Stuffed And Mounted

A rite of passage for anyone of my generation - by which I mean growing up in the 70s and 80s - was attempting the Blue Peter 'makes', where kids were encouraged to recycling household objects into something useful, or as a means of faking the unobtainable / unaffordable.

They ranged from the infamous fake Thunderbirds 'Tracey Island' to the annual Advent Crown, which in hindsight must have prepared an entire population for a life of potential pyromania.

These projects were never entirely successful in my experience.

I recall when I sat and watched one of the presenters transform a used fabric softener bottle into a convincing statue of a Golden Retriever puppy.

Then I attempted it with my Mum.  

It didn't look anything like the one on the telly.....

So you'll perhaps understand why, when flicking the latest edition of Model Rail magazine, I didn't linger long at an article enticing the reader to create a diorama in a jam jar.

'Been there before....', I thought to myself.

However, I reckoned without the persuasive powers of a young boy, who brandished the same magazine under the nose of Himself and suggested - in the way only 8-year-olds can suggest things to gullible grandparents - that it would make a great wee project for him.

As if he hasn't got enough to be getting on with...

Literally within hours, when I arrived to collect the young persuader, Himself was already well on the way to fulfilling the challenge, with a wooden stand made and some redundant models selected to be sealed away in the glass chamber.

I can't remember where or when we got the loco, or what it's origins are, but it was never part of our running fleet.

Its last useful function was as a test bed for glue 'n' glaze cab spectacles, and Himself has now removed the motor for the purposes of display.

The slate waggons were apparently from our original fleet of Dundas kits, which now have very ropey axle boxes after many laps of Dduallt.

I have to admit it's a very effective little scene, and clearly a viable project with good step-by-step instructions in the mag.

From this we can learn two things.

1) I shoudn't be so cynical about these projects next time.

2) I made a tactical error 40 years ago not getting Himself to watch Blue Peter with me.....