tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post8587476034814033542..comments2024-02-16T09:25:00.233-08:00Comments on Apa Valley : The Devil in the DetailJames Finisterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16351798531269786632noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post-89997368496178267882015-02-01T03:12:19.473-08:002015-02-01T03:12:19.473-08:00I immediately gave one of those personal frowns wh...I immediately gave one of those personal frowns when I saw that green thing, but I stopped myself saying anything as it was individually credited to a named person and I thought it a bit infra dig to criticise named contributors to the layout, but yes, It's at least odd and at worst 'orrible! Perhaps a spot of render would have saved it.<br />I think the hobby is being spoiled rotten by new de casts in the three main scales, but in 4mm the wheels and tyres sometimes let them down. Although most of my driving lessons were in an HB Viva, I never thought of it as svelte! I wonder if the cars and lorries are removed for the exhibition. Nothing looks sillier than objects supposedly in motion on a layout. People, horses, vehicles all frozen in time. Fine for a photo, of course.<br />Oddshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406048947308249483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post-32119944436500428352015-01-31T13:27:06.869-08:002015-01-31T13:27:06.869-08:00Well I certainly think the cracks on the canal sur...Well I certainly think the cracks on the canal surface are only showing up under very specific circumstances., but it was the strange green thing next to the chippy van that struck me as jarring.- perhaps because the rest of the scene is so well done, which is, of course,rather unfair.<br /><br />Incidentally I thought the placement of the road vehicles supposedly moving,at least in photos, is about the very best I've ever seen. I think it is a real challenge modelling cars from a period where we think we can remember what they looked like, but don't see examples around to remind us what they really looked like. In my minds eye, for instance the Viva HB is svelte and modern looking, and not mounted on roller skate wheels.James Finisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16351798531269786632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post-16591774581714468422015-01-31T12:38:42.094-08:002015-01-31T12:38:42.094-08:00Well, I've had another look at BCB and nothing...Well, I've had another look at BCB and nothing jumps out at me as worthy of criticism over and above what I already said. Not that that matters one jot of course, but I thought I should rise to the challenge.<br />I spotted a few more niggles, sure. That day boat has non parallel cross boards and bottom frames and is aground in water that is almost at normal height, but that could be muck in an undredged canal, like most of them since those times. We were often aground a good 5 feet out from the sides, but our historic boat drew 3 feet 3inches, light!<br /><br />Two things...I really like the yellow shunter shot on the bottom left. The micro scenery work is excellent, throughout. And I'm now wondering if some of the niggles are perhaps the results of wear and tear, in which case I take back some criticisms. Bound to happen on an exhibition layout. There appear to be bits that have, or are fast becoming, unstuck, like the gutter and roof of the pub in the first photo, along with tarmac that is fast leaving gaps to the kerbstones and some of the blockwork on that strange green thing next to the chippy van.<br />But go on, James, put me out of my misery, which pic. should I have jumped on?<br /><br />I almost wish I could be let loose on an otherwise excellent layout with a few tools and some glue. I don't think it needs much.Oddshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406048947308249483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post-88392544472439800312015-01-31T12:15:09.024-08:002015-01-31T12:15:09.024-08:00BCC suggests I spend too much time dealing with em...BCC suggests I spend too much time dealing with email! I supsect the Ferrari garage might have made it into the 80's. But the sign is strangely un-weathered?<br /><br />Yow knows it is the accent and dialect that separates your brummie from the black country, and within the black country a accent would probably have even given away the street where you lived.and the industry you worked in.<br /><br />The photo I had in mind looks excellent if you only look at the cameo in the foreground...James Finisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16351798531269786632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8015792618471574238.post-81904329736253345032015-01-31T11:55:56.745-08:002015-01-31T11:55:56.745-08:00Nice pics. James. I'd say that Maranello deal...Nice pics. James. I'd say that Maranello dealership was around the late 60's/early 70's going by the windows and doors. Listen to me, Mr. Architectural Journal, Ha! But if I were an EM modeller living round the corner, I just couldn't leave that alone<br />Fabulous telegraph pole picture and the best bit about it is that curleyqueue bracketed lamp. You're absolutely right, it needs making. By the fineness of the wires I'd say it was 'phones rather than power. I reckon there'd be transformers and big insulators abounding if it was power.<br /><br />You know, you Brummies and Blackcountry men have to get over it...to the rest of us they are JUST the same:-) Only Netherton Hill suggests itself as a possible demarcation, if it is a hill, to which all we others can really say is...."So what?"<br /><br />I'll go sit in a comfy chair, re-peruse the article and see where I should have been more fussy. I assume by "BCC", you meant BCB?Oddshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15406048947308249483noreply@blogger.com