Who Cares?

I’ve mentioned a few times on here before some of the events I get involved with to do with Doctor Who Conventions. There are several events each year from simple signing events in Barking, to specific event days in Slough, through to the weekend event in Newcastle.

Who Care 1 Group Photo, with you're truely.

Some of the one day events in Slough are charity events where the special guests appear to help raise money for causes close to their hearts. We’ve had “Motormouth” to raise funds for “Project Motorhouse” (in the past with David Tennant and Peter Capaldi) and “Who Cares?” (with Joanna Lumley, Sir Derek Jacobi and Bernard Cribbins) to raise money for the actor’s retirement home, Denville Hall.

Motormouth 2 Companions Special

The latest of these events coming up is Who Cares 2 on 20^th June in Slough.

The guests this time include original Doctor Who companions Ian and Susan (William Russell & Carole Ann Ford), Romana & K9 (Lalla Ward & John Leeson) and (try to avoid saying ‘I don't believe it’ because it’s true) Richard Wilson – he of One Foot in the Grave, Merlin and Daemons not to mention his guest appearance in Doctor Who.

Tickets include a photo shoot with all guests and autographs, and others are available to purchase as additional items. Full details and tickets are available from Tenth Planet Events website. 

More guests are expected to be announced soon. These really have to be must attend events for any Doctor Who fan. I’ll be there along with one of the guests so why not come along and say hello, it would be great to see you and you'll be helping raise money for some great causes.

(Guests appear subject to work commitments)

With original companion William Russell at a previous event.

With the Doctor, Peter Capaldi at Motormouth III

More Cracked and Broken Glass

A little progress update, (no the rubbish hasn’t been collected yet - we’re still wading through THREE to FOUR weeks worth of uncollected refuse) the progress is on the rear of the haunted house.  All the rear windows have now been finished, except for some remedial tidy up work.

The windows are all different in their degrees of damage. One window has miraculously survived in the bottom right of the building. I wonder what forces are at work in that room of the house?

Some are broken with just small fragments of jagged glass in place ready to catch and injure any ghost hunters that might try to get through the windows. On the ground floor where the glass is broken the windows have been boarded up. 

The boards are the same cut coffee sticks as the rest of the planking on the house, but these boards I’ve distressed the edges first before fixing them in place over the broken glass.

For a couple of other windows, they remain cracked rather than full broken. For these I cut a full window square of plastic then I scored it but did not cut it through.

To ensure the glass stays in place, a bit like fixing in old window panes I used thinner strips of the coffee sticks to build window frames which I put in place like beading around the glass.

I think I’m getting the effect that I’m aiming for.

Looking forward to being able to start painting soon.

Previous article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
May Day, Breaking Windows

Next article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
The Price of Moonlight

May Day, Breaking Windows

Finally, after the local council the other day so kindly did what we pay them to do and cleared the first lot of garden waste that has been festering for nearly a month in our green bins, I was able, with some sunshine today, to clear the rest of the grass and cut back the bushes that were almost preventing you from getting through the front gate. No doubt it will be another month before we see the back of this rubbish. With the bin full I gave up on gardening and whilst the sun still shone turned my attention to the haunted house model, since I could make use of the garden table to work on.

Broken window on model

I said a while back that I was thinking of trying something different with these windows. Earlier attempted mock-ups have not gone quite to plan but now I think I’ve got something that is working. I wanted quite a number of these windows to appear broken, with dangerous shards of glass left in them. 

Whilst wandering round one of the many pound stores we have, I found a packet of chalk sheets; these are dull black sheets with a sticky back. I wanted a black background which could be dropped in place without having to paint the whole model at this stage.

Next window panel

Cutting a square to drop into place, when stuck I used the backing sheet as a template to cut a matching square from the packaging of an old Christmas card box. 

Materials: Chalk sheet, coffee sticks and old Christmas
Card packaging

Then I cut the window up with a jagged edge to make the fitting piece of broken glass. I laid this over the black background and fixed the plastic shards in place with the wooden sticks used to form the frames.

Whilst I was working on the model I also managed to complete the front tower, including the boarded up window.

Chalk sheet and cut plastic in place before frame added

Previous article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
Weekend roofing

Next article in the Mystery Model / Haunted House series:
More Cracked and Broken Glass