Something finished!

 Yes I know I was working on finishing the DAF 95 Canvas truck but this sort of took over but I have finished it!!!!

Having yesterday created a sheet of in effect sandpaper for the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma to stand on I brought some life to it with some static grass and foliage to create a track with sparse greenery either side of it.

With that enjoyable experience out of the way it was time to add the model which I think looks good on this base but I am bias!

Nice to have something finished!

The sands of time mean a spare box is handy!

Following on from yesterday, when I probably unwisely announced I was going to finish off some of my outstanding projects in order to get rid of the boxes that contained the last few parts that these projects needed to be finished, I have actually ironically found a reason to have a spare box handy! Let me explain!

I was going to get the DAF 95 Canvas Truck completed but there were some parts to paint including the side under-run bars and the mounting parts for the windscreen visor. I painted these and left them to dry.

Finding something to do whilst the paint dry drew me to the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma model that just needed the wheel hubs fitting. I had left them off as I was going to do more weathering on it but I now think it looks fine. Most of my weathering is quite heavy so it makes a change to have a model that looks as though it may not have been through a mud bath! The hubs were fitted without major incident which was somewhat unusual as I did not even drop one of the hubs on the floor!

I then thought that it would be nice to mount it on a diorama base so as I had one of my saved styrene pizza bases to hand from another job it got cut to a rectangular shape.

A coat of black acrylic paint was applied which dried fairly quickly.

Then the play PVA glue was applied.

Onto which my favoured kiln dried sand  or the sands of time as I now call it because it's the same type as found in hour glasses, was scattered and this is where the spare box comes in handy! All the mess is contained in it and the surplus sand, once the glue dries, can be put back in its container for reuse!

Which, once all the base was covered I soaked the sand in dilute PVA using a syringe.

Then another layer of sand!

It just needs to dry fully now and should do as I sneaked it passed Mrs. Woody into the airing cupboard where hopefully she will not find it. If she does, she may well find having a spare box around is also handy for her, as she can use it to hit me with it! Aren't boxes great!

Coronation - a day to remember.

Well this was the first Coronation I have witnessed and although I may see one more in my lifetime I guess it is one of those unique moments in history - a day to remember. However, despite all the celebrations, the weather was unfortunately emulating what it did back in 1953 when the late Queen's Coronation took place and rained. The continued rain saw me seek shelter in the Man Cave where I spent a happy hour or so. 

The Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma had some more weathering added and the turret hatches added. The officer figure now has his binoculars added so looks a little less strange. There is still some more weathering to do but it is getting to where I want it to be.

Whilst I had my weathering head on I washed these sacks, crates and cable drums which I built a few weeks back with my dilute black wash to tone them down. These are for my narrow gauge layout Chalkdon.

Whether I will actually remember that I did these jobs on the day of the Coronation is open to debate but then I can always look back on this blog to remind me!

Dirt Time!

After yesterdays 'dressing the set' of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma, today was the start of 'Dirt Time'! I used my favoured application of diluted Vallejo Flat Earth paint to in effect give the parts of the vehicle a wash of paint. The theory is that there will be a general light coat of the paint that will tone down the existing paintwork giving it a weathered look and that it will also accumulate around the edges and corners giving the affect of dirt having gathered as in real life. It is a long process that requires patience which is something that I have learnt to develop, after many years of failures due to impatience! Luckily Mrs. Woody has also developed patience over the years waiting for the jobs to be done on her list for me to do! 

First thing to do was to disassemble the vehicle in order to be able to easily weather the parts.

The picture below shows just how effectively the wash tones down the starkness of fresh paint. The wheels and tyres will get two or three washes to build up the level of dirt.

The top of the hull and turret have had a first coat of wash. The underside will also get a wash as this is fairly visible  even with the wheels on.

Hopefully tomorrow will see some more 'Dirt Time' but I think it will be more likely to be 'Clean Time' if Mrs. W decides I need to do some cleaning!

Dressing the set!

Something they do on those make over TV shows where after a frantic session of building and painting the bare room is then dressed up with accessories to make it 'homely'. This of course is something this Mrs. Woody is never able to do as I never seem to manage to finish those make over jobs she has envisaged in her mind. 

I don't think you can make a military vehicle 'homely' but I did 'dress up' the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma today. All the various pre-painted tools and jerry cans were added using gloss varnish as an adhesive. It certainly brings the vehicle to life. In addition the two figures are nearly finished - the officer does need his binoculars adding. Normally I would have glued them to an ice cream wooden stick but I cannot find my stock and unfortunately the WMD HQ Chief Ice Cream Buyer (me!) has failed to have stocks of ice creams available to consume just for the stick of course! Oh well, they are on the shopping list! In the meantime I will complete painting the figures without the aid of the aforementioned stick.

The wheels still need attaching and the eight small discs on the masking tape are the hubs to fasten the wheels to the axel. In addition the two hatches have had their inside faces painted white before being attached to the turret.

Unlike those TV make over shows where the lucky recipients basked in the delights of a newly created and dressed pristine room, this vehicle, after its 'dressing' will suffer the onslaught of weathering but that is for another day.

Gardening, rusting, cute cats and a mauled toilet roll - welcome to a day in the life of Woody!

Nobody I believe can accuse me of not having a variety of things going on in my life. Mrs. Woody would like to see those things expanded to include more of the jobs she has lined up for me but as I tell her I have lots on! Today was a case in point. An early morning bike ride and a bit of cleaning house started the day before a bit of a gardening as the weather was good. What remains of my lawn (after the builders destroyed much of it at the start of the year) was cut and edges trimmed. The reseeded areas of lawn are beginning to grow to so hopefully before long the mud pit will all be green! A bit of greenhouse work saw lettuce, spinach and radish seedings planted out so those together with the tomato plants should see some salads on the menu - then again with my growing skills......

In the sanity(or should that be insanity?) of the Man Cave I did have an hour doing some rusting of the tools and jerry cans that I had painted for the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma over the past few days. I also did a bit more on painting the two figures.

For the rusting I used Vallejo rust paint applied with a sponge. The procedure is to did the sponge into the paint, then dab it off on a paper towel until very little is left on the sponge. Dabbing the sponge on the item to be rusted then leaves a random pattern of rust paint that should replicate what happens with rusting metal in real life.

Some two weeks after having had a clear up of my work bench I can say that it is surprisingly uncluttered!

Going back inside I found these two cute cats - a real Ying and Yang. 

How wonderfully incent I thought as I headed upstairs. That thought soon went out of my mind to be replaced by !!!!!!!! (cue contribution to the swear jar) as I found this mauled toilet roll that those two cuties had got off the holder and proceeded to destroy!

Now I need to get the hoover out - again! Just another day in the life of Woody!

It's a fair cop!

As I drove into the car park at Rocks By Rail I thought either the Police were visiting the Museum in connection with the vandalism over the bank holiday or, as Mrs. Woody would probably hypothesised, they had caught up with me! Much to Mrs. W's disappointment it was the former reason!

 There is not much they can do but, with all such matters, an individual incident can provide a piece of information that makes building a bigger picture a lot easier.

In the meantime it was a day of grass cutting for me but not before catching up with some projects going on.

In the exhibition center the Yorkshire loco DE5 that I have shown being rubbed down in preparation for a repaint is now in primer ready for its top coat.

In the workshop John was busy fixing the disabled access door to the brake van that is undergoing a quick makeover by, as he stated, disabling it! With John's skills it will no doubt soon be back in place and looking good.  

However behind him some rather chunky planks have arrived. Not for the brake van but another project that I was introduced to.

It might not look much bot under the dirt and vegetation is a solid wagon chassis that will be a three plank coal wagon once the wood has been cut to size and fitted for the floor and sides. John looks impressed that he has another project to under take!

One of the great things of being behind the scenes as a volunteer is that you do get to see things that you would be unlikely to unless you are involved in such things. A case in point are the springs for the buffers and coupler that I never knew how they were constructed - now I do!

Back at WMD HQ I continued painting parts of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma ready for fitting.

Anniversary!

Not much model making today as it is mine and Mrs. Woody's anniversary of her putting up with me for more years then both of us can recall! She does deserve a large medal!

Whilst she was still slumbering this morning I did go out for an early bike ride to bring my mileage for the first third of 2023 up to a measly 1107 miles which compared to the 1500ish of this time last year is not good! I had 779 miles in by the end of March but have averaged only just under 11 miles a day this month. I blame the weather! Even on this morning's ride after last nights heavy rain there was flooding on parts of the road where I have never seen flooding before. Maybe I should take up sailing?

I also manage a half hour and painted the tyres on one side of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this evening which makes it look even better.

Tomorrow sees me at the Rocks By Rail Museum volunteering as we carry out a quarry day of operation for our visitors so I am hoping for a dry day!

Decaled after visiting a country house!!

A coat of gloss varnish on the turret and parts of the hull of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this morning....

....allowed the application of decals this evening.

They do make a big visual difference to the model.

Obviously they will tone down when some weathering is applied. This will be done after the various small additional parts are fixed on and the tyres painted. The two figures, once painted should add a bit of interest and I suspect I will end up make a small diorama for them all to be posed on.

In between the varnishing and the decaling I did take Mrs. Woody out to visit Belton House as it was one of those rare things this year - a nice day! A National Trust property we have visited before but always good to see how we could have lived if our lottery numbers had ever come up!

I have made it clear to Mrs. W that there is no way that we can replicate this in our back garden! It is very nice though!

That building at the back would make a great Man Cave......

Camouflage.

A pleasant few hours applying some camouflage to the  Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this evening. I had finished painting the underside of the hull and the various other parts this morning in Dark Yellow and by this evening the hull was dry and ready for further painting.

First colour of camouflage to be applied was the Dark Green. Airbrushed on in random patterns just as the crew would have done on the real thing. They would probably have been neater though but there were, as far as I know, no defined painting patterns so it was for each crew to be crative.

Next up was the Red Brown which was again randomly applied.

I just need to tidy up some of the edges of the green and brown with a paint brush and then apply a coat of gloss varnish to allow for the application of the decals.