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***Please note that I am using a standard thumbnail image for all the full size pictures on this page. This is purely being done to save myself sometime.***

*** Story background notes ***

I was concerned that the interruption, caused by work on my kitchen would affect this story. Half of which was completed before work began. There was then a gap of three or four weeks before I could resume work on the story.

Page one showcases my first Guard splash page. I had planned on a busier scene, but I found that a simple image does the job just as well. I also recreated a Grant Wood painting, American Gothic in Lego. I substituted the farmer and his wife's heads with robotic (Tallystick) ones. My image isn't all that accurate (and has been faithfully recreated by better Lego builders than me), but anyone seeing this picture should recognize the painting straight away. (I hope). The picture plays no part in the story, it's just me setting myself a challenge. American Gothic was the first Lego painting I had planned to recreate. But Nighthawks sneaked in first. (See The Grey Shadow, The Claw, part two. Story number eighteen).

I've found through experience that to keep the Lego mini-figure proportions accurate in the images, it is necessary to stretch the picture diagonally only. Attempting to re-shape a picture horizontally or vertically, ends up with the images being distorted. This is turn has limited my ability to try out different panel sizes.

However, the camera I am currently using has a panoramic function. This produces rectangular pictures which allows me to have up to four images across a sheet of A4. It is essential though to move the camera in a smooth rotating manner (left to right), so as to obtain a clear picture, with no blurring. Please see the final image of this month's story for the camera setup. (The first results were seen last month in Mary's Story), on page one. This time round I placed the camera on a Lego wagon and moved the wagon along a piece of railway track past the scene. It took quite a few shots before I was happy with the results. Even so in some of the views there is a slight blurring of some Lego mini-figures. But I'm putting that down to the rough state of the railway lines! The idea of showing the passing of time whilst Albert is on the train, was prompted by the opening of the 1995 film Deadman, featuring Johnny Depp. This features a montage set in a train passenger coach, with Depp as the constant feature, whilst passengers and scenery change around him throughout his long journey westwards.

Another problem I hadn't anticipated was the height of the Lego Lone Ranger stagecoach. It's huge and easily dwarfed the buildings I constructed for Westwood. And yet the horses pulling the coach are small.

The piano in the saloon I made using Masao Hidaka's You Tube instructions. Thank you, its a great piano.

Eagle eyed readers will have noticed an advert for Westwood appearing in the Hold My Hat story.

Buckeye is a railway term and refers to a type of train / passenger / wagon coupling. The Ohio state in America is known as the Buckeye state, as this was where the coupling was originally marketed. Penny Fair hopefully is a self explanatory term.

Finally, but most importantly, this issue is dedicated to the memory of a friend and work colleague who died of cancer earlier this year.