Charity Night

It’s the second of December already where has the year gone? Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog, but I’ve been so consumed with getting the last part of the Karl trilogy written all model building and other activities have gone on a back burner. The first draft is not yet ready and it’s already longer than the first two put together. 

Kelly Wilde & Tom Kohler
© Marc Major

I’ve not spent all the time locked away in a dungeon typing; I got out Saturday night to the Victoria in Walthamstow for their charity night in aid of Positive East. Along with the obvious flow of alcohol there was a charity raffle, an auction and other fundraising activities. 

Auction in progress.

© Marc Major

Yours truly even found themselves buying purchasing a James Bond Goldeneye jacket in the auction. Kelly Wilde and Tom Kohler were in great voice and entertained the crowd.  I believe the final count of money raised is yet to be announced.

Leon the winner of Karl book 1

© Marc Major

There were a large number of donated prizes and one of the lucky winners, Leon, won a signed copy of “Karl – Birth of Mystery”. I do hope he enjoys it.

I will present the book reviews for the last few months shortly and I’m going to be handing the blog over to a guest blogger to provide a review of two very unique and very different protections we’ve seen recently.

But more on that later.

Finished Models

A quick round up of a couple of models I finally got finished recently.

Two finally finished models for the Ghost Town

Checking the weather in the Ghost Town

First is the ‘off-cuts house’ which was made to use up scraps of the foam board which could not be used for larger designed buildings, the shape of this was determined by the pieces of board available. This has finally had the windows painted black and the varnish applied.

Here is a shot with a figure on the front steps, I was planning to take a few more pictures but it started to rain so I had to get the models in before any damage was done.

Tower

The original ‘mystery model ‘has also been painted and varnished now – this can have various uses. I’ve made the very top flat roof as an additional piece and not fixed, this allows models to be put in and two different looks for the tower. It can be a guard tower / look out post or as suggested a siege tower. I plan to make some wheels and a base for it later.

Here are a couple of rangers taking aim from the tower.

Rangers using the tower

And finally the ‘slot in place doors’ for the earlier coffee stick houses for the ghost town have finally been varnished and can be packed away with their respective models.

Switchable door selection

A Stich in Shelka

Quite some time ago, before the re-launch of Doctor Who, there was another Ninth Doctor, played by Richard E. Grant – this was an online animation on the BBC Website. Now for the first time that has been released on DVD. 

Writer Paul Cornell has a blog covering many details regarding this release and the Shelka panel from my tapestry gets a feature. 

At the time we all thought this was the new Ninth Doctor little did we know what plans were already afoot for the 2005 series. For me then, here was the new Doctor and he had to be added to the tapestry. Fortunately there was a panel that had not been allocated which allowed me to work in the new Doctor, the two young companions and Shelka itself.

New Mystery Model, parts #9, #16 & #18

or “The Pointy Bits”

It’s probably quite easy to guess what these are. 

Pyramid Power

The working names for these parts are:

#9 Front Tower Roof

#16 Rear Tower Roof

#18 Second Floor, Left Side, Rear Tower Roof.

Opposite sides tiled first

This suggests that there are going to be three towers to this model, whatever it turns out to be. I do have plans and designs I’m just keeping them to myself for a little while longer.

These are all made from cardboard, cut from the remains of an Amazon delivery package, and covered in tiles in the same way as the other roof pieces from the small cereal bar box. 

Opposite sides trimmed before adding remaining tiles

That small box has made all the tiles for these pieces so far, but what’s left will not be enough for the main roof piece of the model.

Pieces #9 & #18 were cut out as four matching triangles and glued together.

Piece #16 has two pairs of different size triangles making for a thinner tower rather than the square tower of the other two.

All sides trimmed

I stuck the tiles onto opposite sides and allowed them to dry before trimming the sides up, then I added the other two sides of tiles. 

Once these were dry those sides were trimmed.

So far the best guesses have been:

• A city ruined by an earthquake.
• A brothel.

Next article in this series: Mystery model parts #13 & #14

Previous article in this series: New Mystery Model, parts #6, #10 & #12

New Mystery Model, parts #6, #10 & #12

Three more roof related pieces of the new mystery model today – the weather was a bit windy and rainy so working out on the table in the garden was really not an option. 

This means I usually look for smaller scale pieces to work on and sticking roof tiles is about the simplest option.

These three parts have the working numbers and names as follows:

#6 Front reception roof

#10 Second floor, right side, centre piece

#12 Second floor, right side, rear roof.

Two are triangles of foam board with cardboard roof covered in tiles, whilst the other piece is an L shape made from foam board with a slanted piece of card going partially up leaving a small side of wall exposed.

Piece #12 also has a lip to the roof so that the tiles will over hang the front slightly. This will be to the front of the final building.

The biscuit box is now fully cut up into tiles, it was used on these three pieces and will still have enough for the other three small roof pieces that I’ll be working on next.





Next article in this series: New Mystery Model, parts #9, #16 & #18
Previous article in this series: New Mystery Model section #20

Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

I’ve not presented a theatre review for a while, but what a production to return with. Last night we found ourselves down in the seedy night club called Saucy Jack’s on Frottage III. (Aka Leicester Square Theatre) Where the Slingback Killer has been knocking off the cabaret acts. Quick somebody call for the interstellar super-fashion crime fighters The Space Vixens. With the rest of the acts stuck in this world of doom your life may only be save by Glitter Boots and DISCO.

It’s fair to say this is very much in the style of The Rocky Horror Show, and if you enjoyed that then you’ll enjoy this. It’s one of the few musicals I’ve seen recently where we’ve come out humming the songs and wanting to be a Space Vixen.  I don’t want to spoil it for you by giving too much away.

But, will The Space Vixens be able to bring The Slingback Killer to justice? Will Booby Shevalle get her dream come true, and Sammy Sax, Mitch Maypole and Dr Von Whackoff what will be their fate? There is only one way to find out, and that is to join them at Leicester Square Theatre for a fabulous night.

Multi-award winning West End star Leanne Jones heads a brilliantly strong cast who deliver with great zest this wonderful musical which has certainly won my heart. The show is presented in an intimate setting with the stage down the centre of the studio area ending in the obligatory accessory for the pole dancers, and the audience is sat around as if they were really in the cabaret bar - this works really well.

I’m still humming ‘Glitter Boots Saved My Life’ YES - 

I stopped off to buy the soundtrack on the way out.

Well done to all

“Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens” is on at The Leicester Square Theatre from 1^st August to 15^th September 2013.  For more details http://www.saucyjackandthespacevixens.com/

New Mystery Model section #20

Here is the first piece of the large mystery model, no I‘m afraid it’s not a city in ruins – not this time, but I might head down that route one day.  

Mystery Model piece #20 plus uncut roof tiles.

This is actually piece numbered 20 on my list of pieces, affectingly known as: SECOND FLOOR, FRONT LEFT SIDE ROOF. It’s basically a rectangle of card approx 135x105mm cut from an old Amazon delivery package, and the tiles are cut from cereal packet, in this case the box for some Nature Valley biscuits.

Roof tiles cut and ready

I do find cutting these tiles and sticking them down quite laborious so I’ve decided to do some of the roof pieces early in the process. The average size of the tiles is 10x10mm but not measured exactly and a few variations to give it some character, but not too much larger. 

The tiles have been cut and glued down and once the glue is fully dry I’ll trim up the overlapping pieces that are sticking out around the edge of the roof plate.

Piece #20 Front Side with tiles added

Piece #20 Reverse side

Next article in this series: New Mystery Model, parts #6, #10 & #12

Previous article in this series: New Mystery Model