Anybody else remember Chuck the Muddle engineer?

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

Hi all – Having reminded myself recently not to leave the chuck key in the chuck whilst mounted on the lathe recalled the adventures of Chuck the Muddle Engineer, one time cartoon character drawn by Terry Aspin appearing on a regular basis in earlier copes (’50s to’60s) of The Model Engineer. Always very humorous and quite often close to home so to speak. Does anyone else have memories of reading Chuck? The ME also published from time to time sketches of various workshop set ups and the reader was invited to spot various deliberate mistakes and leaving a chuck key within the chuck was one of them. Happy days.

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

our editor had a spate of republishing them in MEW (presumably they were cheaper than new articles or maybe in lockdown there was no editorial staff)

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

I remember Terry Aspin's Chuck cartoons, always made good viewing.

Terry also wrote the Foundrywork book as part of the Workshop series, well worth reading if you are thinking of making some castings.

Emgee

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

There was a large pile of old M.E's at my school we could read I used to particularly enjoy Chuck and LBSC.

The Chuck cartoons were very well observed, A few stick in the mind such as the machined from solid boiler – with nowhere to put the water in and the petrol saving device that saved 20%, Chuck bought and fitted six, went for a drive and his fuel tank was overflowing at the end, all good lighthearted stuff

Terry Aspin was a very gifted artist , foundryman and all round model engineer.

Dave

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I always enjoy Chuck, but he was controversial in the good old days and might be again. Judging by letters to the Editor in the old magazines most Model Engineers had absolutely no sense of humour.

Dave

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Frances IoM on 30/01/2022 15:16:58:
our editor had a spate of republishing them in MEW (presumably they were cheaper than new articles or maybe in lockdown there was no editorial staff)

I don't think I ever published one in loockdown. They wouldn't save much money at about 1/5 of a page or less.

They were a handy way of filling space if an article comes up short that hopefully entertained less cynical readers

Neil

[Andrew CrowParticipant @andrewcrow91475]

I remember Chuck and always looked forward to the next cartoon as a bit of humour was and is always welcome. Amid the humour though, Terry always raised a valid point on good engineering practice and safety in the workshop.

[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

When i moved away from town into the country where I had more freedom to play around with fire in the back yard, I used Terry's book as a guideline to get started. My first efforts were using a clay garden pot encased in a tin and filled with refractory cement Results were quite good using a propane gas fired torch and scrap aluminium.

Then one day, I called at my local petrol station to fill the car when I noticed that outside the office, there were some bags of coke about half the size of the bags containing coal. The coke was in small chips similar to that used in a forge so I decided to try a couple of bags intending to have a go when time allowed. When I modified the "furnace" the performance was quite impressive melting aluminium with ease using a gentle air supply from a hair dryer.

By the time I got around to the trial, it was well into Autumn and it was a dark, misty evening when I called to get some fuel for the car. Looking outside, I could not see any bags of coke so going into the office found a young chap serving, I was later told that he was holiday relief for the owner, his brother and had come over from Holland for a few weeks. As I was paying for the fuel, I asked if he had any coke in stock. The reply was a very hesitant Noo.. and detecting an accent, I tried to explain by saying that it came in small plastic bags. Even to this day, I can still see the shocked expression on that young boy's face so I left thinking to try another day. It was not until I got home that I realised what I had said and was relieved that he had not called the law and have me picked up.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

Workshop safety yes – not so sure about household and motoring though!

I do recall one in which our hero is seen teaching us to ensure Senior Management is safely away shopping before using the living-room fire as a forge hearth, with a small anvil on the hearthrug.

And of him spending the day driving on a back-and-forth preserved railway, becoming so inured to leaning out of the cab in both directions that he drives his car home with his head out of the side window.

Sad to think some readers moaned about the strip. Maybe one or another episode had been too close to the bone for some "oops – nasty " they had committed in their own workshops…..

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

The first books on foundry work I bought were by dear Terry, yes his cartoons were humourous and still in many ways topical. The foundry work books though dated still have much good advice and knowledge the novice needs, a very good start to making ones own castings. Noel.

[DalboyParticipant @dalboy]

I got hold of some of the older mags and enjoyed reading the cartoon strip and what he got up to and can relate to a lot of the stories not from what I have done but those from people that use to hire tools from the hire shops that I had worked at.

[David AmbroseParticipant @davidambrose86182]

I have a set of ME from the late 1940s, and it is remarkable how rude and critical some of the articles are when reviewing models at exhibitions, etc.

[Bob WorsleyParticipant @bobworsley31976]

Just reading lots of old ME's, and my feelings are with a significant number if you replace 'wife' with 'slave' then they aren't at all funny. It was the era when women didn't count, anything they did was of no consequence, penicillin, WW2 Bletchley, Rosie the Riveter etc etc. I really didn't like many of them at all. I don't find anything at all amusing in ruining someones work, washing, so you can play with a loco. LBSC was never like that. In 1965/66 there was some discussion about Chuck returning, and many letters, even then, had my thoughts. Is that when he disappeared for good?

His books and articles, fine, good useful information.

As for critical comments on exhibition models, I have noticed that, and this is why I would never put a model in any exhibition. Worst offenders seemed to be Maskelyne, Hughes, Austen-Walten, though thier articles were always worth reading. What happened to Twin Sisters loco?

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 30/01/2022 15:52:45:

I always enjoy Chuck, but he was controversial in the good old days and might be again. Judging by letters to the Editor in the old magazines most Model Engineers had absolutely no sense of humour.

Dave

That's what I thought, and a lot of the humour in such Chuck cartoons as I saw seemed a bit lame.

Of course, I'm only half an engineer, and I'm also half German, so I've naturally got a cracking sense of humour myself…

[Nigel BennettParticipant @nigelbennett69913]

I too really enjoyed Chuck's antics. Not only humorous, but very well drawn indeed. One that springs to mind was when he had a rear wheel come off his car. He stopped, tied a bit of rope to the axle and threw the loose end over the car roof. He walked round the car, pulled on the rope to level up the car, tied the loose end firmly to the door handle and drove off…

On a similar theme, who else enjoyed Michael Oxley's Christmas articles in ME back in the 1950s? They were very funny indeed and I think he pretty well sewed up all the humour to be written about our hobby. If you have the slightest sense of humour, they're well worth while digging out and reading. Somebody even plagiarised some of his stuff much later, which I thought was a disgrace. Michael Oxley also made a boiler from solid, but his was a pot boiler; on one attempt he bored out the 3" diameter copper bar to 3,001"…

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Mick B1 on 21/02/2022 11:27:08:

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 30/01/2022 15:52:45:

I always enjoy Chuck, but … most Model Engineers had absolutely no sense of humour.

Dave

That's what I thought, and a lot of the humour in such Chuck cartoons as I saw seemed a bit lame.

Of course, I'm only half an engineer, and I'm also half German, so I've naturally got a cracking sense of humour myself…

Is poking fun at Germans alleged lack of humour just propaganda? All the Germans and half-Germans I've known laughed and joked just like native Brits.

One difference was pointed out by the comedian Henning Wehn. He said "Germans like a laugh as much as anyone else, but only after the job is finished." He refers to British Industry's persistent low productivity problem.

As volunteer regulars once said to conscripted National Servicemen: "if you can't take a joke you shouldn't have signed on."

Dave

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

My better half complained recently about finding a small (very small) piece of swarf on the sitting room carpet and worse still, a piece in the bed and I could not help but to think back to a classic Chuck cartoon where his response to a similiar situation was "was it brass or steel?" I must stress however that this is the first time this sort of thing has happened to me over the last 50 years but nevertheless a warning!

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

I remember the Chuc cartoons. Funnily, now I am getting back into Model Engineering, I was thinking about him about 5 minutes before reading this thread..

on my must do list is the small 4 stroke gas engine drawn and described by Chuck in a model engineer article.

Drawings we’re not dimensioned but were accurate enough to build a replica. I have a part finished cad drawing on one of my computer backups and a copy of the original magazine.

I for one would not object if Model Engineer republished the Chuck cartoons for a new generation of model engineers.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by Nigel Bennett on 21/02/2022 12:13:21:

I too really enjoyed Chuck's antics. Not only humorous, but very well drawn indeed. One that springs to mind was when he had a rear wheel come off his car. He stopped, tied a bit of rope to the axle and threw the loose end over the car roof. He walked round the car, pulled on the rope to level up the car, tied the loose end firmly to the door handle and drove off…

I've actually seen the other end of that equation in real life.

A Morris Minor (back when they were still used as transport), with a disused tow rope dangling under the car from its front bumper bar mounting. Every time the elderly gentleman driving it carefully took off, it went ok until he tried to veer out into traffic. Then the end of the tow rope would get caught between the rear tyre and the road, pinning it in place. This of course pulled the little Morris up in a dead stop with a very loud bang and threw the old gentleman against the steering wheel, in pre-seatbelt days.

Then the car would roll backwards enough to release the end of the rope, the old boy would restart his stalled engine and repeat the whole performance. Must have done it half a dozen times before we helpful teenagers could stop rolling about in laughter and let him in on the joke.

Try that in your new Skoda and see how long the front bumper lasts.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bob Worsley on 21/02/2022 09:58:24:

LBSC was never like that.

I'm not sure I can agree with that. He was pretty acerbic about anything or anyone who was at variance with how he thought things should be done!

Neil

[Roger QuaintanceParticipant @rogerquaintance14196]

Whilst Terry Aspin will always be remembered for his books on foundrywork (both of them timeless classics) (Oops just found another one so three foundry books) and chuck the muddle engineer cartoons, most do not realise he was a prolific cartoonist drawing for many "Comics" of the day, it is a pity he never published Chuck the muddle engineer as a book of his own. Though Chuck did write building a locomotive from scratch, his third book.

Edited By Roger Quaintance on 13/03/2022 13:48:41

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