bit of a honour to be able to chat to him and admire his models close up. Somehow (and I still don't know how) I managed to pick up a Farish 2mt for £57 too, its going to be added to my 'for finescaling' pile of engines!
The food to me wasnt quite upto previous times so I had to liven it up a bit. It tasted really nice though.
Alex's Janus Engine. Simply superb modelling.
Before and After: My new Farish 2mt on the right and Alex's newly converted 2mm scale engine on the right. The difference is noticeable and worth it in my opinion.
Once I got mine home I just had to try it out on the layout. At the very least it needs toning down, its way too clean and shiny.
On the Sunday Andy H came over and we both decided to pop over to Pendon Museum to catch up with progress on the Vale Scene amongst other things. The modelling still amazes me and the fact its being done on such a grand scale more so. I really should go more often as I live so close to the place.
The classic Pendon scene, even the reflection looks right!
The amount of detail put into the lorry was impressive. Its amazing to think that this level of detail is being applied so the whole thing.
I was quite surprised how this photo came out considering it was taken with a camera phone.
So overall I enjoyed myself this weekend and as I mentioned above I am feeling very inspired now. The only problem is I am away for most of this week coming up so I wont get chance to funnel the enthusiasm to my fingers much. See some of you at York!
Julia :o)
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that your detailing work on the pasty isn't to the same standard as your modelling! ;o)
Thank you for driving to Alexandra Palace (the prospect of driving in London fills me with dread) and for suggesting visiting Pendon - I'm now really inspired to do some modelling for the first time in ages (shame I've got to go back to work tomorrow!). It was also really good to see Highclere after all the recent posts on the scenic work - I'm looking forward to seeing that forest floor soon...
Andy
Thank you for the company Andy.
DeleteIm looking forward to seeing the results of your modelling soon then :o)
J.
Nothing wrong with 'traditional' style. I finally decided to move on from Windows XP and find all the purely cosmetic changes very irritating, while the underlying functionality has hardly changed at all and, in some cases, is worse! Quality of content is much more important than entertainment value!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I should visit Pendon more often. It's good to be reminded of how model building should look. I've been thinking of upgrading some of mine and, perhaps, I should be thinking in terms of card and Pendon-style construction methods - I have their book somewhere.
It's great that your weekend provided inspiration - I look forward to seeing the results on Highclere.
Hi Mike, thats a good comparison, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI dont think you could go far wrong by using the same techniques as Pendon, after all the Dartmoor and Vale scenes are testament to the results that can be achieved! Its always great to have asperations, it works for me. Give it a go, I would be interested in seeing the results for sure.
Progress on Highclere will resume in a bit, once eater is done for this year.
J :o)
Hello Julia,
ReplyDeletethanks for the kind words, I enjoyed the day too. I'm really impressed with your tiny England loco, really a great piece of modelling. Hope to see you soon.
Alex.
As I said Alex, it was a pleasure to catch up with you again. Hopefully I can add you to the list for possible future demos?
DeleteJ.