Scrapheap Challenge - Finally finished?

Well the airbrush came out today between various jobs like gardening and car washing and the office building rebuilt from something found in my scrap box was painted. Whilst the airbrush was out the garden shed from yesterdays blog was also painted. Both have had a wash of dilute black paint and could probably benefit from another wash but that is for another day. In the meantime I will consider the office finally finished and set it in place as ready to use.

Scrapheap Challenge Part 4 and other matters!

The office building has now been primed in black awaiting its final paint scheme which in itself is awaiting me to make my mind up what that final scheme might be! No wonder Mrs. Woody makes the decisions on colour schemes in the house!

As you can see the office now stands on a paved hard standing and the area around it has been static grassed which has made it look a bit more interesting. A little more interest has been added behind the houses on the other side of the station. The pavement and kerbs have been painted and a coat of brown paint was put on where the back gardens are. In addition the gardens have paths and the thatched cottage garden has had some grass added. I now have more scenic baseboard than unscenic which is progress indeed!

Scrapheap Challange part 3 - Mr. Blender Time?

I ended my last post with the possible option of introducing the scrap box hut to Mr Blender in the kitchen if it all went wrong! I am pleased to report and unusually for me today things went reasonably well! An hour of cutting plastic card saw a roof and barge boards put on and the window surrounds emphasised with some plastic strip. I have left the windows loose at the moment as it makes it easier to paint them separately and then install. Not sure if I will put gutters on as these may be too much for the model - I will think about it in the same way I think about Mrs. Woodys' list of jobs!

I put the hut on the layout to see how it will look and it fits in well to my mind anyway!

I could probably built a new kit in a fraction of the time I am spending on this but it is nice to take something that would have eventually been thrown out and rescue it - especially when it dates back to my childhood although Mrs. Woody still thinks I am an oversized child now!

Scrapheap Challange part 2 - Introducing Mr Freezer!

This morning I opened the tub with the shed in it that had been coated in Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner to be greeted by this.

Mr Muscle had certainly been flexing his muscles overnight whilst I was in the land of nod! Cleaned up under the tap this was what I was left with. A record of my complete ineptitude years ago putting models together. Tube glue daubed over parts twisted off the sprue - this is a real glue bomb model! 

The next thing I wanted to do was separate it into its kit components. Tube glue is not the most controllable glue to apply, especially in young inexperienced hands, but it does tend to stick parts together well. However, being as old as I am , you do come across some tricks and in this case it was to put the model in the freezer! Here it is in the company of some ice cream - in best Homer Simpson voice - Hmmmmm! Ice cream - and some burgers - Hmmmmm! Burgers!

I have no idea of the science but the joints are weakened and it is possible with care to separate them - usually! It did work in this case but I forgot I had left the model in Mr Freezer so Mrs. Woody had a bit of a shock when she came to get the roast potatoes out for lunch! Try explaining the science you have no idea about requires you to put models in the freezer!

Anyway it was a great lunch provided by Mrs. W. Following its introduction to Mr Freezer and with a pit of persuasion the model was in component parts . Some of the pre-existing damage was to the door frame. As the kit door was missing and I would have to make one I just widened the door opening by cutting the necessary plastic away as the photo below shows part way through the job.

Having glued the sides together and reversing the window frames so they now fit in from the back rather than how Airfix intended (you can see the difference this makes from the photos above compared to the one below) from the front and having made a new door I am now at this stage.

I now just need to add a new roof and some gutters, fill those holes in the front and back and then paint. If it does not work out then I can always go back to the kitchen and introduce it to Mr Blender!

Scrapheap Challenge!

These are a couple of boxes of junk items that may come in useful someday although Mrs. Woody strongly argues that point!

Most modellers have at least one such box where broken or surplus bits that really should have been thrown out years ago rest in peace awaiting a possible useful fate.

I need a small hut or two for my 009 gauge layout. I do have a kit from Wills and it looks good for the job.

However I did have a search through the boxes of  bits and found this.

It is an old Airfix coal office kit and it was made by me when my age had but a single digit! Enough said of that! It does reflect my crude abilities at the time and is painted, or should I say plastered, in gloss brown enamel paint. It is missing part of the roof, the door and drain pipes but such things are not going to stop me seeing if I can resurrect this building although it will be a bit like Scrapheap Challenge. 

First and most essential stage is to try to get the paint off it so it was put in an old ice cream container and soaked in Mr. Muscle oven cleaner and the lid put on. I will see what it looks like tomorrow.