I do like a nice bit of cake!

 Its a wet and rainy day at the Rocks By Rail Museum!

So what happens on such a day?

Well, it seems as though everyone gathers round something in the Restoration Shed! But what?

It is actually Richard who is the centre of attention using Oxyacetylene to try to separate the mounting flange from the broken chimney of steam loco Uppingham! 

Not sure what is going on here but yet more volunteers sheltering in the Shed!

And yet more!

Even I kept in the dry sorting out some more banners!

However, not put off by the rain, Rob continued work on the Eucild dump truck. However, even he had to admit welding as not a safe option but he could grind and paint in the shelter of the tipper body!

It is birthday on Sunday, Happy Birthday Rob, so he brought in cake!

I do like a nice bit of cake!

Not sure what they contain but it could be some mysterious matter!

 Having had a calming time stacking the pallets with the sacks all included in the Ratio pack it was time to paint.

A coat of light grey was applied as a unifying undercoat.

Then the colour was added. Using a similar technique to that I used on the planks on the Hornby flat wagon wheel carrying wagons, the pallets look worn and used. The barrels probably want another coat of yellow but look a bit brighter than they did and the sacks are in a blue with a yellow dot. Not sure what they contain but it could be some mysterious matter! However, they do add a bit of colour. I just need to add a bit of weathering to them.

Stacking pallets!

 I have enjoyed stacking the pallets with the sacks included in the Ratio pack - most therapeutic!

I just need to paint all the items up ready to find a place on the layout.

Also therapeutic was a bike ride taking in the local canal where the rain of the last week has made an impact! 

The water now touches both sides! I didn't think that we had that much rain but there is the proof!

A bit of wire in the foot!

Those concrete slabs at the base of the 4mm scale figures I have been painting have been removed!

Painful as that must have been for the plastic figures the next indignity that they suffered was having a hole drilled through their feet and a piece of brass wire mounted in it! That wire should enable the figures to be mounted on the platform securely.

Whilst I am working on the smaller details I dug out this pack of Ratio pallets, sacks and barrels from the WMD Stores which should add some additional detail around the Station baseboard. 

There are lots of other things I could be doing like jobs on Mrs. Woody's list of chores!

 Whilst awaiting the ballast to dry from yesterdays deployment of it, there are lots of other things I could be doing like jobs on Mrs. Woody's list of chores and 'things for me to do' list. However I avoided those in preference to some painting of figures of which some will find their way onto the station platform that I have recently been working on. These are the old Airfix figures now produced by Dapol and to be fair despite being about 60 years old they are still a fairly detailed set of figures.

Once painting is finished they will get a coat of matt varnish and that concrete slab base will be trimmed away allowing them to be positioned with their shoes firmly on the platform surface!

Before weathering it I have painted the wooden boards of the catwalk on the signal gantry. Nothing too special as all of the gantry will be weathered which will alter the appearance.

Now, what jobs am I going to be doing tomorrow? Models or Mrs. W's list?

Lots of other things in the meantime to keep me amused!

Time for some more ballasting on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout which unfortunately is not the last of the ballasting! 

The usual method of brushing and prodding the ballast into place was employed before dilute PVA glue was dribbled over the area and left to dry.

 Because the curved track had come slightly loose from its attachment to the vase I added some weights which should help it all glue back with the ballast and be level too! The good thing about the warm weather is that the glue dries quickly but given it is not quite as hot as during the heatwave I will leave the weights in place for two days. Lots of other things in the meantime to keep me amused!

A sign of the times!

having platform lamps made, it was time to add a bit of an adornment in the form of a station name plate.

A word processing package enabled me to create the necessary signs and these were printed off complete with the rail logo.

Cut out they were glued to a thin plastic card.

Once dry that was cut out and they were carefully added to the lamp posts at a scale height so that the 4mm scale passengers would not hit their heads on them!

Once back on the layout for a trial look they look good but things you don't notice until you photograph them doo stick out! That one post needs straightening. Maybe it was vandalised. A sign of the times maybe!

Well that was illuminating!

Well, after yesterdays post, the light is on and I can illuminate that the strange posts are actually lamps!

Some plastic rod and scraps of plastic card were used to make these which are for the platform.

To attach them to said platform I used some tube and scraps of plastic card to make mounting points to go under the plastform.

Having ascertained where on the platform the lamps were to go, holes were drilled and the mounting points glued in place.

Well that was illuminating!

I will be putting a light on and illuminating what they are in a later post!

After yesterdays post I did not go back to the ladder for the signal gantry but the signal heads themselves came in for some more work. 

The plastic card backs I glued on to cover the holes in the back of the units was trimmed and filed to shape. The units were then glued to the already grey painted mounting brackets ready to be painted in black.

The parts of the mounting brackets to remain grey in colour were masked and the rest of the plastic was airbrushed with black paint. I just need to paint the light lenses which is a bit more complex than it sounds and more on that when I get to it and then mount the signal heads on the gantry along with that ladder!

In the meantime what's going on here?

I will be putting a light on and illuminating what they are in a later post!

The ladders too short!

Another one of those it has gone wrong moments!

As I am not using the massive bases supplied in the kit into which the supporting structures fit into and make the model 'playable' for train sets back in the 60s, the access ladder is too short!

Whilst I though of solutions to that problem, I did get the airbrush out and give the assembled structure a coat of light grey paint. You may also notice that there is a small plastic block on the cutting mat just above the signal heads. Cut from one of the supplied bases it will be a potential solution to the ladder issue!

The signal head mouldings do not have a back to them! Even though it is unlikely that this would be noticeable on the finished model I have glued them to a bit of thin plastic card sheet which, when the glue hardens, will be cut to shape giving a proper appearance to the heads!

Now, back to that ladder!