The Panzer Ferry gets dirty!

As a young lad I can remember going on a Saturday morning to the local newsagent, who like most at that time. carried a selection of the 'pocket money' Airfix kits, paint and glue. Great sellers and many of my friends did as I did and deposited their weekly pocket money in the newsagents till in exchange for a kit. Getting home, the plans were glanced at, the parts twisted off the sprue and tube glue liberally applied to parts. A few hours later the kit was built. Sunday saw an assortment of Humbrol paints and less then clean or flexible brushes come out and by the end of the day the model was painted and decals applied. To me these were great models built by me and before school on a Monday! The reality was that they were glue and paint bombs! However we all had to start somewhere. 

Move forward more years then I care to recall and my experience and learning over the years means even those pocket money Airfix kits can take me many days or even weeks to complete now. No more twisting parts off the sprue or applying paint with a near tar brush applicator! That young desire to create something quickly has been replaced by a more measured and matured approach of wanting to produce something that is the best I can - within reason and sanity! That takes time and as I work on the Dragon Kit of the Panzer Ferry I realise that as I am now at the weathering stage. I have probably spent about seven or eight hours on that aspect alone. However despite the time I do enjoy it and each time I do it I gain more experience. It is a therapeutic activity in todays sometimes rushed World. It is probably a good job I enjoy it as I will need to repeat the process when I build the other amphibious tank!

Any way back to the kit and having already started to weathered the sides of the pontoon and tank that process has continued all over both models and includes the wheels.

I have used a mixture of paint brush applied washes and very dilute paint airbrushed at a low pressure to build up some weathering. Being amphibious creates issues in how I weather these two models but to some degree I am assuming that water would leave sediment and general dirt so that is what I have gone for and I think it works.

That clean deck has been dirtied and looks more realistic. This is something that I could never had got my young head around all those years ago building those pocket money Airfix kits!

Putting the two models side by side gives an idea of the size of this and there is still another amphibious tank to add!

I was going to paint the deck grey and then use the hairspray technique to weather it but given how good the wood effect has turned out I am going to leave it. The Panzer Ferry was a prototype so this may well have been the case in real life! That is my excuse anyway!

Possibly some more dirt to add but I need to add the tracks and there are some parts that need to go on the deck such as the engine exhausts and stanchions which will add more interest. Then do I raid the WMD HQ kit stash to find something suitable to put on the pontoon? I better steady myself before I go back to that youthful exuberance of wanting to build models in a day!

Design stupidity?

A day at Rocks by Rail which should have been on Tuesday but I was that shattered after Mondays open day I needed a rest yesterday! No sooner have the two August Bank Holiday events finished then we are advertising the next ones which I have been putting some banners out for.

At the Museum there were, as always, things going on in the restoration shed. Eric, Derek and Trevor were battling to get the air dump valve working on Jean the Sentinel. As with such old things rust is an issue and finding the right imperial sized socket adds to the frustration but they did manage to dismantle it and clean it up to a working condition.

John and Steve had their own battle replacing the accelerator cable on the CAT. You would think that this should be a simple job. However the build of the CAT is such that the designed way to get to the underside of the accelerator is to take the cab off! What should be a ten minute job suddenly becomes a ten hour job! Surely a classic example of design stupidity? However John introduced Mr. Grinder who made a few cuts in the floor allowing a part of it to be folded back sufficiently to allow the accelerator to be removed and the underside accessed.

For me it was the usual grass and hedge cutting and both vegetational items have been growing quickly.

Interrupted by the rain I took shelter in my car!

The rain abated and my vegetational butchery continued to make this area look at least semi cultivated!

Real plastic imitation wood?

Progress on the Panzer Ferry. First off the masking tape covering the wooden deck of the pontoon was removed. Always an anxious time as you wonder if some paint will peel off if there has been seepage under the tape. 

Luckily no peeling and what paint seepage had occurred was only slight.

That was quickly touched in with a fine brush.

The problem with the finish was it was just not like real worn wood! It may have suited the deck of a liner but for a military pontoon it just did not look like wood! So it was time to try to make the plastic imitation wood look real! I started with using some dilute washes of Vallejo Flat Earth paint.

Gradulally adding washes and some dilute black I have got to this stage.

Looking better and more like real wood!

I also started weathering the pontoon and amphibious tank with dilute Flat Earth.

Slow work but adding some character!

Where does time go?

Where does time go? That was what I asked myself as the day drew to an end and yet it seemed as though only an hour or so had passed on a busy bank holiday weekend at the Rocks By Rail Museum. Being busy time just flies by! There were many guests - all of whom seem to have had a great visit from the feedback we got with many saying that they will be back! 

Being a quarry operating day there were both steam brake van rides and quarry trains operating.

It was that busy for me being on the front desk that I had little chance to actually see anything let alone photo much so these are just what I managed to grab in a few quiet moments! 

There are only three more events and then the 2023 season will come to a close - where does time go! 

Topiary? What is that then?

It is a Bank Holiday and as I am working at the Rocks By Rail Museum tomorrow Mrs. Woody and me had a day out at a place called Elton Hall near Peterborough. Although the last holiday weekend of the Summer it was busy at the Hall but not crowded, if that makes sense? 

The Hall itself is a real mix of various ages of building with parts dating back to 1066 through to 1860 when the last major building work took place. Fascinating inside but being a house still used as a residency no photography was allowed inside which I can understand. We ended up taking about two hours to go through several rooms and had a good chat with the very friendly stewards. That did not leave a great deal of time for the gardens but what we did see was really nice - certainly much better then the WMD HQ gardens! 

Looking back on the Hall you can clearly see the various different stages of its development over the centuries. Despite the mish mash of styles it still looks impressive.

The gardens are well known for their topiary which I had no idea about. However I soon learnt that is the art of shaping shrubs and trees into shapes and there were certainly some wonderful examples to illustrate the art of topiary like this dog that Mrs. W found to her taste.

These peacocks also looked very impressive.

I have talked about cutting hedges in this blog before but I certainly would not want to have to do this one!

Pyramid shapes are a theme throughout the garden and make an impressive statement.

 Carrying on the pyramid theme, this water feature was my favorite part of the garden.

There are also those classic English country garden scenes to enjoy.

Back at the somewhat less glamorous WMD HQ I ignored the garden and the various possible locations for the establishment of topiary shrubs and retired to the safety of my Man Cave to do a bit more on the Panzer Ferry kit. 

Having sprayed the wooden deck I applied a coat of matt varnish to protect it and once dry the deck was masked up.

The pontoon was then sprayed in Vallejo Grey .

It is now drying and I will remove the masking once the paint is dry enough to be handled. 

What is that???

Out on a bike ride I came across this and my immediate thought was, what is that?

Not a car shape that you see every day and things like the underbody sealant spray job on the body pointed to the fact that this was very much a custom job. But what car was it based on? A quick look round the back revealed that it had started life as a Nissan Micra!

It looks to be well engineered with some substantial struts in place to add strength following the removal of the rear upper body. Not sure if it really needs the rear spoiler and the wide wheels but who knows what may have been squeezed engine wise under the bonnet to replace the original 1lt. block! 

Although not something I would wish to own or indeed drive, I never the less admire the work that has gone into making something that is a one off and certainly catches the eye as well as no doubt raising that question as to what is that in the minds of many who see it!.

Back at WMD HQ I have returned to the build of the Panzer Ferry kit which when finished may also raise that question as to, what is that, with those that see it. 

The deck of the pontoon has now been sprayed in Tamiya Deck Tan which is a good shade to use.

Next up is to give it a coat of matt varnish to allow for the next stage of painting - more of that in a later post!

Build something simple!

I took Mrs. Woody out for lunch today which was a nice day out but not much time for model making so it was a case of build something simple. In this case the Wills SS80 kit for two Relay Boxes and you cannot get much more simple then the seven parts provided in the kit!

Unsurprisingly there were no instructions as you cannot really go wrong or perhaps I should say I should not go wrong! Spending a bit of time cleaning the parts up and gluing them together whilst watching trains go round the Last Great Project Layout meant that a relaxing hour later two boxes were complete - nice and simple!

They are nicely detailed and the larger one even has a padlock on the door. As in real life these things get dirty and rusty they will need painting and weathering before finding a place on my layout.

The video I shot yesterday on progress on my 00 gauge layout is now on YouTube in case anyone needs a cure for insomnia!

There is something at the bottom of the garden!

WMD HQ backs onto a field. Last night as I watered my tomato plants I heard a bit of a strange noise and upon investigation these two were eating the hedge!

 Mrs. woody will no doubt think they are cute - just like me! Anyway I left them to their eating - saves me cutting the hedge but I am not telling them that!

Todays adventures in my Man Cave consisted of giving it a good tidy up.

Still a lot of junk valuable materials but it looks neater!

The layout then had a change of a few trains with this Class 20 in Railfreight livery hauling some merry go round coal hoppers coming onto do some circuits.

It was joined by this Class 66 in Freightliner livery hauling some HIA Limestone hopper wagons. I do like the Freightliner livery.

I am pleased to report that after having cut joints in the track yesterday the trains still ran! In fact I took some video of them today to post onto YouTube later so you can witness the action. I will post a link once done. 

Better go water my tomatos and see if I still have a hedge left!