Machines and engines

My pictures won’t upload so here’s my post without the aquamarine coloured machine included,,,

This is my sewing machine ( if the picture uploads) it’s an alpha, not had it long, would have preferred a singer one to be honest, but it looks like it has never been used since 1940 when it was first made, has just about every attachment going, works lovely even in my hands, 

a fairly recent acquisition as I found it difficult finding specific clothes I liked that fitted my look. My intentions are to learn and make my own garments, 

I recently had the chance of an old singer complete with cupboard and fold out platform, it had every attachment and every receipt from new to when the motor was added. It still had the flat metal pedal that powered it inside, I had no where for it to go so passed on it, big regrets now,

As a young boy I would enjoy watching my mum and sister make many items, you name it they made it.

I was often used as the tailors dummy...and buttons,,,oh my hours soent sorting and playing with them, a massive box at my grans  house, 

i have started my own collection, and just about everything needed to start sewing my style.

The start of all this was when trying to find waist costs with lapels!

victorian style, there are none, modern versions but they just don’t sit right, so take a very cheap jacket, remove arms, cut just below the two main pockets, ok lots more than just that but there are very cheap jackets to be had.

Funnily enough I don't remember them from my childhood. My mum did plenty of sewing but she had a brand new fancy machine (I think also a Singer, but a modern one). I came to them because I've never got on with electric machines, so wanted a hand cranked one .... and the only way to get one was to buy a really old one! I was enthralled when I started playing about with it to see how it worked. It is incredibly quiet. Mine belonged to the auntie of the (none too young) chap selling it, who had passed away and he'd inherited it, because no-one else in his family wanted it and it reminded him of his auntie. He said she used it all of the time, but she had been gone some years so it had sat idle, and he thought it should have a new home. I think he was genuinely surprised that I was buying it to use, rather than as a curio or decorative item!

My mum used to have a big old tin full of buttons too, and I used to spend hours sitting on the floor, sorting them into little groups. I loved all of the different colours and textures - they are so tactile. 

What a lovely description "miniature Victorian beam engine" I'm going to think of that next time I look at the workings of a Singer!

As a child I loved the spools and shuttlecocks and the little sliding compartments on the sewing machine. It had such a lovely action. 

Tins full of skeins of embroidery thread and button boxes were lovely to play with too. 

Wow that sounds very exciting for you :) I love collecting things. I must get some more models too, I'd like a Titanic one.

Ooh I like to collect Lego as well! I have a little Elvis Presley minifigure, and a lot of Series minifigures... I've got quite the collection now! I'll show you a picture of them at some point but at the moment I'm not able to upload any, I'm not sure if I have permissions.

Not a huge collection but the are all big! I have a 5' long IJN Yamato too and a few 1/72 Flower class Corvettes.

It's nothing compared to my Technical Lego models.

I found the Britannic and Olympic really interesting as well. Very unfortunate end for the Britannic.

Wow that's amazing. It's crazy how many were made, and how quickly they sell. I might try a go at making models again, I can't remember the last time I tried one.

Yours is super detailed! Love it. You must have a really big collection of models!

Thanks - what I like about these is that when a ship is built, they normally build one or two 'sister ships' - Titanic, Britannic, Olympic for example.

They built over 2700 of these! Enough to park end-to-end so you could walk across the English channel.

After the war, they were sold off for peanuts and lots were bought by the Greeks and this is where the original shipping magnates came from. They were so common in civilian use that their 10,000 ton load became the industry standard.

I'm super-detailing this model. They often ran out of volume inside before they ran out of payload capability so lots of cargo ended up on the decks - I've got a bunch of crates & half-tracks & barrels & Sherman tanks & jeeps to fill it up with all in 1/100 scale.

That looks amazing!! The detail on it is superb as well! I found WW1 and WW2 really interesting at school.

They do indeed. Proof that they didn't change much over the years - the 1951 version pictured in the article you posted is pretty much identical to my 1940 model! 

I have never been a huge fan of electric machines, as they tend to run away too fast for me. The hand crank (or a treadle) is much more controllable. If you look underneath one, it looks like a miniature Victorian beam engine!

You're right moggy - what an oversight! My mum had a Jones sewing machine but I've always loved Singers. Saw some being used in Kenya at an enterprise project for disabled women. The 201k has lots of fans: 

https://sewalot.com/singer_201k_sewalot.htm

I can't believe it took me this long to nominate: vintage Singer sewing machines. Wonderful things, properly built and will go on forever if you look after them. I inherited another one this weekend and spent a few happy hours on Sunday giving her an overhaul. She'd been in a shed for years but cleaned and correctly oiled up, she runs as sweet as you like now :-)

My everyday machine is a 1940 201K (best model they ever made), hand cranked, and I love it to bits. I would have 100 different ones if I had the space.

Depends a lot on the model - some I build and sell soon after sailing them, some end up hanging around because they are convenient to sling in the car & go sailing.

I don't keep many because of the size and fragility of them so the ones I sell finance the ones I build.

I'm currently building a 5' Liberty Ship from WW2

Ooh cool. I used to build models as well, but sadly I wasn’t very good at it so haven’t attempted to build one for a long time. Do you store them in cabinets or on shelves when you complete them?

They used the Kempton engine in one of the Titanic films.

I build large radio control model boats - I'm doing a 5' long Titanic out of foam board. I'm using a paper model at an exterior over a custom built hull and it's all glued together using plumbing glue.

Aw I’m really sorry to hear about your daughter. It’s not a nice thing to experience or to watch happen to somebody you love and care about! But, I am really pleased that she’s doing really well now. Sending, you and your daughter, all the very best for the future.

It was an awful day, I try my hardest not to think about it now because it’s just so exciting. The worst part is we were only 11 miles from home, had they stopped at the traffic light we would have been completely fine. However the good thing is that no one was hurt, just shaken up a little.

 Just after the crash we accelerated forward following the other car and then pulled up at the side of the road.
The Senators engine was very choky and unusually louder now. When I got out the damage was unbelievable! The engine bay had shifted over from the hit and the nearside wing was poking out towards the road. The bonnet had propped up close to the windscreen, the offside door mirror was on the junction with a part of the bumper and the remainder of the bumper was only just hanging off.

The main thing was that we were all ok. It’s something I don’t think we’ll ever forget, but it’s best to remember the good times we had with the Senator. It was a superb car and there were some fun times.
 In fact one time was in 2010 when we were travelling home from my grandparents. It was bone dry and yet when we got to the area where we lived there was deep snow everywhere! The fields, houses and trees were just a white blanket. It was like someone had gone over them with a paintbrush.

 The remainder of our journey consisted of driving really, really slowly. We watched as other cars skidded and slid on corners and the Senator gracefully pushed through the snow and according to my dad it never felt like it was out of control, he always felt safe in that car, and so did I.

Ha ha I’ve always been inquisitive with things like that too! But my dad always kept his workshop locked up so I could never get a chance to use his tools when he wasn’t around. Sounds like you had some fun when you were younger

Aw thank you. Yes I love writing! It's a real hobby of mine and I spend a lot of time writing stories, usually about demons and a group who stop them and protect humans! I also enjoy writing books like Roald Dahl.

You’re quite lucky then, from what my dad’s said and what I’ve read online Volvo’s of the older era are very reliable. The one I own is the Mk1 of the 850 series and it’s only the SE, so the basic model. It has a sunroof but it’s got a handle to open and close it with, and the rear windows have winder handles on them. So it doesn’t have many fancy features, no air con either.

 I’m very lucky that my dad has given me his car. He owns a far less powerful Kia Carens (2005) and this would have been ideal for me to drive in, but, it’s a manual and for some reason I am really bad when it comes to driving manuals. I just can’t seem to get my hand round the gears and clutch control!

Awh wow you’re very lucky! I love Senators as well, not a perfect car by any means, but definitely a unique car. The rust they suffered from was horrific! We always had a never ending battle with rust on the rear wheel arches and shortly before it was written off we also had a leak in the passenger foot well occurring but never had the time to find the problem.

Yeah their handling and road control was amazing! I think that’s why the British police used so many as police cars, ours was a white one, but not an ex-police. My dad got 136mph out of his on a clear road a few months before the crash.

Ooh I bet that’s amazing to see in person! So interesting and it’s really cool to see what they looked like over a hundred years ago! When I watched the movie I enjoyed seeing the bits where they’re heading for the ice berg and you get to see them slowing down and reversing the engines, I thought that was really interesting.
It’s a shame what happened to Titanic as I thought that was a really nice looking ship!

Hi @windscale the museum is near St Albans well worth a visit

I have bought myself a vintage humming top. I chose one manufactured in West Germany by the Lbz company. This one works much better than the one I had as a child. The hum is particularly good as it is made up of several different notes. Perhaps that's why it was sometimes called a  'choral' top.

The top spins for a really long time and I absolutely love the clanking when pumping the handle. It's interesting that my dog, who is often scared of static objects like waster paper bins, likes touching the spinning top very gently with her nose. The two of us are having lots of fun! 

I loved the Senators - I had two of them - an 89 Gold one and a 94 Westminter Blue - the 24valve with the electronic suspension - brilliant cars. Standard limited slip diff meant it could drift around corners easily. I had it up to 138 on a clear road. Shame about the rear arches being prone to rusting so quickly. I like another if I cound find a nice one.

Kempton Park Steam Museum has a couple of engines as big as the Titanic's (the only difference is the Titanic had a spiit 3rd cylinder for space reasons making it a 4-cylinder triple expansion engine). They get one running on special days and you can take a climbing tour of the other.