A Black Backdrop

Last week I mucked about with the backdrop to the model railway.

.

Today I painted black a couple of sheets of cardboard.

Perhaps, I'm fussing but I don't feel that the model buildings form a unified whole. In fact the whole thing looks a mess.

I'm wondering if the colour of the backdrop holds the answer to the  problem. Hence I tried black today.

I'll keep at it.

While I've temporarily lost my enthusiasm for the railway, I'm as well spending time on this esoteric (but to me crucial) issue.


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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past

Sheer brilliance released in 1965

And a link for the record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5zw04WxCc

Hardy Perennial

What a fantastic songwriter and singer Kurt Cobain was - hugely under-rated by most people, I suspect.

Currently listening to:

The latest podcast from Optimo on Rinse FM is one of the best yet - I must have played through the entire 2 hours a dozen times already.

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Currently reading:

Downloaded another volume of Maya Angelou's autobiography to my Kindle.

And also this:

Increasingly moving away from  Cartesian dualism.

And a passage from this book each day.

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Miscellany:

Took my life in my hands and went to see Golden Teacher perform on Friday night in Glasgow: they came on stage at 11.15pm. (Enough said.)

A total sell out. No seats and no stage either.

What a performance! Words fail me.

In the taxi on the way home afterwards I experienced the same buzz and after-glow that I remember having 47 years ago when I also returned home in a taxi after attending my first ever gig (or concert as we called them in those days):  Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green) at the Greens Playhouse in Glasgow.

I'm still shaking.

Lost my model railway mojo.

I've been in denial over the last several months. But the truth is: I'm losing interest in this model railway.

I started it in the Autumn of 2011.

One significant cause of my being dispirited is the role that DIY plays. I get no satisfaction from DIY and I can't get to the next stage which is basically populating the diorama with model vehicles and figures until some electrical wiring is finished.

The 'black dog' of DIY has cursed me from the beginning. Honestly, if I had the money I would employ someone to do all the wiring and sawing and nailing etc. But I don't. (Must start doing the lottery.)

Another debilitating and enervating factor has been the aesthetic decision making involved. I can't make up my mind how to render the backdrop. This is crucial for highlighting the qualities of the model buildings which individually I'm very pleased with. But against an unsympathetic backdrop they look awful.

This is the current state of play.

Indecision writ large.

Finally, I've experienced some delays in the arrival of certain infrastructure items. I've waited at least a month for the strip of patterned cobbled street  to arrive. Until that comes I can't arrange vehicles and figures in front of the station.

But, mainly, the problem is the DIY issue.

At last, this week the remaining 2 boxes of Preiser H0 scale Boules players arrived.

Once unpacked, they will be placed on the Boules area in front of the station.

Here are some photos of one set of players in position.

So, now I have 3 boxes on the sideline awaiting the return of the Mojo.

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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past

The Album "Friend's Friend's Friend" by Audience was released in 1970, and I played it to death.

Audience

The main track on the album can be heard here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHzLH4moBWE

Apparently, Howard Werth played a nylon stringed acoustic guitar and I think you can hear that on this track..

Hardy Perennial

Released in 1970

Obviously, the difference between A Blast from the Past and a Hardy Perennial is that I hardly ever play the Blast but continually re-visit the Perennial.


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Currently reading:

I'm finding this book to be addictive

Read a passage every day.

And re-visiting these two:

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Miscellany:

If you get a chance to see this film - do so.

Or, if you prefer:

Spray Painting Lego for HO scale Model Railway

Decided to repeat the successful experiment of spraypainting the Lego brick roof of a building on the layout; this time, the Theatre.

In the foreground, is the roof that was originally black but spraypainted gray (experiment 1). Behind the church is the theatre with its original black roof. For some reason I feel that the black colour is too harsh.

On a whim, I spray painted it a sandy colour.

Then tried an experimental green background made up of plastic table mates.

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Currently listening to:

A Blast from the Past

From 1972

Hardy Perennial

From 1993

And at this very moment

The March podcast of Optimo on Rinse FM

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Currently reading:

Becoming too silly and show bizzy

Too wordy - suspended reading it

This is actually bloody good!

Read a passage a day.

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Miscellany 1:

Last night saw the comedian Bruce Morton supporting Fred Macaulay at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow.

He was the best comedian I've seen in years - perfection.

Bruce Morton

Here are 2 of his gags:

Hangover cures:

"Some people recommend drinking water, others a raw egg in a glass and so on. But what I find works best is a nice cup of tea and a warm bath.

Now, I can see that some of you are thinking "that's a lot to fucking drink!"."


Or:

"The other day, I was telling my brother that my wife and I were  going to have our loft converted. However, I reassured him that the rest of the house would remain predominantly Protestant."

Miscellany 2:

This afternoon, we walked around the Hunterian Art Gallery at Glasgow University. For 35 minutes I sat down on a bench transfixed by this painting from 1960 of Alan Davie's.

Seadevils Watchtower.

H0 Scale Layout - aesthetic matters

For some time I've felt that the ceramic chuch that I built myself cannot be seen properly.

It seems to lurk amongst the other buildings and one's eye is drawn to them rather than the church., That's a pity because I think it is a beautiful model.

The most likely culprit, I think, is  the shiny black roof made of lego bricks of the building that stands beside the church.

It's the blackness.

Perhaps if that roof was coloured gray then it wouldn't dominate the skyline so much.

Not having any gray lego bricks, I spray painted the existing roof with gray primer.

And then, I inserted red, blue or yellow garret windows using more lego bricks. The idea was that such spots of primary colour would highlight the primary colors in the stained glass windows of the church dome.

Jury is still out.

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Currently listening to:

Blast from the Past

From 1969

And here's a link to youTube for the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-JZPmiEOI

Hardy Perennial

From 1994

This Week's Addicition

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Currently reading:

My spiritual guide.

This autobiography by, friend to the stars, Peter Keogh is very amusing at times.

The Australian author is obviously pretty camp and describes the great joy he had when an altar boy.

"I especially loved what I had to wear; a cassock and surplice, similar to a choir boy's outfit. How I swished around the sacristy before and after Mass. It felt just like being on stage with the congregation as my audience."

(Love the use of the word "swished".)

Still working my way through this.

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Miscellany:

When out cycling this afternoon saw this restored double decker bus passing along Clyde Street on its way to Ayr. Only 5 passengers on board.