Andy's Modelmaking Misadventures

[Andy in Germany]

This would have been finished a week ago if I was more decisive; I rejected several colours before settling on dark red, and it turns out that card doesn’t like to have paint removed in the usual way, so it took much careful scraping to get the surface ready for painting again.

Anyway…

The van has several different identities depending on which magnetised sign I put on the side. Currently, it belongs to one Charles Vane.

If anyone asks at a society event, Charles Vane will describe himself either as an “Entrepreneur” or a “Gentleman” while being rather vague about the actual business apart from “import and export”. He’s very quiet about his sideline in the “security” business providing guards for some of the Island’s warehouses, and certainly never mentions the numerous failed ventures, the remains of which are in several places on the Island, some in quite small bits.

None of these failures seem to affect Vane financially or otherwise. He maintains a close relationship with the elites of the Island, from the governor to whoever is ascendant in the local organised crime scene. In fact, it is this ability that gained him his nickname; “Weather Vane”, because you only have to watch him to know which way the wind is blowing. Just don’t ever say this where he can hear you.

There’s a persistent rumour that Vane is from an aristocratic English family who pay him a stipend to stay out of the way on Ascension. Captain Bryant is fairly sure he also supplements his income from various illegal activities, from smuggling to protection rackets, but the police have been told that an investigation would be “unnecessary”.

The van will at some point gain a couple of other identities, probably as the Island’s Post Office van. It will also lead a double life as a combatant in “the Races” under the “Maximilian 1934” rules. For this, of course, it will need a few customisations…

 

[AndyRM]

Really like the colours of that. Very smart.

 

[Andy in Germany]

On to Van 2.0.

This van was supposed to look a bit newer than the previous version, as if some organisation wanted to improve their image, so they got a chic and trendy style of van. I also wanted to try a few different methods, and while I was at it, practice a few things I’d learned before I forgot about them.

With my memory, this doesn’t usually take very long.

Incidentally, before someone comments, I know there’s no door for the driver. I originally planned to make one by sticking card onto the side in the same way as the first van, but I realised this would break up those raised lines, so I’ll draw and score the outline instead. I did this on the plane and no-one seems to have noticed.

Once I’ve decided what colour to paint it, hopefully without half a dozen false starts this time, it’s time for the silly session once more, with some ridiculous weaponry. I’m wondering if this could be another faction, a “Revolutionary People’s Front” to counter the previous “People’s Revolutionary Front”.

On the other hand, this is the 1930’s, someone from the other extreme of the political spectrum may have seen the excuse for some randomised violence…

 

[Andy in Germany]

And so the silliness descends, with help from some more card, bits of wire and collected junk, and the innards from several cigarette lighters*.

In this guise, the van is being driven in “the races” by the Ascension Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party, which broke away from the “Ascension Socialist Workers Party” due to “ideological differences”; Publicly, this is because they advocated violent revolution and blowing up the Governor’s residence. In fact, it’s because the only thing they actually blew up was a shed the Ascension Socialist Workers Party had rented for their headquarters.

The “Ascension Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party” originally used the van outside factories, exhorting the workers to revolution through their loudspeaker. It also serves as a meeting room for the revolutionaries, because the membership has never risen above two.

With the advent of “The Races” the ARSWP saw their big chance; they made a ram and turret out of scrap, found a couple of machine guns from somewhere, and announced they were going to “Bring the fight to the complacent elites”. They kept the megaphone, and during races the sound of motor vehicles is intermingled with the occasional snippets of Marxist doctrine.

They did hint that they might use the van to make another attempt on the governor’s residence, but Captain Bryant, and possibly more importantly, Sgt Williams of the Royal Navy Air Service Police pointed out the likely consequences of such tomfoolery, and the idea was quietly dropped…

*My clients collectively burn the tobacco output of a small South American country every week, so I have a ready supply of used lighters…

 

[Andy in Germany]

A Racing interlude using "Maximilian 1934" rules...

In my alternative history, “The Races” are illegal but tolerated because most of the participants have 'connections' with those in power.

In this case the Ickwell sisters, Jicama and Romaneque, in their green Bentley, are racing their long-time rival, Sir Chervil Moggerhanger-Lummox, who is driving a Rolls-Royce station wagon with assistance from his valet, ‘Skirret’.

Of course, this was too much of an opportunity for the “Ascension Revolutionary Socialist Party”, and just before the start time, their heavily armoured propaganda truck pulled up alongside the others.

If you want all the thrills...

...and spills...

...then the full report can be found here:

https://korschtal.wordpress.com/2024/09/21/the-races-begin/

 

[Andy in Germany]

Apparently this style of design is called “Streamline Moderne”, which according to the Internet, fount of all knowledge, is characterised by “curving forms and long horizontal lines” which were popular in the 1930’s to “give an impression of sleekness and modernity”. Possibly a little out of place on an island where an indoor toilet is a rarity, but there we go.

On the other hand, the hotels and entertainment district of Georgetown will be very keen to present an illusion of exactly this sort of modernity, so this will probably become a vehicle for deliveries in places where the wealthy patrons my see it.

I may make a sign for the Auxiliary police as well; it’s about time they had a vehicle to call their own, and of course, there are magnets hidden in a few places to allow extra bits and pieces for it to be used in “the races”; probably also by the Auxiliary Police or a group they’re paying to do their dirty work…

 

[Andy in Germany]

The Empire Strikes back...

As reported previously, in the inaugural race on the Island of Ascension, the “Ascension Socialist Revolutionary Party” won against several aristocratic drivers. This was of great concern for the establishment; after all, if the lower orders can get away with this sort of thing, who knows what they may decide to do next?


Keeping the working class in their place is one of the roles under the broad remit of the “Auxiliary Police”*; the rather murky political police force started by Prime Minister Oswald Moseley. However, the idea of what is effectively a government run ministry entering the Races as a competitor and potentially shooting civilians is not -yet- considered politically palatable.

Instead, the Auxiliaries have quietly funded one of the local organised crime groups to convert a van and enter as an “independent” competitor. They’ve even given them an experimental Gatling gun to test out. The gang also added the rather makeshift “armour” on the front and the equally makeshift oil dispenser to spray oil in the path of following vehicles.

Of course, one of the problems with making deals with street gangs, is that once out on the track, they may well decide to have a go at some class warfare themselves, so I doubt the races will always develop in the way the Auxiliaries are expecting…

*Officially “Ensuring and maintaining the security of the crown”.

 

[Punkawallah]

“What could possibly go wrong? Mwahahahaaa!”

 

[Reynard]

 

[Conrad_K]

Apparently this style of design is called “Streamline Moderne”, which according to the Internet, fount of all knowledge, is characterised by “curving forms and long horizontal lines” which were popular in the 1930’s to “give an impression of sleekness and modernity”.

Art Deco arrived, made a big splash, and then went out of style in just a few years. I never really figured out why. It was replaced by "Streamline Moderne", which was often called the "industrialized" version of Art Deco. They're hard to tell apart.

Like many other things, both were casualties of WWII. Deco and Streamline required custom-made everything. No big deal when that was the normal way of making buildings, but the building boom after the war favored quick, modular construction methods, which is why "Brutalist" became a thing; it was cheap and easy to build with slabs and poured concrete.

The BBC's "Poirot" series with David Suchet made use of as many Art Deco and Streamline Moderne sets as they could manage, sometimes re-dressed as different places in different episodes. Film crews tend to be very hard on rented properties, and not many owners are willing to risk having their historic buildings damaged.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Art Deco arrived, made a big splash, and then went out of style in just a few years. I never really figured out why. It was replaced by "Streamline Moderne", which was often called the "industrialized" version of Art Deco. They're hard to tell apart.

Like many other things, both were casualties of WWII. Deco and Streamline required custom-made everything. No big deal when that was the normal way of making buildings, but the building boom after the war favored quick, modular construction methods, which is why "Brutalist" became a thing; it was cheap and easy to build with slabs and poured concrete.

The BBC's "Poirot" series with David Suchet made use of as many Art Deco and Streamline Moderne sets as they could manage, sometimes re-dressed as different places in different episodes. Film crews tend to be very hard on rented properties, and not many owners are willing to risk having their historic buildings damaged.

The Ascension story is very firmly set in 1937 onwards, which is well into the "Streamline Moderne" era.

In my world, the Austrian twerp in the moustache is still lurking about in Austria/Bavaria and the former German Empire is a loose confederation of fiercely independent small states and even cities. (The Georgian with the moustache may make an appearance in some of the Heists on Ascension, as he was a gangster for many years).

The "Hindenburg" Airship was named the "Hamburg" and was moored in Ascension when a thunderstorm rolled over New Jersey on May 6, 1937. It became the first of a fleet of airships which now connect distant corners of the world, including Ascension.

There is also no Second World War in the sense we would know it, so maybe Streamline Moderne will survive a little longer?

 

[Profpointy]

The Ascension story is very firmly set in 1937 onwards, which is well into the "Streamline Moderne" era.

In my world, the Austrian twerp in the moustache is still lurking about in Austria/Bavaria and the former German Empire is a loose confederation of fiercely independent small states and even cities. (The Georgian one may make an appearance in some of the Heists on Ascension).

The "Hindenburg" Airship was named the "Hamburg" and was moored in Ascension when a thunderstorm rolled over New Jersey on May 6, 1937. It became the first of a fleet of airships which now connect distant corners of the world, including Ascension.

There is also no Second World War in the sense we would know it, so maybe Streamline Moderne will survive a little longer?

Regarding the Hindenburg, my father actually saw it flying over west Wales. He'd heard this lorry which didn't seem to pass so went outside to look, the. saw the airship overhead complete with swastikas on the tail fins. Apparently he ran it to his mother shouting "the Germans are coming ! The Germans are coming", as even as a boy he was aware of the increasing tensions in the build up to war. I think it only went to New York twice, before it was lost in the accident

 

[Profpointy]

Andy - let us know when you sell the film rights as I for one will very much want to see it, or better still, a netfilx series

 

[Andy in Germany]

Andy - let us know when you sell the film rights as I for one will very much want to see it, or better still, a netfilx series

I am slowly working on a novel; a detective story set on Ascension, during 1937. It's entirely a vanity project to keep me occupied when I'm bored at work, but I'll probably put it online in instalments if I ever get it finished. I'll let you know if this happens.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I’ve established that it’s possible to make rounded models, even quite small rounded models, and also frames, if they are fixed to a solid base, but this time I wanted to investigate open girder construction.

Having made a vague shape that didn’t look like it was going to warp when I turned my back, I hit a new problem, namely rivets. On previous models, I’d drilled lots of holes in the bodywork and inserted pins in them. This worked well enough on the ‘steam powered’ tank, even if the inside looked slightly terrifying.

Unfortunately, on an open frame this wouldn’t work, so after asking here and elsewhere, I tried nail art rhinestones.

This worked well, and as an added advantage was a bit quicker than drilling holes for every rivet, it just came out a bit blingy, like a steampunk contraption built by Gucci. Still, it meant I was motivated to prime the model, and quickly…

Much better...