A Model Engineer's Workshop

摘要

This prose introduced a lithographed colour supplement to the 4 January 1923 Model Engineer, and reproduced on page 8. Occasionally, in the early decades of the last century, the M.E. included a coloured plate, usually a tinted engineering drawing of an M.E. project, examples being steam locomotives and complex, marine oil engines. Many of these collectable prints were removed from the magazine for reference or to grace a workshop wall. The workshop in this plate appears to be that of the artist, Mr. H.R. Millar, an M.E. contributor on model steam engines from 1903 nearly until his death in 1943. Interested readers will find an obituary by Percival Marshall in M.E. Vol. 88, No. 2175. This particularly rare plate seems the only M.E. supplement intended strictly for decoration and, surely, the betterment of morale. It appeared during the 'Third Winter of Unemployment' as Britain's economy transitioned painfully from a wartime footing. Unemployment was 13.3%, prices were 80% above the July 1914 level, and wage reductions were grudgingly accepted as necessary. Austerity seemed permanent, the political scene was dismal, and a cold summer had yielded to a wet and grey winter. Some might say 'what has changed?'. Compare this print to the 12 modern facilities illustrated in the Summer 2009 Readers' Workshops special edition of MEW. It harkens from a simpler time when the average model engineer produced fine results with limited wherewithal and perhaps more satisfaction.