Logs and platform escapades!

For some reason I had to choose today, the hottest day of the year so far, to work in the sun and get on with some logging escapades! The pile of tree parts on the front drive that I have accumulated over the Winter (all for free) and looks an eyesore (well it was free as I tell Mrs. Woody!) is getting smaller as I split and log the wood. Mrs. Woody will be pleased - I hope!

My work space with trusty cross cut saw!

After several hot hours it is a much reduced pile and a log store looking much better for Winter!

Meanwhile, as they say, things are moving, slowly, on the platform for my 00 gauge layout. The platform surface is sprayed with Halfords grey primer for that worn tarmac look and the edging stones are now being painted in a stone colour by brush. A bit of masking tape helps keep a neat edge.

Putting the surface on the base shows how this is coming together rather nicely. Certainly easier to do then my log escapades!

Brute force and ignorance!

Sometimes, despite thinking I may have a logical mind to getting things done, sheer brute force and ignorance are a tactic that I employ. Mrs. Woody would say that is more like the norm for me and I guess she would see evidence in her claim when I started tackling the pile of tree bits on the front garden that have blighted her vision of horticultural bliss for some months now. Having a log burner means you need logs to burn in it and seeing my wallet more as a source to fund my hobbies then buy logs I do collect bits of tree when they become available. At the end of last year I was lucky in that I had two trees in kit form having been felled by the local highway authority having fallen in the high winds. Unfortunately for me the bits are big - far too big to fit in the log burner so I need to get them into smaller bits and let them dry out for a couple of years. I know that you can get log splitters but again my wallet is closed to such expenditure especially when I have a lump hammer and a selection of cold chisels!

Its taking some time but a few more sessions should split the rest and then I can cut them to length. I really need to move those bags of compost for Mrs. W as well!

Continuing the theme of brute force and ignorance I decided to cut the strips of copper clad sheet for the hidden sidings on my 00 gauge layout. I decided that cutting four strips from a sheet of copper clad material was a far better idea then cutting 32 sleepers from the sleeper strip I have. I soon regretted that idea as I started cutting with my modelling saw. It took over half an hour to cut one strip.

Sitting back and thinking, a rare moment for me, I saw a panel saw and much as it would see many carpenters cry at the misuse and ignorance I used it to cut the other three strips. Brute force got the job done in 10 minutes and seemingly no harm to the saw!

This is where they will be used on the layout, the other two at the opposite end of the baseboard.

Now its time to get back to wiring and soldering the siding tracks hopeful without too much ignorance or brute force!

Free wood!

Don't say I don't take Mrs. Woody out on some unique trips. Today it was a trip down a local road where I had seen on a bike ride that the council had felled some trees and left the wood for locals to collect. Well I am local so once back home I announced to Mrs. W we were going out. I think she though it was retail therapy time but soon realised it was her muscles I was after! We came back home with a car load that given a couple of years will be ready for the wood stove much to Mrs. W's delight. I wonder if she will now cut them up and spilt them to save me the bother?

Back at WMD HQ and away from the logs I managed to progress the Peco signal box. The base to the upper cabin was glued, filled and masked before being airbrushed white.

The windows have now been glued to the rest of the wooden cabin structure and the central control desk, which looks more like it belongs in NASA the in a signal box has been airbrushed grey. There is also a signal man figure and a seat for him to sit in which need further painting. I also started gluing the glazing into the window frames which will at least mean the 00 scale signal man won't be in a draught especially as this modern day type signal box doesn't have a log burner!