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Raison D’Etre
If anything I have made brings pleasure and a degree of wonder, do give God the glory and praise, for it is merely the talent He has given, that I am exercising. Amongst the F1 designs I have incorporated as wall tiles in my workspace, are two with the Bible texts John 3 v 16 and Romans 10 v 9 which help me keep my mind focussed on what really matters. Do give them a read. These models are built as one-off, hopefully unique cars of the 1970's mainly (some late 60's and fewer 90's/later) which are not for sale and are part of a personal collection. I am unable to accept commissions due to lack of time and over indulgent approach. They are museum-display and are not in any sense 'working models'. I have built 1/12 scale F1 models almost exclusively, each being in the order of 12-14" (30-36cm) long. My aim is to increase in a small way the 1/12 scale representation of Grand Prix car entries to the F1 World Championship that are not available commercially as kits to be built. They are to be retained as indefinite loans to museums for others to enjoy, for one's home is never large enough. The models perhaps represent my desire to own the the full-scale car, yet that is not feasible or practical (unless you are Bernie Ecclestone) and each of my models feels like the real thing to me, having often spent so much time with the actual car. The photographs of the original cars were taken by special permission and in respect of the owner of the actual GP car or race 'shop owner are not available for further distribution, nor are my own engineering drawings. The models are built with the idea of 'no effort spared' and to look as realistic as possible. I will go to eccentric and sometimes otherwise unreasonable lengths to replicate every detail of design and engineering in order to satisfy myself that I have something properly accurate. This includes the concept that all bodywork should be removable in the same way as on the full-size car and therefore reveal the engineering within; additionally the underneath of the car is modelled, for there is much to be enjoyed regarding 'how it all works' from seeing what is not normally visible. I have felt that in this way, these models may serve to educate interested folk as to what makes a Grand Prix car 'tick', for such rare access to the real thing, makes this aspect somewhat mysterious. I have shown some of those I consider the better models at shows, but do so relatively infrequently due to the effort and logistics of getting to often far-flung venues, not to mention the accelerated ageing effect on the models themselves, in transporting them. Inspiration comes from the great model makers such as Henri Baigent, Gerald Wingrove, also my friends involved in the same hobby and in particular folk like John Shinton here in the UK and especially Andy Matthews from America who produces 'gems', which are wonderful to study. Hopefully that covers everything; now all it remains is to enjoy! MRO, August 2010