Growing and cutting grass.

Today saw the WMD lawn mower withdrawn from its winter quarters. A check of the oil, some fresh petrol and the engine primed saw it start on the third attempt! Not bad and with the cutting blade set high the lawn looks a lot better. Mrs. W will be pleased - hopefully!

That was the cutting grass part and once completed meant I had the opportunity for an hour on the 009 narrow gauge layout where todays task was to grow some grass. I had previously 'graveled' the service station forecourt and last night I had given it a wash of some dilute greyish paint to tone it down a bit. Today I glued the chapel in place and used some card that I had given a wash of the same paint that I used on the gravel to manufacture some concrete slabs. Slab sized pieces were cut and then laid around the chapel to give an effect that they had been in place for a long time and had moved and vegetation was finding its way into the gaps.

With those in place it was time to get the grass growing with some static grass. Around the chapel I used some Peco 2mm Spring grass to give a representation of grass that got mown on occasions. At the back of the service station I used the same mix as around the river bank to give the impression of unkempt grass left to its own devices. I need to clean off the stray fibers from the chapel once the glue has fully dried and then add some further vegetation but the basics are there and I think looking good! I particularly like the grass in the joints between the slabs.

Using a sub-base means I can work on these at the comfort of my work bench which does make life easier.

Back on the layout and it is beginning to come to life.

Distraction complete!

Having been distracted into fully building the Wills Corrugated Chapel kit I can say that the distraction has been complete. The kit is finished and painted. A wash of diluted black paint similar to that I did on a barn kit build at the start of the year - click here  if you want to see more details - and fitting the chimney has taken the kit as far as I am going - for the moment at least! This is what it looks like.

Hopefully after this distraction I can get back to the main layout work and perhaps finishing the K5350 truck and then there is the T80 Light Tank, the five Russian tank crew, the My Last Great Project layout and mysteriously a canal barge kit has appeared on my work bench! Lots of other distractions!

Easily distracted!

I was only going to semi build the corrugated iron chapel for the 009 gauge layout but with a few minutes here and there I got distracted from other jobs and it ended up being primed and sprayed in green. A few more minutes saw the window frames painted white. Still more to do but this post is almost a bit like a wordless Wednesday as I have to go and finish Mrs. Woody's dinner which for reasons of self preservation I mustn't be distracted from!! I will let the picture do the talking - which makes a change from me talking so much!

Wriggly Tin and Fuel Free Cycling

As I am prone to do, an unusual title to this post but as the UK is still continuing the weekend activity of 'Find the Fuel' I was pleased to have completed 4520 miles on my bicycle this year so far - all fueled by me rather than any petrol or diesel! 

The wriggly tin part of the title is more to do with having built the Wills Corrugated Iron Chapel to join the other buildings so far placed on the 009 narrow gauge layout. Corrugated iron is nick named wriggly iron in many places and industries.

I have had this kit a while and it was bought for this layout and its is just iconic of the type of building that once was seen in most parts of the country. Corrugated iron may not be the most pleasing material to look at but it enables someone to get a weatherproof building up fairly quickly and without specialist tools. The fact that being inside of it during a rain storm is probably akin to being inside the snare drum of the late and genius drum legend Buddy Rich (and if you want to see the great man in action please click here) whilst he was doing a drum solo was just a small drawback!

The kit itself is well moulded and went together fairly easily - no swear jar moments with this kit! I just did one thing with the gutters which was to cut down the mounting piece as shown in the photo below. No one will see the modification but it just satisfies me for some unknown reason!

The finished kit is ready for paint although I have left the brick chimney parts loose to paint separately as well as the wooden door.

This now joins the other two buildings along with some sheds near the canal wharf but more about those another time. I now have to turn my skills to the culinary delights of preparing Mrs. Woodys dinner. BLT's! Mmmmmm! Just hope I don't over cook the bacon turning it into a corrugated disaster but with my cooking skills just about anything could happen! Mrs W wisely does have a good stock of indigestion tablets in stock - just in case they are needed for emergencies you understand but for some reason she seems to buy them every week! 

Anyway the layout is progressing so here is a picture of the buildings so far.