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Hobbies 2021

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izzy eckerslike said:
You can see me on TV making one of the models for a TV programme "Collectors Lot" in 1998, originally recorded on VHS tape but after finding it again I managed to edit my bits out of the 5 episodes and copy it to DVD, the lower Youtube resolution is not so good unfortunately

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Izzy, my wife & I watched your video, so impressed with your work!
 
sospiri said:
Vic,

Interesting stuff nevertheless, you just miniaturised it! I used to set up distributors overseas for small British manfacturers. One of my customers used to make football tables and in addition used to take on a few cabinetmaking contracts. When they went bust, they still had a contract for video recorders cabinets for the American Ampex company still outstanding, so their Sales Manager, who was a cabinetmaker, and I took over that contract and eventually moved into furniture making. He had a home sideline making Gonks, which were all the rage then, and eventually left to make those full time. By 1979 I was employing five, but a slump was on the way and I found myself spending more time chasing money, so I sold the business, went back to uni, and spent the rest of my working life as a software engineer.

Maurice :cool:
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I remember years ago that a cabinet maker was a well known occupation but today the title seems hardly used or goes by a different name. TV scenery is rarely used as it was in my time except for light entertainment/ game shows etc. Now for dramas they use real buildings a lot more and modern filming equipment is well suited to this.

I can still spot scenery in an instant by the way a room is laid out to avoid long runs of wall panels (flats) so little nooks & crannies appear for no good reason, especially near a door.
Also the brickwork for e.g is called Vacform, cast from original items & supplied by Pinewood, on a corner it's impossible to get the bonding to appear correct because some vertical pointing will be right on the corner for every other row.

Also the wrong bonding is often used as is (or was) on Coronation street where they used stretcher bond which is for cavity wall construction which certainly was not in use in Victorian/Edwardian times when these type houses were built, it should be English bond or Flemish bond for solid walls with bricks laid end on to tie the wall together.
 
Richarddye said:
Izzy, my wife & I watched your video, so impressed with your work!
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Thank you Richard,
My daughter Jessica, just home from school, makes an appearance in the filming at the end. The director wanted to create a snow scene using all my display models, the only thing they could think of was using something from Tesco which was Semolina or some similar white powdery stuff, anyhow it did the job sprinkled all over the roofs etc. We put little footprints in it as though someone had walked through the street. The day after filming ended we went on holiday & our neighbour came in to feed the cats. When we got back all the Semolina had gone & the neighbour said she saw footprints that looked like Mice so she swept it all off :D:D
 
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izzy eckerslike said:
My old websites are still up long after I retired, there are streetscene photo's but the special Diagon Alley model went to a famous collector in Florida who requested ( & paid extra!) that it was not put on my website as she did not want anyone else to have the same, after all that the model appeared in a magazine a few months later :confused:


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Hi Vic

My late father in law was a modelmaker so I know what it takes to produce models like yours, as you know you can spot a fault a mile of and punish yourself for things no-one else would notice!! ( He produced many of the models in Stoke Bruene Canal museum)
 
izzy eckerslike said:
You can see me on TV making one of the models for a TV programme "Collectors Lot" in 1998, originally recorded on VHS tape but after finding it again I managed to edit my bits out of the 5 episodes and copy it to DVD, the lower Youtube resolution is not so good unfortunately

Click to expand...
hi vic just watched your video in awe of your amazing talent..to sit and watch the old curiosity shop come to life in front of my eyes was fantastic...

have you ever made a model of the old crown at digbeth? by the way nice to put a face to your name :)

lyn
 
Hello Lyn, glad you liked my video,

I still have the filming contract in my memorabilia box. I blotted out the address & phone as I don't live there now, other pages show the questions they will ask and all sorts of stuff like that.
if you used to watch Collectors lot you will remember that each week there was something being made by a crafts person and it was given away as a viewers competition prize. To this day I wonder what happened to the shop I made on screen, CH4 had to buy it off me and to speed things up so it could be filmed in three days I had three of them on the go in different stages, the one you see at the end was not the one I started making, it was the only way we could do it in the time.
I used to do miniature shows at the NEC, Kensington, Alexandra Palace etc , New York and never met the so called winner. The film crew were two men on camera & sound and two women, director & assistant. and I think the director kept it for herself so all the viewers who rang up or posted off letters to win it were robbed, I can't prove it but hundreds of people used to come up to me at the shows talking about it for years after so it makes you wonder.lot.JPG
 
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Update on my 3D printing exploits.

I have a fascination with the symbolism found on cemetery grave markers; they are monuments to the dead of everyday people. I have been looking at ways to capture some of these grave markers as a record and as a way of showing them to people who don’t have access, so have been experimenting with some 3D modelling and 3D printing.

I idea is you take a series of overlapping images and crunch it with 3D modelling software to produce a mesh that can be covered with a texture or printed.

Here is my first attempt on a marker in St Marys Moseley.

So we start off taking lots of overlapping photos, I took about 50 for this marker.

Mosely-Church-3D-Images-Jun21_0045.jpg

We then crunch the data in a piece of software called Meashmaker to make a 3D mesh

Moseley-Colum.jpg

This gives us a 3d model that we can output to another piece of software so it can be printed with a 3d printer.

Moseley-Colum-1.jpg

Or we can keep a 3D record of the object. This would be amazing for museum collections

Moseley-Colum-2.jpg

Finally, we can print the model on a 3D printer. This is one I did on my filament printer.

Moseley-Colum-3.jpg
 
Morturn said:
Update on my 3D printing exploits.

I have a fascination with the symbolism found on cemetery grave markers; they are monuments to the dead of everyday people. I have been looking at ways to capture some of these grave markers as a record and as a way of showing them to people who don’t have access, so have been experimenting with some 3D modelling and 3D printing.

I idea is you take a series of overlapping images and crunch it with 3D modelling software to produce a mesh that can be covered with a texture or printed.

Here is my first attempt on a marker in St Marys Moseley.

So we start off taking lots of overlapping photos, I took about 50 for this marker.

View attachment 159817

We then crunch the data in a piece of software called Meashmaker to make a 3D mesh

View attachment 159818

This gives us a 3d model that we can output to another piece of software so it can be printed with a 3d printer.

View attachment 159819

Or we can keep a 3D record of the object. This would be amazing for museum collections

View attachment 159820

Finally, we can print the model on a 3D printer. This is one I did on my filament printer.

View attachment 159821
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Mort, would say that is very good and extremely clever!
 
Morturn said:
Update on my 3D printing exploits.

I have a fascination with the symbolism found on cemetery grave markers; they are monuments to the dead of everyday people. I have been looking at ways to capture some of these grave markers as a record and as a way of showing them to people who don’t have access, so have been experimenting with some 3D modelling and 3D printing.

I idea is you take a series of overlapping images and crunch it with 3D modelling software to produce a mesh that can be covered with a texture or printed.

Here is my first attempt on a marker in St Marys Moseley.

So we start off taking lots of overlapping photos, I took about 50 for this marker.

View attachment 159817

We then crunch the data in a piece of software called Meashmaker to make a 3D mesh

View attachment 159818

This gives us a 3d model that we can output to another piece of software so it can be printed with a 3d printer.

View attachment 159819

Or we can keep a 3D record of the object. This would be amazing for museum collections

View attachment 159820

Finally, we can print the model on a 3D printer. This is one I did on my filament printer.

View attachment 159821
Click to expand...
Fantastic work! The process has so many possibilities both for engineered products and sculptured works of art.

I walked around a graveyard near Lowestoft the other day where the newer stones were digitally engraved with personal photos of pets, interests/hobbies and emblems of people's lives. I imagine someone is already embedding chips in gravestones so that visitors can read the life story of the deceased.
 
I made the top of this one from ¾” MDF as a torsion box so its dead flat and strong and cheep to make. I covered it with 1.8” hardboard that I can pull off and change if needed.
Richarddye said:
Usually they the best kind! We just moved to another house with a large garage & space for me to work. It has a very large workbench with substantial legs and frame with a very thin top. Once we get a little more settled I am going to put on a 11/2 to 2” top!
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Love the OXO cabinet Mort. You’re most likely going to use it yourself but you could sell it for quite a sum today. Viv.
 
"A new TV series will be going behind the scenes at Hornby.

The 10-part series will air on Monday nights at 9pm on Yesterday, from October 11 and all episodes will be available for catch-up on UKTV Play.

Hornby opens it doors to show the lengths its team of designers and engineers go to in scaling down locomotives, cars, aircraft and more to produce replica models as near perfect as possible."
 
Pedrocut said:
"A new TV series will be going behind the scenes at Hornby.

The 10-part series will air on Monday nights at 9pm on Yesterday, from October 11 and all episodes will be available for catch-up on UKTV Play.

Hornby opens it doors to show the lengths its team of designers and engineers go to in scaling down locomotives, cars, aircraft and more to produce replica models as near perfect as possible."
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Hello Pedro, I Googled Hornby (had a 00) and surprise surprise they have a significant presence in the US including Bassett Lowkee (sp) will be following.

Thank you!
 
Pedrocut said:
"A new TV series will be going behind the scenes at Hornby.

The 10-part series will air on Monday nights at 9pm on Yesterday, from October 11 and all episodes will be available for catch-up on UKTV Play.

Hornby opens it doors to show the lengths its team of designers and engineers go to in scaling down locomotives, cars, aircraft and more to produce replica models as near perfect as possible."
Click to expand...
looking forward to that thanks. i still have a load of triang/hornby. and later hornby locos:grinning:
 
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