John makes an error but finds a novel way to sharpen his pencil - all at the jungle trail of the Rocks By Rail Museum!

The sound of woodworking greeted me as I passed the restoration shed at the Rocks By Rail Museum. John was repairing an old gate. 

He had cut half joints in the wood frame and was routing out holes for the cross pieces. However and never witnessed by me before, John had made an error! He had routed the holes for the cross pieces on the wrong side! He was also cross with himself!

However John soon showed one of his trade tricks to impress me as he sharpened his pencil to mark out the new holes for the gate in the right place using the grinder! Fantastic!

Meanwhile, Alex was spending yet another day chipping off cement gathered from Ketton No1's previous existence at the Ketton Cement Works. A seemingly endless task but he looks happy!

For me another day of battling undergrowth! This time on the Nature Trail where I have not been for a long time and I renamed it the Jungle Trail given that I had to beat a path through it! Certainly nature had taken over. A few before and after shots of what I was dealing with.

At least you can walk the trail now!

Having had enough of grass cutting I had some banners to put up on the way home for the next events at the Museum. Not to strenuous except I had to use my hedge cutter to cut the grass back which was hiding thr banners! 

Another YouTube video!

The WMD Film Crew have been busy this week with yet another YouTube video. This time it looks at what is available as 3D prints for the railway modeller and the costs, which, if you have read this blog before, you will know are fairly cheap!

For your viewing delight or insomnia cure......

Swing motion!

With the 3D printed diesel loco complete I am back to the 3D print crane which had been primed with a grey undercoat when I last posted about it on the blog. That undercoat was then given a red top coat. There are details to paint but the main colour is red so the details can be brush painted later. In the meantime I needed to build a small plinth on which the crane can stand and also allowing it to have that swing motion. Some scrap Wills brick sheet was a handy source for the walls.

The walls were cut from the sheet and a base added from some handy scrap plastic sheet to the square they formed. The crane had some plkastic rod added to the hole on the underside which is a fit into the bigger plastic rod located under the middle of the base.

This photo of it temporarily posed on the layout probably explains the theory better than my words!

Still detailing to do but it looks the business and will be posable with that swing motion!

3D printed diesel loco finished and on YouTube!

The 3D printed diesel loco is finished and working on the layout! Now if only I were that quick with Mrs. Woody's job list!

The windows have been glazed with Delux Glue and glaze and the chassis has been chipped!

 There is a YouTube video about it for your viewing pleasure or possible cure for insomnia!

Sleaford Model Railway Show

Mrs. Woody was insistent that I take her to the Sleaford Model Railway show on Staurday. Well that was in my dream but she did accompany me. A small one day show with some interesting layouts and some good traders some of whom benefitted from my wallets contents!

This 0 gauge narrow gauge layout, Salthaven Quay was particularly detailed. The interiors of most of the buildings had been modelled with incredible detail such as individual apples and bananas in the green grocers. The night time lighting was also unusual.

This 00 gauge layout that I didn't get the name of was a very detailed steel works with industrial locos moving steel products. 

There were other layouts but I am drawn to the small layouts and dioramas of which there were a few.

This 3 foot by 1 foot layout was for sale and no doubt most people could find space for it.

I was quite taken by this circular 00 and 009 gauge layout which was nicely done.

Probably the smallest layout at the show but it worked!

Some highly detailed dioramas which were worth a close look.

A pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

Time for a crane!

Cranes are always useful. You can use them to lift all manner of heavy items such as vehicles, crates or Mrs. Woody's latest internet shopping delivery! However WMD HQ does not have that many cranes and certainly not strong enough for the internet shopping lift but I do have one in stock for my 009 gauge layout Chalkdon. This is a 3D print that I picked up at the same time as the 3D printed diesel that I am building at the moment. That particular model has been matt varnished so whilst it dries I have started work on the crane.

This is what I got for £4 which is in my view excellent value.

Being a 3D print it needs some tiding up and that round and less than flat base needs to come off. My plan is to mount it on a small brick plinth and located it near the wharf on the layout reaching across the siding and over the water. That hole in the base should provide a pivot point for some rod so that the crane can be moved and posed.

3D prints can come in all sorts of plastic. This one is particularly hard so I used a saw to remove the bulk of the base and then sanded it smooth.

With some sanding to the other parts the crane is ready for an undercoat of paint - in this case Vallejo light grey as I think that the final top coat will be red or blue.

Some airbrushing saw the crane undercoated which needs to dry ready for top coat.

Now I better go and move Mrs. W's latest delivery into the house - wish I had a crane!

Lucky 7!

Things move on with the 3D printed diesel loco. A few days ago it looked factory fresh with a shiny coat of paint but that was not going to last for long! 

This loco is destined to be a worked hard and never cleaned piece of rolling stock. So out came the black and brown washes followed by some weathering powders. I also added its fleet number which is lucky 7! Not so lucky for this locos looks but it does add some character and robustness - just like me if you are reading this Mrs. Woody!

I still need to matt varnish it, add glazing and DCC chip the chassis but I could not resist seeing what it looked like on the layout.

I 

 I'm really pleased with that! I certainly had some luck with getting it to this stage though. Remember the abortive, botched orange paint job that I had to strip posted about a few days ago? Maybe all my locos should be numbered Lucky 7!

Stan the Mannequin

There's a new member at the Rocks By Rail Museum. Well actually Stan the Mannequin has been with the Museum for some time but he has now come out to be part of the Singapore display. Singapore is a loco that was captured by the Japanese when they invaded Singapore and having been brought back to the UK some years ago is now a national war memorial to those who served and were captured during the conflict. The uniform is a reproduction of the ones from that period and Stan is laying orchids which are the eastern version of the poppy for remembrance day. Being just round a corner he has already given a few pepole a bit of a shock as he does look lifelike!

David and Alex put together the display and a good job they did.

Meanwhile our first aid abilities have been improved with the addition of this somewhat aging stretcher!

When not doing displays Alex is still chiseling cement off various parts of Ketton No1 - an endless task!

Meanwhil John and Graham progress with getting Mr D opertional with more work in the cab.

It does still need a new floor!

However John has found the alternator and fitted it.

For me - more grass cutting - its a dirty job but someone has to do it! The rain certainly is making it grow!

Just that bit on the left to get back to some normality - I wonder if Stan would like to try some mowing!

 

Time for a tidy!

Every so often I get to the point when its time for a tidy up! I am not the World's most tidy modeller but I like to think all great artists produced masterpieces in the chaos of their studios and I might follow the same philosophy!

Anyway out of the above chaos some calm returns after an hour or so. 

 

How long will it last - that is a question that Mrs. Woody will no doubt pose! However I should at least have some order for a short while. Whether that improves my work flow is debatable!