Viaduct progress and the price of shirts!

I should clarify that the price of shirts is not connected to the viaduct build I am currently doing. However given the current economic climate and the squeeze on the cost of living I was slightly taken aback by this 'offer' in Stamford today where Mrs. Woody and myself had lunch out and a look around the town today.

I have no doubt that the shirts are of a quality but just how many people can afford £120 for four?  Luckily my wardrobe does not need any further shirts, although, as Mrs. W would claim, most of my shirts could be from the costume department of an 1980s TV program, so my rather thin looking wallet remained shut! 

Anyway back in the sanctuary of the WMD HQ Man Cave, further work took place on the Metcalfe viaduct that is currently being built. The brick sheets have been added to the substructure. As with most Metcalfe kits the fit is good and the parts all went together easily.

The yellow card is a strengthener that goes inside the viaduct's piers.

One of the issues with a card kit is that the edges generally show the white of the card they are made of because the card is scored on the outside to enable a sharp edge to be created. Anything white tends to stick out on a model so the way to hide it is to use an artists pencil in a suitable brick colour and run it along the edges. The 'before' and 'after' photos below show the results.

With a bit of weathering later on those joints will all but disappear. Dropping what is built so far into the dropped baseboard gives me a better idea of how this will eventually look. I'm liking it - certainly more than I would 4 shirts for £120!

Good progress!

Some good progress on the T34/122 kit with all the wheels now prepared and ready for painting and work now focused on the upper hull.

Rapid progress perhaps reflects the relative simplicity of the kit but the details are there and present when you compare the hull to the Italeri and MiniArt kits I have previously built. This kit has more of the feel of a Tamiya kit where there is good detail but you don't need the skills and dexterity of a brain surgeon to build it. Hopefully I have not made my opinion too early on this kit and that it continues in the same vein as assembly moves on.

As an aside I was looking back on some photos I took yesterday whilst out with Mrs. Woody in Stamford, Lincolnshire. As modellers we sometimes get too focused and even obsessive on ensuring that everything is built in a straight line and is true and even. This is not always reflective of true life and I did spot this chimney on a building near to the town centre.

Its not the cameras focus. The chimney really is leaning that much. The pointing on the brickwork looks good so I can only assume that it is structurally safe but in a gale I would rather not be sleeping in the room directly below!

Unusual!

Mrs. Woody is off work for the next few days so we had a day in Stamford. The town is unusual in that it is a very historic town with much of its Georgian character retained to the extent that it is a sought after back drop to historical film and TV productions. However on our walk around some of the back streets I did come across this rather unusual road sign that dates back to the pre 1960s and should no longer be in place on the public highway. However it does now have that historic charm so it survives and rightly so in my view! Looks far more in character with the surroundings then the modern high visibility signs do.

On another unusual matter I managed a bit more on the Ryefield Models T34 122. The front panel to the hull along with its various tow hooks is in place and attention is now on the wheels. I have built a lot of tank kits over the years and it is always a fiddle to paint the rubber tyres on the wheels. However Ryefield have adopted an unusual way of moulding the wheel which I have not seen on other kits. The rubber tyre and steel wheel are separate items.

This means that I can paint the wheels and tyres seperately before gluing them together which will be so much easier. Something going easier for me? How unusual!

Although a bit fiddly to cut away cleanly from the sprue I have managed to get the parts ready for 10 of the 24 wheels. I might finish them by the weekend - that rate of progress would be unusual for me!