More back filling!

 The work on the track at the Rocks by Rail Museum continues! 

From a higher viewing point the extent is clear to see.

Of course we do have mechanised assistance - when it works! Harriot did decide to break down for a short while but luckily had a change of mind later on!

Meanwhile, working on the viewing platform continues with more back filling to get a level approach.

This where we got to last week.

Following some intense quarrying of some conveniently placed spoil nearby which Alex and David are gigging through in this animated GIF we got to this.

It may not look much different but there is about two tons of material dug out, wheel barrowed and tipped which is not bad going for a cold and damp day!

We can actually stand at the edge of the barrier and see the view that visitors will get looking up to the quarry sidings. It should give a whole new perspective as well as giving photographers a nice vantage point. Still more to do but this is one of those projects that has moved forward quite quickly which is nice and gratifying. Hopefully we may get some warmer and sunnier weather next week!

Clamping down!

A large number of clamps on the tunnel mouth section of the sub-base that I am building at the moment as I construct the tunnel lining. Card and paper brick paper do tend to warp as they get wet and then dry with PVA glue so it is always advisable to try to encourage them to keep straight by clamping down on something such as a steel ruler.

Although going on for the last week or so not much mention of the cloakroom rebuild but it is progressing. Having taken the ceiling down it made sense ti insulate it.

Phil plaster boarded the ceiling and wall which made it look more like a room again

Just awaiting some plaster to be applied and then it is ready to paint which is my responsibility - Oh joy!

Third time lucky!

Hopefully, this is third time lucky and I have found the ladder to the finish of this tunnel sub-base. Following cardboard butchery I now have this.

Which whist the clearances are still tight they are far better than before.

From a distance it looks reasonable as well!

Could this be third time lucky? I have no idea but I do know I have a lot to do to make this look as it should!

A game of snakes and ladders!

It has been a long time since I played the snakes and ladder board game. More often then not my progress along the board was thwarted by those snakes whilst the handy ladders were always elusive to the score of the dice that I rolled. So, interesting my board game failures may be, but, what has this to do with model making you may ask? Well. the current tunnel scenic module build is akin to a game of snakes and ladders in that every time I think I have advanced up a ladder I find the snake to take me back down again!

I have, over the past few days related how I have now had two attempts at getting the arrangement of the tunnel mouths right and you can now add the third attempt! I thought that I had it sorted with the second attempt and I got as far as constructing walls and tunnel internals only to realise that the tight clearances between rolling stock and the structure were just too tight! I should have recognised that earlier on but I didn't so down the snake I go and having to find another ladder to get back up on! These two photos show just how tight the clearances were.

Another rethink was required and has resulted in this as a potential solution or ladder to use the board game analogy!

It needed cutting back a bit before  it was in the right place.

Clearances are certainly much better between the structure and the rolling stock.

Will this be the winning ladder or is there another snake to thwart my progress? I have no idea but may find out in a few days!

Complex cardboard engineering!

This is becoming complex cardboard engineering! Lots of clamps, lots of glue and lots of crossed fingers hoping that the whole thing holds together. 

Don't ask how I managed to get the curved roof the right shape - it was more by a fluke of luck than any science based calculation!

Just hope it all fits!

On a completely different note, Mrs. Woody reminded me that despite the grey, wet and cold weather, it would be soon time to prepare for growing seeds for flowers for the garden. She also reminded me that we needed some compost to plant the seeds in and so I was ripped way from my tedious varnishing job that I posted about yesterday and went off to the garden centre. Not a place I relish in visiting as my wallet becomes almost porous as Mrs. W finds items that we never knew we could live without and in all honestly could live without but still find their way back to WND HQ. However, it was a break from the smelly varnish and as I walked in I was delighted to see this.

Which is one of these...

Which is the same as the model that I got for Christmas and put together back in late December and early January.....

I think that stands comparison with the real thing!

Tunnel vision!

To get away from the tedious wall construction that I have been doing for the last few days, I decided it was time to construct the tunnels. This is something that I had been putting off because of the potential complexities in building curved roofs at an an angle but equally those complexities now seemed fairly attractive compared to the tedium of wall building!

There was a lot of trial fitting and measuring but eventually I was at the stage where I could extend one of the inner tunnel walls and create a curved card top to create the tunnel roof.

As card tends to warp when glued it was necessary to add a straight edge and clamp the card whilst the glue set

It just needs to all dry then it can be mounted on top of the tunnel walls where, hopefully, it will fit! It will be a bit tedious if it doesn't!

Talking of tedious, another two door linings/frames got a first coat of varnish. Another coat and they should be done which just leaves me two more to do. Doing the job in that cloakroom is like having a different sort of tunnel vision with its narrowness!

Small steps forward!

After yesterdays concept development of the wall construction for my 00 gauge layout tunnel section it is going a bit faster than before but still not as quick as I would like. It is one of those jobs where you know you cannot really move the project on without doing it but at the same time it becomes tedious to do it! Still, small steps forward!

Equally tedious are the door linings or frames, depending on how you term them, and varnishing them. Mrs. Woody decided that my casually mentioned idea of replacing the upstairs doors and linings/frames was an excellent idea and that whilst Phil the builder was here doing the cloakroom and bathroom refit he could do the doors to. What a good idea! However, as all our woodwork is varnished it is a lot easier to varnish the linings/frames whilst they are still in kit form and in a place where drips of varnish don't matter like in the presently deconstructed cloakroom! So today, frame number one got its first coat of varnish which is a tedious job especially when you realise there are still four frames to do! Is this as tedious as the wall making? It comes very close is all I can say. Still, small steps forward and tomorrows another day of wall building and varnishing!

One pack wrapped and unvarnished.

Then unpacked and first coat of varnish which pongs a lot!

Concept development!

I need to get on and finish the tunnel sub-base on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout but it is slow going at the moment as I develop the concept as to what I am going to do. This is not a kit so there are no instructions to follow and no pre-moulded or cut pieces to assemble so everything has to be worked out in my head! As Mrs. Woody would no doubt advise, my head is probably not the best place to work things out or even develop a concept! However, being me, I have carried on regardless with developing the concept so first of, lets see if my first wall section looks right conceptionally!

I think that is OK! The initial concept works! Next up is to construct some supporting or strengthening pillars. A vast flat area of brickwork like that would need to have some structural additions to it so it is on with looking at how I make a suitable pillar.

First off two strips of card were cut. One is long enough to go from the ground up to the edge of the wall and the other from the ground to just above the wall.

This is then covered with the Metcalfe brick paper. To get a neat edge to the fold in the paper, it was scored from behind. I glued one edge first and let the glue dry before gluing the rest to make sure that I didn't get any creases.

With the first pillar complete it was tested for fit against the wall and looks good. A second pillar is under construction and a second section of wall has been started. The concept development has worked! 

Was it a magic trick? Or was I just an Ailurophile?

Last week, arriving at the Rocks By Rail Museum, the CAT was stood in the gateway in front of the track broken down and unable to move.

This week on my arrival and as if  by some magic trick, Harriot, the JCB, was broken down in almost the same spot!

It appears that there is a spate of fuel issues going through the plant fleet. No one is sure what it is but it could be coincidences with the fuel systems on the vehicles all giving issues or perhaps contaminated fuel. What ever it is we have a team of experts and keen armatures who can make things work - eventually!

Harriot did start but my curiosity as to where the CAT had gone was soon answered - just round the corner where it had yet again broken down in mid movement!

Which is a bit concerning as this pea gravel for the drainage job at the platform siding has arrived and needs moving by the CAT

so that this mess can be sorted out!

I'm sure it will be but in the mean time I got on with some more backfilling to create the viewing platform that I have been involved in since last year - Projects at the Museum tend to take a long time!

Just like trying to find rock to fill the Gabion baskets/cages some weeks ago, there is a hunt for suitable soil type backfill to go behind the Gabions and create the platform. I dug some out near the drag line excavator, including from within the bucket! It was just a long way to barrow the contents.

However, by chance, I spotted a pile of potential backfill closer to the eventual destination of the platform. Hidden behind undergrowth, David cleared that away and allowed access to some good material.

After a day of work we are nearly at the back of the Gabions!

We now have loyal blog reader Mrs. B on Team Gabion. For some reason she showed an interest in the project and was immediately, before she could have second thoughts, shown the source and destination of material together with the wheeled means of transporting said material and the shovel and pick by which said material is transferred into said means of transport! We can't miss an opportunity when someone shows interest! Thanks Mrs. B! 

Mrs. B also managed to confuse or educate, depending upon the individuals state of mind at the time, everyone at lunchtime by proclaiming that I was an Ailurophile! Now that took me off guard but apparently it is  “a person who likes cats” which I do, and the word was word of the day on the Dictionary.com web site back on the 22 August 2022. Don't say that WMD is never educational or indeed magical!

 

Things can only get better from here!

Time to add some detail to the plain brick sides. I am looking to make a wall to run across the top of the sub-base. Not just content with a simple flat fall I have had to make life difficult for myself by building a paneled wall! I had part of the Metcalf viaduct kit to hand which has such a wall as in the upper part of the photo below. Unfortunately there is no where near as much as I need so time to construct my own from card and brick paper.

Using the Metcalf sheet as a guide, I marked up some card and cut the panels out.

With the now holey card done it was covered with Metcalfe brick paper glued on with PVA. The panels were created by diagonally cutting the brick paper on its reverse side and then bending the paper through the hole and gluing the surplus onto the back of the card.

With three holes done it was time to test if it would look right. It did to me so it was worth carrying on.

Eventually the holey card was finished.

Putting that on to some more brick paper further proved that the idea was right but it would take a long time to do so it is onwards with further paneling! 

Something else that will no doubt take a long time is the rebuild of the cloakroom which Phil the builder, in a matter of half a day, managed to turn into this!

He assures me that things can only get better from here!