A bit of colour!

Time to bring some life and interest to the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 power plant in the form of some detail painting. The fan is in light grey with a black centre and the various hoses and fan belts are mainly black with a few red parts. I have no idea why they are red apart from the instructions and online photos of real engines show them in that colour! I will be putting a coat of varnish over the various parts before gluing them together.

Painted in aluminium and very shiny it looks too!

The engine block and gearbox are now painted in aluminium and very shiny it looks too! Once the paint has dried it will be time to paint some of the detail such as the fan belts and hoses which will bring a bit of contrast to it.

Looking sinisterly almost somewhat mushroom in shape I can only presume that it is a man made cloud from a fire or similar or as Mrs. W enquired, did I leave the cooker on?

With things a little warmer and the Man cave warmed with the heater on it was time to add some paint to the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 engine and gearbox as well as the other associated parts. As described before a black undercoat was applied. Once dry, this will be the ideal colour to overpaint with the required aluminium coloured paint.

Whilst I am waiting for the undercoat to dry I got back to some kit construction with the front steering beam axle. 

Not too complex, just a few fiddly parts and I had to watch where the glue went as the stub axles turn so you can pose the wheels. As you can imagine, once this kit is built I will be sitting on the floor pushing it along going 'broom, broom' so steering is important! Now that would draw a comment from Mrs. Woody!

What did bring comment from Mrs. W. was the rather strange looking sky as we drove back from the Rocks By rail Members Day. 

Looking sinisterly almost somewhat mushroom in shape I can only presume that it is a man made cloud from a fire or similar or as Mrs. W enquired, did I leave the cooker on?

It would certainly make a good restoration project for someone, not me though as pointed out by Mrs. W.

Whilst out and about with Mrs. Woody the other day we came across this parked in a farm yard.

I am no expert on vintage plant but I am guessing 1950s for this tracked tractor which still looks solid despite seemingly living outside with no cover. It would certainly make a good restoration project for someone, not me though as pointed out by Mrs. W.

Back in the Man Cave at WMD its still been too cold to get the airbrush out so I have added the last of the engine block parts which required the radiator to be temporarily added so that placement of the parts on the engine block matched those on the radiator. Not an easy task but a couple of blobs of Blu Tack assisted in the temporary attachment of said radiator.

The reason I cannot add the radiator permanently at the moment is that I need to leave the parts with the various fan belts and fan itself separate as it will make painting these parts a lot easier. 

In the meantime I have also started putting together other parts of the build where two parts are joined and will need smoothing of the joints such as the fuel tanks.

Hopefully I can get painting soon as the weather forecast says storms but warmer than the last ones!

Treasure Hunt or should that Junk Hunt?

In anticipation of the bad weather to come I returned to the Rocks By Rail Museum on Wednesday of this week which was a decision which actually worked out for the best which is unusual for Woody! Just like the end of last year, the start of the this year saw Sammy strimmer coming out for another session of Junk Treasure Hunt in the Boneyard!

I and in fact even most of the longer serving volunteers,  just don't know what is under the undergrowth but first off was the discovery of these ten slabs in good condition.

Next up were these two curiously shaped steel plates. Similar to what you might find on a steam loco but not boiler parts that anyone can recognise at the moment. No doubt they will have a use at some point even if only as some form of playground slide!

Then there were various metal parts including point rodding A three link coupling, a boiler strap, several hooks for a crane and amazingly for a railway museum, two lengths of motorway crash barrier! It is now all corralled together with the thirty or so sheets of corrugated iron that no one can recall having! 

John kindly gave me a hand moving those crash barriers which are not exactly lightweight in nature!

Though the crash barrier was unusual, the prize for the most unusual item has to go to this roll of digger track links which I am guessing has something to do with the drag line or face shovel that the Museum has. However, another item no one can recall having seen!

I am about a third of the way through this clearance project so there could be more to find on my next Junk Hunt!

Meanwhile, back at the trackside, Steve and Derek are investigating the catch point and talking about relays and switches for colour light signals. All very interesting so I will await to see what comes about. Just hope theu are not expecting me to find a colour light signal in the Boneyard!

Almost ready for paint!

Some more parts added to the Actros MP4 engine lock and gearbox which is almost at the point of being ready for paint. Ironically, given that Italeri moulded the parts in silver, I will need to undercoat it in black so that I can then paint it the aluminium colour that it needs to be! It will look a lot better then the moulded silver colour though!

With working couplers, free running wheels and stability restored this hopper wagon was ready to roll!

Buying second hand/pre-owned/pre-loved or what ever your preferred description is, is always a little bit of a gamble but usually and with experience you can see if something has major issues like the wheels fall out or there is a crack in the body. However, even if the item looks new it is always best, for reliable running, to take a closer look once back in the comfort of your home to carry out a little bit of miniatous. That is what I have done with the USA rolling stock that I bought at the Newark Toy and Train Fair.

The usual suspects to look at are the couplers and wheels. Having already tested the couplers it was time to look at the wheels. The problem is that the naked eye, good as it is, cannot precisely tell you distances. For reliable running the gap between the two wheels on an axle needs to be 14.5mm. Now I could try using a rule but am I really going to see 14.5mm accurately? There is another option which is a back to back gauge. This one cost about £10 is well made and easy to use. You can use it whilst the wheel is on the wagon or as I have done take the wheel out and use it. 

The idea is that you should just be able to slide the gauge between the wheels with just the slightest of resistance. If it is tight or loose you need to slide one of the wheels along the axle. Whilst the wheels were out they were also cleaned with some IPA and a cotton bud and the little bit of what seems like rust on the axle was sanded and polished off..

Next is to make sure the pinpoint axle can freely rotate in the bogie housing. This tool is slid into place and by rotating it, it cuts out any rough areas in the housing.

This is where experience plays its part. This particular hopper can rattled and was unstable. I could tell that when I looked at it before buying but knowing what was wrong and that it was a simple fix gave me the confidence to buy. The problem is a common one on older models of this type. There is a large metal weight glued to the inside of the wagon onto the chassis. Over time the glue weakens and the metal weight comes loose making the wagon almost unusable. Once I had the body off, the weight dropped out. Some gluing later and the weight was back in place and wagon body reaffixed. 

With working couplers, free  running wheels and stability restored this hopper wagon was ready to roll!

Just run your fingernail over the joint and it will pick up the smallest imperfections!

 Whilst the main engine block and gearbox for the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 kit did not take too long to put together there are, as a highlighted in my last post on this build, about 40 or so additional parts to add. Most of those parts require two to be joined together with the resultant joint line to be smoothed off. For reasons that only Italeri probably know of, they moulded most of the engine parts in a silver type plastic. Whilst it may look a bit realistic if you were not going to paint the model, it makes determining if the joint line is smooth or not almost impossible to do visually. The only real conclusive test is a fingernail. Just run your fingernail over the joint and it will pick up the smallest imperfections.

Anyway, back to the engine and gearbox, and parts have been added making it all look more interesting. There are still parts to add but if you need to glue two parts together you need to let the glue set before you can smooth the joint. It all takes time!

Now, where are the nail clippers?

What does £100 buy you for your model railway? It could be a lot if you are willing to try something different!

Giving some idea of what £100 could buy you for a model railway, the WMD Film Crew have been out looking at how, with some alternative thinking, you can actually get quite a lot! Watch and see!

Engine block time!

Engine block time with the build of the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4. Initially, most truck kit engines take shape fairly quickly and with this kit about 6 main parts go together to produce a substantial looking part of the model.

However, there are far more detail parts to go on yet as you can tell from some of the location holes and pins on this closer view of one side of the engine. In fact there are about another 40 parts or so to finish just the engine and all have mould and joint lines to smooth out before they can be fitted. Oh joy!

However, the chassis does look more truck like with that engine block temporarily fitted.