H0 Scale French Motor Cars

Haven't done anything substantive on railway this week so decided to populate the area in front of the station with a few cars.

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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past

From 1967,  Lulu, To Sir with Love

And here's the link to youTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTapoA5RQyo

A Hardy perennial

I never get sick of this song.

From 1987.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4

Yeah, I can see it now
The distant red neon shivered in the heat
I was feeling like a stranger in a strange land
You know where people play games with the night

God, it was too hot to sleep

I followed the sound of a jukebox coming from a levee
All of a sudden I could hear somebody whistling from right behind me
I turned around and she said
"Why do you always end up down at Nick's Cafe?"
I said, "I don't know, the wind just kind of pushed me this way"
She said, "Hang the rich"

Catch the blue train
To places never been before
Look for me
Somewhere down the crazy river
(Somewhere down the crazy river)

Catch the blue train
All the way to Kokomo
You can find me
Somewhere down the crazy river
(Somewhere down the crazy river)

Take a picture of this
The fields are empty, abandoned '59 Chevy
Laying in the back seat listening to Little Willie John
Yeah, that's when time stood still

You know, I think I'm gonna go down to Madam X
And let her read my mind
She said, "That voodoo stuff don't do nothing for me"

I'm a man with a clear destination
I'm a man with a broad imagination
You fog the mind, you stir the soul
I can't find, no control

Catch the blue train
To places never been before
Look for me
Somewhere down the crazy river
(Somewhere down the crazy river)

Catch the blue train
All the way to Kokomo
You can find me
Somewhere down the crazy river (Somewhere down the crazy river)

Wait, did you hear that
Oh, this is sure stirring up some ghosts for me
She said, "There's one thing you've got to learn
Is not to be afraid of it"
I said, "No, I like it, I like it, it's good"
She said, "You like it now
But you'll learn to love it later"

I been spellbound falling in trances
I been spellbound falling in trances
You give me shivers, chills and fever
You give me shivers
You give me shivers
I been spellbound, I been spellbound
I been spellbound somewhere down the crazy river
Somewhere down the crazy river

This Week's Addiction

General Ludd

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Currently Reading:

"Many Sufis sought a closer relationship with God than conventional Islam allowed. They sought annihilation before the Face of God."

A passage a day.

Aesthetic experimentation

Experiments continue with the handling of the road surface in front of the station.

This painting by Camoin is my inspiration.

And this was my layout last week.

My intention was to take out my acrylic paints and brush some more colour over the road to bring it closer in feel to the Camoin painting.

So, that's what I did.

I think the additional painting was a success.

But, I awoke this morning with a completely different idea.

I sat up in bed and stared across the room at a pop-arty retro-plastic lampshade that sits uselessly on the mantlepiece.

I love the intensity of the pattern.

And decided, there and then, for what I can only call a spontaneous or inspired reason, that this pattern would make a great road surface outside the station - urban, swirly, black and gray, suggesting dirty,damp city streets.

So, using the above photographs of the surface of the lampshade and the help of a photoshop computer application, I printed out a couple of sheets with the pattern on it.

I'm going to have another go at this but with the pattern printed out in a finer scale.

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Currently listening to:

A Blast From The Past

Released in 1965

And here's the TV performance from youTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwN0X8YnWo

A Hardy Perennial

Released in 1997

This double CD won the Mercury Prize in 1997. I think it's brilliant.

Roni Size

This Week's Addiction

Non-stop Huntleys + Palmers and Optimo Podcasts from the internet radio station Rinse FM

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Currently Reading:

Finished this brilliant book.

A passage each day.

Returning to this memoir which I've found so influential.

Robert Irwin quotes from the Koran.

All that dwells upon the earth is perishing, yet still
Abides the Face of thy Lord, majestic, splendid.
O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?
Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth implore Him;
Every day He is upon some labour.
O which of your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?



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Miscellaneous:


I enjoyed this article today on the BBC website by Adrian Chiles:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32849125

What I learnt from 46 consecutive days in church.

Scenery for H0 scale Model Railway

This issue of aesthetics over verimisilitude will not go away.

Referring to the last episode of this blog (10th May 2015) it can be seen that I was about to cover the road surface that lies in front of the station facade with a sheet of H0 scale cobblestone pattern.

But, would that look any better than the browish paint that's there at the moment?

I'm not sure.

 The current situation.

Should I cover the road with this sheet?

I think if I were to use the sheet of cobblestones it would be a betrayal of the aesthetic principles that I espoused at the beginning of this model railway project.

My resolve is stiffened by considering once again this painting by the French artist of the early 20th Century, Charles Camoin. It hangs in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Galleries and is of Place de Clichy in Paris.

It has the same combination of brownish road and blackish pavements as I've used on the layout.

And, I love this painting.......  So,,,,,,,,,,,

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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past.

Released in 1959

Russ Conway

One of the first records I ever purchased (well by my parents, but at my behest). "Side Saddle" by Russ Conway.

Here's a youTube link to Russ playing it on BBC TV's Billy Cotton Band Show (in black and white).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ_tDn-LC40

A Hardy Perennial

Jerry Lee Lewis released on Elektra in 1979

The week's addiction

The May edition of Auntie Flo's podcast for Huntleys and Palmers on Rinse FM. 

Auntie Flo

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Currently reading:

Almost the same mixture as the last couple of weeks - I'm a very slow reader.

I love this quotation from Brother Lawrence:

"I do not advise you to use multiplicity of words in prayer. Many words and long discourses are often the occasions of wandering (of one's thoughts).

(So) hold yourself in prayer before God, like a dumb or paralytic beggar at a rich man's gate."

A dead end - I won't pursue this.

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Miscellany:

I bought a hard travelling case in which to transport my snare drum to France this year.

Noch H0 scale cobbled street tape

Noch 60430

At last the roll of cobblestone tape arrived from the German manufacturer, Noch.

 The cobblestone tape is not really suitable for covering a wide area of road.

eg

It would be arduous to lay down rows of tapes side by side. Furthermore, the margin of each roll has a gutter imprinted upon it.

So, I scanned the tape and using a photoshop type application made up an A4 sheet of the cobble effect.

I printed the sheets out in dark and light shades - the light is too light. The dark is a bit too dark but I don't have a setting in between the two.

The next step is to cut the sheet to the right shape and lay it over the road that's in front of the station facade.

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Still pondering the problem of making the church building appear more at ease on the layout.

Decided that the dome needed some kind of minaret on top of it.

Sat a bottle of typex fluid on the dome simply to gauge what size of minaret would be appropriate.

Covered it in masking tape and marked some black lines on it.

I'll ponder this too!

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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past

Adam Faith

What do you want? Released in 1959

Find the song here on youTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgeFRgQpT8Y

A Hardy Perennial

This Weeks' Addiction

Leisure Muffin

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Currently reading:

More or less the same selection as last week.

Bertrand Russell as a child

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Treat of the week:

Saw an earth-shaking performance by Golden Teacher at the Glasgow School of Art. I'm beginning to treat these midnight gigs as perfectly normal!

From my phone camera: