Search this blog

Showing posts with label Hot weather. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hot weather. Show all posts

Monday, June 12, 2023

Was it twelve months ago or eleven?

I never kept a diary as a youngster so it was a strange step for me when a few years ago I started this blog primarily as a way to record what I have been up to rather then rely upon my memory as well as to prove to Mrs. Woody that I had been getting on with at least some of her list of jobs for me! I have informed a bewildered Mrs. Woody on many occasions that my memory is fine and I never get things wrong and even the one time l though I was actually wrong I wasn't! Interestingly though, the blog has proved that my memory can actually get things wrong and the reality is that like most people my memory is not as accurate as I thought and this blog is a way of going back and actually seeing the facts in cyber print. Take today for example. Out on my bike ride this morning, early to avoid the heat, I took this photo to show that the sheep knew it was going to be hot.

Hot weather

In my mind I took more or less the same picture twelve months ago when it was a hot weather period and I was convinced it was more or less to the day that I took this one last year.

Hot weather

Actually going back through the blog the photo was taken and the blog posted on the 11 July 2022 as evidenced by clicking here. Well there you go! My memory was semi right but a month almost to the day out! The worth of the blog is proved! To my mind anyway so I was not wrong in starting the blog. There is a lot of convoluted logic there which will keep Mrs. W amused if nothing else!

Back then I was also building the MiniArt T34 Egyptian tank which seems a lot longer ago then a year. However lets get back to the present and progress on the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. Today I decaled the cargo body. Sometime ago Kit Form Services had a clear out and there were bargains to be had and of course I ended up with things that I knew would come in handy one day. These included these part decal sheets.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

The sheets are for a fictional UK company (I must try the phone number just to see!) and were originally designed to fit a tractor and trailer set up. I had it my mind though for some time that the trailer ones would, with a bit of compression, fit the cargo body. A quick test with the various parts cut out confirmed that my hopes.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

With that confirmed and having already sprayed the matt paint of the canvas with gloss varnish to aid the application process, the decals were dipped into a water filled ice cream container that I had had to empty - well it was a hot day!

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

Applying them to the cargo body was not the easiest thing to do as I had to do a lot of measuring to make sure they at least looked straight and centered. After a few hours this is what it all looked like and I am pleased with the result.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

The rear of the cargo body required some custom cutting of the decals but I think it works.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

I thought that the blue cab decals that came with the set did not really work on the green cab and with such prominent advertising on the cargo body why would the cab also be liveried up? I did however apply the ISO 9002 decals as a token gesture to some cab adornment. Not sure if it works so it may come off once I have thought about it a bit more.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

All the decals were treated to a coating of Micro Sol to aid their adhesion and setting.

Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck

Hopefully if I can remember I need to also treat the decals to a coat of semi matt varnish. If I forget I can always look back on this blog in a few months time!

Monday, July 11, 2022

Hot, Hot and hotter so Woody sprays a tank!

Sheep sheltering from the heat

We all knew it was going to be a hot day. The weather forecasts and the newspapers have been full of it. However nature has its own ways and these sheep hadn't seen the weather forecast or tuned into a suitable media source for an update - they just knew! I saw them at 7.50am on my morning bike ride so given that early time the sheep probably had the right idea.

A clear sky also produced something that I have not seen since before the pandemic - jet vapour trails.

Jet Vapour Trails

Back at WMD HQ I sprayed the top coat onto the hull of the MiniArt T34 Egyptian tank - just the thing to do on a hot day but I took it in stages and was in some shade as I sprayed. It is beginning to come together now and I am happy so far!

MiniArt Egyptian T34/85 tank

MiniArt Egyptian T34/85 tank

MiniArt Egyptian T34/85 tank

MiniArt Egyptian T34/85 tank

MiniArt Egyptian T34/85 tank

Looking at those photos I have a need for an ice cream for some reason!