News From Swann-Morton

Scale Plastic & Rail

Scale Plastic & Rail Reviews

James Hatch at Scale Plastic & Rail recently reviewed 3 products from the Swann-Morton craft and modelling portfolio, these being the ACM set, Retract away knife and the Supa-R Retractable knife.

Scale Plastic & Rail is a review based site, bringing new reviews on products pertaining to the modeller. James commented that "I have been lucky enough to use Swann-Morton products for around 35 years and find them to be exemplary". He perceived this to be an opportunity not only to place our regular products such as blades in front of their readers but also to present any hobby specific sets included in our expanding range.

James attached some examples of his own work, a glowing example of which can be seen below, on which all the cutting work had been done using Swann-Morton products. He said "I am now using the Retractaway however my regular tool was a standard No.3 handle before this".

The full product reviews are now available on the Scale Plastic & Rail web site:

ACM Set

Retractaway

Supa-R

Christopher Stokes

Christopher Stokes

Christopher Stokes unveils his "Body, Bones and Beautification" collection this Summer with his central piece showing at New Designers 2010 - a set of collapsible wings spanning more than 2.5 metres and compiled of over 1400 individually coloured scalpel blades.

In July, at New Designers, London, Christopher will exhibit two pieces from his degree collection based on the subject of body adaptation through medical procedure, demonstrating his craftmanship and specialist skill in metal and plastics. His main piece, "Desire" a wearable mechanical wing structure inspired by the use of surgery to beautify the human body, will be on display along side "Brace" a neck piece and cuffs constructed from hypodermic needles and swarovski crystals.

Christopher's specialism in plastic and metal lends itself well to the development of his medical themed work, with a large percentage of medical equipment made solely from one or both of these materials, it has allowed him to utilise existing apparatus within his pieces. Although attempting to aesthetically ameliorate the body, he says, "I wanted to create a sense of sterility to the pieces to contrast with the organic form of the human body." Having developed the work as a reaction to the way medicine can alter the bobody's form and function, he has chosen to focus on specific causes of these adaptations, from the environmental implications on the body to the accidental damage affecting its growth and repair.

Visitor Information:
New Designers - Part 1
Business Design Centre
London
N1 0QH

For more information:
www.newdesigners.com
020 7420 7738
newdesigners@articulate.co.uk

Airfix Cup

Airfix Cup 2010

The annual Airfix Cup, which is a national level scale modelling competition launched in 2007, was held on the 24th -26th June at Ngee Ann Polytechnic after moving last year from the Air Force Museum. There was an estimated increase in entries of 40% from last year's 112, and every winner was given Swann-Morton knives thanks to sponsorship by Peter Chiang from Hobby Bounties.

Aeronautical Model Competition

Airfix Cup 2009 - The Ngee Ann Challenge!

The 2009 National Airfix Aeronautical Model Engineering Competition, also affectionately known among the local scale modeling community as "Airfix Cup", was successfully held this time round, at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The Airfix Cup was initiated by Mr. Peter Chiang from Hobby Bounties as a scale modeling competition for the scale modeling community and for the past 2 years, it was held at the Air Force Museum. Perhaps due to better accessibility, the event exceeded all expectations, in terms of the total count of submitted works, which exceeded 100, the overall quality of the submissions and the way it was organized and supported by Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Swann-Morton was pleased to support the competition through Hobby Bounties by providing a selection of their products as part of the prizes for the category winners.

Further information is available on the following blog:

Airfix Cup 2009 - The Ngee Ann Challenge!

Aeronautical Model Competition

Singapore National Aeronautical Model Engineering Competition

The competition sponsored by Swann-Morton, Airfix and Humbrol was held between the 3rd - 7th June and attracted 157 entries, some 20% up on the previous event held in December last year. There was also an increase in the number of people entering the 20 - 30 age group which is important as one of the main aims of these events is to rekindle interest amongst young people in Scale Modelling.

All the winners in the master and senior class were awarded a Swann-Morton ACM No.2 Knife set, whilst other winners also received knives and blades from the modelling range.

Linton Meagher

Human Torso of Swann-Morton Blades ???

Swann-Morton have collaborated with Australian artist Linton Meagher on his latest art project. Linton , a doctor at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney has depicted the human torso using overlapping scalpel blades cast in resin.

His last exhibition "Encapsulations" involved mosaics made of over 120,000 pills cast in resin and displayed in glass slabs. It took 14 months for Meagher to mount them on Perspex, paint them and cover them with resin for the exhibition.

"I started off trying to get placebo tablets made, but the manufacturers I contacted thought I was a prank call or something," he said. So he bought the pills at a supermarket. "I was waiting in the checkout queue and some guy just turned to me and said, 'You know it takes a day to die and it's a horrible death' and then turned back," says Meagher, who also happens to be a third-year psychiatry student. "It's very hard to think of a comeback to that when you've got two trolleys full of pills."

Painting, he says, "helps you to become more sensitive to others" and psychiatry, "certainly makes you aware of what drives people". He studies at a Sydney hospital during the day, and paints at night and on weekends. He channelled his insights into the exhibition, which explored the increasingly prevalent role that drugs play in people's lives." I think people don't challenge enough the whole role of tablets, in terms of the way they're used to find pleasure, or boost or enhance performance."

A graduate of both Bachelor of Arts and medicine degrees from the University of Sydney, Meagher says his paintings aren't "anti-drugs", though. He points out that "with some conditions, there's still a clear evidence-based role for medicine". Furthermore, the exhibition, which also featured an Eyes Wide Shut-like threesome, and a tiny, reclining nude painted on an emptied anti-depressant pill packet, demonstrates their potential aesthetic beauty."

The pills themselves are sort of lifeless, machine-made identical objects, very unappealing, but when you put them together and paint them, they can actually be very beautiful and evocative."

Linton initially produced a prototype work consisting of 2000 NO.22 scalpel blades. The idea is that when light is projected through the finished pieces the shadows cast by the blades will form an interesting and arresting image.

This has lead him to produce a full exhibition of his work with blades many of which can be viewed in the "artworks/'2007' section of his website located at www.lintonmeagher.com . A number of surgeons have actually bought the artwork and he is now exhibiting more original pieces at his show held in Sydney which opened in March this year.

More information on Linton and his work can be found at www.lintonmeagher.com

Model Competition

National Aeronautical Engineering

Swann-Morton recently sponsored the National Aeronautical Engineering Model Competition in Singapore through their associates Hobby Bounties. Entries were accepted from Monday 3rd December until Friday 7th December 2007 after which judging was made and prizes awarded on Saturday 8th December 2007.

There were about 130 entries in total some 75% of which were from children.

Judging was done on the evening of the 7th in the showroom at the Air Force Museum of Paya Lebar Airport.

The winner of the Master class competition went to a tank modeller who built the Tamiya 48th Swordfish.

Willard Wigan

New Willard Wigan Page

After receiving a great deal of interest regarding the celebrated micro artist, we have added a page to our website devoted to Willard who of course only uses Swann-Morton blades!

"Jaw-dropping" - The Sunday Times

To find out more about Willard and read about his visit to Swann-Morton (pictured right), click here