That sinking feeling!

Not that I have been on any water borne mode of transport that has failed and sunk but a quick update on the Scania. I rubbed down the various imperfections that I talked about a couple of days ago and resprayed the areas. It did not go well and I had that sinking feeling when things keep going wrong! 

Obviously things are not going to plan so I am going to do the wise thing and put it to one side and leave it for a few days and review whether I strip it and start again or try something else! Stay tuned!

Looking a bit better!

Following yesterdays problems spraying the cab of the Italeri Scania I had the opportunity for a fresh start today. A rub down of the body using some fine wet and dry paper levelled off the problem areas. An un-opened tin of paint was thinned at a ratio of 60% paint to 40% thinners and mixed thoroughly. Had I got 'the knack' back to spray enamel paints? Well not quite! However results are far better than yesterday.

It needs another coat of paint and there are a few blemishes to take care of but there is one area that needs a bit more in the way of rubbing down.

Not sure what went wrong on the upper part of the left side of the cab but it looks like a run and possible reaction in the underlying paint. Whatever it is it needs to harden off before I can do anything and that will take a few days. The front panel of the cab is not glued at the bottom at the moment to allow for it to slide over the interior once the painting is complete. Italeri's construction method requires you build the exterior of the cab around the interior which does not make painting the exterior very easy or practical unless you love spending hours masking up things like windows.

I have been playing with operating my 00 gauge railway recently and today had a bit of a Class 37 evening. These two early liveried E W & S 37's gave a nice background noise from their DCC sound chips  - class 37's have a great engine noise much like a large tractor which I guess is why the spotters nicknamed them tractors! 37427 is a Vi Trains model fitted with a Hornby TTS chip whilst 37114 is a Bachmann redinition with a DCC sound chip factory fitted.

Meanwhile The two Hornby Central Trains 2 car Class 156's running as a consist meet the Lima class 37 in Railfreight livery hauling a mixed freight train. None of these models have sound chips but the Lima model with its old and noisy pancake motor almost sounds like a real class 37!

An early start tomorrow with the last bank holiday opening of the Rocks by Rail Museum where we have a fully quarry day of working locomotives and excavators and me welcoming guests and taking money! Makes a change for me to take some money - its usually Mrs. Woodt who relieves me of money!

The Knack!

For those of a certain age 1979 saw the release of one of  those timeless songs that still gets played repeatedly today. It was by a band called The Knack and the song was My Sharona. See a great live version by clicking here. At the time, The Knack was hailed as the new Beatles. Unfortunately they did not live up to that and as far as I am aware after a few more singles that never got that far in the charts the band faded away.

So what has all this to do with model making. Nothing directly but I am going to talk about 'the knack'. A term that is used in the UK to indicate that you have the ability to do something. Mrs. Woody for example has 'the knack' to find those things you never knew you could live without before finding them on an internet shopping channel. If you make models over many years you do develop 'the knack' with certain methods of doing things or in using certain types of materials. In my case I have developed a certain 'knack' in using an airbrush. Generally the paint goes on without too many disasters. I used to use enamel paints which are an oil based paint. They have good coverage and dry to a high gloss but they take hours to dry, stink of white spirit and it takes an age to clean the airbrush afterwards. However for most of my modelling life enamel paints have been the only accessible paints. Acrylic paints are water based, have little odour, dry quickly and you can clean the airbrush with water. They don't dry to such a gloss as enamels though but all in all I guess are better for the environment and my health!. With the advantages and the increased availability and increased range of products I moved across to acrylics about 15 years ago. It took me some time to learn how to use this new to me paint as they are different to enamels but eventually I got 'the knack'. 

Move onto the Italeri Scania with Cool Fruits trailer that I started to build back in 1999 I did spray the cab back then in Humbrol metallic blue enamel paint. The actual airbrushing was good and the colour looked great but probably because of where I sprayed it the paint was full of dust particles and you could see that in the finished paint. I therefore decided to respray the cab in the same colour and digging through the WMD HQ paint store found several part used as well as new tins of the required original enamel metallic blue paint. I decided to make use of the part used paint which as I will explain was a mistake that I should have avoided. 

The cab was flatted off with some fine wet and dry paper to get rid of the embedded dust.

The parts were then set out for spraying. The problem is that for the last 12 years I have been used to spraying acrylics. Enamels act differently and to be blunt I have lost 'the knack' of spraying these types of paint. The result is not brilliant but probably savable!

What has gone wrong? Well probably using old paint is not the best thing to have done. Old paint in an un-opened tin is one thing and will probably still be good to use but paint that was probably first opened 23 years ago is not going to be in the best condition! Secondly I think looking at the paint on the model that in one of the tins I mixed some silver paint in to give some 'sparkle'! Well I am not sparkling over the finish! Thirdly I probably over thinned the paint when I mixed it for spraying and so it is over transparent and has run in places. So having lost 'the knack' of using enamel paints I will have an opportunity to further re-educate myself as I am going to have to let this paint dry and then try again! So there you have it - not everything goes smoothly (literally with this paint) at WMD HQ!

On another front I can report that the decal paper ordered yesterday has been delivered. As I stated yesterday I have never used this before so I will need to develop 'the knack' of using it!

Feeling blue!

Without the assistance of Mrs. Woody's keen eye for interior decoration I have decorated the interior of the Scania cab using my somewhat less than flamboyant palette of colours so that it no longer looks like a rendition of fog and is more like a dull day but with the glimmer of sunshine - just right for feeling blue!

It may not stand out but it does look better than before. The seats and door cards have been highlighted with a light blue and the bed picked out in a range of harmonious blues! The 1/24th scale driver obviously has some sense of co-ordination with their bedding and are also proud to drive a Scania having a poster up on the backwall of the sleeper compartment. I added this by scaling down a spare decal from another kit and then printing it onto paper. A coat of matt varnish was applied and once dried the image was glued to a scrap of plastic card. Once all was trimmed to size it was glued into the blanked off rear window space. I still need to add the dashboard decals, steering wheel and various control levers but that is about it to this part of the cab.

The upper part of the cab has an unusual arrangement in that the second bunk is above the drivers and passenger seats. It folded up when not in use but did give the option for a solo driver to use the normal lower bunk as a sofa with the increased headroom above and then the upper bunk as the bed. I don't believe that this is still an option on modern Scanias so I am guessing it was not too popular. On this part of the cab I just need to add the fold up access ladder and then that will be finished.

Having looked at the trailer just about every day it does look white! A lot of white indeed! It needs something to add interest. Whilst I have the kit decals, given their age and previous experience with Italeri decals that are many years old, they are very likely to disintegrate if I try to apply them. I have therefore used my limited and I mean limited IT skills to generate a potential design to to be applied to the trailer sides. 

If you are thinking that sticking a cut out piece of paper to the side of the trailer would look somewhat rubbish you would be right. However at WMD HQ I have a cunning plan. Well a plan anyway! Decal paper. This is a sheet of clear decal sheet onto which you can print whatever you want and then use it just like kit supplied decal. I do have some in stock as well. However can I find it? Somewhere it lies awaiting to be discovered but I just cannot find it. I have therefore done the sensible thing, well sensible for me anyway, of actually ordering some which hopefully will be delivered tomorrow by Amazon. 

To be honest I have never tried this method before so it will be a leaning curve and like most of my learning curves it might involve coming off the road! I could well be feeling blue if it all goes wrong. With that thought in mind I better check that the swear jar has some room in it for further contributions!

One shade or 50 shades of grey!

 Things are moving on with the Scania interior. The dashboard and steering column have been assembled. The seats have been sanded to remove the join line between the two parts of each seat and the bases assembled.

With all this complete I have given everything apart from the seat bases and steering wheels a coat of light grey paint to harmonise the previously somewhat poorly applied grey paint by me 23 years ago. All this one shade of greyness will be brightened up as I try to add some colour to the interior or it may well end up in 50 shades of grey! Interesting concept!

Interestingly, well to me anyway, is that Italeri in their older kits moulded the bunk with a pillow and sheet/sleeping bag which is something they no longer do on their modern kits. I quite like this little bit of realism though - makes the kit feel a bit more real life to me. I just need to remember that even though grey was an 'in' colour in the 90's I don't think grey bedding was! 

More interior makeovers!

The chassis of the Italeri Scania is now finished. Wow! That was quick for me! Well let us not consider that most of it was built 23 years ago otherwise it will be my longest ever build - apart from some of Mrs. Woody's jobs that still linger on her list decades after first entering it!

With the chassis now done and my increased skill level on interior decoration following painting two bedrooms and giving them a makeover recently I will turn my attention to the interior of the cab. For some reason 23 years ago I appear to have blasted everything with a light grey fog like paint. Probably the right generic type of colour for the interior of trucks in the 1990s as I remember but somewhat bland. Therefore I will be putting my aesthetic decoration and makeover skills to use, to try at least to make it look a little more welcoming rather than looking at fog! The good thing about this is that I only have myself to please so no having to take account of Mrs. W's view on colour schemes so in all likelihood it is going to look to the 1/24th scale driver of the Scania  'interesting' in that makeover cab!

Scania progress!

The pictures are probably the best at telling the story on progress. All that remains is to fit a couple of cooling pipes, the spare wheel, a side skirt, three light lenses and the landing light and then paint the exhaust and that is the chassis finished. Before I get any comments that radiator in the above photo is slightly off level but there is nothing I can do about it at this stage without a major risk of damaging the rest of the model. As it is unlikely to be seen as there will be a cab on top I am leaving well alone! I have learnt the hard way over the tears that trying to achieve perfection can in many cases lead to achieving nothing apart from filling the rubbish bin!

Talking of cabs I did pull out the cab from the box and just temporarily place it on the chassis to get a look at how it will all eventually look.

I think I will at least need to gently sand the bodywork of the cab and give it another coat as it looks as though I was spraying it in a sandpit with the present paint job. However, that aside it does look good - to me anyway!

The Great Wardrobe Project - finished?

 Its finished! The wardrobe is complete! Yippee!

The 'Expert' fitter was more than just an expert. He was a perfectionist and a really nice guy who it was a pleasure to have at WMD HQ. Now that the wardrobe is fitted Mrs. Woody has said that she will be having a clear out of her stuff which means she will be making room for more things! Oh well!

For me this is not the end of the whole project which will not be finished fully until I have completed painting the room which is something I will be doing next week after a hopefully restful weekend! Unless Mrs. W has other ideas!

On the Scania build, the lights are painted and most lenses fitted and I have fitted the fuel tank as well as finally fixing the wheels in place. The mudguards and front panel are temporarily in place although I suspect I may have issues with that front panel fitting properly. The semi gloss finish to the parts is giving a nice contrast to the matt finish on the chassis. Getting those mudguards and the front and side panels fitted properly is my next job. 

In the meantime I will be getting the bed back into service - sofas are not comfy for sleeping!

Radiator issues but progress with the great wardrobe project!

Taking on a kit started 23 years ago is always going to have an issue or two. Luckily so far there have not been any major problems although that changed today when I came to fit the radiator to the Scania chassis. It has two pegs that fit into holes on the inside faces of two mounting points that fit on the chassis. The manufactures intention is you fit one of the mounts to the chassis, then pop in the radiator and then fit the second mount. Of course I had fitted both mounts some 23 years ago. I ended up having to break the mount off one side to insert the radiator but it worked. The mount was reglued and luckily there appears to be no visible damage!

I have also sprayed the side skirts, mudguards and front panel in matt black. From what I could see I must have had a paint compatibility issue back in 1999 when I sprayed them originally as some of the paint was crazed. I figured after 23 years the paint should be fully hardened so I smoothed the rough parts and sprayed acrylic black on which worked well. I then sprayed a coat of semi-gloss varnish on just to give it a slight sheen.

Need to wait for the paint and varnish to harden and then fit the lights.

On the wardrobe front things have moved on and the 'Expert' is really showing his skills with a real top notch job.

Just hope my painting skills match up when I get to paint the room or Mrs. Woody will not be happy! 

Small and big steps!

With the wardrobe being fitted today I thought that I might have an opportunity to get some model making done. Well it did not really work out that way as I got involved in a bit of cleaning and sorting as instructed by Mrs. W. However I did sneak in an hour on the Italeri Scania making some small steps on its build. 

The engine and gearbox is now installed with the propshaft in place. I had constantly reminded myself that the propshaft had to go into position before the engine and gearbox was fitted as it can not be fitted once the engine and gearbox are in place. With this thought firmly in my mind I am still trying to figure out how I ended up congratulating myself on the successful fitting of the engine and gearbox without any contributions to the swear jar before I realised that I had forgotten the propshaft! In best Homer Simpson voice - Doh! Luckily the glue had not set and I was able to do the job as it should be!. Other parts have been fitted such as the small steps on the battery box and I have temporarily placed the rear mudguards in place which look as though they fit reasonably well. I just need to repaint them along with the side skirts.

 I am pleased I painted some of the details on the engine which looks better than it did

On the matter of big steps, the 'Expert' wardrobe fitter is here and I must admit he is an expert. There have been some big steps in its build but this is now going to be a two day job so Mrs. W and myself will be sleeping on the sofas tonight as the bedroom is covered in tools and the bed tipped on its side. A slight miscalculation by me means that the other bed is covered to a considerable depth with the contents of the wardrobe! In best Homer Simpson voice - Doh and Doh again! However as the old saying goes, you cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Whilst Mrs. W will no doubt get the large sofa to sleep on tonight I will be left with the smaller one (such is my position in the importance of sleeping facilities) in the lounge. Luckily I don't have fight with the cats to get procession of their sofa in the cat conservatory. This lot may look cuddly and cute but they can bite and scratch! Honest! Upset that lot and I won't be taking any steps small or big!

Buying Paint!

Today Mrs. Woody and myself went off to buy paint for the bedroom. You can't have a new wardrobe with old paint you know! Well I didn't know that but Mrs. W informs me it is true so who am I to argue! So my job list for next week is to dismantle the old wardrobe on Monday. Paint the walls behind where the fitted wardrobe will go white. Then the wardrobe will get fitted and by the end of next week, once all the dust has been cleared away, it will be my job to paint the rest of the room. Somewhere in that week I also have to fit a day in at the Rocks by Rail Museum. I am hoping for cooler weather!

One thing that did hit me was the price of paint. It does not seem that many years ago I could buy a quality 5lt tin of emulsion for about £18. The last one I bought about three months ago was £40 and this week it has gone up to £42. Apparently had we bought it last week it was still only £40. Just my luck! I didn't think it worth pointing out to Mrs. W just how much model paint £40 would buy. Sometimes it is just safer to remain silent!

So last week was busy and this coming week will be no different! However at least taking a break to do some model making provides a well deserved break! Which brings me onto the Italeri 799 Scania with Cool Fruits trailer. I did actually get some matt black paint onto some more parts for the tractor unit chassis without the paint drying in its short journey between the airbrush and the surfaces to be painted. Yes it was that hot today! The parts were touch dry within about a minute of painting. I even managed to paint the engine cooling fan yellow and add it to the engine.

To add a little interest to the engine, rather than it looking like a red blob, I have painted in the rocker covers and various pipes in aluminum and steel. Some parts need a second coat which will hopefully be something for tomorrow. In the meantime I will get over the price of paint and prepare myself gor the joys of the coming week!

 

A busy week!

In the background to model making I have been spending most of this week sorting out belongings and having a good clear out of rubbish and things no longer of use. Those CD games that work on Windows 95 are perhaps things that should have gone out some years ago but once on a shelf, in a box or in a cupboard they remain forgotten about but adding to the general clutter of WMD HQ! There are a lot of similar things and much as it hurts to dispose of things that still look good I have to accept that most of what I am getting rid of is useless. There is however a sense of well being at seeing the space created and the possibilities of what could fill it! At least Mrs. Woody has not disposed of me yet but if I do add more stuff I could well find myself in a skip! 

Talking of Mrs. W she has decided that a  new fitted wardrobe in our bedroom is the way to go so that arrives in kit form on Monday with 'an expert' fitting it on Wednesday. My claims of also being 'an expert' who could fit wardrobes apparently went unheard as Mrs. Woody at that precise moment suffered from one of her intermittent moments of deafness. How convenient! However my expertise at clearing things has been used to clear out most of what is in the present wardrobe so things are looking good for Monday when I have to dismantle the present wardrobe, dispose of it and paint behind before the new one is fitted. Something nice to look forward to!

Model making has therefore been a nice break from the sweat of sorting stuff out during a week of heat wave and the Italeri 799 Scania with Cool Fruits trailer is progressing well. I have been working on the tractor chassis and taking time to reacquaint myself to where I got to with this kit some 23 years ago. Latest progress has been to paint the wheel centers in black to match the chassis. I have also painted the mounting straps of the fuel tank. Going through the instructions I am able to find the parts still to be fitted so these are being taken off the sprues and prepared for painting. Hopefully this progress will continue but I will have to see just how smoothly the wardrobe job goes or whether I do end up in a skip!

Chassis examination.

Things are moving on with the Italeri Scania with Cool Fruits trailer which is good although if I finish this too quick Mrs. Woody may think I have not been concentrating on her jobs list! 

I have painted in the rear lights and the brake wheel on the trailer which has brought some life to the rear. Still got the latches to do.

I have now examined the chassis of the tractor unit and it looks reasonable. It is painted in matt black which I might not do nowadays but I am leaving it in that paint as a tribute in this time machine build to how I built models 23 years ago. 

To move things forward the I found the fuel tank in the box of bits and that requires painting aluminum so that along with the chassis walkway and cab steps were sprayed aluminum. I think I may have to respray the cab though but that is for another time - I need to finish the chassis first.