More eating out for Mrs. Woody and more signal box building for me!

Mrs. Woody and me went to Skegness today. It has been about 6 weeks since we last went but what a difference. Back at the beginning of September the place was still packed with visitors but today we and a handful of other people were the only ones about. 

Mrs. W did get to eat out again but after the luxurious afternoon tea of yesterday it was a Dominos pizza eaten in the car followed by an ice-cream whilst having a walk along the beach. 

It was actually quite warm today with the temperature at 16C which for mid October is good! A walk back along the main road saw us pass the local theater where this somewhat interesting musical is being performer - could be interesting! 

Back in the non-musical calm of WMD HQ a bit more signal box construction has taken place. This is about as far as I can go at the moment and I need to get some paint on parts. I have left certain sections lose so they can be painted separately which should make the job easier - hopefully!

Placing the bridge and signal box into their respective locations on the layout is giving an idea of the eventual scene. 

I like it!

Well, tomorrow Mrs. W gets to eat out yet again! Can my wallet stand this strain???? Find out tomorrow!

A day at the seaside and that is a strange looking tool!

The past few days have been a bit of an extended birthday holiday for me with quite a few trips out with Mrs. Woody but little time for model making. Things return to the more hum drum tomorrow but we did have a great day out today at the seaside at Skegness or as it is sometimes known Skeg Vegas!

Whilst it may not be Las Vagas it was certainly hot and sunny today and this is September in the UK!

Hot weather calls for ice-cream which was enjoyed by both Mrs. W and me but I have never seen dog ice-cream before now!

Before heading back to WMD HQ we came across this small classic car show. A real mixture with an old Austin and a more modern Porsche at either end of the spectrum! Nice to see though although I think Mrs. W thought I had spent too much time looking!

I did have time to have venture out to the Man Cave and unpack this rather strange looking tool which was a birthday present to myself

The description on the packaging gives it away but this is something I have been meaning to buy for some while now. For anyone reading my posts on building military vehicles they will have gathered I have a love hate relationship with etched parts for these kits. On the one hand they can look very fine and detailed but in the other they are incredibly difficult to bend to the right shapes. This tool should make that easier.

The light grey part is held to the darker coloured base by the black knob. The light grey part has various cut outs and shaped 'fingers' that allow the etched brass parts to be held firm at the point where they are to be bent once inserted between the light grey part and the base - the black knob tightens the two together. The white coloured parts are thin plastic shims that slip under the fastened etch part and enable the part to be levered up so that it bends. 

Probably not the best description of how it is used so when I use it for real, rather then just posing some etched parts at the side of it, I will photo the process. 

The photo below just shows that the top part of the tool can be rotated four ways making it very versatile. 

There are some etched parts on the Panzer Ferry that will need bending so this tool may well be seeing action soon!

WMD goes to the seaside and has a time travelling moment!

With the news full of doom and gloom and will anyone get sacked in the Government Mrs. Woody decided she wanted a trip to the seaside to get away from it all and knowing my place I was not arguing! We ended up at Skegness. If you have been there you will have your own views about the place but one thing you cannot argue with is that it is by the sea even if that is a long way off if the tide is out as it was today! Being at the seaside Mrs. W had to walk on the beach although I noted her shoes stayed on so she didn't get that sand between the toes. Mind you although it was a warm and sunnyish day for October I don't think atmospheric conditions were quite right for bare footing it. 

The local gulls did not seem that impressed with either us or the apparent tractor tyre doughnuts in the sand - remember this is agricultural Lincolnshire where tractors rule!

Off shore there is a large wind farm which I guess is how much of the view out to sea will look over the next few years

In contrast to this new technology what remains of the once 1,844 ft (562 m) long pier provides a taste of the old historic Skegness. Much of it was destroyed in a bad storm in 1978 and like most piers in this Country the money was never there to rebuild.

Although the sea front is full of amusement arcades and parks at this time of year they take on an almost apocalyptical atmosphere as they shut down for the Winter.

Despite the almost apocalyptical atmosphere there were still open topped buses offering a tour around the town although why is a question I probably will never find an answer to!

One thing you have to recognise is that Skegness knows how to look after our canine friends as this Dog Bar illustrates!

Having had a pizza lunch and bought some cheese for dinner (how I ended up buying cheese at the seaside is another unanswerable question!) we headed home along some back roads which became a time travelling moment - literally! We ended up following these two USA WW2 jeeps with the drivers in full GI uniforms and a large gun mounted on one of the vehicles going through the small backwater villages and countryside which probably has changed little in the 70 years or so since the war. Was I in the early 1940's? Well any illusion of being there was shattered by Mrs. W wanting to know if we should get a French stick to go with the cheese!

 Need to see if I have a kit for a jeep in my collection of unmade models and if not why not!