A reflective day.

My Mum, had she still been alive, would have been 92 today. Her Birthday and Mothers Day normally feel within days of each other. A visit to her grave and my Dad's today saw flowers laid on both but for my Mum both for her birthday and Mothers day and a time for reflection for me. I am not going to go into all sorts of details of my personal reflections other than my lessons in life have told me to be glad for health, life, friends and live each day as fully as you can  - oh and keep on model making no matter how bad that latest project goes! Yes! I can be philosophical on occasions!

Model making does offer that ability to escape into a World of your own making where you set the rules and create what you want - lovely! And on that note, I had an hour this evening progressing the T80 tank which now has its various tools painted and installed, the exhaust undercoated in a base of rust paint and  the decals that come with the kit applied to the turret. The tracks have also been given an airbrushing of black and now await some rusty type paint. I still think these tracks will be giving me problems (which they have done from when I started the kit last year) when I come to put them on the tank but on reflection the rest of the build has not been too bad. Maybe that break from building it has let me see it in a new light.

London double decker bus.

This morning it was a bike ride with good friend Mr. Beecham, he off modelling and cycling skills beyond mine! However my weight advantage still plays in my favour going downhill and as I said to Mr. B, he either needs to be more streamline or put some weight on to keep up with me downhill! However he did have the last laugh leaving me looking like an over sized load going up the hills! Going out with Mr. B always results in one of us finding something that we didn't know about. Today it was my turn to be surprised by finding out about two ex London Transport double decker buses in a farm yard in Leicestershire. I have cycled through the village on a regular basis but never knew about these hidden away down a back road but Mr. B did and guided me to a spot where I could at least see them from a distance.

We also had a look at the local church which was a fantastic building - again hidden away.

A bit more riding saw us at a suitable sausage cob selling establishment - delicious! Obviously the weather drew out a lot of cyclists and I have never seen so many cyclists in the area - they say cycling is the new golf!

Back at WMD HQ the T80 tank has received both a primer coat and top coat of paint which is making it look as though it might actually get finished! I do have a double decker bus kit in my stash of kits to build - today might have brought that up the list to be built!

Things going up!

As you may have noted from some of my recent posts the cost of fuel and its progression upwards at a local service station has caused me much interest. Whilst the Chancellor has announced a 5p reduction in the rate of fuel duty which taking VAT in account means a 6p per litre overall reduction in price the price at the local supplier this morning was this.

 I will be interested to see what it is next week!

Taking my mind off fuel prices a day at the Rocks by Rail Museum is a great way to do this. More track levelling today again something going up - this time by the small platform outside the engine shed. This has sunk considerably so that rolling stock was leaning towards the platform. Using Betty the Sentinel locomotive to move the tool store vans and the Lowmac loaded with ballast into the adjacent track meant that the work was a bit easier but still involved shoveling and packing ballast.

The guys busy levelling and packing the track and the Lowmac wagon below with  a few tons of ballast on board.

Betty with todays work train.

The last tool van of the train dates back to 1910 with a wooden underframe having lasted well over 100 years. The state of the wood and the way it has weathered is a great example for modellers trying to get that weather beaten look.

Back at WMD HQ a small amount of progress on the T80 tank means that it is almost ready for the paint shop so once again something going up - this time going up in the list of jobs to do!

We are where we are 2!

We are where we are is what the people in the balloon that I spot whilst out on my bike ride this morning might have been saying. Completely at the mercy of the wind, their eventual destination somewhat of a mystery!  

For the model Scania 143H the final destination is a bit of a mystery. I had a plan to repair the damage to the decals and this was to use par of the Belgium number plates included in the kit which have a red boarder around them similar to the pinstriping on the truck. By cutting the red strip I could repair the missing parts.

This is what it looked like.

I am not sure! I am in a mind to strip the cab and repaint it and then perhaps find some alternate decals. I will put it to one side and see how I feel in a day or so. Sometimes you have to accept that what you have already done has to be sacrificed in order to get something that you are really satisfied with rather than keep something that you are never really going to be happy with. Stay tuned!

On the T80 tank model, a few more parts added so after many months of being left in the box because of the issue with the tracks it is at least making progress just like the balloon I saw this morning!

We are where we are!

We are where we are is a phrase that a great boss of mine used to sum up a situation. Pointless in moaning about the past and the best way forward was to take on todays problem not yesterdays! That is what I had to do with the Scania 143H model which yesterday had a few setbacks whilst I was trying to fit the front panel to the main cab. In brief the part did not quite fit so I tried to use masking tape to pull it into position. The tape did not do the job and pulled off part of the decals. Ouch!

In addition whilst trying to pull things around I managed to push the side windows in on both sides as well as break one of the side spoilers off. All the windows also got stained by a super glue accelerator that I sprayed on to get the glue to set. The decals will be hard to solve but I have a plan which will be reveled if it works or even if it doesn't!!!! Here at WMD HQ you get it warts and all! The windows have been polished and most of the staining is removed but they will never be super clear but hey ho! One of the windows is now back in and having shaved part of the interior parts down to enable the front panel to properly fit it is now in place. I need to wait until glue properly sets so this will be a repair in stages but hopefully the end result will pass muster from a distance! 

On the T80 tank the wheels have been painted green and now need the tyres painted in a rubber coloured paint . The exhaust and engine vent grill have also been fitted which is all positive progress. If that continues when I come to fit the tracks, which I had so many problems with as described last year, I will be grateful! So this is where I am today!

Sometimes things do not go according to plan!

I attempted to fit the front panel of the Scania 143H to the main cab today. Not all went well! I will go into details of the failure once I figure out how to rescue the issue but lets say the swear jar is bit fuller! These things happen and I have stepped away and will leave it for the moment and come back to it with a clearer mindset!

One thing did go according to plan though and that is the priming of some parts on the T80 tank which moves that previously well stalled project on a bit more.

A quiet day!

After the feverish activity of the last few days om reducing Mrs. Woody's 'To do list' I had a quiet day - mainly weeding the garden! Surprising how quick they grow! Unfortunately my reasoned and evidenced argument to Mrs. W that weeding is pointless as they will grow again has never worked so this is a job I will be coming back to! 

I did have a short time on the MiniArt T60 tank and added a few parts and got the wheels ready to be airbrushed.

I also had a quick look at the 0n30 rail bus and trailer that accompanied the loco in yesterdays post. Love the character and it is a stunning model. There is something that just draws me to these types of models! When I get a quiet day I will get round to building the layout for them!

Hung out to dry!

Well if you are having to buy fuel for a vehicle you probably do feel as though you are hung out to dry! This mornings bike ride took me past the services where 12 days ago I took this picture of the price totem.

This morning it was now up to £1.869 a litre! I had to take the photo twice as my camera does not deal with the lighting in the figures very well - or maybe its just my camera skills?

Continuing on the theme of hung out to dry I gained a few more bonus points from Mrs. Woody by putting the new rotary drier up. This had only awaited installation for four weeks so I am getting well into the list of things to do - or maybe I am just going for the quick and easy jobs! No matter it soon started earning its living with some washing to dry which in the strong wind of today happened quickly.

Mrs. W even benefitted from lunch out today with a New York Deli sandwich from the nearly out of date cut price counter at the local CoOp! I know I am a cheapskate but at least we had a good view eating it.

 

Despite my new found energy to complete jobs  did have a chance to peruse an arrival for the WMD Railway Division. It is this rather nice 2-6-6-2 Bachman) 0n30 loco to join my existing small collection of such rolling stock. 0n30 is 0 gauge (7mm to the foot) stock running on 00 gauge track so it is a larger version of 009 which all gets very confusing! However the loco is a real cracker with DCC sound. I just need to build that layout for it and its friends to run on! I think that however could blow all my recently earned bonus points with Mrs. W though and get me hung out to dry on the new rotary drier!

Mirroring yesterday!

Today was a bit of a mirror of yesterday with the second curtain pole and curtains fitted. Bonus points for me from Mrs. Woody then! 

Add to that, the mirror that has laid in its packaging in the hall for the last three years has finally been unpacked and mounted on the wall. Much to my amazement I managed to put the hidden fixing screws in the right place first time! The swear jar feels neglected recently!

I should be truly basking in Mrs. W's admiration after this. However these positives probably only go someway to the countering the negatives that I have in abundance!

Modelling time has been limited and for no reason in particular the T80 tank has emerged back on the work bench. Maybe it is because it is manufactured by MiniArt a Ukrainian company who we all hope will somehow survive intact and safe as with everything else there and come back to the market in the future once the World gets to its senses and returns to some normality. I did manage to do a few bits of the photo etch parts and the large grill is bent to shape awaiting gluing in place.

Curtains for me!

Hopefully not curtains for me in a bad way but I have done a job on Mrs. Woody's 'To do list'! One new curtain pole and curtains are up! I might of got the other pole and curtains up if it had not been for a few problems! However problems always seem to go hand in hand with any project I do! Getting the old curtains down and the curtain rail were not a problem. Neither was marking out the position of the new fixings. However I should have taken note of my gut feeling that the supplied screws and raw plugs were not up to the job especially when I put a pair of heavy curtains on them. I therefore had to go back and undo what I had already done and then redo the fixings again with some heavier duty screws and raw plugs from the WMD HQ stores. However we got there so hopefully Mrs. W will be half impressed today and hopefully fully impressed tomorrow when the other pole and curtains go up. Hopefully the creases will fall out - I don't do ironing!

Hopefully now I know the weakness of the fixings, have my tools out and know what I am doing (really???) tomorrow should see the job complete in half the time!

Prior to the curtain escapades I did do a 22 mile bike ride which saw me pass over the bridge above Elton and Orston railway station. You may wonder what the significance of this station is? Well it is actually the second least used station in the Country with an average of 1.3 exits/entries a week and it only has two scheduled trains that stop a day! More details of that by clicking here and some history of the station by clicking here. I obviously passed at a special moment as two trains passed each other and I just managed to get a few of pictures of this and one of the trains disappearing towards Grantham. It would certainly make an interesting and simple model to build with no buildings and lots of trees. Do I have a glimmer of an idea for another project???? However it could well be curtains for me if Mrs. W suspects another of my projects in the making!