The above sequence at Zilina and some rare ( for me) shots of locos spotted on our travels , at least we had shelter on the platforms. Zilina had a smart bus fleet and if the rain had stopped a little longer I would have got more pictures but these weren't as bad as some to come!
Back home this morning after getting up at 3am for 6am flight to Munich and thence on to Manchester. The weather at home is wonderful and after catching up with gardening and washing we had a sit out in the sun something which was in very short supply in Slovakia. In fact possibly the worst rain ever since the floods in Poland and East Germany many years ago. Meanwhile lets do a quick photo catch up from the past week's travels. I'll be filming at Morecambe tomorrow. Photos of Bratislava, capital of Slovakia as visited last week All packed up and ready to leave Friday morning, Manchester to Bratislava on Ryanair, long time since I've been with them but at £30 who could turn that down. Nearly bed time, nice evening at the pub. So lucky dip tonight where I'll end up, how about Merseyside. Awful weather today, heavy deluge of rain - drenched in garden as I put new plants which arrived this afternoon in the borders, no problems with watering them in. Spent ages sweeping away the flooding water from the back. I've now sussed out what the constant problem is, the people who put the extension in ran the down spout from the main roof onto the shortest stretch of gutter which empties into soak away in the back garden which is a tad lower than the top of the drive. If I re route it to the gutter which discharges at the front it will just go down the drive and into the main drains under the road. I've been getting some clips for Youtube sorted, the plan is to make the old master tapes into digital and on the shop but upgraded to HD and 50 fps. Then all of it goes on Youtube as short clips. The overseas truck material get a lot more hits and the top 10 ever are all truck films. So it makes sense to get them to a wider audience. Here are some shots in Australia, the clips on Youtube are mainly lorries at Darwin and Alice Springs although there are a few tram shots from Melbourne. Using the masters it is always a bit of a mix including scenics. Another thing I did was to get a batch of the printed 3D 1/76 people on to the dioramas. There were figures to go on several of the layouts, on the whole I was pleased with the results although getting them from sprues sees quite a lot of amputations! Here they are as painted, a random example.
Normally all the model bus collectors are on about what they would like to see modelled, from the appeal yesterday two specific models emerged and have a degree of back up info to tempt our friend in China to dip into the UK water. I've not been too good today, terrible sore throat and felt a bit unsettled with my passages blocked to my ears. Went to Knutsford, very helpful young pharmacist got me the best thing, a zapper for sore throats. Within minutes of using it I was feeling a bit better, now several hours on I'm about 80% of my normal self. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be well enough to help take down the tents from the coronation celebrations in our village. This morning despite the throat I went up to Manchester to see what was happening for their Coronation weekend of buses around in 1953. I thought I'd not seen much on the net from Manchester, no wonder there were just a couple of Stockport buses out that had been on the North Western RCC weekend. Really annoying when events are not fully expanded upon. So where does that leave us, well if you want to see your favourite bus modelled by an experts you'll need to send in suggestions backed up with information, perhaps drawings and photos inside and out. I'm all for a Merseyside Atlantean and a Ribble PD3 but they are possibly a bit too 'old' for my friend in Guangzhou. Anyway we've talked a lot about China so some Chinese shots tonight. A friend of mine in China has been manufacturing Chinese model buses for a few years now. With runs at about 100 each they all sell out locally. He would like to dip his toe in the UK model bus market. I think he prefers more modern prototypes although I guess like me there are plenty who would like old prototypes. He only needs a good set of shots from all around outside and interiors and can create the master from his own computer assisted design experience. Here are a few recent views of his work. These have never been sold or marketed in UK or HK. The subject should be capable of carrying several liveries. The thought at present is a run of 200-300. I know there are all sorts of considerations on the commercial side ,they are resin castings of high quality. Please no replies on Facebook, email me if you have well thought out suggestions, images we can send him and alternative liveries. My own suggestions which are probably too early are Merseyside Atlanteans and Ribble PD3. Please again if you wish to make a real suggestion email daveatpmp@gmail.com. Regulars will know I do not use Facebook messenger either.
A bit too much bubbly to do anything too important although one 6' section of perspex fell onto one of the computer screens. I just wanted to get everything safely back in it's place before I caused any more havoc. I'd tweaked the 1940's-50's scene so that the traffic looked a bit more real and have swapped vehicles a bit to time line it better. Until the film cameras came I didn't realise what a fuss a timelines layout could cause but I think it is the educational side of it. Us oldies take it as it is but for many looking at it is like looking backwards in time to a place they have never been. Not very good pictures a little4 tipsy, we have to walk to the concert tonight, we won't need to buy much drink. With the 'glass' off it was also possible to grab shots of scenes above and below from other eras. I'm going to do a few tweaks on the first of the dioramas I constructed, it was the first time I'd modelled like this in about 40 years so it was a bit of a learning curve. Now it aggravates me as it looks a bit daft with a huge bus garage and a big road that goes nowhere. I've found some good pictures which can be blended in to give a cross road early postwar. As it is all time lines that works well and buses can be entering the 1940-50s sequence from the ruins of London with a tidy up already but still work to be done. I deed to get my cutting card stuff ready and glue. Thankfully on all the pictures I've manipulated the sky blends well with the existing images. With this done a more realistic through road can easily be created, the only thing which went out of the window was an ultra low relief workshop which was a freebie to practise on. Its work is long done now. I need some time to put lots of the detailing material into situ but modelling like scanning cine grows and grows. I'm just running through some 1962 scenes which include the end of London trolleybuses. For tonights slide show and in anticipation of the Slovakia trip and later the Czech trip this year some shots on previous visits. The difficulties operating buses in the current circumstances became obvious again as Little Gem with the GM period livery has now gone and services sliced up to anyone willing to step in at an acceptable price. In Bolton there are changes as routes are abandoned and Go Ahead takes on several more services plus Vision picks up school services. All this in the run up to franchising and Yellow bee services to start in September. I've started editing the films taken at llandudno, the first of the lorry volumes is almost ready. All will be done by tonight, possibly covers following on behind. This morning I was putting the new coating on the rear and side paths around the house. It has now come out sunny, about time. Lots of jobs still there though and Friday I'm helping put the stage together for the village Coronation concert evening on Saturday. More shots from Sunday. |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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