Sunday Variety

Pad Printing : Bad Painting

fbb's 1960s Triang coach had beading which was needing some painting. fbb has always be open about hs modelling limitations, made worse by his eyesight deterioration but pretty bad before. So when he saw these advertised he was joyful at the possibilities they might present.

These are fibre tipped pens but do not contain conventional ink. They are loaded with acrylic paint. Would they be the answer to a modellers dream and permit the old man to paint lining on some of his carriages?

No, the tips are too thick! 

But what about a small scale pastiche of "Tampo" printing. "Tampo" is a brand name of Pad Printing which works like this.

You create a printing plate and charge it with ink.

A silicone "blob" picks up the image ...

... then "rolls" that image ...

... on to the model or whatever. Because the blob is squidgy, the image can be printed on an uneven surface.

Here is a little video showing a multicoloured image being printed on a mug.

Obviously, fbb's scheme was pitifully simple by comparison. 

Take one pencil rubber ...

... and charge it with the paint. Then press the rubber gently against the beading.

Does it work?

Yes. And No!

From a distance it looks OK but close up ...

... good in parts and rubbish in others.

More practice needed!

Sullivan Shuts Services Suddenly

Sullivan Buses are based in South Mimms right next to the M25. As well as tendered services for Hertfordshire, they have a number of Transport for London contracts.

Abruptly last week and much to the surprise and shock of their staff, this notice appeared.

It is a graphics object which means that fbb cannot extract the text. You may be able to download this version below ...

... but if not, here is the gist.

"We don't earn much from TfL contractor; they are slow payers and owe us over £130,000. They don't pay promptly enough. We have had discussions with TfL but to no avail, so we are handing back the keys as ftom Friday 2nd August. 

Sorry for the disruption, but ..."

Roger French has sent fbb a few comments from various on-line forms including these quotes from staff notices.

Depot Closure

You've Lost Your Job

That would seem to be verging on the illegal?

Sources are suggesting that replacements will start soon (or may have already started) as follows:-

Whatever the rights and wrings of the manner of this decision, it should give those Northern Mega Mayors pause for thought as they rush lemming-like into their much vaunted (?) London-style franchising model!

The Hertfordshire work is unaffected.

Puzzle Picture - Easy!

What and where?

fbb Style Vehicle Maintenance

A recent picture of a London Bus with bits held on by sticky tape. fbb suspects that would be a Safety Service failure possibly with an immediate "stop order" on the vehicle.

It is from HT garage and we can all work out which London garage that is from the two letter code.

Of course it is Holloway! In case you are wondering how you get "HT" from Holloway, the depot used to be called HighgaTe an aeon or two ago.

Seaton Tramway Floral Display

Yesterday, the fbbs took luncheon at the Tramstop Caff in Colyton. fbb had sausage egg and chips, Mrs fbb a mushroom omelette, chips and a salad garnish. Super yummy eaten on the former Colyton branch station platform.

Here is said platform in steam days ...

... and here it is today.

Every summer the platform is bedecked with lavish floral displays. Here are some pictures thereof taken yesterday in between chip and banger munching.

These tubs are all along the platform fencing.

And on the lamp stands.

And beside  the two dinosaurs that have escaped from the Jurassic Coast.

But fbb had better have a tram picture linking the original and today's mode of transport.

It passes a Southern Railway pre-cast concrete lineside hut, so shaped that, with chimney temporarily removed, it can be loaded in its entirety on a wagon without fouling the loading gauge. The tram is based loosely on the London "Feltham" design but shrunked!

And a real one at Crich!

Tomorrow's blog should include a "What's The Difference" challenge BUT content and quantity will depend on the rigours of the fbb's Christian Fellowship meetings, today and tomorrow. As well as the meetings we are enjoying a cream tea with Mrs fbb's Internationally famous scones.

The following item has no public transport content, but it has been of interest to fbb over the last week or so.

Blasphemy What? As For Me, Not?

In a desperate attempt to create a news story where none really existed, the media seem to think the above is a parody of a classical painting by Leonardo da Vinci depicting Jesus' final and meaningful meal with the gang. The word "blasphemy" has been widely used!

For a Bible based evangelical Christian, any deviations from God's moral principles is, of course, inherently blasphemous. Sexual activity is reserved for a man and a woman joined in Holy Matrimony for life. Anything else is contrary to God's will, starting from the example of a drunken Noah in Genesis exposing himself to his family right through to the picture of an Earthly City (Rome?) in the book of Revelation as a prostitute selling herself to the highest bidder.

For your author, those Biblical principles are not open to debate.

What is of interest, however, is whether the tableau at the Olympic opening ceremony was a blasphemous parody of The Last Supper.

The Olympic Authorities have spent some time apologising and denying.

Was Dionysus blue-skinned with an orange beard?

In fact, the only tenuous parallel between the tableau and the painting is that a gang of strangely clad people are lined up on one side of a table. In one (the tableau) they are standing, in the other (the painting) they are sitting.

From a detailed study of the Bible passages, your blogger cannot remember any mention of a Smurf under a huge stainless steel plate cover as a centrepiece of the Biblical Last Supper.

In fact, Leonardo's painting may be great art, but as a depiction of Jesus' last meal with his disciples it is almost 100% wrong.

Here is an upper room on a reconstruction of the home of what we would call a "middle management" earner of New Testament times.

It is a bit different from Leonardo's classical Italian grandeur.

Leaving aside the artistic nicety (but real-time stupidity) of having them all sitting on one side of a table with the other side empty (!), in Jesus' time they would not be sitting. They would be reclining.

Brightly coloured clothing was the prerogative of the rich, the Roman elite and the ruling classes. Khaki, grey or unbleached linen were the norm for "everyman" in Bible times and thus for Jesus and his gang.

And everybody in both paintings has European features! Jesus was a Jew as were most of his guests. He would have had swarthy weather-beaten skin and roughly trimmed hair. This is the real Jesus, according to expert anthropologists ...

... although nobody can be 100% certain.

Of course Leonardo's picture may be a help and comfort to the faith of many but it is not "real" in any way. 

Some draw strength from Dali's "Crucifixion Hypercubus", another highly unrealistic but powerful representation.

Some would call Dali's crucifixion blasphemous!

Maybe we would find the Biblical accounts easier to understand if they were depicted more realistically than the artists of old chose to do.

Here is a good representation of the real Last Supper.

Or maybe this one.

Here you have to ignore the silver cup. It would have been crude pottery and not the opulent Holy Grail!

Contrast and compare!

One thing IS certain; there is no link between the Paris tableau and the real Last Supper, whatever your spiritual aspirations!

The Paris tableau might well have been morally and Biblically offensive to millions of Christians and, for that it should be deplored BUT ...

... it really wasn't making light of Leonardo's painting.

 Next What's The Difference blog : Mon 5th August