Good news! The new compressor has arrived!
This is the old one...
...and this is the new one!
A very nice bit of kit. The compressor itself is similar to the old one but this one has a three litre air tank which means the airbrush is supplied from a consistent reservoir of air rather than a pulse of air coming directly from the compressor. Hopefully this should last me a few tears - I had the old one for fifteen years so I think it earnt its keep!
Now I can get back to some airbrushing!
As a result of my airbrush compressor having given up the ghost, my FAWW, which is short for Financial Advisor and Wallet Watcher (aka Mrs. Woody) has released funds for a new compressor which is now ordered and should arrive soon. I now also need to negotiate with her for funding for a new printer as that blew up (literally) when I switched it on today!
In the meantime I managed to just get a bit more air out of the old compressor to apply some top coat paint to the BG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank parts. It was a painfully slow job but at least it begins to look more like a model heading towards being finished then it did last week!
Hopefully the new compressor will make life a bit easier! It would be great if it could also make life a bit easier with fuel prices by compressing them back a bit! Regular readers of this blog may recall back in March 2022 I posted about the rising price of fuel in this post and then again in June in this post and this post. Well things are more or less back where we were four years ago. Same petrol station just four years on!
Mrs. Woody is still under the weather with her cold and mine is just lurking in the background - letting me know it is there but not unleashing its full onslaught - oh woe is me and if you are with Mrs. Woody when she has a cold you know it is woe time!
In the meantime though I have Been out to the Man Cave with the intention of starting the painting of the IBG Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit. However more woes with my compressor more or less giving up. It blows some air along with some water and as Mrs. W would highlight it is a bit like me - knackered! I pointed out that the compressor has only lasted 15 years which is a lot shorter than me so far before it gave up but I think the cold has blocked her ears as there was no reaction.
I did manage to get primer on most of the parts but I now need to look for a suitable compressor before continuing. More woe for the wallet then!
I am back to the tractor unit of the IBG 1.72 scale Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit. Having pondered the painting of this i had a few parts to add to the chassis like the radiator and lights. The lights were a disaster! The kit parts flew off the bench as I tried to clean them up and remain lost! I made some new ones up from some kit sprue. They are passable and in this scale I don't think my efforts will be noticed!
Hopefully the weekend may see all the parts in at least primer!
A truly glorious day weather-wise at the Rocks By rail Museum today which made everything seem a bit easier to do.
I brought Morris Mower out of his Winter sleep for a bit of action and to join Sammy Strimmer. He started after a few pulls of the starter cord so was soon awake unlike me!
Andy was bringing the oversized washing machine out of its Winter hibernation after I had used Sammy Strimmer to cut back the vegetation. It is now ready to wash more ballast.
Having gone down to the oversized washing machine with Sammy Strimmer I could look back up towards the top of the Bone Yard and appreciate just how much undergrowth is still to be cut back.
Being at the other end to Bone Yard with the strimmer, I used the opportunity to do a bit of clearance work and discovered the following in my usual weekly treasure Junk Hunt.
Fist off a dustbin with what looks like a wheel barrow tyre in the water that has filled the bin!
An empty plastic blue barrel.
Some interesting electrical equipment that may have worked but that is now unlikely having been left outside for years!
There was also this sign that says STOP, so I did!
And now it begins to look like a tank! Yes, after the complexities of building the Scammell and its tank carrying trailer which has been akin to walking up a steep hill in mud on a windy and wet day, the building of the Crusader tank to go on the trailer is almost like a walk in the park on a warm sunny day!
After a few hours this is where I am up to.
Maybe a couple more sessions should see it built! Now that is a nice walk!
Having got the trailer built up to a stage ready for painting along with the tractor unit it made sense to build all the three components of the kit before getting the airbrush out. Using it once means it only needs cleaning once - working smarter not harder as I get older!
The last component of the kit is the Crusader tank. Not seen this before but the tracks and half the wheels are moulded as one part with the outer wheels to add. Different and not something I am too sure about at the moment but we will see!
A short build session saw the wheels added and part of the hull constructed.
Hopefully this sould not take too long to build but there are some more etched parts to add so where is that sear jar?
The trials of etched brass parts on the trailer of the IBG 1.72 Scammel Pioneer Tank Transporter and Crusader tank kit are just about done! Can't say that I am sad either!
It looks interesting in this bare plastic and brass etched state that will later be harmonised with paint.
Additional from the last update is that the jacks are in place along with some sort of frame on the underside.
Meanwhile, up top some additional pipework is in place but now it is time to add the ramps and what a pain that was!
There were more etched parts in the form of support bars which needed to be fitted to tiny pins on the ramps themselves and the trailer floor - nice!
