Every year for the local kids, we build something, its a nice way of bringing the community together, and getting to know the local children, also the hard cases from the local estate, let me keep the wheels on my car !!
I try to inspire the children to be creative, get away from tablets and PCs and make real things
it started off small about 20 years ago, and just got sillier, one year we had a london cab decorated with a dead drivers, spooky music, and a couple of irradiated russians glowing in the back
little kids love it, but the tough guy teenagers aint so brave, one of the local thugs,opened the back door of the cab, only to realise the Russian, was getting up to greet him, he would have beat that Jamaican sprinter down the drive, I had rigged a set of pulleys up so that if any one opened the door, the figures appeared to exit the cab
next day I drove to London, and forgot about my passengers, it alarmed a few people on the M4
we also built and rigged a 35 foot long 17 foot high pirate ship, that the kids could climb in and on and walk the plank, only spoilt when the travelling community arrived, parked their transit on the grass verge, and the father tried to locate the cash collection box, while the fat kid stole all the artifacts out of the cabin, to show his Mammy, who of course had a handbag the size of a plumbers tool bag
i hate the thieving scum so dealt with them a bit abruptly and recovered everything
the next year we built a full size great war tank, on the lawn climbing over the fence, along with a trench and an aid station, this allowed us to control access and keep the rathkeale rovers out
that now lives in a private museum in Hampshire, and the chap donated a large some of money to Winstons wish
however, we have cut out ties with them as they cannot organise a booze up in a brewery, lots of graduated with no savvy
I know work with a local charity called W.O.R.S…
And i made them a trench ladder a sentry box, two origional spec periscopes for the WW1 trench, and lots of other stuff to add to their displays
my old workmate Mike helps as well, he is an artist by training, and of course has no sense of time or reality !!
well lock down came along, so I decided to make a replica of Electro the smoking robot, that featured at the 1939 Worlds fair, he was built by Westinghouse, a company that designed and patented the worlds first Modem in the 1920s
the first robots were simply card, and designed to illustrate in simple terms how a modem worked
becoming ever more clever
until Electro was created, luckily he survives, due to the action of one man who opened up the town museum, and created an exhibition of the company that had only recently closed, and was given many archives and personal stories
he wrote and published a book about the robots, a copy of which I have, rare and expensive
well during lockdown we decided to re create him, but lacking the book at that time, I had to rely on a few images, and measure and scale, slight mistake as it turns out the bloke in the picture was only 5 foot 5, and I am five foot 11
so he had to be shortened late on to bring him inside
last yearhe was in the hall, with the stairs curtained to conceal his high tech control panel ( 1940s high tech)
but this year the big ape is living in my workshop, so I can have him all ready weeks before.
after which he will be advertised and sold to a new home, I need to room to allow my classic car to mount onto its service jig to repair the panel work
I have also started building a Hartnell era tardis, but due to collapsing, and then finding out I and something horrible, it had to be shelved, the plan now it to have it ready for Christmas, and erect it overnight out the front, for the Kids and to coincide with the new TV series set int he 1960s
thankfully my vulgar norther neighbours,who during lockdown filled my driveway with scaffolding to allow them to extend their already massive house, and failed to compensate us have sold their vulgar 12 metre long motorhome which effectively blocked the view of our drive from the road junction, our biggest advert as all the car drivers could see things here and bring their kids
So this year the Tardis will be erected on the drive, complete with a pile of broken branches, fence panels, and a smoke pot, plus lots of warning signs in the 1960s style
the blue light will work exacly as the origonal, Yesterday I collected a bakelite phone from an old police station for 40 quid, and inside will have more tardis stuff, and jelly beans
this year Franko will be reciting the 1940s version of War Of The Worlds, by the theatre company of Orson Wells, theons that created panic and hysteria amongst the more stupid of the American Public
here is a GRP replica of Elector built to tour with the Ford Motor company
and here a little bit about the big lug
rather than load lots of images. here is a link to a very nice robot website ( its addictive) where he is introduced, and you can see how I built him as a composite)
Since ending up a bit dead in hospital, which for a non smoking non drinking fit and strong tradesman was a shock, I have had a bit of time to reconsider things
almost a road to Damascus moment
so I have semi retired, told my insurance company to cough up, which of course they will fight all the way ( my 30 year policy expired on the 2nd November
they even got shitty because they rang both our phones several times friday and we did not answer
Monday Morning they will be getting a phone call from me that will make them jump, they have times and dates of my Chemo, and I dont take a phone into the hospital nor does my wife, thats what happens when you employ teenagers, give them titles and a computer with a spreadsheet, and an inflated sense of self worth
I have been issued with a get out of jail free card as apparently I might get mood swings or tourrets , like any of my mates would notice !!
on the upside I am not as ugly as Ian Dunmore !! and I have seen more of him than I would like to !!
I will try to post a few pics of the other projects , and I was asked recently to Mentor some Junior army officers cadets with their project of building a Higgins boat for the 80th anniversary of D day
my role will be to explain how to build it with simple had tools, and having seen a few of my projects they will understand
of course after Sandhurst they will just get the sappers or the R.E to do it for them !!
cracking