![]() ![]() I am pleased to include a photo (we think pre-war) of my father standing outside Super Model Aircraft Supplies, 220 Wellingborough Road, Northampton. This led him to design a range of sailplanes and rubber powered models and establish his shop in Northampton in 1937. Full-size flying was out of the question but modelling gave him the chance to design, construct and fly his models. Meanwhile his interest in aircraft had flourished into the hobby of aeromodelling. However, by the mid 1930s he could foresee the impending threat posed by mass production and the possibility of losing his job and so decided to open a model shop. This was a good trade to enter in the 1920s and he upholstered seats for various car manufacturers including Rolls Royce. His career path was initially determined by his father who was a coach trimmer in the motor trade. His engineering skills were put to use in other areas and he rapidly learnt the mysteries of watch making and soon found he was capable of repairing all types of clocks and watches. He built a Stuart Turner Beam Engine from a kit of cast parts and then went back to his old engine and built a governor for it. This model still works perfectly today and the photograph shows it after he fitted a Stuart Turner fly wheel in 1966 – the original was never satisfactory.ĭuring this time he bought a lathe and learnt how to use it. After acquiring the piston and liner he set about producing all remaining parts by hand. He was only 16 at the time and had no access to lathes or any power tools. One of his earliest projects was the construction of a working model steam engine. My father was fascinated by anything mechanical but particularly cars, aeroplanes, airships. This photo was taken in his home town of Leighton Buzzard where he was born in 1906, and we assume he was about 19 or 20 at the time. He was one of the foremost designers and builders of model aeroplanes from the mid thirties until he retired from Wakefield Competitions in the early 50s. He was truly multi-talented: aeromodeller, high-diver, metal worker, water colour painter, and expert ballroom dancer. This is a brief story of his life and how the business developed. Thanks to Dave for letting us add this modeling tool to our toolkits.The shop was established by my father, Ted Evans, in 1937. You don’t have to jump to N scale backgrounds if your layout is HO. ![]() Need some perspective for a background building? Just select a scale a bit smaller that your layout’s scale. And, by the way, one can select virtually any scale that you might need. Seems to me that this modeling tool has a lot of potential for producing rather inexpensive specialized buildings that really don’t need the detail level of many of the wonderful (and very expensive) kits currently on the market. In fact, the basic software instructions suggest this for large buildings that are not easily handled by smaller home printers. In the event that your computer isn’t already set up to do this, instructions are included with the basic program on how to download free software that allows you to create a PDF file from nearly any program. The files in either of these formats are easily handled at a place like Kinko’s. This effectively accomplishes the same thing as a “save as” command. With regards to taking the output to some place like Kinko’s for printing, this is easily done by telling the program to print to either an Acrobat PDF file or a Microsoft XPS file. I don’t know about Windows 8 but it does not run on a Mac computer. The software will run on a PC with Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7. I purchased the basic package and the stained glass window add-on. These include Brickyard, Stained glass windows, Signs, Graffiti, etc. There are several optional add-on packages that one can also purchase and act as “plug-ins” to the basic package. The basic software package is called “Model Builder” and sells for $45 including shipping. My wife and I have purchased LED lighting components from Evans Designs about a year ago and found them very helpful. For some reason, Dave chose not to include this information during his clinic. They are located in Broomfield, Colorado, their website is and phone number is 30. This is what I have learned: The name of the software company is “Evans Designs” and the owner is David Jamison. On the ride home from that meeting we had a considerable discussion about what we had just heard. The software arrived within a few days and I am beginning to explore it. His clinic intrigued me so I looked up the website and purchased some parts of the program that Dave discussed. ![]() Recently Dave Roeder presented a very nice clinic on making inexpensive paper buildings at the NMRA Gateway Division monthly meeting.
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