Hi guys ! I just finished scratch-building an 18th cent. mantlepiece clock for my vignette.I followed one of the designs that I found on the Yahoo search engine.However,I'm not sure if it is suitable for the time-frame concerned Could any of you chaps help me out here ? Alan,Quang,Gary,Guy,Anders,your help will be greatly appreciated at this moment.Thanks.Kenneth

Here's what it looks like:

Guess I could trace back to your vignette, but too lazy for that! :biggrin:

What scale is it, Kenneth?

Q.

It's 54mm,Quang. Just worried about the style of the clock,rather than the size of it;in other words,would it look strange to show it abandoned,like in the painting:
Thanks for your time and input,Quang.Cheers !
Kenneth

Ken,

It's a recurrent theme among painters/illustrators of 'native' subjects: the intrusion of 'civilisation' (the clock) in the 'natural' (the Indians) world.

As for the style, it would appear to be the upper part of an 18th-cent. English tall clock.

More here:

http://www.paulphillipsantiques.com/antiqu...caseclocks.html

Good luck :biggrin:

Q.

Thanks for the reply and photo,Quang ,I really appreciate it ! So,does that mean the clock that I'd scratch-built isn't suitable for this particular setting ? You mentioned that it looked like the top half of an 18-cent. English tall clock to you. Should I just go ahead and scratch-build that instead ? Your esteemed opinion please.Thanks and cheers.
Kenneth

I think you should put a little more work in the clock because as the focal point of the vignette (without it, the scene would be meaningless), it has as much importance as the two figures.

As for the clock, I'm no expert in antiques (the closest I can get is to watch the Antiques Road Show on the BBC whenever I can :lol: ). But you can picture this kind of clock on settlers' wagons in countless western movies.

It would not be too difficult to build such a clock. I'd suggest making a basic shape in balsa/soft wood/feather board, covering it with plasticard and building the final details on the plasticard (scribing, ...) For the clock face, you can scale down the pic, print it on paper and stick it on the model (some would call it cheating but who cares if it looks good )

IMO, the hardest part would be getting the correct size. Best way is to compare the size of the clock to the height of the standing figure.

Good luck!

Q.

This is Alan's redention of the idea. You can't clearly see the clock face but it will give an idea of the relative proportions he chose.

http://www.mb-miniatures.com/images/Marion...ians13klein.jpg

Ken, maybe this will help, here are a couple of English clocks from the late 18th century, my guess is that the clock face should be around 200 mm in diameter, you can work out the other measurements from that.

here's another

Hi Quang,John and Leigh :lol: Thanks for the reply to my query on the clock.Yea,I figured it looked a little too "ugly" to be the centre-piece of the whole vignette,so I decided to redo the whole thing.Took Quang's advice that it could possibly be the broken-off top of an English grandfather clock and worked on that premise.Here's the result;do tell me what you think Thanks and cheers.Kenneth

Q.

Thanks,Quang Your has made my day ! Kenneth.

Hey Kenneth!

The second clock is looking a whole heap better then the first one! Great Job on taking advice and follow it! How tall is it compared to the figures? Again, very nice job

Anders,thanks for your positive comments;I was really NOT happy with my first attempt(it looked real funny !).To answer your question,It's about 1/3 the height of the standing Indian.(I measured it after I got home from work)Cheers
Kenneth.

I'll just pull up a chair and wait for the next update.hmmm

guy