Yes, I bought stuff at the classic car show.
First, something you are supposed to buy at this sort of event - a sales brochure for a Crylser Alpine, like the one I sat in. The front cover looks an awful lot like our family car, although without the rust and mismatched paint on the bonnet.
I work in magazines, so WH Smith is important to my job. This Corgi lorry was (according to this website) produced from 1975 to 1982. Which is why it has the old logo which is so nostalgic to us children of the 1970s. Mind you, according to the website, it's worth £8.42, and I only paid a quid, so I got a bargain!
A clockwork Hornby tinplate speedboat. One of these has been on my wants list for a long while, but all the ones I've seen have been stupid expensive. Now, this might be play-worn, but that's fine, as I want to sail it.
The motor works (I checked this on the stand), although it looks like it's been oiled with something from the car's sump, which is deposited all around the inside of the model. Not to worry, I'm not looking inside very often.
It didn't have a key, but half an hour or so of fiddling with bits of brass solved that.
When the weather improves, we'll try some sea trials.
Finally, and weirdest of the lot, a paddleboat.
This is one of those things I buy because they are A) Cheap and B)Interesting. Obviously, what the experts call "shedwork", it has a real charm. Those paddle boxes are cut up tin cans, and the rest is made of wood.
The metal paddles are really good, but what intrigues me is, how it is supposed to be driven? Turning the handles turns the paddles, but if you want to use it on the water, do you need to train a hamster to work it? At 8.5 inches long, not much else will fit.
I'd be fascinated if anyone has a theory about this one, as it's got me stumped.
1 comment:
In keeping with your other marine purchase, this should be powered by a clockwork automaton of an appropriate size. I look forward to the following blog posts where you sit in your metaphorical shed and hand-craft one from empty cat-food tins, wooden cloths pegs, some leftover 1930s metal meccano, an old alarm clock mechanism and the cap off a tube of toothpaste. Tools available are: oversized tin snips, a very large and slightly rusty pair of bull-nosed pliers that have previously been twisted out of perfect alignment, one needle file with a broken tip and a medium size screwdriver with a less than perfect tip. Lead based paints are obligatory to add the finishing touches!
Chris TGG.
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