A wake, a book and dark yellow - a day in the life of Woody!

Unusually I had a day at the Rocks By Rail Museum today. The Museum closed for the day to host the wake of one of the members whose funeral it was. Unfortunately I did not know the member as he had succumbed to illness before I joined but he had made a big impact on the Museum over the years and it was obvious that his loss had affected those who did know him. It was great to see everyone come together to remember him and there was more laughter than tears which was a lovely way to remember someone. Although not knowing him I did assist with the catering and hosting duties which I hope went some way to making the day somewhat easier for his family and members to deal with. These sort of events always make me somewhat reflective and I do always have a sense of the preciousness of life and the need to live it to the full afterwards.

Anyway, enough of the philosophy! Whilst awaiting the arrival of the guests I did peruse the 'previously loved' book section in the cafe. Always interesting to see what is there and I did find this book on the Bicester Military Railway that I bought. Whilst I have known of this railway system for many years the only thing that Mrs. Woody knows about Bicester is the Retail Outlet Center where all the designer labels have shops. We did visit once and once only. My wallet was securely secreted on my person and my eyes wide open at the prices of things. There was the bargain handbag reduced from £12,000 to a mere £6,000 that Mrs. W had here eye on but I persuaded her that the colour did not suit her! The book was a much lesser price and will probably out last most handbags!

I will get round to reading it although I do have a pile of books that also await my availability to sit down and absorb their writing and illustrations.

Back at WMD HQ work on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma has continued with an overall application of the base colour of Tamiya Dark Yellow to the hull, turret and wheels. This was the main colour German vehicles were painted in during the later part of WW2. Just the underside of the hull and the other sides of the wheels left to do.

Crews then usually applied random patterns of dark green and red brown in order to camouflage the vehicle. Tamiya do all the paints required with the Dark Yellow being XF60, the Dark Green being XF61 and the Red Brown being XF64. Luckily the WMD HQ paint stores have all of those in stock!

Primed!

Although I am normally primed to do the chores on Mrs. Woody's list of jobs for me, primed in this case refers to the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Having prepared the various components yesterday, today saw them primed in my go to Vallejo black primer. Both sides of  the various small parts have been primed as well as the hull and turret.

 I am now primed to get some colour on it in the next few days - chore lists allowing!

Grass, repairs and paint - oh, and progress on the Puma!

Three things going on at Rocks by Rail Museum today. Me grass cutting and at lunch the mass of brain power of my fellow diners calculated I walked ten miles cutting the grass today! No wonder I had an apatite! 

Back at the tracks the recently restored Midland Brake Van is looking good in its grey paint making its two companions look a little shabby.

However in the workshop works on a quick make over on the Shark brake van continue with it beginning to look a lot more solid and tidy.

Andy performing magic with car body filler!

John looking bemused as to why I keep taking photos!

However you can tell the progress with the end nearest me still needing more work whilst the far end is almost finished.

Also being painted is Paul's loco buffer beams. The photos don't do the undercoat justice as it does look rather pink in true day light! Not what you expect on a diesel but Paul assures me that the top coat will be a full blown bright red!

Back in the comfort of the WMD HQ with my legs rested and energy levels topped up with a superb Mrs. Woody lasagna, I did my preparation for painting of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma with various parts attached to plywood strips using my favored masking tape ready to be airbrushed. The two figures have also been assembled.

And I am pleased to report that three days in the work bench is still looking clear!

Puma and bird table!

An odd title but starting with the Puma (which in this case is the tank not the large cat), today saw further progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. It is all the small bits that take the time to prepare and there are a few on this kit. The jack is an example/ Five parts go to make it all of which have to be cleaned up and then glued together. Add to that time, the time it also takes to find the parts that fall from my fingers onto the fall as I try to clean up joint lines (I made the right choice in having a hard floor rather then carpet - you can never find parts once they go in the pile of the carpet as I know from bitter experience!) and soon the jack becomes a 25 minute job. 

The exhaust units were also added to the rear of the hull which is the last of the major hull parts.

Here are the various cleaned up parts, most of which I will paint separately before adding them to the painted vehicle.

There are four wing markers and two aerials to add and the two figures that came with the kit to assemble and then it will be paint time.

Moving onto the bird table I did cover my restoration of it in this blog back in July 2021 (click here to see it). Unfortunately it was a victim of the recent building works. Not sure what happened to it but its roof ended up in pieces. Just hope the builders built a stronger roof then I did!

To gain some much needed credibility with Mrs. Woody and clear an eyesore from the garden I have repaired it and given it another coat of wood paint.

Mrs. W was suitably impressed although she did point out no birds had landed on it which after all is the purpose of the structure. She does have a point! However, landing birds or not, hopefully it will last for a few more years yet and no pumas will be seen on it!

Catching up on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma.

It seems as though someone has forgotten to tell the weather it is no longer Winter! Another day of cold wetness that made me think it was January not April. However at least it was relatively warm and certainly dry in the Man Cave where I was able to enjoy the delights of having a clear workbench. 

With space comes a desire to fill it so the half built Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma that I started at the beginning of the year (when the weather seemed to be equally wet and cold as now) came out of storage.

I had got to the stage of putting the jerry cans in their cradles and putting the etched brass straps on. I had actually completed one so there were another five to do.

I did use acrylic varnish to fasten the etched brass parts which as I have pointed out before can be used as an adhesive. You can see the size of some of the parts with one of the smaller ones highlighted by the red arrow. They can test your eyesight!

After a couple of hours the jerry cans are done and four of the tyres smoothed off at the join line. I will probably leave the jerry cans off and paint them separately for ease of  applying paint to both them and the hull of the Puma.

Anyone who thought my newly cleared workbench would not last more then a day I am afraid is proved wrong! However, tomorrow is another day where in the World of Woody anything can happen as Mrs. Woody will freely testify to!

Snow blind!

Although it is winter there is no snow but I still feel as though I have gone snow blind. The cause? Well actually painting the inside of the conservatory rebuild with 10lts of bright white paint! And it still needs another coat! The problem with fresh plaster is it drinks paint and despite following recommendations to use an initial water down coat, being white the coverage is not like any other colours where the paint covers better in fewer coats. So tomorrow will be more blindness and aching neck! The ironic thing is that the white is just temporary until Mrs. Woody decides upon another colour and then that will mean even more painting!

That pink plaster was quite a nice colour - in my view!

That ceiling takes some stretching to get to the top even on step ladders.

Whilst I was struggling along with this job these two decided a mid morning nap would be a good idea. 

I have to admit by that point I was tempted to join them!

However I carried on but did have 45 minutes off (hope Mrs. W isn't reading this) to do a bit on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Maybe it was the paint fumes but I tried my luck with the etched brass parts which are the straps for the various jerry cans the vehicle carried.

For anyone who has read my posts about building kits with etched parts, they will know I have a love hate relationship with them - the parts that is not the readers! I hate building them but usually love the results! Anyway I did not get much done - perhaps due to the snw blindness - but at least one of the six is built.

 The interesting thing in the photo above is you can see the etched parts are made by Italeri presumably supplied to Tamiya by them. Never knew Tamiya used other makers parts.

Now for that rest so I can finish the painting tomorrow. Wonder if I can claim snow blindness prevents me from seeing Mrs. W's list of jobs for me? 

I've been framed!

 

Yes I have been framed with the rebuilt conservatory now has window frames and indeed even windows! It even has the first fit electrics! Things are moving on with the plasterer coming tomorrow!

Back on the model front, progress with the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma has, as predicted, slowed down with the fitting of the smaller parts. This photo of the main parts left perhaps illustrates this better then I can describe.

However they are slowly being fitted like the lights, bumper and strap down points.

Thats a nicely framed photo!

Are they wings?

Some small progress with the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma which now has the, for want of a better term (and because I don't actually know what they are called), wings mounted to the body. Joining the upper and lower hull together was fairly straightforward with just a touch of filler needed in a couple of places. This allowed the wings to be mounted and now I am beginning to mount the various small details to the upper hull which is a slow process but needs to be done with care. It is now looking good - well in my view anyway!

Being a particularly cold day today much of my time has been spent as Tea Boy creating warming drinks for the builders doing the conservatory rebuild. I am hoping that it is either warmer tomorrow or they bring their own flasksof hot drinks therefore freeing up my time! Neither of those is likely to happen but whatever comes my way I will just wing it!

The Tiger lives!

Searching my memory and believe me that is not a great place to look for anything, I was trying to recall the last time my radio controlled Tiger tank actually was used. I am thinking at least 8 years ago. Given that length of time I thought that it was unlikely that the Ni-cad battery pack would take a charge. The transmitter on the other hand works on 8 AA batteries. Depending on the brand you buy that can be quite a costly exercise which if the Ni-cad battery didn't work would at this stage be a bit of a waste. 

Whilst pondering on this dilemma I transported Mrs. Woody to the delights of Aldi to pick up a few bits and whilst queuing at the checkout wondering why we had a trolley full when we only came in for some soup I noticed a pack of 10 AA batteries for £2.49. Now that is my sort of pricing! They went on the checkout belt lost in amongst Mrs. W's 'we could do with these' items.

Back at WMD HQ the batteries were fitted to the transmitter and I was pleased that the power light came on when switched on.

Getting into the tank itself was a mystery. I just could not remember but after a bit of poking, prodding and pulling access was gained. The original plastic chassis was replaced with an aftermarket metal one by me when the plastic cracked around the rear wheels. The tank itself has a number of features. The main gun fires 6mm BB pellets, it has engine and gun sounds and with the right oil the exhausts give out smoke. All this for a price of about £69 back in about 2008 (I think) which was great value at the time. 

With access to the insides I disconnected the battery from the tanks wiring and connected it to the charger. I left it for about 15 minutes then reconnected it in the vain hope that some life may be in it. Switch on transmitter, move joysticks and nothing. Then I remembered there is a on/off switch on the tank itself. Slid that across and suddenly the lights on the tank came on and moving the joysticks it moved with engine noises. Brilliant! I did manage to get the hull top back on and had a play test for about 5 minutes before the battery went flat. Hopefully with a full charge I should get about half an hour out of it. All in all a great result and something else to now waste time on according to Mrs. W!

A small amount of progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma with the interior seat bases painted a brown to simulate leather and the steering wheels painted black.

I was going to weather the interior but given that it will be all but invisible once the upper hull and turret are in place I am just going to leave as it is. Viewing through the open turret hatches will at least reveal a painted interior.

Getting bogged down!

Whilst the rebuild of the conservatory is now making progress the bad weather and the scale of the work means that Woody HQ is looking a bit like a recreation of the Somme back in WW1! There is mud everywhere and being in a clay area it clings and gets everywhere so literally I am bogged down as I move around especially getting to my Man Cave. Over the last two days the drainage for the roof of the conservatory has been put in which meant digging a trench down my so called lawn and digging a large soak away. This has added even more to the recreation of the battlefields of WW1!

Being so bogged down means model making activities have taken a hit so I was pleased to be able to negotiate the mud and trenches to grab an hour in the Man Cave. This allowed me to give the interior of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma got another coat of white as the first coat was a bit patchy and the Italeri SU-100 assault gun got its first coat of Russian Green. 

Trudging back inside I now have the job of cleaning up the mud that I managed to bring into the house or Mrs. Woody will not be pleased! Bogged down in more cleaning - great!

Light and dark.

I went out to the man cave with the intention of doing some airbrushing. The Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma needs its interior painting so I can glue the upper and lower hulls together before I can really move much further with this kit. The Italeri SU-100 assault gun needs to be painted as does the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier. 

The bad news first in that I did not have time to even show the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier the airbrush so that awaits attention on another day. However Mr. Airbrush did get some white paint on the interior parts of the Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Most armoured vehicles were and as far as I know still are painted white inside to try to bring some light to the interior darkness. With that done I can paint the seats and other parts and perhaps just add a quick bit of weathering. It is not as though the interior will be on full display - just what you will be able to see through the open turret hatches.

With that done I moved to the dark of the black primer for the eventual top coat on the SU-100 assault gun. I have done a post or two before on the advantages of a dark primer in painting armoured vehicles but basically it means that you can get a shadow effect and any parts that are missed with top coat do not stand out. The picture was taken with the vehicle looking a bit like a beached whale in the 'spray box'! However it should look OK for the next stage once it has dried over night.

Talking of light and dark brings me onto the conservatory rebuild. There has been further progress as this picture in the light illustrates.

And being desperate to get away from my catering skills (i think they are joking!) they are working into the dark to try to finish the brickwork so they do not have to come back tomorrow! Amazing how versatile a mobile phone is with its torch facility!

Positives!

A day of positives today - well I look at it that way! It did not rain, the wind died down, Mrs. Woody didn't want any jobs done today, the builders came and I made some more progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Not a great deal but I am being positive! The turret is just about complete which brings about a near finished look to the model. There are lots of little details to add yet which will take time and being positive, I am positive I will probably end up making a contribution to the WMD Swear Jar as I try to fit these especially those etched parts!

On the conservatory rebuild half a days work - well it is Sunday - saw two pillars finished. That's a  positive step forward. You have to love the temporary down pipe from the gutters - at least I hope it is temporary!

 Hopefully this day of positives will continue tomorrow. Then again......