Little time for model making!

Not a great deal of time to do model making today but I have primed some parts of the fuel depot and added some parts to the tanks. Hopefully tomorrow may see some more progress!

Put a roof on it!

The hut to the oil depot now has its roof built. Still not glued on for painting reasons but at least the 4mm workers will have a dry place to shelter in bad weather! The two tanks now have their end caps attached and are all smoothed down to get rid of the joint lines. I need to think about getting some paint on the hut  and getting the tanks built up with the rest of their parts next.

Sammy Strimmer meets the Sidings! More adventures in vegetational butchery!

 Another day at the Rocks by Rail Museum with progress being made on steam loco 1931. Things are being put back together which is always a good mark of progress! At the moment the boiler is getting a coat of heat resistant paint which will be covered with insulation, cladding and the water tank so despite the care that Steve and Hazel are taking in the finish it will all be hidden unfortunately!

I think Steve is enjoying the work or maybe it is becayse its nearly lunch time he is smiling!

Meanwhile, Harriot the JCB is undertaking some work on the oversized washing machine where Rob is digging out a base for a a new shoot for the ballast to run down. Although great at the drag line Rob has still to master the complexities of the controls for the back actor. He will get there - eventually!

I took Sammy Strimmer to meet the Sidings! Mainly to meet the siding overgrowth! This is going to be a long job but I seem to have perfected the art of vegetational butchery!

Etched parts in a model building kit?

Very surprisingly, the kit for the oil depot didn't stay long on the shelves of the WMD Stores! It is now on the work bench so a quick look at what is in the box. It all looks well moulded with parts for the two tanks, bases and he accompanying hut.

What I did not expect was this....

Etched brass parts in a model building kit! However, their inclusion is actually welcomed and the parts are fairly large so should be fairly easy to get a hold of and bend to shape - I hope!

Initial building has seen the hut walls and tank halves glued together.

There is a depressed seam line in the tank halves that cant be sanded out without deforming the round shape of the tanks so a bit of acrylic putty has been applied. It will need a day to go off before I can sand it and then will still need a little more!

Ratio oil depot kit.

Back to my Last Great Project Layout and with the fueling point just about finished I need to have a source of fuel for it to dispense. I could have gone for the easy option and just worked on the assumption that where ever the fuel was stored was off the layout. But I did see this kit.

This looks ideal and as you will no doubt have deduced is now part of the WMD Sores inventory awaiting construction! When and how long that construction will be is one of those unknowns!

Sore, but a great day with great people in a great place!

A bit sore today from yesterdays action at the Rocks By Rail Museum where the Sunday saw the Museum open with brake van rides and Monday was the same but with the quarry operating so I was shunter. That might conjure up images of driving a shunting loco but that was in the capable hands of John and Margaret who were at the controls of Mr. D between bouts of sunning themselves on the footplate! I hadn't noticed how shiny Mr. D is until I looked at this photo and saw the reflection of John and Margaret in the paintwork.

Being a shunter actually involves being on the ground directing the shunting loco, changing points. applying and taking off wagon brakes and coupling and uncoupling wagons. Lots of walking, bending and stretching especially operating this point which doesn't suit my aging body well! 

Luckily I was ably assisted by Dan who, with his younger legs, was able to do much of the leg work.

Mr. D pulls out of the loading siding after Margaret and John have topped up their tans!

One of the Sentinel locos brings up a rake of hoppers to swap with the rake of tipplers. Never easy getting the brake van on the right end for the return trip!

Meanwhile the cafe was busy. In fact it was so busy it sold out of cold drinks and icecream!

Meanwhile, sunning himself on the platform between duties, 

Graham was wearing this rather interesting T shirt under his hi vis vest.....

Even I can't add to that!

Anyway, sore, but a great day with great people in a great place!

Just in case!

Passing by a model sop, I took the opportunity to restock the WMD Stores with a few sundry products. However, being a model shop it is always worth looking around just in case!

Lying in a pile of second hand wagon boxes, I found this. Now although the box looks a bit battered, looking at what was inside made me think that the contents had never been out of the box.

 The content was a Bachmann model of the British |Railways 45 ton bogie well wagon. Not something I had see noted as being a Bachmann model before but an unusual wagon never the less. At £12 it did seem a bargain so was added to the pile of sundry products as Mrs. Woody rolled her eyes!

Back at WMD HQ unboxing the wagon confirmed my suspicions that it had never been out of the box as the plastic protective packaging was still sellotaped shut. Taking it out of the packaging revealed a very well modelled wagon.

I was really impressed by the decals as well such as this one on the side.

So, well worth having that just in case look around although I doubt that Mrs. W will ever see that!

Almost silent Sunday!

I will keep this post short and just term it as an almost silent Sunday and let the picture do the talking of the progress made!

I bet Mrs. Woody would like me to do more silent Sundays!

Sometimes plans just don't work out!

 Sometimes plans just don't work out. You can see in the photo below that the base of the fuelling point is just too wide to fit between the sleepers. I could just leave it and have a lopsided structure but no, I had a plan!

All I needed to do was raise the base above the sleepers. That was the plan! So out came some balsa the same thickness as the sleepers and I made a base for the base! The only problem was that trying to get a loco onto the fueling point, the loco now collided with the base. So it was onto plan B. That involved lifting the glued track and swinging it a couple of mm out.

 

With that done, the base now fitted between the sleepers and locos no longer collided with it.

So now it is place all I need to do is ballast the track. That is a job for another day.

I have posted about knitted scenes such as those for Easter and the Coronation which are then put on top of post boxes before on this blog and although a new trend it does appear to be continuing as Mrs. Woody and myself discovered whilst raveling through the village of Greatford.

I am always impressed by the sheer skill of those making these and this one for VJ80 is another in the line of impressiveness.

Not sure what the next event for post box toppers will be but I suspect Halloween and Christmas may see some knitted given the increasing popularity of theses toppers.

What a difference a strimmer makes!

 What a difference a strimmer makes!

It was a quiet day at the Rocks By Rail Museum today and with the dry weather the grass has not grown much so I could leave the mower to rest and take Sammy Strimmer into parts of the grounds that rarely see his presence! It will grow back again but for the next few weeks the track bed shouldn't look as though it is being taken over by weeds! I just feel shattered now!

Nice how a model can suddenly come together!

It is nice how a model can suddenly come together after time spent in dealing with separate parts and this is how the refueling point kit has gone. Not quite finished but certainly come together. The area that I had to do some work on were the hoses. There was a short length of rubber hose supplied and I did use that for the water hoses, but the fuel pipes were done with some electrical wire. Still not fully to scale but good enough for me.

Just a few bits to finish and then it will be ready fr the layout.

Fade to Grey!

The diesel fueling point is coming on but I went back a step and took the canopy off (I had not glued it so that was easy) and dusted off the base with a thin coat of light grey paint to fade the concrete coloured paint and weathering - just like that hit from Visage, Fade to Grey! I then redid the drainage covers with some dry brushing of brown to highlight the rusty metal and a  wash of black to pick out the recesses.

Yep! That's fade to grey!

More in keeping with reality!

After looking somewhat grey and then a supposed concrete colour yesterday, the base to the diesel refueling point has had the metal grills covering the drainage and oil capture point painted silver. Still looks far too clean though!

With some added dirt provided with black and brown washes the base looks more in keeping with reality although it just needs a misting of grey to tone it all down.

In addition, a start has been made on the diesel pump and the canopy. Hopefully it should look good when finished. 'Finished'. Now that is a word that is a bit of an oddity to WMD!

What colour is concrete?

After a few days of other things it is time to get back to the diesel refueling point for my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout. I usually prime parts off the sprue or when they are built up but I decided just to blast everything with rattle can grey primer. This was fine for the base and on the other parts it at least highlighted the various moulding lines that I would need to deal with.

Whilst the grey primer is a nice shade of grey, the base is supposed to be concrete so that got airbrushed with a coat of concrete colour paint. 

I am never sure what colour concrete is supposed to be! Looking around I see everything from a beige to a grey and many shades between. I am guessing some of the variation is down to the mix and origin of the materials used and some of it down to the age of the concrete itself. What is sure though, is that regardless of age, materials or mix, this base is far too clean for a refueling point so it will be weathered and then it may get misted with some grey paint just to tone the finish down.

The Last Post.

Following on from yesterday and VJ80 Day at the Rocks By Rail Museum, there is a short video of The Last Post being played which I always find emotional for many reasons. I think the recorded scene speaks for itself so I will leave it at that!

VJ80 at the Rocks By Rail Museum.

Having an Uncle who was a prisoner of war in Changi Jail during World War 2 and survived makes today a special day for reflection as I visited The Rocks By Rail Museum with Mrs. Woody. Being VJ80 day or Victory over Japan 80 years ago many people around the World will, wherever they are, be remembering loved ones, some of whom survived that conflict and others who did not. 

What has this to do with the Museum? Well the Museum is custodian to locomotive Singapore which was also captured by the Japanese. It returned to the UK after the war and worked in the naval docks at Chatham before becoming part of the Museum in the late 70's/early80's. It is now registered as a National War Memorial and is visited by many whose relatives were part of the Far East conflict. 

Being VJ80 da , the Museum made a big effort to ensure that both loco Singapore and the Museum itself were able to properly and appropriately host guests who had come to remember and reflect during the day and those involved in the events of World War 2 in the Far East.

There were a number of dignitaries including the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire representing the King and looking at all the medals being proudly worn by many of those attending it was clear that many of those attending had seen military service during their lifetimes.

Even clearer when colours are presented.

Various wreaths, poppies and white orchids were laid on Singapore following a various readings.

When everyone had finished, there were refreshments available in the cafe.

And Yvette baked and decorated this stunning cake. It tasted as good as it looked!

A day certainly of mixed emotions but a day for me to have pride in my Uncle, the Museum and its volunteers and those who attended to remember and never forget.