Arial view.

 

Not much time for model making today. However I did mange to paint the road a lighter grey to match the roads on the other board. In addition I also airbrushed the edges of the road with a very misted coat of earth brown. Look at any road and the gutter will normally be stained with the mud and dirt that falls and washes off vehicles as they drive along. I was a bit heavier in the brown near the service station where the gravel and dirt of the forecourt would be drawn onto the road as vehicles pull off. I also did a little more on the cottage garden with a bit of hedge added and a few more shrubs in the flower bed. Don't ask me to identify the plants as I am no gardening expert and recreating individual plant varieties in 4mm scale is a step too far for me! It just looks nice and colourful!

A variety of things at the Rocks by Rail Museum.

As I have only been a volunteer at the Museum since October I am still learning how jobs and needs change with the time of year. At the moment with the Museum now open to the public the aesthetics of the Museum are important. The Museum may not be the grandest in the Country but that doesn't mean that you don't need to try to make what we have look at its best. Todays first job for me was to dead head the flowers in the various troughs and pots on the platform and then give them a good soaking as the dry weather is taking its toll. At least the place looks a bit brighter with some colour from the plants.

Having done that I then had to act as a spotter to make sure it was safe to move the locomotives for this weekends running session out of the shed and their fire boxes to be cleaned out and various parts of the running gear to be inspected and lubricated. 

This is another of the locomotives that will be running over the weekend - looks very clean.

Then it was down to some rust removal on a steam vacuum pipe that was on a work bench awaiting this job to be done. The angle grinder at least made this job easier than using a wire brush powered by elbow grease!

Someone will have a shock tomorrow as I tidied the work bench. It was just too messy for me to leave it without performing some form of organisation. I doubt it will be in that state when I nesxt look!

Last but possibly the most important job of the day was welcoming and having a chat with some of our guests. Always good to find out from people a little about where they have come from, their interests  and what they think of the museum as well as giving them some background on the exhibits and most importantly thanking them for visiting us. Without our guests there would be no museum! No doubt I will be also talking a lot on Monday when I am back for another operating day which always seems popular and attracts many visitors. My voice as well as my feet will be sore on Tuesday but it will be worth it! All part of the variety of things that go on at the Museum and I learn new things on every visit.

Fencing up and other matters!

A few things done in an hour of model making. The hut for platform has been painted as well as the lattice fence, both in Tamiya Deck Tan. Whilst there was some paint left in the airbrush I added some grey to it and diluted it a bit more and gave the wooden platform a light coat of the mixture to tone it down to a more worn and weathered look. The hut has had its roof painted grey and awaits some weathering as well as fitting of the fire buckets. 

The fence has been glued in place and requires a little straightening up once the glue grabs fully but i have added some creeping type plants on one side of the fence for the shop which looks a little more interesting. A few 'plants' have been added to the cottage garden next door so slowly the gardens take shape but still more to do. In the meantime real gardening gets in the way of model making bit at least the model lawn will never require cutting or the model flower beds weeding unless of course Mrs. Woody becomes involved!

Making fences.

For my 009 narrow gauge layout I need some fences. One set is needed to separate the path to the station from the main road from the adjoining gardens. I could have modelled a large brick wall or some high panel fence but in my Utopia World people are friendly and don't want to hide themselves away so they are happy with low type fences.

A sort through the scrap box when I was looking for the office I rescued a few weeks ago also found some suitable lattice type fencing that like the old office dates back to my childhood. Indeed there are still remnants of the Evostick glue I used to glue it in place on the layout I had at the time. I have no idea of the manufacturer or even if you can still get this type of fencing but it is just fine for what I want.

This fencing now has a new life although it did require shortening and I added a few additional posts cut from some scrap plasticard to make it look a little more sturdy.

Propping it in place it looks good - to me anyway!

It just needs painting - just like the fence on Mrs. Woody's list of jobs does, although the model fence will probably get its paint first!

Build Something Simple

I needed something to do model making wise that required little thought, was simple and quick to build. In addition I need some form of ticket office on the platform of the 009 narrow gauge layout. After all the passengers will need somewhere to purchase their tickets for the two minute circuit around the layout bringing them back to where they started. However they will not care so long as the train arrives and departs on time! That is the beauty of building your own World in model form. None of it has to make sense to anyone apart from yourself!

The kit of choice is the Wills SS22 Lamp Huts and Oil Drums which comes with two huts and four oil drums. 

Changing one of these to a ticket office requires no modifications so the parts for one hut were taken out of the kit so I have another hut available if needed.

The kit really does tick the simple and quick to build boxes. Just 6 parts make up the hut and another six the two drums. There are also a couple of fire buckets. It didn't take long to glue the parts together once separated from the sprues and the little hut and oil drums soon stood on my work bench ready for painting.

 

Trying it on the platform of the layout satisfied me that it should fit and achieve the look that I want - hopefully!!! A nice hour of modelling with something positive to show for it and all very simple - just like me as Mrs. Woody would say!

Something Finished!

 

Well after what seems like a long time - three months actually - the Italeri Scania 143 Streamline is complete! Not my best build but not my worse. Its been one of those kits where the early stages were good but getting into building the cab and problems started. Some my doing but others inherent problems in the kit. As with any kit build it adds to the experience library and there are things I would do differently if I built the kit again. However, for now it will be gently put on the shelf where it will no doubt drop parts and gather dust! Time now to finish the Scania 141LB! I better get back to the workshop and get that built but in the meantime a few pictures as I bask in having finished something....

 

New Stock!

A couple of deliveries for stock, discreetly delivered here at WMD HQ so that Mrs. Woody doesn't know about them unless she reads this!

Having built the T34/85 WW2 tank last year I was surprised to find that they had a later life with several armies including the Egyptian forces. Initially slightly upgraded but looking much the same as captured in the MiniArt kit that I now have.

Once they reached the end of their useful life the Egyptians used the chassis to mount a new 122mm howitzer in a larger turret in the late 1950's. They lasted into the 1970s. A Chinese kit producer, Ryefield, have produced a kit for this variant so I now have that. This will enable me to have a range of T34 tanks spanning the 1940's through to the 1970's which should be interesting.

For comparison.

Just hope Mrs.Woody doesn't read this........

A quietish time!

After a couple of busy days at the Rocks by Rail Museum culminating in yesterdays grass cutting adventures you would think I would have a quiet day. Well I did cut my own grass at WMD HQ but this afternoon was a bit of a quietish time. I did have a tidy up of my man cave and made a bit of space although Mrs. Woody probably would not be that impressed. Then I realised that I had not for some time actually run any trains. So the 009 narrow gauge layout was rejoined to clear the main tracks of the 00 gauge layout and I spent a nice hour or so just watching some trains like this 9F.

 

Joining the 009 narrow gauge layout together again gave me the opportunity to see the whole layout almost scenically nearly finished for the first time. Back in September 2021 it looked like this.

Now it looks like this.

I'm pleased with that progress! I just need to finish it!

Me allowed to drive something at Rocks by Rail Museum.

Yes I was today allowed to drive something at the Rocks by Rail Museum! Was it a steam or diesel locomotive? Was it an excavator? No - something a bit more within my skill range!

Yes! The lawn mower was in my charge today and it was great. It was something just to get lost in for a few hours and seeing the results after gives you a buzz of satisfaction.

I was cutting grass at the quarry end of the museum and believe it or not I have only been up at that end of the site twice before and the last time was in August of last year. So it was a bit like exploring the site again. I saw the drag line excavator.

The cab of the large walking drag line excavator Sundew.

The face excavator and stone hopper wagons.

It was great to see all these again and maybe one day I can drive one of these! However we all have to start somewhere so the lawn mower is my start!

Rocks by Rail Easter Weekend.

A fantastic Easter weekend for the Rocks by Rail Museum despite my assistance! It was a long day and starting at 9am and finishing at 6pm it was almost like a work day but in this case it was doing something I really enjoyed as did the other volunteers. There were a lot of visitors anxious to have a day out and see trains operating and we had two steam and two diesels running together with brake van rides and shunting displays. The drag line excavator at the quarry was also in operation. The only problem with being a volunteer at these events is that you do not get to see much of what is happening but you do make up for that with a sense of satisfaction when you see and hear peoples reactions to their visits. I hopefully will sleep well tonight but work goes on and back tomorrow for another day of manual labour! In the meantime I did grab a few photos as a record of what I did see.