Woody gives the hill a haircut!

Well that title should at least make you think that Woody may have lost it but I will clarify as we go along.

A fair amount of progress today. I had much of the day in the Man Cave - just don't tell Mrs. Woody. It was a wet, cold day so I was not inclined to do much outdoors although I did take advantage of a small break in the rain to go on a bike ride. It was a small break in the rain and the bike ride was cut short after 8 miles as I was getting soaked from the rain which had come back with vengeance. Bad weather appears to be the story of my cycling this year. Last year at this time I had well over 500 miles done whereas this year its 3684 miles. Never mind, November and December could be good! 

Anyway, back in the dryness of the WMD HQ Man Cave I was able to review the morning's ballasting operations which had been assisted in drying by Mrs. W's hair drier which had been reliberated from her dressing table! 

It was then time to think about getting some greenery on the bare hills. Most people would reach for static grass or flock powders but I wanted a more wild unkempt look so I naturally turned to hanging basket liner! Not what you would think of to model grass but its use has been described before in the model rail press and I have used it before too. Both hills had full strength PVA brushed on them to which pieces of hanging basket liner were pressed into.

 It was taken inside to dry and then transported back into the cold Man Cave where Woody took to his haircutting skills! A suede shoe brush was used to tease the fibers up.

It was then down to scissors and hair trimmer to bring about some uniformity yet unkemptness! I certainly would not make a barber and I don't think Mrs. W will ever let me loose on her hair! However as the before and after pictures show of both hills I managed something close to what I wanted!

Just like the barbers there was a fair amount of sweeping up to do afterwards!

I also took the opportunity to add some green to between the tracks. Still more to add but this is a good base.

Putting everything in place temporarily it is looking very much as I hoped for!

 

The scene takes on some colour!

A good time in the Man Cave as more ballasting has been done and the bridge and abutments have seen some colour added.

The diluted PVA glue is taking some time to dry in the coolness of the Man Cave so I have liberated Mrs. Woody's hairdryer to aid the drying process. I have replaced it so unless she reads this I will be in the clear!

The girder bridge itself has been airbrushed with a variety of greys and browns to give it that weathered and aged look. It may be mainly grey but the variations give it some colour - if that makes sense? The abutments have been coloured in with more work using my coloured pencil collection and it has made a big difference.

Still much to do but this corner of the layout is coming together 

When I'm cleaning windows!

Today , in a bid to earn some much needed bonus points from Mrs. Woody, I cleaned the windows. Nothing extraordinary in that but she is able to see what I am up to outside more easily now. However, whilst I had bucket, sponge and squeezy out I did clean my Man Cave windows forgetting that Mrs. W would be able to see even more clearly what I was doing in there! However it is done but interestingly I discovered something that I had read about but not directly experienced. Chris Leigh of Model Rail described a couple of months ago how his Bachmann Pullman 6 car train had developed cloudy windows where the sun caught them. He had the train on his layout for a number of years but had not noticed this issue until recently. I duly noted what he had written but I was not expecting issues with anything I had until, as washing one of the windows of the Man Cave, I peered through the now crystal clear glass to spy the shunting engine on my USA switching layout now with cloudy side windows! Getting the loco off the layout showed that the clouding was only affecting the side facing the window of the Man Cave and hence the sun.

Sun side and cloudy!

Shady side and clear!

Not a lot I can do about it apart from learn a lesson! I have however removed the loco to a shady part of the Man Cave and I am looking at other possible issues but it does appear that it needs to be direct sunlight to do the damage. Maybe I just shouldn't clean windows so that the sun can't get through but I don't think Mrs. W will accept that!

Colouring in!

Not a great deal of time for any model making today but at least there is a bit of brightness now with the bricks on the base of the signal box having been coloured in! By coloured in, I do mean exactly that as my collection of red/brown/orangish coloured pencils came out so that I could have a peaceful half hour just randomly rubbing them over the raised bricks in the plastic casting and finally creating a random coloured brick effect. Just like being back at primary school! It may be unconventional but it works!

I also had time to start making a couple of retaining walls. One will go to the side of the bridge abutment on the edge of the layout and the other behind the signal box. That will mean I will need to do even more colouring in  once they are finished! I might need to get some more colouring pencils!

More greyness!

After yesterdays day of greyness with the weather and activities in the Man Cave at WMD HQ it was yet another day of the greyness. The weather was not brilliant and in the Man Cave the grey ballast came out! It is that time again to ballast track. One of those jobs that takes time but it is necessary to do so to avoid it looking as though it has been subject to an earthquake! My usual method of spreading the ballast with a soft paint brush and then syringing on dilute PVA with just a dash of washing up liquid to make it flow between the bits of ballast more easily. In the colder weather it will take a few days to dry fully unless Mrs. Woody's hair drier mysteriously manages to find its way to the Man Cave!

At the moment I am just ballasting to just beyond the bridge which means I have done about a quarter so far. Looks like it could be more greyness for a while then!

Just like the weather it turns grey at WMD HQ!

Spraying the grey primer onto the girder bridge, the abutments and the brick parts of the signal box matched the greyness of the weather today! However just like the weather these parts will get brighter as I add colour!

The kerbs and the gullies have stood out after the primer has been applied.

The hills are still drying - well the plaster is so I cannot do anything with them at the moment.

I will be ballasting more track soon so I tidied up the shoulders of the underlay which in places I had not cut particularly accurately. Lesson learnt! However all I did was cut the glued down ballast back to the track sleepers and scraped it off. I had cut a thin strip of the underlay material which in my working smarter not harder philosophy I pre sanded to a 45 degree angle before gluing it to the edge of the existing underlay. Being a thin strip it did bend easily enough.

The finished job

Before I can ballast the track I need to glue it down so time was spent getting it to flow correctly before PVA was applied under the sleepers and weighed down with an assortment of things lying around the Man Cave - Lucky I have all this junk valuable material to hand!

Things will hopefully be brighter tomorrow!

Getting plastered!

It was not as messy as I thought it might be! That is plastering the hills on my 00 gauge layout. First off though the plaster needed mixing. Plaster powder, some PVA and brown paint were mixed to a consistency that would be seen by Bake Off judges as being somewhat lacking in taste! Well it was just to my taste to plaster the hills.

Plaster applied with ripped up paper towel makes a good ground cover. Having the hills as separate modules at the moment means that it is a lot easier to work on them and made it easier to minimise the mess. Working smarter not harder as I get older!

With both hills in plastered and back in place the scene is coming on - I like it!

The hills are alive and carrots?????

Here at WMD HQ the hills being constructed around the girder bridge on my 00 gauge layout are coming alive! Well they have a basic shape carved and mutilated from insulating foam and they are now ready for a topping of paper towel soaked in filler - that will be nice and messy!

This part way through with some profile boards glued on the back of the initial foam hill.

With additional foam added to match the profile boards they are now a reasonable size.

The carrots? Well whilst coming in from the Man Cave having brought the hills alive, I picked some home grown carrots to go with dinner. I would never make a farmer but at least two of the carrots are a reasonable size just like my hills!

Santa's Post Box!

After two weeks since my last visit there has been progress with a number of projects at Rocks by Rail Museum. I had spent most of the day retrieving advertising banners from around the area as the Museum is now shut until next Easter so it was good to catch up on things when I arrived to off load the banners and posts.

First off in the restoration shed the new wagon has made progress with the newly refurbished springs back in position.

The wagon now has a floor!

The ever resourceful John is now adding the sides.

I'm not quiet sure how this works but John assures me that these bits of timber are a guide to getting the sides straight. Knowing John's ability to create solutions I am in no doubt that it will work even if I don't know how!

Harriot the JCB is slowly coming back to her former glory with more paint. No one will be allowed to use her once finished!

Outside, Mr. D the diesel lock is slowly coming back to life with work now going on to fix the brakes - somewhat important with a train!

I never kn=ew the brakes were worked by a chain!

In the Exhibition Center the Janus diesel is looking smart after its repaint. Just needs the connecting rods putting back on the wheels.

Singapore was the center of attraction last Tuesday with a service where white orchids, the Far East version of the poppy, were laid br relatives of those involved in the conflict back in WW2.

Whilst out looking at Mr. D I did come across this. Sadly I don't think my letter to Santa will make it if I post it there!

Making hills!

After the drama of the last few days it was back to some less dramatic model making on my 00 gauge layout. This involved turning an off cut of insulation foam, rescued from the skip during the building work at WMD HQ at the beginning of the year, into a hill or two.

I have never used this foam before to make scenery having usually used polystyrene. I have been told this foam is much easier and cleaner to deal with rather than polystyrene but I am not sure given the amount of cleaning I had to do to get to this stage! Both materials carve easily enough and whereas with polystyrene you end up with small spheres of the stuff that cling to everything, with the other foam you get a fine dust that covers everywhere! I guess you could say both are as good and as bad as each other!

It is beginning to take some shape now and hopefully with the structures the landscaping should turn this once bare baseboard into something much more interesting! 

If only I could make a hill to put my Man Cave on safe from flooding!