Its a bit heavy going with all the Prince Phillip stuff, he would have been well brassed off by now with the fuss, I thought we could have had one day of mourning while the funeral took place at Windsor, we could have stopped the country as best we could and had a quiet day of reflection and no danger of social interaction. well Monday sees non essential shops opens and I think we can go to Wales which means a start with Wrexham, I wonder if there are any shops left open there. Mandy was reading up on Trafford Centre opening times, there is a lengthy list of shops will not reopen ( ever). Heyho never mind, here is a look at Lincoln buses Thursday in the sunshine.
A slightly frustrating day as I'd mis numbered the latest 4 DVD covers so had to print them out after altering, the only hassle is the printer which like all Epson products has a mind of its own at times, today it was mis-feed day. We had gone out shopping early in the day and it was frosty but sunny however when we got to Handforth Dean it was heavy snow, good job Mandy has her wheelchair she would never be able to walk at all on slush. Good news though M&S was very quiet so that was a win. We got back and after lunch I cracked on with these DVDs and a bit of additional detail on the diorama including the first non bus vehicles. I've now started on the junction leading into the bus station linking the first two elements. Its quite a job keeping the scale and perspective as it blends into the backdrop. I also had a go at the SMS modern phone box model, first go I used card which was too thick so reverted to heavy paper which worked a treat and it actually looks the business. I've done some weathering on the models put in place, with the out of scale shiny finish I've found that a good old pencil eraser aka rubber vigorously applied will give a surface for weathering power to adhere to, a few nice Oxford models now look better and certainly Base models vehicles need some attention. I find the dirt colour powder best as a restrained finish, good to get those hard black tyres toned down. Its a bit heavy going with all the Prince Phillip stuff, he would have been well brassed off by now with the fuss, I thought we could have had one day of mourning while the funeral took place at Windsor, we could have stopped the country as best we could and had a quiet day of reflection and no danger of social interaction. well Monday sees non essential shops opens and I think we can go to Wales which means a start with Wrexham, I wonder if there are any shops left open there. Mandy was reading up on Trafford Centre opening times, there is a lengthy list of shops will not reopen ( ever). Heyho never mind, here is a look at Lincoln buses Thursday in the sunshine. I spent 5 hours waiting on Saddleworth Moor after the power went in the VW Caddy yet again, only 50k miles on the clock and ten years old yet a total of 6 fuel injectors have now gone, this and the last one we'll have to pay for I suppose but the faults started when it was 18 months old. It was nearly midnight when I got home on the flat back RAC van, they took it back to their yard afterwards and dropped at the garage in Northwich this morning. We managed to get a fairly hefty DVD load of orders shifted today. It was a strange day really with D of E passing away, not even a soap to relax with this evening, hopefully we'll be able to get Germany 89 though. I've got the two bus and two truck films from this week edited and masters burnt. The covers are also done but I haven't added them to the shop. We had the rat man from the council today but the village is alive with them, we saw one climbing up to the bird feeder like a squirrel. The council chap reckons it all started when the new estate was being built and they must have become homeless to went to visit all our gardens. Mandy had to see the doctor , take pictures etc, a comedy that went on all day, they prescribed some cream for the rash of spots on her back but I think it is an allergic reaction to pills they gave her to help sleep. They haven't actually got any of said pills so that's Mondays first job. The van is in the garage getting repaired but told them no rush! I've also got a few hundred more pictures ready to file away, the Smugmug still site has already got 12 months of pandemic bus and lorry coverage on it as well as the DVDs on the PMP Shop. Here are the latest Next a little quiz, herewith photos taken in the car park in Doncaster regarding payment, what is missing though? These signs were plastered everywhere. Ever get that urge to get dowen and rough and go to Doncaster and wondered what it was like, for post apocalyptic fans here goes Clips of buses in Lincoln and Doncaster going on Youtube this evening Right here we go Tally Ho and all that jazz which does actually give me a link back to Eastbourne where I grew up, Tally Ho was / is a pub in Old Town and we used to have a drink on a Friday night there with my mate Big Dave's foreman and I took a picture of a livestock van /lorry today on my Whitchurch A41 outing of one with an old Eastbourne reg number. I also met a lady who returned near the end of the morning session to ask if I could pass them a copy of the Scania T Cab I photographed, actually miseed it on video, it was suddenly there in front of me. I have already forwarded the picture, its good to be able to build up relationships with operators in the industry. The weather was mainly very light snow and sometimes a little brightness, yes challenging condition but it was good to get out of the house. I did some more work on the diorama and as promised tonight some catch up shots. Just waiting for the re ordered seats and waste bins for the bus station to arrive, this time in 1/76 scale not 1/43, I would have queried it with a customer with mixed scales, going in with EBay it brought up the items searching for 1/76, EBay has a nasty habit of doing things like that. The 3D modeled items aren't cheap either. Still it will all look good when it is finished. Mandy's replacement birthday bouquet arrived a few minutes ago, looks a better mix than the one they delivered via a local florist through Interflora which was going brown after two day and most of the flowers never opened, at least they have come good in the end, we hope! The next two days should be bus destination outings for the PMP camera. The DVD orders are still coming in very steadily, no big dip but not so busy like the middle of the lock downs. This one from Northern Ireland was part of the vaccination programme, near Whitchurch, Shropshire this morning.
I have managed to get a few more digital download DVDs on the PMP shop but other than that not a lot really as we enjoyed the weekend with catch ups with family and friends over the four day holiday period. Tomorrow is looking a bit grim with lots of wind to disrupt filming but Thursday and Friday are looking hopeful. I did get some more work done on the diorama and found that my orders for rubbish bins and seating were 1/43rd scale not 1 /76, anyway I've reordered. I had better luck with the barbed wire security fencing, just got to put the twisted wire through which represents the barb bit quite well. We only have a few days to go to non essential shops opening up and we are also free then to visit Wales, Wrexham will be the first to test the water as it were and then I'll see what has happened with the new bus station at Myrthr. I was sort of hoping to digitise some of my early video for more of our eastern European friends especially Romania and Bulgaria, I don't intend to spread it much further but the Caucasus always has a lot of interest. Another job was to go through more of the Smugmug still photo albums as they advised that the security measuers against downloads hadn't all gone on such as watermarks. This though seems to be working ok. Please don't forget we have nearly half a million photos on our site, link via the shop front page.I also had another bash at my natural fathers pedigree using his exact words on a family change from O'Sullivan to O'Grady, actually some of it makes more sense now but really hard to dig into the past in Ireland. Meanwhile some shots from our 2014 trip to Romania and Bulgaria. A little pushed for time this evening, just had dinner and we are sitting down to listen to some Easter themed choral works, taking of which I hope that we shall get some live music at the RNCM in the summer term. There are several master classes broadcast live from the college for the patrons and whatever else I do we must catch Sir Mark Elder doing the conducting master class.
I've been out mowing, strimming and weeding in the garden, the whole village is experiencing a plague of rats at present, hopefully the council will do some eliminating after Easter as its there unkempt land that they shelter in. However much I try to get time to upload more digital files for downloads time beats me, only managed 2 today despite great expectations. However I did get the covers make and items listed for the last four DVDs and here are the covers, all in the PMP shop. I have a rubbish problem on my diorama, somebody has left old mattresses and cookers and rolled up carpets as well as all manner of bags and magazines strewn around the perimeter of the area I'm working on, looks quite good if I say so myself. Hopefully photos coming soon. 'A very sunny day which started with an unwelcome frost but clear blue sky nearly all day. I got some work done on diorama 2 the more modern era from 80's to date, nearly finished the west side which joins the now infamous Derby bus station. I must add a lot of dirt and rust to it after visiting the other week, I hadn't realised how down a heel it now looks and stuff broken like the bay free notices, the pole was red rusty. Once I've got all the infrastructure finished I'll liberally scatter 'rubbish' and then populate and light etc. Having learned my lesson on the first diorama I'm leaving the vehicles and population until later but I'm quite pleased with this second attempt and it has all or most of the elements I intended to include, usually based on the necessary parts or prototype being available and suitably tweaked.Even the back side of the 'modern' industrial estate type depot is about to start, I have the chain link and barbed wire security fence, I fear it will be needed given the close proximity of those tower blocks and much graffiti'd garage blocks. I got the Oldham and Rochdale bus DVDs finished plus the two truck films at Trafford Park Manchester taken yesterday. I need to get the covers done, clips should be on Youtube this evening. We are on top of DVD orders which will go out on Tuesday. I'm also tick tacking with people over our family trees and may be I'll get time to do some research. Meanwhile I hope you all have a pleasant Easter weekend, not too much chocolate! Here are some shots from Trafford Park visit. Today I needed something relatively local as we needed to get out later on to do shopping to take us through the Easter holiday. It was like a battlefield at M&S Handforth Dean near Manchester airport, the shelves were bare, it was like being back at the beginning of the lock downs last year. To add to the misery M&S have it seems gone over to playing boom boom music noise over their tannoy which given their aged customer base should make it an instant turn off. I wish we had something a little bit more upmarket as it is no longer a pleasant experience at M&S. We have placed another large order for media to keep us ticking over, DVD covers are once again in short supply, stuck in the Suez queue I wouldn't wonder. Amaray who made them has now stopped and the business has been picked up by another manufacturer who already make similar. Anybody get the Rapido Train e newsletter, it takes some digesting and hard to know what is an April fool and what isn't. A strange outfit from Canada who carry their in house jokes through to customers who may not understand Canadian humour, actually I wasn't aware that anyone in North America had humour. We live and learn. If true they are making a model of a Bedford OB. They are also pushing the TTC derived orders for their own versions of the West Midlands Fleetline, a shame they cannot channel their releases so we can all share in them, I've given TTC another spin for their Mancunian if it transpires but after using them for my usual supplies I gave up when Chris let me down a few times, in fact they have had an airport 1 1/2 deckers for repair for some years now. Anyway back to Rapido, a Bedford OB, really! There must be thousands of wonderful vehicles never modeled other than as kits, many in preservation and able to be measured etc, there was also talk of a RT, where are these ideas coming from , they obviously aren't afraid to go provincial per the West Midlands models and superb at that. I enjoyed filming at Trafford Park, a bit breezy so I buried myself in the buses for covers but Hawthorne isn't a good companion. There was a lot of variety, it has its own mix as do all locations, there are other locations around the Park I could try again, easy to overlook as it is a convenient spot. Everywhere covered in litter chucked out of lorries, an epidemic in Britain which has no vaccination to protect us from, litter, litter everywhere including fly tipping in our own village. Meanwhile shots from yesterdays outing in Rochdale. I'm editing the bus films now |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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