Reverse engineering!

As a day for doing any model making today was not the day! However I did reduce the old cooker into kit form using a screw driver and pair of pliars in my reverse engineering escapades so that could count as some form of reverse kit building! It is actually quite interesting to see how something has been put together - a good insight into both design and engineering - whether it is reverse or forwards!.

Meanwhile, whilst I have been reverse engineering, Ben the electrician has fitted a new consumer unit as the old one which was state of the art 32 years ago is now classed as barely adequate - a bit like me!

Wish I could wire that neatly!

In the kitchen itself things are progressing with handles and splash backs being fitted and held in place with clamps and wood so it still looks a work in progress. One thing is certain though, I don't want to reverse engineer that kitchen - Mrs. Woody certainly would have words to say even if I just mentioned it!

Abraded, worn and weathered - and that is not me!

A great day at WMD HQ as the kitchen rebuild skip has now departed! That does not mean that the Kitchen rebuild is complete, just that the skip was as full as it was safe to do so!

The skip had obviously been recently painted and with its shiny paint yet to be abraded, worn and weathered by use and nature. The Tiger has also recently been painted with a clean looking coat of paint that will be abraded , worn and weathered by me!

First I need to finish the turret though but this project is moving on again!

Running water!

This picture marks a massive step towards completion of the kitchen rebuild and my return to more model making - unless Mrs. Woody has other plans!

However getting to that point took both Phil the builder and myself on a journey neither of us had been on before. Having installed the waste pipes - always best to get those in before the running water is connected - Phil connected up the water. Testing the connections, the cold ran and the hot ran, both without leaks. Great! Turn the two on together and all was well for two minutes before the overflow at the top of the house started gushing! Not great! Phil had never seen that before and neither had I. What was going on? We had running water in two places! Phil had a theory which was backed up by my perusal of the internet. 

The issue was that the cold water was being supplied straight from the mains at a high pressure. The hot on the other hand was supplied from the hot water tank upstairs using gravity and its pressure was low. Inside the mixer tap, when both the hot and the cold were turned on full, the outlet of the tap could only allow a certain amount of water out which was less than the water being supplied by the cold and hot inlets. Therefore the cold water, with its much higher pressure, was able to backfeed into the hot pipe and push the water back into the hot water tank. The hot water tank then needed to expel the excess water which it did through its feed from the cold water tank in the loft. The cold water tank then had to get rid of the excess water through its overflow pipe hence the gushing water we saw outside.

The answer was a one way valve on the hot supply which Phil had one of in his van - almost as good as WMD Stores! Once fitted, the problem was solved and we only had running water in the sink! 

Gunning it!

Gunning it usually means putting your foot down on the car accelerator and moving off at a fast speed. In this case, and as is usually in Woody's World, speed is usually slow! However at least there is movement and on the Tiger 1 build there is just one last piece that I need to finish in order to glue the top of the hull onto the lower part and that is the bow gun. Not a big part but it will be seen through the open hatch above it so I managed a few minutes to start getting it ready for painting. A few sprue mountings need sanding and then it is time to get the paint out. Once it is installed then the whole tank can begin the paint process. No doubt that process will probably be as slow a process as the masterpieces produced by the great artists of the World only my end product won't be a masterpiece!

And despite trying 'gunning it' on the model build it is the kitchen rebuild that is actually moving on quickly now with Phil the Builder, with my assistance hindrance now having got all the worktops joined and in place complete with the hob plate in position.   

The joins between the worktops are all but invisible and to see the way it is done is quite an eyeopener. Definitely something that I could not have achieved if I had done it! However I did have to lend Phil one of my model making needle files to carry out some fine adjustment to the joins so I at least felt as though my assisatnce hinderance had been of some use!

There was a plan!

I thought that I would have a quiet day today and maybe catch up with the Tiger 1 build. After all I was still getting over Norovirus. The kitchen was coming along nicely and all the units were in place.

That was the plan anyway. However, like so many of my plans it did not quite work out! Phil the builder arrived and said it was time to bring the washing machine in. Now I have moved washing machines myself and they are no fun to do as you get older but that was going to be a quick job to help Phil then back to my plan.

Anyway, with it in I thought my day would return to plan but Phil announced that it was now the ideal time to move in with the worktops for the kitchen rebuild. Now I now the worktops came in a 4m and 3m length and were somewhat cumbersome and heavy so it was going to be a two person job to do anything with them. There was Phil and there was me so that made the two persons and the end of my plan! To cut a long story short you need to get the worktops right and there is a lot of cutting to size, routing at joints and routing for the joining clamps so it was a case of in and out of the house but we got there and it fitted!

To avoid the risk of cutting the hole for the sink in the worktop outside  and then for the work top to snap as we carried it in due to be weakened, Phil cut the sink sized hole in situ. Somewhat dusty but it did the job!

And the sink unit fits without falling through almost as if it were planned that way!

Now should I make any plans for tomorrow?

Its my birthday - almost!

 

It may just look like a pallet with a few boxes on it but this was like my birthday! In fact its a day early for that but that doesn't matter! This is the missing part of the kitchen floor which means that Phil the builder is back tomorrow to recommence his magic on the kitchen rebuild! You can tell from the scissors and cut packaging that I was had to satisfy myself it was the right stuff!

And talking of flooring, well not quite but it is partly the underside of the Tiger 1 tank build, I had a chance to add the front underside panel. Whilst it is included in the parts it is not on the instructions but is shown on the box art and from the inset in the moulding of the lower hull it clearly is meant to be fitted. However, it cannot fir due to the detail for the drive wheel casing. There are ways around this and taking a small amount off each side of the part enabled it to be fitted almost as if it were cast that way!

The ironic thing is that once some weathering goes on the detail of the casing will probably disappear!

Painting!

At the moment my life appears to be centred around paint! On the 1/35 Tiger 1 build the painting continues with the inside of the turret being weathered partly with a brown wash and partly using an airbrush. Much as the white interiors of tanks is suppose to brighten them up and make life easier for the crew the reality was the white got dirty fairly quickly. In the case of the turret you won't see much of its insides once the top is on but with the hatches in the open position there will be enough visibility to see that it is well weathered in there!

Whilst the actual kitchen rebuild has stalled as the rest of the floor needs to be delivered first - hopefully tomorrow - I have been busy with the paint brush. Three doors have been painted with three top coats of satin white on each side. which changed the creamish primer from this .....

to this.....

I'm pleased with the finish and they do look a lot better than the old doors. To avoid getting paint on the door furniture I did mask up things like the hinges with masking tape. A roughly cut to size piece was put over the top and then a modelling scalpel was run around the perimeter of the hinge and the surplus was removed leaving a protected and paint free hinge in place. Working smarter not harder as I get older!

 

Lego wagon at the Rocks by Rail Museum.

The World of Lego is certainly different to when I was a child which to be fair was some time ago although Mrs. Woody maintains that I am still a child at heart! The change in Lego was highlighted when a group from the Lego UK Railway Club attended the Rocks By Rail Museum last Sunday and presented a very accurate copy of one of our hopper wagons made entirely from Lego for display. Brilliant it is to and a long way from my days of Lego!

The guys who came to the Museum to present the wagon were a fantastic group and well versed in railway matters. They have a website showing what they do which you can see by clicking 

here. It is well worth a look if you want to see just how far Lego has come along!

Meanwhile, in the kitchen rebuild, new doors have been fitted. In fact the whole of the lower part of WMD HQ has new doors which has pleased Mrs. W and that makes my life so much simpler!

Similarities between the kitchen rebuild and the build of the 1/35 scale Tiger 1!

There are similarities between the kitchen rebuild and the build of the 1/35 scale Tiger 1 as I have informed Mrs. Woody! Basically, you have to paint certain things before you can progress to the next stage. In the case of the kitchen the clear walls and ceiling needed painting before the units were fixed in place. With the Tiger tank, there are interior parts to paint before the upper deck to the hull can be glued in place and likewise with the turret.

White, which is the colour most tank interiors were painted in,  has been applied to the undersides of the various hatches, the gun and the turret which will require further detail painting of some parts such as the seats in the turret and parts of the gun. Once that is done I can progress onto the next stage of the build!

Although it is the Bank Holiday weekend I have not escaped working on the kitchen. Whilst it should really have been done before the plastering but there was no time, Phil the builder has fitted new door casings. The old ones were somewhat twisted and to fit a new door to current standards would have been impossible so two new ones have gone in. My job is to try to fill the damaged plaster and also to get something a bit straighter to match the straight frame! Nearly a kilo of filler has gone into this project but it is just about there now. Then I will need to get the paint out again so that the next stage can progress!

Floored!

Much as Murphy Cat was enjoying the sit on the flooring for the kitchen he had little idea that I was about to be floored today when Phil the builder told me that two different colour shades of floor had been delivered which means that the floor cannot be finished in the kitchen which means the units that can be fitted are limited and on it goes! Replacement flooring is on the way but not until next week! However all issues can be overcome so I am only temporarily floored! In  the mean time what progress that has been made is looking good.

On the tank front, the Tiger 1 build has seen the interior parts for the wooden cladding on the fuel tanks painted. I certainly learnt something in that I never knew there was wooden cladding which I presume is some sort of shield against bullets or shrapnel entering through the grill above and potentially puncturing the tanks. Not found anything on line yet but I will continue looking - I wont let myself be floored by this! 

Momentous occassion!

A momentous occassion today but lets start with the limited progress on the Tiger 1 1/35 scale kit. A few more turret details have been added such as the the machine gun mount which was made up of an extraordinary 4 parts! 

I also have started on a few things I still need to do to the lower hull such as these radiators that fit under the rear grills. The sides are etched parts but nice and large so easy to work with. They now need adding to the hull when I get the chance!

A momentous occassion as Mrs. Woody sees it, in the kitchen rebuild project with the kitchen being delivered and now filling the WMD garage. I just hope that Phil the builder doesn't now suddenly decide to go on an extended holiday!

What a difference a day makes!

Its been a long hard day but what a difference a day makes! Early this morning I ventured into the freshly plastered kitchen and began the task of painting on a misting coat of paint to seal the plaster. 

With that done it was then the neck aching task of painting the ceiling. And boy does my neck ache now! However it did look brighter in the room.

With two coats on the ceiling it was time for the walls and that was a lot easier and so the room is now at least in colour. It could all do with another coat and hopefully I can get that done tomorrow but Mrs. Woody will certainly notice what a difference a day makes when she gets home!

In the meantime I am going to be the victim for testing the bath out. I'm hoping for a bit of a soak to relax my muscles but that could depend on whether yesterdays repair of the split in it holds!

Talking of holds, the track links that I built up yesterday are now being fitted to the Tiger 1 turret. Hopefully they will hold!

There's a hole in the bath dear Mrs Woody!

There maybe some of you who recall the wonderful comic song, 'There's a hole in my bucket' and it is on YouTube  by clicking here.  I was reminded of this song as there was a slight disaster at WMD HQ yesterday with the bathtub gaining a 6 inch split in it rendering its water holding capabilities at nil! 

I won't say how it was caused but luckily I was not present at the time so am blameless!

Having reviewed the split I thought that was it for the tub. Mrs. Woody had already announced our intention to rebuild the bathroom to Phil the builder who wisely said it would be at least next year before he could get round to it so I had visions of having to have flannel bathing for the next 6 months! However, having regained my calmness a search of the internet showed that splits in baths are not that uncommon and there are ways to repair them. For something of the magnitude of the WMD bathtub a glass fibre repair seemed the best option. I had to go and put the banners for the August Bank Holiday events at Rocks By Rail (where I found there is some competition for visitors!) ....

...so it was the ideal opportunity to get the necessary repair materials. Strangely the WMD Store was out of glass fibre materials so I actually had to buy some! 

I won't tell you that Mrs. W thought that I had posed for the box illustration but I was impressed by the claims made on the Big Boy repair box! This stuff should repair just about anything if the claims were right. I just hoped that it lived up to expectations.

Bad as it was that the bath was split, that split had to be on the side of the bath against the wall so the whole bath had to come out. Now I fitted that bathtub decades ago so getting it out should have been simple. However, decades ago I was somewhat more flexible than now so it was a pig of a job. With the bath out and upside down the extent of the damage was more evident.

With the split pushed back together a small hole was drilled at the each end of the split to stop the it spreading. Then the area was sanded to roughen up the surface and give the glass fibre something to adhere to. As WMD HQ has a number of cats who would love to take part in the repair process and no doubt become a permeant part of the repair patch the door to the bathroom was shut. Even with the window open I was as quick as possible mixing the resin and applying it and three sheets of glass fibre mat to the repair area and getting out of the room before I began to see strange things!

An hour later I returned to the room where vapours had diffused and the resin had set. It looked good. With the tub back up the right way I ran some epoxy into the crack just as a belt and braces approach. It may be grey but ait sanded back and as the tub will be replaced it will do as long as it is water tight.

Looks OK, from a distance!

With everything connected back up the tub was filled! No leaks!!!! Now it just requires a suitable victim volunteer in the shape of Mrs. W to test whether it is capable of offering the full bathing experience it previously did. Mrs. W will be volunteering later!

Meanwhile, this slight distraction has meant that things that needed to dry in the kitchen rebuild have done so with these cats able to explore without leaving paw prints! I really need to get that painting started!

Despite all the excitement I have managed to construct seven track links for the Tiger 1 tank build. 

Dragon even make the track links complicated! Three parts for one link with the guides being a challenge to fit. Rather than try to clean them up as I cut them off the sprue I just glued them to the track and once set will clean them up - working smarter not harder as I get older!