Still one of the free options for distraction I was aware of, was the Steampunk exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum; practically on my doorstep. So a quick drive down the road and I was able to take in the displays:
The displays were a mixture of new artistic creations such as the chessboard and flying suit above, and original items from the museum's own collection, that would serve to illustrate the inspiration behind them. I was surprised to find that some of the items I was admiring the creativity of, were infact genuine Victoriana; though clearly most of the guns below are not.
Steam punks love polished brass! As an interesting aside, the officers jacket on the left is a genuine Guard officer coat, attributed to Waterloo, notice how dark in colour it is, not the scarlet of our painting is it?
It's fair to say that Steampunk seems to have a large female following, presumably of Goths who've discovered the visible spectrum of colour (a social minority if ever there was one!); this results in lots of pretty art:
The rest of the museum is more in the lines of your railway buff or Fred Dibnah type, with a fascination for 'ow they did things better in't t'old days; featuring as it does old cars, steam engines mill looms and restored Victorian cottages. All a nice distraction for a couple of hours mind, but for the ardent wargamerist there are also a couple of interesting oddments, notably in the Model collection of Amos Barber:
Being the sort of gentleman who after retirement built models from scratch out of metal; the above being a 6 inch naval gun at about 1/10th scale.
And finally on the entrance are a pair of impressive Napoleonic period fortress guns, at least 24lbr's I'd guess, about eight feet long.
Killed a couple of hours...
*a 75% pay rise, in this day and age especially, is worth waiting for!
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Some of the ladies and gentlemen involved in the making of VSF (wargamers terminology is so much more elegant) models are absolutely brilliant crafts-people, this is another example. Thanks for sharing this.
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This looks like a really nice exhibition, thanks for sharing some pictures. In fact - if I'm lucky - I may have a business trip up that way soon and may elbow in a little time for a detour...!
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