According to Chris…
…a bad workman blames his tools, but what about the rest of us?
This month Chris outlines some of his favourite tools to aid his model building.
The older I get, the more I find myself quoting those who went before me. I seem to start many a sentence with “My Mum used to say…” especially when talking to my grandchildren. It’s nice to be able to quote them some words of wisdom from their great Grandma. My Dad was no great handyman and often used to say, of himself, “a bad workman always blames his tools.” I guess today’s bad workmen (and women) blame Microsoft and Apple!
Where modelling is concerned I have favourite tools and I know I’m not alone in that. I recall, in the early days of Model Rail, trying to get Dave Lowery to invest in a new pair of scissors because his step-by-step pictures, including a pair of scissors with a broken handle, did not look very good. The scissors were a favourite pair with which he was comfortable and there was no way he would part with them!
I have tools that I love, too, and one or two that I hate. Let’s talk about the tools I love, though. I guess most modellers will have their favourite tools and those tools will relate directly to the aspect of the hobby that they most enjoy. Mine are mostly related to working in card, styrene sheet and balsa and have been with me for a very long time. You can’t make structures out of those materials without measuring, drawing and cutting out and that’s where all of my favourite tools come in to play. Most of them have a very long history now.
My drawing instruments date from secondary school when I was 13 and started my GCE ‘O’-level Technical Drawing course. We were taught to look after our kit and this basic schoolkids’ set has My school drawing instruments plus the essential adjustable setsquare. There are two bow pens, useful for lining models. served me well ever since.
I use steel rules more for cutting out than for measuring. I find a clear plastic rule easier to read when I am measuring in millimetres but I needed a steel straight-edge for cutting out. I found one in the shed of my childhood home, where I lived with my aunt and grandmother. I was always puzzled by the two sets of slightly different inch markings on the old, dirty and impossible-to-clean rule, until I noticed some wording faintly etched into the plain back of it. ‘Lagonda 1/10 per foot shrinkage rule.’
My aunt had been company secretary of the Lagonda Motor Company at Staines and this had evidently come from their drawing office. It must have been used for drawings related to cast components which, of course, shrink in manufacture. In its new career it is a wonderful tool for cutting against because, being around 100 years old, it is much thicker than modern equivalents. My other, longer, steel straightedges are also work-related, being what was known as ‘typescales’ used in print and publishing in the days before computers. The measurements are in points and picas, as well as millimetres.
My craft knives are all former scalpels as that’s what Swann-morton made them for before surgeons used disposable ones. The handles are stainless steel so that they could be sterilized. The long, slender one is a particular favourite as it is so easy to use. It was given to me by my wife, who was a microbiologist. It came from the lab where she worked and I’ve never seen another like it. It takes the standard blades, too.
Finally, as I’ve been painting a lot of backscenes recently, I’ve brought into use a nice wooden box made, I believe, by one of my wife’s uncles as a project in the 1930s using recycled plywood. It’s perfect for storing tubes of paint. Nothing beats model-making with familiar tools and every one has a story to tell.
It is a wonderful tool for cutting against because, being around 100 years old, it is much thicker than modern equivalents
Modelling diary: Chris Leigh
The halt in the top picture is now in place on my ‘N’ gauge layout and another lockdown project finishes.