The Dirt Squad!

Time to call in the Dirt Squad and make that grey tarmac look worn and weathered. Having added white lines I then used a mixture of weathering powders and very dilute brown and grey paints to add dirt to the tarmac surfaces.

Unless a road and pavement are newly laid then the tarmac will weather as it oxidises from that fresh black colour to a muted grey. Add to that the passage of vehicles and the weather and you get an added bonus of dirt on the tarmac. Given the passage of vehicles and the effect of rain much of this dirt accumulates around the kerb edge. 

I'd say the Dirt Squad have done a great job! 

Lets ask Google AI "What is Woody's Modelling Diary?"

If you have used Google recently to find out about anything you may have noticed that its first result is an AI generated answer. Having looked at these a few times, the results appear to be reasonably accurate so just out of devilment I asked Google, " What is Woody's Modelling Diary?" and this is what came back.

Woody's Modelling Diary (WMD) is a YouTube channel and related blog where "Woody" documents his progress, challenges, and thoughts on building model railways, kits, and other related modelling projects. He shares updates on his layouts, including his 009 gauge layout "Chalkdon," and discusses various aspects of the hobby, such as materials, techniques like weathering, and even the use of 3D printed components for model railways. 

Key aspects of Woody's Modelling Diary:

• Model Railways and Kits:

  The channel primarily focuses on building and detailing model railways, including specific gauges like 009, and various modelling kits, often involving detailed work like weathering and modifications. 
• Sharing Progress:

  Woody provides updates on his ongoing projects and often reflects on the time and effort involved in completing them, humorously noting his usual slow progress. 
• Specific Projects:

  Featured projects include his 009 gauge layout "Chalkdon" and detailing work on model trucks like the Italeri DAF Canvas Truck. 
• Discussions and Tips:

  He discusses various aspects of the hobby, from the purpose of ballast and underlay in model railways to the benefits and costs of 3D printed parts. 
• Blog Presence:

  In addition to YouTube, he also maintains a blog under the same name, woodysmodelingdiary.blogspot.com, for further content and updates. 

I'm impressed by that!

The integrated transport system!

The one great thing about building models, and model railways especially, is that you can build your own ideal utopian bit of the World where you make things happen as you want. So with this in mind I have been developing bridge over the station to form part of an integrated transport system.

In effect, all it is, is a bus stop on the bridge next to the station. However, simple as it may seem, how often do you actually see this in real life? Never mind, at WMD we can make the ideal happen! 

In seriousness, it is coming along well with the pavement parts now cut out and luckily my vision is coming together as I imagined! Now that is a rare event as Mrs. Woody will confirm! The bus is one of the Peco kits that I originally built for my 009 gauge layout, Chalkdon. It will probably be changed for a different bus in the future but it works well to demonstrate the concept.

Still much work to do and if it were a truly utopian World, next time I went into the Man Cave all that work would have been done!

A sign of the times?

If you have dipped into this blog before you may know I have a bit of a fascination with signs They are a good indicator about things. My despair that we see signs at the side of the road saying 'Don't litter' when it should be something that the population do not need to be told as we should not be littering anywhere. Anyway, I thought I had seen it all in terms of signs, but my bike ride took me past this  arrowed in red.

I'm not sure whether to be delighted that the existence of a pothole is warned of through the placement of a sign or whether the time taken to deliver and place the sign might not have been better used in fixing said pothole! A sign of the times?

A bit further up the road my frustrations were forgotten as I took in the delight of seeing this pair of swans with their cygnets. I have never seen swans resting like this on their legs so I learnt something! I did look for the 'Warning - Standing Swans' sign but there wasn't one! Maybe another sign of the times!

It is taking shape!

 It is taking shape - the station area on my Last Great Project Layout.

Lots more to do but I am pleased with how this is shaping up.

New mower!

It was the day that the boiler inspector inspected the boiler of 1931. From what I am told, things have gone OK! Hopefully that means that the rebuild can start which means that, again hopefully, the Museum will have steam traction next year!

Meanwhile, on the more mundane matters of site maintenance, someone has taken pity on my battles with keeping the old mower going and I have a new one! It won't stay looking shiny like that for long and I did give it a whirl in the afternoon with a couple of trouble free and relaxing hours of mowing!

The morning was a concentration on vegetational butchery with the strimmer out bringing near six foot weeds down to ground level!

Despite the dry weather the weeds keep growing!

Dirty girders!

With the station building and steps done it is time to move back to the bridge section that the building will sit on and the steps lead from to the station platform. I had already built the girder underside of the bridge some time ago and whilst priming the station building and steps I  aslo primed this structure.

With that dry it was time to top coat it with the same blue as the steps.

Like the steps it looks very nice but not dirty enough! So out came the earth brown paint and a thin coating gives a good base of weathered and rusty steel!

Next stage, once the paint dries, is to mount it to the underside of the bridge itself.

BBC - Brakedowns, Brakes and Couplings!

 Sunday was a Quarry day at the Rocks by Rail Museum which meant I was shunting assisted by Dan and with John driving Mr. D. Unfortunately Mr. D decided that it was time to breakdown with a lack of air to release the brakes being the problem. There was an additional problem in that the other quarry train was now trapped behind Mr. D!

Despite John's best endeavours at sorting the issue eventually we had to call in assistance in the form of Betty! 

Betty, being the Sentinel loco, driven up by Andy who released Mr. D's brakes and used Betty to shunt both Mr. D and eight wagons out of the way of the quarry train and allow that to escape before hauling Mr. D off to be repaired!

So that was the brakedown and before that we were actually shunting so it was brakes on and off the wagons - this is the brake off....

and this is it off!

To release or put on the brakes this wooden bat is used to lever the brake handle.

And finally, the couplings!

So that was the BBC day at the Museum and I did enjot it!

Stairway to dirt!

With the Dapol Booking Hall kit now finished it is time to move on with associated station area projects such as the steps that I built to take passengers from the bridge above the platform down onto the platform itself. I did airbrush them blue at the same time as the windows and doors for the Dapol kit. Much as the steps looked OK in the pristine blue....

 ...they did look as though they were part of a modern industrial unit in some hi tech industry rather than a uncared for item open to the elements in an urban and industrial area. Given that an airbrushing of earth brown followed by rust weathering powders and it turned the steps into a stairway to dirt, certainly not heaven!

Getting in close the digital camera shows the mysterious hair in the paint that I have never noticed!

Strange how you see things in photos but not in real life!

The WMD Film Crew have been busy during the build of the Dapol Booking Hall kit and their results are here for your visual entertainment and pleasure!

Its finished!

Yes, it is finished! Not Mrs. Woody's list of jobs for me to do but the Dapol kit is now done. Final bits were adding the roof and canopy along with the privacy fence for the gents toilet as well as the front doors. Also added were some posters, a clock face and a gentleman inside at the ticket hatch. I think he may have a long wait until he can get his ticket! Anyway, some pictures illustrate the final product far better than my words can but I can say I am pleased with it!

Its nearly there! The windows and doors are now attached to the Dapol Booking Office and things are looking good!

A few more details to add, then the roof and chimneys and it will be done!

Hush, hush!

I had to be hush, hush at the Rocks b Rail Museum so no noisy mowers or strimmers! The reason? A film crew. Cant say what the programme is but it will be on main stream TV probably the back end of next year or in 2027! However it was great to watch it being made.

Mr. D in his brand new paint job is a major part of the programme and John and Thomas have made a fantastic job in less than a week.

John  ain the cab awaiting his time to drive.

Meanwhile things did carry on away from the filming with work on steam loco Barrington involving taking off the non-original coal bunker and replacing it with a normal cab back.

A view into the cab that you would not normally get!

Outside work on 1931 carries on with the boiler being washed out ready for inspection.

Richard was under the loco with a hose pipe.

Whilst Hazel was at the side pulling the debris that had washed out through the drain hole.

A great job to do on a hot day!

Chimney pots.

Just a small amount of work on the Dapol Booking Hall kit but it does make a difference. The Chimney pots are moulded as a solid part. By drilling through the chimney pot part and opening it up it does make it look a lot more realistic - it will be enhanced once painted and fitted to the roof!

I do enjoy these small jobs - if only the jobs on Mrs. Woody's list for me to do where this small!

What a pain to do the panes!

 What a pain to do the panes! Well actually it was not too bad a job to glaze the windows for the Dapol building. I could have used the clear plastic sheet provided but choose to use DeLuxe Materials Glue n Glaze to give a better finish and to fill in the all to deep window bars in the window frames.

Basically all I had to do was get the Glue n Glaze into the apertures and let it set.

It looks a bit of a mess but you need to have patience!

After a few hours it all turns good and clear!

And closer in you can see the end result.

Just need to add them to the main building now! Hopefully that won't be too much of a pain!

A night on the tiles!

Well I did spend some of the night painting the tiles on the Dapol kit and very soothing it was! As with the brickwork blogged about a few days ago, I picked out random tiles in a slightly lighted colour to the main colour used. I also used the same Rust colour trhat IU had for the brickwork on the ridge tiles and it contrasts nicely.

Of course it all looked too clean so a wash of dilute black paint was applied. You can see the effect in the half and half photo below.

With the entire roof 'washed', it was set to one side to dry.

With the roof temporarily on the building it all begins to take shape!