The decks are clear - well clearer!

As I posted several days ago I need to clear the decks on my workbench as it was just becoming too crowded with unfinished projects, paints, glue, tools and various bits that I just don't understand how they arrived on the bench! Anyway the Knightwing Foden Haulmaster tipper truck is just about finished and can be taken off the bench following the application of some spare number plates left over from the build of the Leyland National bus last year.

With the truck removed the bench itself was looking like this!

Following some serious sorting out it does look somewhat clearer and organised! 

How long this will remains the case is open to debate but if you are into betting I would be putting money on not long! However in the meantime it has at least raised my spirits - nothing beats creating space on the decks!

Mirror, Mirror, on the truck!

Just a few minutes out in the man cave today which was enough though to put together some door mirrors for the Knightwing Foden Haulmaster tipper truck. The arms were bent from some brass wire and the mirrors were simply cut from a scrap of plastic card. 

They were then fastened to the truck with some superglue into the small holes I driller in the cab doors. They were then painted black and the mirror faces silver. I will never see a reflection in these mirrors which is good because I don't really want to see myself! 

Whilst I had these paints to hand I also finished painting the grill on the front of the cab.

It will never win any trophies for detail but as a layout model in amongst all the other models it will look fine - I hope!

Legless!

A bit more work on the Knightwing Foden Haulmaster tipper. It now has a driver although the only suitable figure to hand was one of the Dapol Platform Figures that I have been painting. The problem was that he was in a standing position. No problem - he became legless to fit in! You cannot really see my crude operation through the cab windows and it si something that is done a lot for passenger figures in model railway carriages so I don't feel too guilty about it.

The problem with fitting the cab in the right position was taken care of by cutting the engine block back. You cannot see it as the cab does not tilt and it was the only way to get the cab to fit properly. The engine is probably down a cylinder but that is no problem in the model world!

The tipper side has been adorned with some name plates - Bobby Beets, Quality Chalk - which I did using WORD. There is a story behind the choice of name but I will cover that in another post.

In the meantime I would just like to make some door mirrors and maybe a bit of weathering before I can call it finally finished.

Whilst making the name plates I also did a larger one for the quarry access.

It needs some legs to stand on - I wonder if the drivers legs are up to the job?

Almost finished!

It is almost finished - the Knightwing Foden Haulmaster tipper that is. I have started fitting some glazing and need to fettle the cab to sit a bit lower but it does look like a proper tipper!

I feel almost finished too after a morning putting out banners for the Rocks By Rail Museum event over the May Bank holiday. At least it is done having visited various locations to put them in place and dragging all the stuff from the safe parking place to the visible location which are never conveniently in the same place! Oh well the exercise will do me good!

Clearing the decks!

After yesterdays filming for the YouTube video that I did on my Last Great Project layout which did show my workbench/desk in all its mayhamic (is that a word - well it is now!) glory, I thought it about time I cleared it up a bit and clear the decks as they say. I could just put everything in a box and kid myself it is clear but there are a few unfinished projects on there which really need finishing so I can clear the bench with a clear conscious.

First up is the Knightwing Foden tipper kit in its half finished state that has been seen in many photos of other projects on the bench. Dragging it from its corner of the bench I was amazed that all the parts are there which is a good start. 

One of the axles is broken so that has been glued and six if the wheels are now solidly attached. The rear mudguards have also been added to the tipper body. I also needed to re-glue the tailgate to the tipper which came off in my clumsy maneuvers to glue the mudguards! 

If I recall correctly the cab does not fit particularly well on the chassis so that may be a challenge to correct but first I need to glaze the cab - that should be fun!

Meanwhile if you are interested in seeing some trains running on my Last Great Project Layout the video is here. When you see my work bench you will realise why I need to clear the decks!

Butterfly activity!

I messaged Metcalfe Models yesterday (Sunday) and this morning at just after 9am I got a response saying they were sending the missing sheet of parts. Now that is service! So whilst I wait for this to arrive I have, in my usual butterfly manner of projects, moved to another couple of things that have been hanging about for a while.

Firstly the Heller Scania 144 LB needs the cab finishing. So today the decals for the doors were applied. 

I did have in the back of my mind a few months ago making the doors openable but whilst it is more than possible and I did start making hinges, I am not sure I have the patience to do it. So Plan B is that the doors will be closed! In the meantime once the decals harden the door will be given a coat of gloss varnish to seal and protect them. How far the cab gets after that is anyone's guess and I have no idea!

The other project is the Foden tipper which needed a second coat of paint on the tipper body and cab as well as the interior painting. 

The second coat has been applied and the interior painted in that 1970.s brown that was so popular in its day but from what I understand is now referred to as nappy brown! The seats and steering wheel will be painted black once the brown has dried.

I have no idea where my butterfly activity wil take me next but at least these projects have seen the light of day again and moved on even if only by a bit!

Another day of achieving little!

In yesterdays post I said I hoped I was more energised today. However I woke up feeling a bi sick and before too long I knew I had a bug and migraine. So much for being energised! Most of the day I was in bed feeling sorry for myself but I did manage to spray the cab and tipper body for the Foden Haulmaster. The tipper body needs another coat of paint but it is looking much more like a real truck now.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be as energised as the new kittens who I caught taking a rare relaxing moment from causing chaos!

A day of achieving little!

It was one of those days when despite doing things I did not have a lot to physically show for it! I think I am still somewhat lethargic from my mild dose of Covid I had a week ago when strangely enough I felt better during the Covid then I do after it! 

I did do a bit more wood butchery for My Last Great Project model railway baseboards but nothing really to photograph. I also moved the Foden Haulmaster kit build on a little more with the chassis painted and the wheels just about painted. The chassis was airbrushed with a home brewed mix of Vallejo Red and Earth to produce a sort of dark red colour. The exhaust pipe was picked out in silver and will need rusting up later. The repairs to the tipper body have been completed and the areas that broke seem to be all glued back successfully (strange saying successfully in relation to one of my projects!) and sanded smooth. The cab body is also nearly ready to be painted with the various joins filled and sanded. However it is a day at the Rocks by Rail Museum tomorrow so unfortunately not a lot of model related activities will take place but then there is Wednesday when I am hopefully feeling a bit more energised!

More cats and one step forward and two back with the Foden Haulmaster!

Firstly the WMD HQ is now slightly larger in population with the addition of these two kittens who needed a home - Mrs. Woody is as much a sucker for cats needing a good home as I am for model railway stuff!

Marty and Monty join the other WMD cats which makes my life as Chief Litter Box Cleaner even more interesting!

Talking of interesting, once I had managed to get out to Man Cave having cleaned out the litter boxes, I carried out further work on the Foden Haulmaster kit. I was hoping to finish it ready for painting but that idea was a step too far not that you would guess from this photo which shows an almost complete model.

In trying to get the cab pieces to fit together as the parts are so poorly moulded and don't fit properly I decided to use the wonders of an elastic band to pull the part stogether to where they should be. The theory is relatively simple. However in my execution I obviously over tightened the elastic band. It was like some episode of the Road Runner Cartoon where Wylie Coyote stretches an oversized Acme elastic band across the road and then ends up flattened as the band pulls the two rocks together that it is fastened to together. The four parts of the cab went flat and the swear jar ended up a bit fuller then before I started! That was the first step back. However, as with Wylie, I started over again but unlike Wylie my second attempt did work. However the fit of the panels still needs work with filler and files and the arrow on the photo below shows the area that this is needed in. The other side is the same.

The other step back was with the tipper body. the sides splay out too far so that the rear tailgate did not fit properly. I could soon remedy that with a little gentle persuasion on the body sides to bend inwards. There was that snapping noise and a sudden loss of grip that indicated the persuasion had been too much and part of the side of the tipper had snapped off. I had to glue that back together and it will need further filling and sanding to make the repair invisible as the picture below shows. That swear jar did well tonight!

Hopefully tomorrow will see the glue hardened and work can recommence!

Bargain!

Mrs. Woody and myself went out today for a bit of a drive and a sandwich. We stopped off at a barn which had been converted in a village to a large antiques type establishment. I am not particularly into antiques and to be honest I believe Mrs. W thinks I am enough of an antique for her without adding any more! However you never know what you might find. My instinct was right as in a corner was a small cabinet with some old model railway stuff. I spied five Triang Mk1 Western Region coaches dating back to some time in the 1960's complete with their boxes. They are not the most detailed of models and by todays standards they are said to be crude by most modellers. However for me, with trains running around a layout, I am not going to be sitting two inches from the track trying to see if the third rivet from the left of the toilet compartment window is moulded in the correct place. I leave that to people who possibly need to re-evaluate their life! Even as 'crude' models they would go great with my maroon Class 52 Western diesel which was very much a Western Region of British Rail locomotive of the same era as the coaches. 

£10 each was the price. A quick examination showed me they were in great condition and an offer of £45 was accepted. Bargain! However while I was negotiating that deal Mrs. W had found a small cat decorated musical box which she liked (I thought that she didn't like antiques - so much for knowing my wife!) which also came home with us after my wallet was further depleted. 

Back at WMD HQ the coaches were unboxed from those wonderfully evocative red Triang boxes which I recall the excitement of receiving at Christmas or a birthday. Strange how a box can bring back memories!

The coaches were put on the track and the Western Class 52 diesel coupled up. Just before setting off on an inaugural trip around the layout I suddenly recalled that whilst having my sort out and tidy up a few days ago I had come across an old Traing coach which someone had given me decades ago. I dug it out again and it was another matching Western Region coach! Added to the others I now have a rake of six coaches for £45. Even more of a bargain especially as new coaches are between £30 and £60 each. Anyway, on the track they run well and the whole train looks very much like the photos of the real Western Region back in the 60's. I am to use a pun, really 'chuffed' with the coaches!

The Foden Haulmaster kit has moved on although not as quickly as I would have liked. The kit has 13 wheels (one is the spare just in case you wondered about the odd number) and they all had distinct moulding lines around them. Whilst this is not the greatest detailed kit and there is no tread pattern to the tyres I could not leave such a prominent mould line in sight on thirteen wheels. To sort them out took about an hour of filing but to me that was worth the time spent as I hope the picture shows.

Adding the wheels to the chassis brings that alive. I have also started the cab but the fit of the parts is so bad that I am having to glue the parts in stages to try to pull them eventually into line. However there will be a need for some filler once the parts are all glued fully. Filler has also been needed in the tipper body and tailgate. One of the unusual things about this kit is that whilst a simple kit it does lack a drivers and passenger seat the absence of which seems a bit obvious with all those windows in the cab. I have remedied this with my crude but hopefully acceptable scratch built seats. I don't think anyone using them would find any comfort in my design so I will do the World a favour and steer clear of any real life furniture design or construction!

Connections.

I talked about the Leaning Tower of Dry Doddington a couple of days ago and then about the Hornby Train pack released in 2012 to commemorate the 2012 Olympics yesterday and then today I went cycling back through Dry Doddington to find this.

According to Wikipedia, Shona McCallin was one of the members of the British Ladies Hockey Team who won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. A strange set of connections but that sort of thing does interest me! 

A bit further down the road I did get this shot of one of the LNER Hitachi 800 trains on the East Coast Mainline. They do look smart!

Back at WMD HQ I decided I needed a simple short project and had found this kit in yesterdays sort out and tidy up - yes it was one I had forgotten about!

It is based on an old kit dating back from the early 1980s before being taken over by Knightwing who re-released the kit a few years ago. It is to 00 gauge and it is very simple in detail but that suits me!

Just two spues of parts make up the kit.

The great thing about a simple kit like this is that an hours work saw the chassis more or less finished!

Hopefully the weekend will see most of the kit built unless Mrs. Woody has other ideas for my spare time!