Thursday, 18 September 2014

My first commission

A comment of Iain's on the previous post about "old modelmakers" got me thinking....This is my first ever commission.  A sand barge from the Essex coast called Peterna.
I was 18 when I made it, 44 years ago.  It has a basswood hull covered in litho plate and everything else is nickel silver.
I'm really not sure that I've improved on that!  Just got a lot quicker.  Which is what makes a professional, as opposed to an amateur, which is most definitely what I was then.  I remember getting a massive £85 for the model and £25 for the mahogany base and case!
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2 comments:

  1. Iain Robinson19 September 2014 at 04:58

    That looks like it is a beautiful model, and a fantastic opener for you! I must say that in my one and only year-long stint at a professional modelmaking workshop, the pace of work was too fast for comfort, but I reckon I have a nice compromise now...although things would seem much quicker if I concentrated on one job at a time!

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  2. Odds19 September 2014 at 05:48

    Thanks, Iain, it was a nice model to make. I had to go to Essex from Devon to measure it and back again by train(!) to deliver it, aboard the actual ship, one day before it was removed from service. It was made in a space cleared in a storage shed, when I lived in Devon and took a long time! I did 4 months of an apprenticeship at Thorpe Modelmakers in London as a school leaver and that was pretty hectic, too. I left because they didn't pay enough to cover the train fair in every day! These days it's all done with CAD and without that skill you won't get a job in any professional company. I think we both have it going our way now. Though you must tire of buildings as I do of slot car bodies from time to time. Fancy a swap?

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