Fan for my father (more)

Ha ha, a new article just appeared on my dad, entertaining read :P (My dad has four children, just me and my brother no longer live with him).

The world's most famous monster has finally come face-to-face with her creator.

And it gave Nessie sculptor Ray Leaning – the artist who created one of the world's most photographed models – the fright of his life.

Ray (50), who now runs his own art studio in Ayr, was gobsmacked when he passed the Clansman Hotel on the shores of Loch Ness and his wife Carol spotted the 30-foot monster he created nearly 30 years ago.

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"You could have knocked me over with a feather," said Ray.

"I thought it would have been trashed years ago and had no expectation of ever seeing it again."

Ray built the fibre glass model at a studio in Scunthorpe. It was commissioned at a cost of £3,000 in 1980 by former Grimsby businessman Robert Levant, who was running a caravan park at Invermoriston at the time Advice was sought for the design from the Natural History Museum in London to make the model as authentic as possible.

Nessie fans believe the monster to be a macroplater, a kind of plesiosaurus from the Jurassic period, and in 1991 the sculpture was given a new home at the Clansman Hotel when it was taken over by Ian Miller and his wife Denise.

Since then it has become one of the most photographed artworks in the world with Nessie hunters from around the globe stopping at the hotel and roadside to have their picture taken with the iconic monster.

And the only changes Ray could spot were its faded colour and two sets of teeth which were missing.

But the Nessie, which stands at the entrance to the hotel beside the A82, could be set for a makeover of her own.

For Ian, who owns the sculpture, is planning a refurbishment and a full makeover this winter, including "cosmetic dental surgery".

Ray, who moved to Ayr three years ago with Carol and their two children Heather (13) and Sandy (11), had been touring up the east coast of Scotland in August.

"We came through Inverness and couldn't find a room anywhere so we decided to head back to Ayr and, as I had never seen Loch Ness, we decided to travel in that direction.

"It was my wife who spotted Nessie first and she shouted 'there's your dinosaur'.

"I slammed on the brakes and there was Nessie. I couldn't believe it. We stopped, took photos, went into the hotel and found they had a spare chalet, so we had dinner, stayed the night and in the morning was amazed at the coach-loads of visitors taking turns to be photographed with 'my' Nessie.

"The loch is really stunning. What a place to wake up in the morning."

To this day, Ray has held on to some of his pen and ink sketches of the monster which show the original was made of a tubular steel frame with a chicken wire and fibre glass skin. The clay was applied and sculpted over this.

It took a month to construct and cast in fibre glass. And eventually it was painted with cellulose paint the same as a motor car.

"I was about 20 when I worked on the model," recalls Ray. "We had about three large bins of clay we used in the studio which you can re-use after the cast is made. But we didn't have enough clay to do a model of this size so it was done in two halves.

"It's a shame it has lost its teeth. They were made of a resin. But it was fantastic to find it had survived all this time."

The finished model raised some eyebrows as it was transported to Scotland on the back of a flat bed British Road Services truck in 1980.

Ian said when he bought it from the caravan park to move to the hotel in 1991, Nessie had to be moved by lorry in the early hours of the morning.

"It was a wide load and the road along the loch is narrow and winding. We have hundreds of people stopping here every day staying at the hotel, stopping for lunches, visiting the shop and going on boat trips and most people get their picture taking with Nessie.

"We are planning to give him a makeover this winter to restore some of his original colour and we will also look at investing in some cosmetic dental surgery. You can't have a monster without teeth – although Nessie is quite friendly."

Willie Cameron, of Loch Ness Marketing, said: "It's a fascinating tale that this chap should come across the model 30 years after he helped build it.

"It still looks resplendent and will look even better after its makeover. It's photographed by people from all over the world and every tourist who has visited Loch Ness will know of this work of art."

Only two full-sized models were made from Ray's clay original – the other is with several dinosaur friends at Paradise Park in Newhaven, East Sussex.

Ray is now a self-employed landscape artist and graphic designer whose work can be seen at [http://www.scottishmuse.co.uk]