5. A little conversion work

There are certain cliché vignettes that seem to turn up on model railways of all scales, the bus on an overbridge, the car accident, the house on fire, a car blocked in by sheep, little yellow Reliant three wheel vans; I could go on. I am no exception to wanting to include little scenes to keep the children (and hopefully a few adults) amused. Already, in my box of accessories waiting for use are the trio from 'Last of the Summer Wine' (Compo, Clegg and Foggy) and a flock of sheep amongst which is a wolf hiding under a sheepskin (shaped lump of plasticine). The latest addition is this.

Here we have two vicars, not just any old vicars but two well known to the rsilway model fraternity some years ago and immortalised by the Rev.Wilbur Awdry in his book 'Duke the lost engine' as the thin clergyman and the fat clergyman, being based on himself and the Rev.Teddy Boston, who not only had a large model railway in his barn but also a small full size narrow gauge line running in his rectory garden at Cadeby in Leicestershire. This group is my little nod to their fame.

They started life as four separate figures from Omen Figures and I had to decapitate them all, replace two heads, remove waistcoat detail from one and turn it into a jumper, add a camera and strap and rebuild the neck areas to properly represent dog collars. The plastic bases are there rather than the usual 'pin up a leg' method because my granddaughters like to move the figures about and I hope to have them travelling to visit other 7mm scale lines at exhibitions.