Before moving on with the cab of the tractor unit of the IBG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit I used the opportunity to fit the 'glass' parts, These are actually clear plastic and the windows themselves are conveniently marked out on the supplied sheet.
Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures encouraged outdoor activity at the Rocks By rail Museum today and with the first public event of the year just over two weeks away there are things outside that do need doing!
First off, despite all the work to install drainage and relay the track last year in the platform road the track does need some further jacking and packing to level it. This is not unexpected as it will settle with time and use - just far less then when what was under the ballast was wet clay! There are volunteers who are expert in such matters such as Richard and John so I left it to them!
Pete and Pam have also been busy sprucing up the electrical switching building with a coat of paint. Just the surround to the roof to finish but already looking far better than before.
Took the day off and just played trains - Wonderful Wordless Wednesday!
Finally! The weather was warm, the sky bright, no rain and I had the time! These factors coming together meant that I could continue with spraying the cab parts to the Italeri Mercedes-Benz Actros MP4 truck kit that went into hibernation for several weeks! Now this was not as simple as I had hoped as is always the case with what I am involved in! The original rattle cans were a shade of Nissan white that was for 1980s models. I think I inherited these from my Dad so they must be at least 10 years old if not more. The first can had exploded over me and the second can did much the same! Not to be put off I thought I would get a new can. Now that was not going to happen as the paint is for 1980s models and no longer stocked as a rattle can on the shelves of auto-factors. I could get a can mixed up at £25 to £30 but that would be insane1 So I bought a £4 can from the range of....
..Mercedes Polar White. Well it is a Mercedes truck!
With a fresh can of stable paint in my hands parts were repainted.
I still need to do the other side of the parts on the board on the left but most of it is done and awaiting drying and inspection. Hopefully that will show a good result!
It has reached the stage with the IBG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit to add the decals. Not many but always wise to coat the areas where they are going with a coat of gloss varnish to minimise the chances of silvering which is where the carrier film takes on a matt whitish colour if applied to a matt surface.
Once applied a coat of decal Sol to soften them up and aid adhesion was added and then they have been left to dry. A coat of matt varnish will be applied and then the weathering can continue and final assembly can commence!
I have been putting this off for sometime! The last (apart from two door mirrors which are a simple cut out job) of the etched parts on the IBG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit. This required the use of the etch bender and required a flat brass piece to be bent with a curve and then two side parts attached. Nice!
It was a nice start to the day with sun streaming through the windows that need cleaning according to Mrs. Woody at WMD HQ this morning. Ideal bike riding weather! It was warm in the shelter but the wind was icy cold especially on a bike - I'm just glad, as are most of the local population, that I did not wear shorts! Anyway, being in the countryside means you get to see how animals deal with the cold and these lambs knew exactly what to do to stay warm. Up against a straw pile sheltering them from the westerly wind whilst being warmed by the morning easterly sun.
If only I had been that clever at such a young age things might have been so different!
Back at the shelter of WMD I undertook the start of the growing season by preparing some seed trays for the recently purchased seeds that I blogged about on Thursday using the compost also purchased at that time. A bit of silver sand mixed in with the compost is supposed to assist seedlings so that was added! 16 trays done which will now warm in the greenhouse for a week before sowing said seeds and awaiting the growth of plants - or not if my luck goes as normal!
Despite being a busy boy as I informed Mrs. W I did find time to weather the other side of the tank tracks in the IBG Scammell Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit as well as the various tractor and trailer wheels.
Slow progress but steps forward. If only I had been clever enough to take up a different hobby to model making things might have been so different like actually getting those windows cleaned!
For a change of scene on this kit, I started working on bringing the tracks and wheels to life with the Crusader tank part of the IBG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter kit. Firstly the tracks were given an overall brush paint of rust paint. It will require further weathering once dry but for now it is good!
In the meantime I temporally put the partially built cab on the chassis which looks good. Amazingly the parts all seem to fit as well - so far!
I was intending to go on a bike ride today but the strength of the wind put me off demonstrated by the wheelie bin doing wheelies down the pavement! Ten years ago I would have gone even if the wheelie bin had taken off and I would have cycled into a brick wall of a wind on the way out and been like Mary Poppins with her umbrella on the way home! But, with age, I am much more a self preservationist as I get older! The strength of the wind was perhaps demonstrated by the closure of a nearby main road where a lorry had been blown over by the wind! The picture is taken from a distance which equates to about as close as I want to be to such an incident! Apparently the recovery team cannot recover the lorry until the wind dies down so it could be a while before all those amber lights go!
Instead of going on the bike I took a recovering from a bad cold Mrs. Woody out to a local garden Centre where various items such as seeds, compost, fertilizer, bread and tea cakes where purchased emptying my depleted from recent compressor and printer purchases wallet!! All items were apparently to do with a therapy to cure the cold. It seems it is called retail therapy!
Anyway, I did make use of some of the items purchased to attend to what is laughingly a lawn but is more like a sea of moss and weeds! First off I aerated the ground with something that I inherited from my Dad who got this back in the 60s or 70s with Green Shield stamps which was like an awards scheme today but you got physical stamps to stick in a book which could then be exchanged for items in a catalogue. If you want to find out more look at this! And if you have old stamps or books they are selling on eBay so there may still be some value in them!
Once holes were punched through the moss and weeds the lawn feed came out spread in a mechanical spreader again inherited from my Dad but of a more modern 90s vintage I think!
I will be glad when this build is complete as it is seemingly taking for ever. What I need is a bit of wind behind me.....
