Time for something different

In 1998 I decided it was time for me and the UK civil service to go our separate ways and accepted a voluntary redundancy payoff. I applied to study a BA in Model Design at Hertford University in faraway Hatfield. The course teaches the making of architectural models, product models and special effects models for film and TV. At that stage I was open minded as to what sort of direction this might lead me in. 

Admission was by "portfolio submission", as they put it, ie you had to show examples of models made, written work, ability to study, etc. In particular, rather than the historical models they saw, I was asked to make a strict scale model of something modern "of architectural merit". The photo below is what they got. It's part of an iconic example of modernist style, the Fagus factory in Germany, designed by one of the future leaders of the Bauhaus architectural and design movement. 

The model is to something like 1/ 120 scale if I remember rightly, and is blank on the rear face. So no use for wargaming in my terms. I gave it to my young son years later as a bit of scenery for his Hornby railway! But it got me on the course.

So I found myself a full-time student again at the age of 46, which was a wacky experience. I would learn new tools and techniques, especially resin casting, and acquired a broader artistic understanding and a lot of experience making precise models. I'll hopefully be able to show you one or two of the things I made at Hatfield later on. I met some nice people, not least James Sharpe, "Big Jim" in those days, who is still very active in wargames modelmaking as Oshiro. I was on course to get a First, but the workload was horrendous and the hassles with lecturers and admin were sanity-threatening. Feeling I was learning less than at the start, and being promised work in the wargames field, I moved on once again. 

More wargames, less autobiography soon, folks!!