MINI-MINES

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 17th Year

Issue

Issue No.

11

Date Released

Jul 1964

Length of issue (in feet)

973

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1ISLAND OF COAL
2. 2MINI-MINES
3. 3TUNNELLING-YESTERDAY
4. 4TUNNELLING-TODAY

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: The model making hobby of coal board employee Percy Webb.
NCB Commentary - Would you say that this was an aerial view of a modern pit?
No, it’s a scale-model by Percy Webb - who works full-time as a model-maker.
Hem Heath Pit in Staffordshire. This is where Percy has his workshop, and he’s currently working on a model of Hem Heath.
From the surveyor’s drawing he makes a master plan. Then it’s down to paint and brush - the fiddly bits - and there are plenty of these.
Trees are made from bits of wire - dipped in glue - and then sawdust for the foliage - and finally paint.
The master plan is traced onto the baseboard - the carbon is removed.
But why build models - what’s the point of them? Well, for one thing a model let’s you see the whole of a pit at a glance.
And they have other practical uses too. This model of an underground bunker helped engineers when they first began to built them.
Here Percy was able to reconstruct how an underground accident happened. Roof pressure distorted the roof supports; gas entered through a breach in the floor. It’s all life-like and to scale, "underground", or from a bird’s-eye view.

Keywords

Arts and crafts; Mining; Toys and models

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit