Garden Railway Forum

Don't tempt him ...... His Emett creations are a joy to behold, I can't imagine what his magic fingers would make of a Heath Robinson mechanism.....

Rik

Thanks guys, I can't imagine what made you think of me... but I'm grateful!
I do have some of the Heath Robinson cartoon books and I have tried to appreciate his drawings, but they don't have the charm of Emett's, in my opinion.
Waiting to hear about progress on the idea of a permanent Rowland Emett museum.
I haven't so far been tempted to build a model using HR's designs as a basis, in most cases the engineering is impossible to make one operate.

How about this one Peter. You certainly have the talent to make this I am sure.....

"Testing artificial teeth in a modern tooth works"

Thanks Rod, the cartoon is typical of exaggerated and impossible contraptions by Heath Robinson which captured the imagination of war-weary Brits during WW1. In their time they were a welcome distraction from the horrors in Europe and became very popular. I find them clumsy and contrived, frequently needing arrows or explanations to show intended actions. His engineering would be impossible to re-create in model form.
In his early years, HR was a wonderful artist and illustrator, but he only became known for his cartoons, unfortunately!
Examples of his beautiful art works can be found in Google and here are just two...
In comparison, Emett's cartoons are self explanatory and have a quaint and gentle humour reflecting their period in history. A caption is all that is offered.

Yes it's a pity that like you say his contraptions look impossible to make.
That cartoon is funny though.