It has been a busy and tiring couple of weeks what with Mrs. Woody's new wardrobe, desk and room painting tasks together with the inevitable sort out that such things lead to - four large bags and three boxes of things to go out! This together with several labour intensive but very satisfying days at the Rocks by Rail Museum mean that model making time has been limited.
I did manage to put together two jerry cans for the Egyptian T34 tank. Whilst other manufactures would have limited this to two kit parts, MiniArt managed to break them down to five parts! Not that exciting to look at but for a half hour it was just enough for me to walk out of my Man Cave afterwards with a sense of having at least done some modelling.
However I was thinking about model railways this morning whilst doing some of Mrs. W's jobs on her never ending list - just don't tell her my mind wandered from the task in hand! My mind was actually taken back to my childhood by a post of Phil Parkers blog this morning about the Triang Dock Shunter - click here. to see it.
I guess for those of a certain age there were certain things that as a child we really wanted but pocket money didn't extend that far and birthdays and Christmas brought other things. One of those things I really wanted was the Triang Dock Shunter. No idea why it figured so highly on my 'want' list but it did. Maybe it was the shape which was unlike real locomotives or maybe it was the working headlight. Whatever it was passing time put the desire to the back of my mind until about ten years ago when looking round the second hand model shop in Sheringham, Norfolk (anyone who has visited the town with an interest in models will know the shop) I saw one on the shelf at the back of the counter. Suddenly I was child again and the £20 price tag was affordable and seemed reasonanle to my adult wallet. A quick decision was made whilst Mrs. W was busy perusing the nearby handbag shop, that the shunter should come home with me and finally fulfill that reawakened childhood ambition.
Here it is on my terminus layout. It fully functions although it sounds as though it is chewing up the track when it runs but that headlight works! Still makes me so happy when I look at it and more so when it has a run. As Mrs. W reminds me, I am still a child at heart. You know what? She is probably right!
