Model Art (was Re: Long Distance Flights Cook-Up)

[Mothman]

Reading this thread as a newbie, I was struck by the concern over whether our work is art or not.
I maintain that a straight model of an aircraft is purely craftsmanship and I am happy with that.  Only if I put the model in a scenic set-piece could art be said to be present as I decide how to model that which is not quantifiable and therefore has to be suggested. Once there is more than one way to skin a cat FOR AN EFFECT, it starts to knock on artistry's door.
With so much garbage in the art world I don't WANT my work considered as art.
I strive to be a craftsman.  Airy fairy, arty farty can go and drink champers in some minimalist gallery full of pseuds in Mayfair and long may they stay right there, raving over daubs and unmade beds!

Cheers,
M

[Balsabasher]

Mothman well said,I could not agree more about the so called art world,I am an artist myself who enjoys doing my own thing and to the best of my abilty,just like my solids as well,it is that inner satisfaction that counts and doing a job that you enjoy.
Drawing two charcoal lines against a piece of white paper and saying that it is art is ludicrous,call me oold fashioned but I like things done properly with depth to things combined with proper skills,thank you for your thoughts.
Barry.

[Mothman]

Interesting how people with one interest often find they have more than that in common.  When I lived on the canal boat I didn't have a proper workshop, so modelmaking went out of the porthole, so to speak.  But never being happy to sit around, I decided to have a go at painting.  I'm still no artist in that my paintings were clearly always going to be 2D models.  Having trained later in life as a technical illustrator I was drawn to all the lovely old classic engines used in canal boats and I started to do watercolours of those.  I also like the pencil sketching side of things. It can be so expressive.

I bet you like vintage cars and bikes too??

My artwork is on a website I built with more hope than success!:-
http://drawingboard.webstarts.com/index.html

Cheers,
Martin

[Balsabasher]

Martin I love these old engines as well,there is something beautiful about any old motor with hand painted metalwork etc,your watercolours bring them to life,unusual subjects but they really work.
I love anything old and especially mechanical,currently I am restoring the worlds one and only Tawney Owl aeroplane,you will find progress pictures of it in the gallery under Balsabashers creations,I build my solids alongside it,I also rebuild things like old bikes and mopeds plus scooter's,I currently have one in bits awaiting spare parts,dont forget that we are probably the last of the roll your sleeves up brigade ? such is the distractions for todays youngsters but we will not go there !
I have friends who live on canal boats,one a flying scale modeller,he builds large models within so it can be done but I would imagine the dust to be a problem afloat,great way of life though.
Great to chat with you.
Barry.

[Mothman]

Sorry to be a bit slow answering, but we have a very slow connection here in bow'n'arrer country and sometimes I just say, S** it and go back over the workshop!  I'm the least patient modelmaker you ever met.  Indeed that's the very reason I AM a modelmaker.  Never had the patience for kits.  When they didn't fit I'd want to wring the designer's neck, so I decided to BE the designer of my own work.

Glad you liked the artwork.  I added a nice old Gardner 2L2 to that list recently and I'm working on a collage to celebrate Tom Rolt, one of my very few heroes.

Scooters too, eh?  I used to work for Mike Karslake, who ran the Lambretta Club of Great Britain when the mods were en masse. He had 300,000 members at that time. Now there are about 3000. He had a collection of them.  He'd be fiddling with them while I did the modelmaking, including, btw, an Anson, in wood.  I'd forgotten about that one.  I believe I still have the mould for all the bumps round the engine nacelles.  I recall the works AVRO drawings being absolute bunk.  Often the case with works drawing because nobody ever updates drawings once the first example is built.  Ford, Austin Healey, A.V.Roe, you name them, they'll likely be wrong compared with what actually came out of the factory gates.  It was while working for Mike that I watched his tasty daughter grow up.  She is now a grandparent herself and getting her face all over the papers and TV as Jo Wood.  I remember her helping at her dad's workshop in the school holidays!!  Where DOES the time go?

Cheers,
Martin

[Balsabasher]

Martin most weorks 3-view drawings were prepared by the very youngest member of the drawing office team,it gave them experience and more importantly kept them occupied whilst the real designers got on with their work.

So you are in Fenland as I envisaged,I visited a small airfield many years ago by that name,full of interesting aircraft but I expect these days it is full of more modern metal machines.

Why is it that I feel I have met you at some time in my life ?

The Jo Wood,the one that was married to Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones ? is that the one.

Barry.

[Mothman]

Barry,
I never thought of that in aircraft terms. That would explain it.  I suppose the four view you get of cars suffered from the same problem.  Some are fine, but I always advise caution.

Fenland Airport is where you probably went, near Holbeach.  A wonderfully grand name for a grass field!
It was next to the best breaker's yard you ever saw.  You could walk from rows of old Jags straight onto the airfield. no fences, hedges...nothing.  Typical Fenland really.  I found a Daimler 4.5Litre V8 engine for a friend there. The owner was a Gardner fan and built a HUGE car with a 5 cylinder Gardner diesel in it. It looked like Chitty Bang Bang. I asked him if he ever took it next door for a flight!  He missed the allusion.
I've seen some interesting stuff flying out of Fenland.  My particular favourite was Felthorpe, from where Felthorpe Flying Group operate.  That place is like a big warm hug.  I never felt as welcome anywhere as at Felthorpe.  For a Fiver a year I was insured to fly with them and I did on many an occasion.  I wandered in ther first by chance on a Moth Fly-in and it was always that good.  They had a devastating arson attack in 2003, from which they have recovered and I must get over there soon.
If you are ever over this way, please drop in.

Jo Wood, nee Howard, yes that's the one.  Her name was actually Josephine Howard Karslake, but she became a top model and took the Howard name which is actually the middle name of all the boys in the family for years, hence Mike's company was known as Howard Karslake Scale Models, at Eastwood, Southend, where I worked for him for a while.  A fine modelmaker, but not in the way we all are, where it's a major part of our lives. For him it was a way to make money. his Lambrettas were the love of his life.  He retired to Devon a few years ago and worried himself to death within a very short time.  His widow Rachael sold off all his scooters and models at a massive auction and is now, no doubt, a very wealthy woman.

I think we should perhaps continue our chats by e-mail!

Cheers,
Martin