Seeing Red!

Not that I got mad and saw red but out today I saw this sight which I thought was beautiful! Not seen that many poppies in one field in this Country before.

My journey had been to drop some things off at an auction house including this 1970s HiFi unit made by Waltham. 

Unusually for the UK not only did it have a radio, turntable and cassette player but also an 8 track player. Much as I can recall playing my meager record collection on it as a child having got permission from my Dad and it has some sentimental value I don't have the space or indeed the need for it. Hopefully someone will want it and enjoy it.

Returning to WMD HQand having done some cleaning (hope Mrs. Woody reads that!) it was back to the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. Work today consisted of finishing the air intake system with the filter and pipework. Also the strengthening cross brace to the chassis and the cover to the rear of the engine were fitted.

I have also fitted the front wings to the cab floor pan. Annoyingly, and it is my own fault, I had forgotten to fit the front of cab grab handles before painting. There have now been fitted as in the photo below. They are the grey bits just below the windscreen aperture and need painting black. Which reminds me I still need to fit the cab glass as well as the mirrors. 

It is nearly there and I cannot see much red of the chassis so I must be happy!

Historic case?

 If I were by the sea, enjoying a cooling ice cream whilst watching the passing World I could really appreciate the current heatwave. As it is, delving in a sun drench shed which was doing an impression of an industrial oven, hauling out stuff to be disposed of I did not appreciate the heatwave! However that long over due job is done! 

A lot of stuff is from my parents and much as I could keep it there is just not the space. Some is junk and goes for recycling but there are some gems like this suitcase which will go to auction.

About 70 years old it dates back to my Dad's days in the RAF when such cases were adorned with stickers from places visited. There is some history there and if the case could talk.....

fter a rest and cool down I needed a less then taxing job so I decided to polish the paintwork on the cab of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. I used the set of compounds from Tamiya which consist of a course, fine and finish used in that order with a fine sponge. Very much like the cutting compounds used for restoring car paintwork these do the same thing but in a much milder way suitable for models.

After that I started to paint the black parts of the cab which in this case are the door handles and window surrounds. To get a neat line i tend to use a fresh scalpel blade and run it around the outside edge of the item to be painted. The slight cut in the paintwork gives a sort of miniature ditch into which stray paint flows rather then spreading beyond where it is wanted.

My choice of paint for this type of fine work is the air brush version of Vallejo's paints. It flows well and covers - much better than the normal paint designed to be brushed!

Just the other side to do now then that is another job in the case!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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!

Roped and exhausted!

I can put you at rest - Roped and exhausted is not the opening line of a seedy Woody novel! It does however refer to the latest work on the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck where the rope that fastens the canvas to the cargo body has been painted and the exhaust and its various parts has been fitted to the engine and chassis.

Painting the ropes was to be blunt a real pain. Fine paint brush and magnifier were the favoured tools and the grey paint was applied as neatly as I could. I did however have the pot of green paint as used to paint the canvas to hand to tidy up the inevitable misapplications! It took a few hours to do the four sides but it did actually get easier as I went along and developed a technique and discovered that with the hot weather I needed to refresh the paint every ten minutes or so as it was drying out.

The exhaust and battery box cover are now in place so the last remaining cassis part is the air intake filtr box and inlet pipe to the engine.

Well after all that painting I am exhausted and as I have been roped into working at the Rocks By Rail Museum tomorrow I think it is time to get some shut eye!

Things are getting interesting!

The chassis of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck is just about there which means things are getting interesting on this model. 

First off the chassis straps on the fuel tank have been painted red to match the chassis. I did actually mask up the tank to do this not trusting my paint brush skills on this one.

At least with the masking I did not have to worry about being neat!

And with the masking removed there are just a couple of small touch up jobs but overall I am happy with that especially as the camera's resolution is far better then most peoples eye sight!

With the engine and gearbox weathered as well as the chassis it was time to start bringing parts together. The fuel tank was mounted with a couple of spots of superglue. The dual rear wheel sets have been glued together and the tread of the tyres rubbed down to give them a worn appearance. The spare wheel is mounted to the chassis as well. The engine and prop-shaft are also now glued in and this is what it looks like now - I am modestly impressed!

In my usual impatient way I had to test mount the cab, front valance and cargo body just to get an impression of what the finished model will look like.

Still lots to do but I think it is looking good!

The weather is nice so I will do some weathering!

After a bit of a dull start and a bike ride that was not the warmest mid morning the sun came out and it began to warm up. I had planned a day of sorting things out in the WMD HQ loft and garage which Mrs. Woody refers to as the junk repositories but the weather just said come outside. So I did! So that Mrs. W does not think I frivolously wasted a day sun bathing I did cut the hedges and did some weeding. I did at one point wonder whether WMD HQ was going to have an over night visitor when I found this young crow that seemed lost.

My temporary guest however made his way up to the greenhouse roof after an hour and was crowing which attracted his mother and off they went.

Congratulating myself on a good job done and won't Mrs. W be impressed and that my potential overnight guest had found his mother, I had a leisurely hour in the man cave to get out of the sun - don't want heat stroke from my exertions! 

Todays job was to start weathering the engine and chassis of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. It is not a pristine truck but is cared for so is generally clean but is grubby on the unseen and difficult to reach parts. At the moment I am using my favoured dilute black wash to highlight edges and bolts.

Before...

After.

Subtle but it makes a difference.

Looks like the weather will be good tomorrow as well so looks like I will be doing more weathering! This is getting confusing!

Some light relief!

Continuing the build of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck gave me some light relief by fitting the lights! The various indicators brake and side lights clear castings have been painted with Tamiya clear red and orange paints. Where the headlights and fog lights are the body parts have already been painted silver giving that effect of a reflective backing to the light unit.

Whilst I had various clear paints out I put some green in the  airbrush and painted the sun visor.

Talking of light relief, todays bike ride which I took for light relief, took me past these rather beautiful poppies in the middle of nowhere that I just had to take a picture of.

Putting my head down!

Putting my head down sounds like I have decided to get some additional sleep. However far from it (especially if Mrs. Woody is reading this) as in this case I have been putting my head down and getting on with the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. After yesterdays post about getting distracted my mind must have focused in on the task in hand and today the engine/gearbox/radiator have more or less been finished - amazing!!!!

It even fits in the chassis without having to bend or twist anything - double amazing!!!!

I have to admit having built many of Italeri's truck kits over the years I am impressed by the way the radiator, hoses and engine block all fit. Equally I am also impressed by the hoses having a reasonable representation of the jubilee clips that are used to hold them in place. I just wish my painting skills could do them justice.

I even had time to paint the yellow parts which make up the cab steps and airhorns firstly in black followed by a coat of aluminum. Triple amazing!

If I manage to keep my head down a bit longer this kit could end up finished soon!

Slow down for the details but will I get distracted?

I am at the stage with the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck where it is time to do all the small details. Such things as steps, air horns, pipes, wheel trims and the list goes on! It is also a point in the build where if I am not careful I loose interest and in my easily distracted way disappear off with another project! I have so many to be distracted by! Anyone who has read this blog before may recall the Heller Scania 141LB that I started and progressed with initial speed at the beginning of 2022. 

It is so close to being finished but it is not! I got distracted onto something else! Anyway it is on the list of my (not Mrs. Woody's) jobs to do. 

Back to the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck and I am holding firm in progressing it! The engine has had the two filters painted white and blue and the fan is now yellow ready to be attached to the pulleys and fan belt which will then allow the radiator to be added once the hoses are prepared! You can see how things slow down. The interior door trims have also been painted to match the rest of the interior..

The yellow parts in the picture below are the cab steps and airhorns. The other parts are related to the various covers over the rear of the engine on the chassis. What I need to do with them all is to paint them black and then for the yellow parts paint them aluminum. If I don't paint them black first the aluminum paint will never cover the yellow. As the only real way to paint these small detailed parts is by airbrushing them I am also trying to identify all the other parts that need to be painted black so I only need to clean out the airbrush once! Identifying the parts can also take time and then they all need to be prepared for paint with the sprue attachment points and mould marks removed. Can you blame me for getting distracted?

A walk out in the countryside .

Sometimes a walk out in the countryside is just the thing to make me realise both Mrs. Woody and myself are lucky to have access to such things and refreshes us. Today was one of those days when you cannot help but feel good when you walk round a lake with wildlife and stunning weather.

The local fishing fraternity were out in force and looked as though they were there for the weekend! Can't blame them!

 

The one thing that I could not really get my head round was why the sign on a nearby electric cattle fence was in seven languages when the picture of the hand makes it clear what it is!

Talking of good weather my cycling total mileage for the year was 1585 at the end of May which means I did nearly 500 miles in that month. Not bad but I am about 600 miles short of where I was this time last year so I need to do some more longer rides!

With me refreshed from my walk and cycling attention, back at WMD HQ, focused on the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck where the build moves on, slowly, but getting there! Today saw the underside of the cab, front valance and wheel arches as well as the cargo body sprayed matt black.

The various light lenses have also been painted silver before the lenses are fitted.