Progress!

Yes! Progress! The reason for this positivity is that the T80 MiniArt tank is just about finished! The tracks are on, it has been treated to a wash to highlight nuts, hatches, hinges and similar as well as having had a bit of weathering powder added. I just need to add the clear lens to the light and I think I will call it a day. Not my favorite or best build and one that I started just over a year ago on the 20th March 2021 (click here to see my post on the start of this kit) so its not been the quickest either. However it will go on the shelf as a further reminder of my modelling ineptitude of which I have a lot!

Jet lag!

Not that I have been anywhere to get jet lag but with the clocks going forward on hour my body is a little out of sync! I actually beat the cats getting up this morning so they were a bit staggered at getting an early breakfast as their cat clocks were still operating on GMT not Summer Time! No doubt we will all get into the swing of it in a few days and it is nice to have the lighter evenings.

With that extra evening daylight comes the various gardening tasks so time for model making gets squeezed a little more. However I did grab an hour this evening to do a few bits to the T80 tank. The rubber tyres on the main wheels have been painted. People often look at you a bit oddly when you say tanks have rubber wheels but they do and have done for years. Towards the end of the Second World War when Germany had major logistical supply problems they could not get rubber so some of their later tanks did have all metal wheels. However the ride is rough and the wear of two unlubricated metal surfaces of wheel and track brought about premature wear and failure issues. The tracks for the kit have also been airbrushed a rusty dry brown colour and the surfaces where there was wear with the various wheels and drive sprockets have been dry brushed with aluminum paint to show bear shiny metal. Al that remains is to get the wheels and tracks on the hull of the tank and give it all some weathering which will hide (hopefully) any failings in the build of the kit that I have done! 

A reflective day.

My Mum, had she still been alive, would have been 92 today. Her Birthday and Mothers Day normally feel within days of each other. A visit to her grave and my Dad's today saw flowers laid on both but for my Mum both for her birthday and Mothers day and a time for reflection for me. I am not going to go into all sorts of details of my personal reflections other than my lessons in life have told me to be glad for health, life, friends and live each day as fully as you can  - oh and keep on model making no matter how bad that latest project goes! Yes! I can be philosophical on occasions!

Model making does offer that ability to escape into a World of your own making where you set the rules and create what you want - lovely! And on that note, I had an hour this evening progressing the T80 tank which now has its various tools painted and installed, the exhaust undercoated in a base of rust paint and  the decals that come with the kit applied to the turret. The tracks have also been given an airbrushing of black and now await some rusty type paint. I still think these tracks will be giving me problems (which they have done from when I started the kit last year) when I come to put them on the tank but on reflection the rest of the build has not been too bad. Maybe that break from building it has let me see it in a new light.

London double decker bus.

This morning it was a bike ride with good friend Mr. Beecham, he off modelling and cycling skills beyond mine! However my weight advantage still plays in my favour going downhill and as I said to Mr. B, he either needs to be more streamline or put some weight on to keep up with me downhill! However he did have the last laugh leaving me looking like an over sized load going up the hills! Going out with Mr. B always results in one of us finding something that we didn't know about. Today it was my turn to be surprised by finding out about two ex London Transport double decker buses in a farm yard in Leicestershire. I have cycled through the village on a regular basis but never knew about these hidden away down a back road but Mr. B did and guided me to a spot where I could at least see them from a distance.

We also had a look at the local church which was a fantastic building - again hidden away.

A bit more riding saw us at a suitable sausage cob selling establishment - delicious! Obviously the weather drew out a lot of cyclists and I have never seen so many cyclists in the area - they say cycling is the new golf!

Back at WMD HQ the T80 tank has received both a primer coat and top coat of paint which is making it look as though it might actually get finished! I do have a double decker bus kit in my stash of kits to build - today might have brought that up the list to be built!

Things going up!

As you may have noted from some of my recent posts the cost of fuel and its progression upwards at a local service station has caused me much interest. Whilst the Chancellor has announced a 5p reduction in the rate of fuel duty which taking VAT in account means a 6p per litre overall reduction in price the price at the local supplier this morning was this.

 I will be interested to see what it is next week!

Taking my mind off fuel prices a day at the Rocks by Rail Museum is a great way to do this. More track levelling today again something going up - this time by the small platform outside the engine shed. This has sunk considerably so that rolling stock was leaning towards the platform. Using Betty the Sentinel locomotive to move the tool store vans and the Lowmac loaded with ballast into the adjacent track meant that the work was a bit easier but still involved shoveling and packing ballast.

The guys busy levelling and packing the track and the Lowmac wagon below with  a few tons of ballast on board.

Betty with todays work train.

The last tool van of the train dates back to 1910 with a wooden underframe having lasted well over 100 years. The state of the wood and the way it has weathered is a great example for modellers trying to get that weather beaten look.

Back at WMD HQ a small amount of progress on the T80 tank means that it is almost ready for the paint shop so once again something going up - this time going up in the list of jobs to do!

We are where we are 2!

We are where we are is what the people in the balloon that I spot whilst out on my bike ride this morning might have been saying. Completely at the mercy of the wind, their eventual destination somewhat of a mystery!  

For the model Scania 143H the final destination is a bit of a mystery. I had a plan to repair the damage to the decals and this was to use par of the Belgium number plates included in the kit which have a red boarder around them similar to the pinstriping on the truck. By cutting the red strip I could repair the missing parts.

This is what it looked like.

I am not sure! I am in a mind to strip the cab and repaint it and then perhaps find some alternate decals. I will put it to one side and see how I feel in a day or so. Sometimes you have to accept that what you have already done has to be sacrificed in order to get something that you are really satisfied with rather than keep something that you are never really going to be happy with. Stay tuned!

On the T80 tank model, a few more parts added so after many months of being left in the box because of the issue with the tracks it is at least making progress just like the balloon I saw this morning!

We are where we are!

We are where we are is a phrase that a great boss of mine used to sum up a situation. Pointless in moaning about the past and the best way forward was to take on todays problem not yesterdays! That is what I had to do with the Scania 143H model which yesterday had a few setbacks whilst I was trying to fit the front panel to the main cab. In brief the part did not quite fit so I tried to use masking tape to pull it into position. The tape did not do the job and pulled off part of the decals. Ouch!

In addition whilst trying to pull things around I managed to push the side windows in on both sides as well as break one of the side spoilers off. All the windows also got stained by a super glue accelerator that I sprayed on to get the glue to set. The decals will be hard to solve but I have a plan which will be reveled if it works or even if it doesn't!!!! Here at WMD HQ you get it warts and all! The windows have been polished and most of the staining is removed but they will never be super clear but hey ho! One of the windows is now back in and having shaved part of the interior parts down to enable the front panel to properly fit it is now in place. I need to wait until glue properly sets so this will be a repair in stages but hopefully the end result will pass muster from a distance! 

On the T80 tank the wheels have been painted green and now need the tyres painted in a rubber coloured paint . The exhaust and engine vent grill have also been fitted which is all positive progress. If that continues when I come to fit the tracks, which I had so many problems with as described last year, I will be grateful! So this is where I am today!

Sometimes things do not go according to plan!

I attempted to fit the front panel of the Scania 143H to the main cab today. Not all went well! I will go into details of the failure once I figure out how to rescue the issue but lets say the swear jar is bit fuller! These things happen and I have stepped away and will leave it for the moment and come back to it with a clearer mindset!

One thing did go according to plan though and that is the priming of some parts on the T80 tank which moves that previously well stalled project on a bit more.

A quiet day!

After the feverish activity of the last few days om reducing Mrs. Woody's 'To do list' I had a quiet day - mainly weeding the garden! Surprising how quick they grow! Unfortunately my reasoned and evidenced argument to Mrs. W that weeding is pointless as they will grow again has never worked so this is a job I will be coming back to! 

I did have a short time on the MiniArt T60 tank and added a few parts and got the wheels ready to be airbrushed.

I also had a quick look at the 0n30 rail bus and trailer that accompanied the loco in yesterdays post. Love the character and it is a stunning model. There is something that just draws me to these types of models! When I get a quiet day I will get round to building the layout for them!

Mirroring yesterday!

Today was a bit of a mirror of yesterday with the second curtain pole and curtains fitted. Bonus points for me from Mrs. Woody then! 

Add to that, the mirror that has laid in its packaging in the hall for the last three years has finally been unpacked and mounted on the wall. Much to my amazement I managed to put the hidden fixing screws in the right place first time! The swear jar feels neglected recently!

I should be truly basking in Mrs. W's admiration after this. However these positives probably only go someway to the countering the negatives that I have in abundance!

Modelling time has been limited and for no reason in particular the T80 tank has emerged back on the work bench. Maybe it is because it is manufactured by MiniArt a Ukrainian company who we all hope will somehow survive intact and safe as with everything else there and come back to the market in the future once the World gets to its senses and returns to some normality. I did manage to do a few bits of the photo etch parts and the large grill is bent to shape awaiting gluing in place.

Take 5.

There has been a bit of a gap since my last post dealing with other matters. A couple of friends of mine are going through some life changing issues at the moment and my thoughts and hopes are with them. 

It has been a case of Take 5 for me for the last few days in model making terms. For those wondering what Take 5 is it is a term that is used to tell someone to take a rest for a few minutes. There is also the Dave Brubeck jazz classic that is Take 5 here. 

I did, however, this evening do my own version of Take 5 by completing the build of 5 MiniArt Russian Tank crew members that came with T-80 tank kit. I don't just throw these posts together you know! They just need fettling now and painting.

As you can see they are resting in the shadow of the K5360 Mustang truck that still awaits finishing! What will get finished first? Think I will Take 5 whilst I figure that out!

Its never as finished as you think.

A busy day at WMD HQ with a major session of gardening and some model making slipped in just to ease the pain of the gardening. I feel as though its more like Autumn with the number of leaves down on the ground and if I hadn't of been working so hard and getting warm (hope Mrs Woody reads that part) I would have been exchanging the T shirt for a fleece!

Model wise the tyres for the Zvezda K 5350 Mustand truck were painted yesterday and the wheel rims were painted today. When painting small components I try to afix them to something so that they can be
airbrushed without getting finger prints on them.

In this case a spare piece of plywood with small lengths of masking tape attached so that the sticky side is facing up acted as the base. I keep the lengths of masking tape short as if you try to do one long length the air from the airbrush will get underneath ala Marilyn Monroe and the masking tape and whatever is attached to it will start flying about. A coat of black primer which will also act as the top coat was applied and the wheels along with a few other bits were left to dry before being given a coat of matt varnish.

I have tried many matt varnishes over the years, some successfully some not so leaving what is more like a sheen to the item sprayed. At the moment I am using a product from MIG called Lucky Matt Varnish and it is great. It is so matt you almost expect a black hole to appear when you apply it to something!

I saw it at a model railway exhibition if anyone remembers those. I almost didnt but it as it was about £7 but you do get a lot and it works. I will be using it again.

The K5350 chassis has aslos been primed. There are a couple of bits that I missed but given the complexities of all the nooks and crannies that is not surprising.

I primed the chassis because I thought I had finished the construction work on it. However as the title of the post suggests it wasn't! Looking through the sprues for a couple of parts yet to be fitted to the cab I noticed on Sprue G two parts left. I knew this sprue was mainly engine components so looked through the plans. After a short while the two parts were located on the plan and then attached to the model.

I think the above photo shows the two parts in question very well! It does make sense to check back on sprues and I never throw them away until the kit is fully complete just in case. If you are wondering, yes there is a sprue with the bell on the bridge of a model ship out there somewhere just not here!

On the T-85 tank the tracks are just about there!!!!! Yey! I will however delay any further celebrations until that model is finished as it is bound to throw up some more issues!

Tyred of the tracks of my year!

 A bit of a play on words but as I revealed a few posts ago I have recommenced the MiniArt T-80 Light Tank with trying to get the tracks together. Slowly they are coming together but I am getting tyred, sorry tired of them and it seems like it's been going on a year! Hopefully another one or two swear jar contributing sessions should see both sides finished. As you can see from the picture below one side is done and the other side two thirds or so finished. They are not the best of my modelling but so long as they stay together that is all I need. A good dose of heavy mud weathering should hide my incompetencies! I have found the best way to put these together is to get short runs of about six links together and then run some liquid cement along the top. Not a lot but just enough to go into the joints. Where the tracks have to bend around the drive wheel or rear road wheel I then join several shorter glued lengths whilst the joints between the tracks are still soft and bend the length around the wheel and use some tape to hold it in place. Left over night the tracks should hold their shape as can be seen from the photo below.

 Hopefully, what this means is that I can paint the tank body, wheels and tracks separately which will make that process a lot simpler - I hope! You will also see that three Russian tank crew have arrived to see how their DIY tank build is going. When I bought this kit the main selling points were the price and the inclusion of five figures. Two remain to be assembled but I have to admit to being quiet taken by these figures which are posed well, have good detail and go together easily - unlike the tracks. Whether my painting skills will do justice to them remains to be seen but I have undercoated one with some paint left over from painting the tyres (see there was a connection in the title to this post) of the Zvezda K5350 Mustang truck.

The tyres are molded in a shiny black vinyl which makes the tyres look as though they have undergone a full on valet and detailing. So far as I am aware, apart from the Red Square parade in Moscow, most Russian military vehicles are usually out in the field getting dirty and the tyres take on that grey look as the rubber weathers and oxidises. To recreate this effect I used Vallejo Air light grey with a few drops of German Grey from the same company and a few drops of thinner to enable it to be sprayed using my airbrush. Once dry a coat of matt varnish was sprayed on to seal the paint and give a base for weathering. 

I placed one of the yet to be painted wheels in the tyre center just to see how it looked and it looked good so I took a photograph. It was only when I came to edit that photo that I noticed two things.

Firstly is that despite cleaning up the wheels from where they were joined to the sprue I need to do a better job - you can see two spots on the wheel rim towards the bottom of the picture. Secondly there is a rotation arrow on the tyre pointing the direction in which it should face when placed on the vehicle. I would no doubt end up with tyres facing the wrong way had I not spotted that so always useful to look at what you are building through a picture. You will spot things that you never notice when you just look at the actual model with the naked eye.

Building big and little kits.

The WMD on the road tour continued today with a trip to Wollaton Hall near Nottingham. Mrs Woody wanted to see the T Rex exhibition where the first full T Rex skeleton (named Titus) to be shown in the UK since the early 1900s is on show. I told her I was not going to be compared to a dinosaur as she might not actually see any differences and they might not let me out thinking I am an exhibit! However we still went and it was very good and I was not detained. Had a long chat with one of the attending experts who had various facts at her fingertips that answered all my non-sensical questions. A look round the rest of the Hall saw us in The Salon, a room which was used as a set in the 2012 Bat Man film The Dark Knight Rises. 

Now this would make a classy modelling work area and you could hide away your kit and pretend things were tidy by pulling down the roller top.

We then had a look round the formal gardens with views across the very large park and lake where many families were enjoying a day out just like before the pandemic. There is even an archeological dig going on in the grounds (click here for details) where a gentleman explained to us all that was going on and we then drifted off onto the subject of the USA and their history at which point he revealed he had been a Sherriff's Deputy for some time in one state!   

Now to the building big kit part of this post. Without wishing to offend paleontologists (which means I am probably now on their most wanted list after another T Rex ) the World over, their craft has similarities to model making, just on a big scale! They in effect find a big kit of bones and then put them together to make their kit come alive. I have to admire them though as there are no plans, no painting guide and if a part is missing you can't just write off to the manufacturer asking for a replacement! Getting a replacement part is one thing I have been considering with my little kit build of the MiniArt T-80 Russian Light Tank. As you may recall the kit stalled back in April and part of the reason were the tracks. They fell apart in my hands and were a nightmare to assemble and I am still not sure if I have enough intact parts left to finish the necessary track lengths hence possibly writing to MiniArt. For some reason that I really have no idea of I pulled the box with the parts out last night and started again with the tracks. They are still a nightmare but I have made some progress. I think a little at a time is how I will proceed but this could all still end up in the never to be touched again pile of kits!