On track.

Whilst I am letting the decals set on the K5350 truck I got a little distracted by starting to lay the track for on the 009 narrow gauge layout (really must think of a name for it). 

You may recall my ponderings regarding my failure to think my track plan through - click here if you want to read that post. Well I sorted that out without having to buy any new points - not that you can get hold of them at the moment! Without going into detail the track and wiring is almost finished on the second board. I am leaving my options open at the moment as to whether this will be a DCC or analogue operated layout - I am erring on the side of DCC at the moment but that could change - so the wiring allows the layout to be sectionalsied to create isolated sections of track should I go for analogue. In my bid to continue with my working smarter not harder as I get older ideology I have tried to avoid future problems and swear jar contributions by coating the point tie bars in Cotton Tree petroleum jelly (where Mrs W got that obscure brand from is beyond me but she will need another jar as it is now in my man cave) (usual disclaimer that other brands of similar natured petroleum jelly type products may also be available at your chosen emporium for the purchase of such things) to avoid them getting glued up when I do the ballasting. In addition I have cut the holes for point motors should I wish to fit them in the future - and put masking tape over them to avoid ballast and glue running through onto the floor. Not so much a problem in my man cave AKA The Room of Gloom but I having tried to remove set ballast from a carpet without Mrs W noticing has made me uber cautious!

Here are some pictures which probably explain better than my words!

At the joint between the two baseboards the track is reinforced to make a strong joint by soldering the track to sleeper sized copper clad strip. Note the cut in the middle of the copper clad sleeper. Without it there would be a short circuit as soon as power was applied to the track.

This is what the track layout will look like when finished. Notice the thinking ahead part of my plan in that my longest train fits the passing loop - avoiding a swear jar contributing moment!

All about that baseboard!

Apologies for the slightly altered song title - All about that bass by Meghan Trainor - but today I completed the second baseboard to extend my 009 Narrow Gauge railway. It is something that I had always planned to do but unusually for me I actually have started it! A gap in Mrs. Woody's Task List and a thought that I don't want to be constructing baseboards in the Winter got me fired up and following my usual methods of wood butchery a baseboard the same size (amazingly given my ability to make tape measures elastic) appeared. Just need to sort out a method of joining this to the original board. 

The second board has a cut out for a river and a canal wharf so will have a slightly different type of scenery to the first board.

At the moment the two boards rest in the middle of my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout in my Room of Gloom AKA my man cave. At least being there in front of me might give me the impetuous to start the track laying on either of the layouts!

 

Whether weathering is worth it?

In yesterdays post I outlined the hairspray technique for creating scuffs and wear in paintwork. In my eyes it worked successfully but as I said it looked a bit stark.

One of the advantages of weathering a model is that it can bring a harmony to colours by in effect toning them down and giving them a patina of wear and age. Another is that it creates something that looks realistic. Look at any vehicle apart from one in a car concourse show and you will see varying amounts of dirt and wear. Usually the more the vehicle is used for a commercial or military purpose the more it shows its age and use because they are working vehicles were a job needs to be done and then another without a break to get the water and sponge out followed by a full T cut and wax!

I have been weathering models for many years now trying to get that realistic look where you have to look twice to see if it really is a model or a real vehicle. Sometimes it goes well other times not so well looking as if I had dipped the model in a mix of mud and sand but as the adage says practice makes perfect! I certainly think weathering is worth it. 

There are three pieces of advice I can give any novice to weathering. 

1. Look at pictures of the real vehicle and see how they look in real life situations.

2. Look for inspiration - there are many websites and YouTube videos that Deal in weathering techniques but also use your own senses as to where people would climb onto things rubbing paint away or leaving dirt or how rain would pool dust into low lying areas.

3. Don't be afraid to try it and experiment to develop techniques that you are happy with. There are as many different ways to weather a vehicle as Mrs Woody's hand bag collection and that is a lot and there is no right or wrong way to do it. 

Back to the bed of the body of the Zvezda K5350 truck which this evening received an attack of various weathering powders starting with MIG Industrial Grime and then European dust and finally a medium rust for around the metal supports to the bench seats and the staining that would lead to on the wooden floor. The powders were applied with a stiff brush, some paper towel and cotton buds. The photos are not the best and the results do look better in the flesh and once a coat of varnish is applied that will lighten the colours but the starkness of what I started with has  certainly been toned down nicely.

On the 009 gauge layout base board building front further distress has been caused to pieces of wood s that the baseboard is near completion. Hopefully by the end of the week it should be ready for track laying or then again with my speed of progress it might actually be finished in time for the next major geological event!

A bit of everything!

It was one of those nice days where I did a bit of everything. An early morning cycle ride saw my total mileage for this year so far reach 3368 miles. During the day a bit of gardening, a good chat with fellow modeller and good friend Mr Beechham (he with the artistry skills (see here) and who can beat me up hills cycling!) who was passing and then a start on the second baseboard for my 009 narrow gauge railway last featured here. Its always been my intention to extend the layout and today seemed as good a day as any to make a start especially as the gardening was done early so that Mrs. Woody would think I had spent the whole day productively employed on non model making activities! Splendid! The base board will have a river flowing through it - that is a model one rather than a real one - so appropriate pieces have been cut out of the baseboard. It will also have a canal wharf at the end and construction of that part will take place over the next day or so. At the moment my few hours of wood butchery (I am no carpenter) have seen several pieces of wood forced and coerced into this.

Surprisingly for my limited skills it is the same width as the existing board and appears to be square. How long that will last is something that you could wager on. 

Having cooked Mrs. Woody's dinner, more positive points gained, I decided to tackle the Zvezda K5350 Mustang truck. In the last post I outlined that I was going to top coat the bench seats and the bed of the body using the hairspray technique to allow me to create wear and scuff marks. I used an old can of hairspray that I bought years ago for a similar project and sprayed the bench seats and bed of the body. Even doing it outside there was still a strong but pleasant perfumed aroma wafting around the garden for a while which no doubt confused our feathered friends. Having let it dry for 15 minutes I top coated the various parts plus the inside of the cab with Vallejo Air Russian Green which seems to be a perfect match to the coloured painting guide supplied with the kit. The nice thing about Vallejo Air paints are they are ready thinned for airbrushing. No messing about with pouring paint and thinners out into a jar and getting the right mixture which usually ends in a swear jar moment. Just pour into the airbrush and spray. Nice! Being acrylic, the airbrush can be cleaned in plain water. Nicer still! The other good thing about these paints is they cover well and usually one coat does the job as shown in the picture below.

Letting the paint dry for about half an hour I used a selection of stiff brushes, a tooth pick and some water to start to rub and abrade the paint where I thought wear and scuffing would take place in real life as troops sat on the benches and walked over the bed of the body. Thirty minutes or so got me to where I wanted to be. It can be easy to end up stripping away all the top coat bring you back to where you started so less is best as they say. Whether I have achieved that or not is something that is in the eye of the beholder. However I am pleased with what I have achieved and though it all looks a bit stark at the moment once varnished to seal it, a coat of weathering on top will tone it all down and harmonise the effect. Well that's the plan anyway! Now what shall I cook for Mrs Woody tomorrow? Not much in the cupboard so maybe a bit of everything!

More wood related matters but of a different kind

Having taken a bit of a break over the Easter period from model making normal service is now resumed! Still things to do on My Last Great Project just to get the baseboards finished but progress on the 009 narrow gauge layout has been made. As highlighted in an earlier post the Woodland Scenic trees were temporarily put in place and having left them a few days and looked on occasions to see if my mind had changed on their positioning I was still happy so the placement was settled. The trees come 'plugged' into a plastic base which compared to the rest of the tree are a poor representation of the base of a tree. However as the baseboard is thin hardboard, using the base was preferable to trying to drill a hole and get the tree to stand up properly. I decided that by thinning the edges of the base and then gluing them to the baseboard and using static grass they would become part of the overall landscaping. The pictures below probably make better sense than my words!

The original base.

The thinned base.

Bases being glued into place with UHU and then PVA on top with static grass applied from a Gaugemaster puffer bottle.

You can see the base on the right has been 'hidden' whilst the other two have had PVA applied awaiting the static grass treatment.

With that job done I turned to a few other details. A few vehicles were needed and these two Oxford Diecasts had been bought some time ago for this project. Time for their emergence from the 'stock' of items that I put away over time and then normally forget that I have them until after I actually wanted them by which time I have bought duplicates! In best Homer Simpson mode - Doah!

I am really impressed by the quality and finish on these models. Even get a registration number on them. They do need a coat of matt varnish to take away that 'Showroom' finish and make them actually look as though they are driven but that will come later.

Also in my 'stock' I found this Corgi RB19 Face Shovel that should be right at home in the quarry. It needs some weathering unless I pretend its just been delivered. In reality probably far too big a piece of plant for this quarry but it makes the area look interesting and I like it!

I am going to have to search through my figures collection in order to populate the layout but some sheep have appeared!

They were kindly given to me by a fellow modeler but I have no idea of either the maker of the sheep models or the breed they are. Given that I have no location or time period for the layout I feel safe in not annoying any experts in the field of animal husbandry! However I will as a precaution clear a file space for correspondence from annoyed sheep experts!

Overall the layout is coming to life. Still more to do but it is fun making my own World which is what all this is about especially as the real World cane sometimes be a strange place!

All about the wood!

Well here at WMD HQ its been all about the wood for the last few days! My last great project still sees me battering pieces of wood together but progress is being made. Three more pieces to put on the last of the two end boards and that is the main sub baseboard constructed to stage one. Stage two involves a lot of sander work and some filler to hide the blemishes (a nice word for my poor workmanship) and then a final coat of paint to seal the wood and hopefully keep the structure sound and free of moisture.

It was a glorious day to be outside too so it despite the war of Woody and the wood going on I did enjoy it! Several people walking by must be wondering 'What is he up to???'. Certainly looks like a strange shelving unit. Looking at the weather forecast for next week and I see predictions of temperatures of 2C - I will be heading inside then.

Dealing with wood of another sort, the narrow gauge layout need some trees. I should be making them myself but on this occasion I have splashed out on some Woodlands Scenic trees about 4 to 5 inches high. I have placed them on the layout temporarily just to get a feel for where they look best. From my enforced gardening activities I am told plants and shrubs always look best with three and to be truthful even my eye can see that. Luckily that is how many trees come in the pack - they must watch Gardener's World at Woodlands Scenic too! As the baseboard to the layout is thinnish hardboard, mounting the trees was always going to be an issue. However they do come with a base into which the trunk plugs into. The base is not exactly fashioned by someone with an eye for nature but I think I can use the base and hide it so that the trees will stand without holes in the baseboard. More of that adventure another time - possibly next week when it is 2C outside! In the meantime lets have a look at the current temporary placement.

On the T80 tank front, all I can say is that the tracks are testing! I will get there but it is not a quick job and when a kit fights you like this you have to be in the right mood to make progress.

Further wood butchery but creative times for the 009 gauge layout!

Although a bit sparse on entries over the last few days progress is being made on My Last Great Project with further battles at the WMD HQ garage/Room of Gloom between me and various bits of wood that just do not want to go together. The good news is that I have the basics of the 'trolley' that the layout will sit on in my Man Cave. The idea is that I can easily move the layout around to access all sides. As I talked about in a previous post I am not getting younger and I really do not want to have to duck down to get into a central operating well and I don't want a lifting flap with the issues that can cause so whilst it has compromises this trolley idea works for me - well at the moment at least! The trolley castors are rated for 55kg each so should be up to the job which is good as I want to put a shelf on the lowest level for storage.

Meanwhile back at the WMD HQ garage/Room of Gloom those geometry lessons all those years ago suddenly came in useful! I did not want a straight end to the baseboard, more of a curve and this is what I came up with.

The picture makes it look a little distorted but in essence there is a 2 foot radius 'curve' on each side. Lots of head scratching, lots of cutting, lots of bits of wood ending up in the firewood pile but eventually it all got there without to much in the way of force to make things join! Still more to do and probably several more days until the four sections of baseboard are complete.

Moving onto the 009 gauge layout there has been some progress made. In brief the dummy point levers and the buffer stops have been installed, the quarry siding has been 'toned' into its surroundings and a scrap pile and wood pile have appeared as well as some additional fauna.

First off the dummy point levers needed to be set into the scenery so a bit of ballast and landscaping had to be removed to reveal the baseboard surface onto which the lever was glued. Luckily the damage caused to the ballast and landscaping was minimal so little in the way of repair was needed. I must be getting good at this!

Having left some of the original plaster mix to set in the tub I mixed it in, I used this to tone down the ballast in the siding to give the effect that the quarry material had spilled onto the track over the years. The hardened mix was broken up and crushed to a powder and as the ballast is sand and is like a sandpaper, some lumps of the mix were simply rubbed along the ballast to produce a powder that adhered to the ballast and surrounding area.

After a little while the original siding turned from this

To this

To add some interest a scrap pile made up from parts from the scrap box and mainly consisting of 1/35 scale tank parts was created, sprayed black and then treated to some rust weathering powders. A srip of balsa wood was cut up into some suitable00 scale plank sized pieces, randomly glued together and then treated to a dilute wash of Vallejo black paint. Both were glued in place and then using a variety of grass tufts and vine type scenic products some further fauna was added to the area to give that 'wild' look. I think it all came out well - but I would! These photos give some detail as to what I did.

This weekend's modelling is going to suffer as we loose an hour going into summer time but hopefully progress will still be made on this layout over the following weeks. 

Just to finish off, it's always nice to 'play trains' so here are a couple of photos of a West Highland Railway Baldwin loco doing the very unlikely haulage of some Lynton and Barnstable Railway coaches. But its my railway so anything is possible!

Time to load up!

Progress is being made on this layout at a pace not normally associated with my modelling. Usually progress is measured in some form of astrological event schedule such as the return of an asteroid from its journey in deep space. However I have to see this speeding up as a positive step. The layout has a quarry face and therefore some means of loading whatever the quarry produces (yet to be finally decided upon) has to be in place. In the last post I did state that what I had constructed bore some resemblance to what Tony Beets from the Gold Rush programme might have made. I constructed this on the basis of an auger that is loaded by machine from the quarry face  feeding some overhead hoppers that would then discharge into wagons waiting underneath. From an engineering view this whole contraption would have probably never worked and condemned for safety reasons before it had even seen any material pass through it. However, this is the World of model railways so imagination, available materials and skills all trump what engineering and health and safety might do in the real World!

The hopper and auger were made from sheet plasticard, some H-beam strips and some lengths of strip and rod ending up after a few evenings work looking like this.

It took a three evenings to build this with no real plan to it other than knowing how wide and how high it had to be to allow the rolling stock under. Guess how I knew to take account of that at an early stage? Lessons learnt from previous failures!

Once built it was sprayed in Tamiya Earth and this formed the undercoat for a light coat of blue Vallejo. The idea was that the overall structure would show age and negelect. Some weathering powders followed this and again highlight the rust and aging that such a structure would show after some years. Some weathering powders were put in the hoppers as the sort of residues you would find on a working loader and hopper and fixed in place by dripping acrylic thinner over them It all ended up looking like this. 

The hopper still needs to be fixed in place on some concrete blocks and a lot more blending of the quarry floor and siding need to take place but its getting there!