Butterfly activity!

I messaged Metcalfe Models yesterday (Sunday) and this morning at just after 9am I got a response saying they were sending the missing sheet of parts. Now that is service! So whilst I wait for this to arrive I have, in my usual butterfly manner of projects, moved to another couple of things that have been hanging about for a while.

Firstly the Heller Scania 144 LB needs the cab finishing. So today the decals for the doors were applied. 

I did have in the back of my mind a few months ago making the doors openable but whilst it is more than possible and I did start making hinges, I am not sure I have the patience to do it. So Plan B is that the doors will be closed! In the meantime once the decals harden the door will be given a coat of gloss varnish to seal and protect them. How far the cab gets after that is anyone's guess and I have no idea!

The other project is the Foden tipper which needed a second coat of paint on the tipper body and cab as well as the interior painting. 

The second coat has been applied and the interior painted in that 1970.s brown that was so popular in its day but from what I understand is now referred to as nappy brown! The seats and steering wheel will be painted black once the brown has dried.

I have no idea where my butterfly activity wil take me next but at least these projects have seen the light of day again and moved on even if only by a bit!

Missing parts!

A really wet and miserable day here in the UK. Woke up full of energy to do a whole list of things including some on Mrs. Woody's list and I think the weather just drained that so I ended up doing not a lot! Even those things I did do went wrong but I guess we all have days like that.

However, I did manage to build up enough enthusiasm to abandon the comfort of the sofa and Lara Croft on the TV to go out to the Man Cave where the day continued to go wrong. Picking up on the building of the Metcalfe viaduct kits I found that one of the sheets of parts is missing! I should have checked all was well when I opened the kit but as most of us do we take it for granted these days that everything is there. The missing part has the side wall to the viaduct so is fairly vital!

There should be four of these sheets and when the main brick wall is cut out two of them are glued to a sub structure box.

This then joins the arched section of the viaduct 

 Hopefully Metcalfe will be able to supply the missing sheet and I have messaged them so I should hear from them soon.

In the meantime and in light of so many things going wrong I think I will just call today a bit of a rest day! Just don't tell Mrs. Woody!

Filling that gap 2

With a bit of work today the arched structure of the second Metcalfe viaduct is built. This means that I can at least run trains without them disappearing into an abyss! More to be done to them yet but things have moved on in the last few days which is unusual for me! Maybe Mrs. Woody's list of jobs to do has not received the attention from me she believes it should, but I have put the time to good use on my to do list!

That gap needs filling!

Back at the Last Great Project layout the trains are running again but that gap in the baseboards where the dropped section is needs filling with the viaducts before I can go much further or a train decides to make a break for it and meets the floor. I have had trains do an Evil Knievel impression before but unlike the great showman those trains did not make a successful landing! So today the second viaduct has been started which will be side by side with the other. Having done the main structure on one viaduct the construction of the second moved on at twice the speed as I supposedly now knew what I was doing! How true that is, is open to some debate as Mrs. Woody would no doubt have a view. Anyway there is the substructure constructed with the underside brick work in place as well. I like the view I can now get of trains going over the viaduct and I am really looking forward to the final scene coming together.

The trains are running!

OK, it may not be all finished. In fact it is far from finished! However it is always a significant moment  and a boost to morale when the first trains run on a layout. In this case a couple of EWS Class 66s circled the layout on the two outer loops without hesitation, deviation or derailment which even surprised me especially given the precarious way I have supported the track over the dropped section of baseboard! Hopefully that will change in the not too ditant future.

Putting the track back.

Moving forward with My Last Great Project now that the baseboard frames are built and installed it is time to put the track back. The baseboard tops are not fully in place and some parts are missing but as they will need some cutting yet I am leaving them like that at the moment so I know where the track will be. 

The basic track plan is the same but there are some changes which mean that I will need to amend certain parts of the layout. For one thing it is a foot wider and secondly the dropped section means what was going to be my locomotive depot will have to move. So far I have only put the track back loosely to get the right pieces in the right places - or as near as I can remember! Luckily I did dismantle it with some thought about organising it so that I had some chance of getting it right! Working smarter not harder as I get older!

Viaduct progress and the price of shirts!

I should clarify that the price of shirts is not connected to the viaduct build I am currently doing. However given the current economic climate and the squeeze on the cost of living I was slightly taken aback by this 'offer' in Stamford today where Mrs. Woody and myself had lunch out and a look around the town today.

I have no doubt that the shirts are of a quality but just how many people can afford £120 for four?  Luckily my wardrobe does not need any further shirts, although, as Mrs. W would claim, most of my shirts could be from the costume department of an 1980s TV program, so my rather thin looking wallet remained shut! 

Anyway back in the sanctuary of the WMD HQ Man Cave, further work took place on the Metcalfe viaduct that is currently being built. The brick sheets have been added to the substructure. As with most Metcalfe kits the fit is good and the parts all went together easily.

The yellow card is a strengthener that goes inside the viaduct's piers.

One of the issues with a card kit is that the edges generally show the white of the card they are made of because the card is scored on the outside to enable a sharp edge to be created. Anything white tends to stick out on a model so the way to hide it is to use an artists pencil in a suitable brick colour and run it along the edges. The 'before' and 'after' photos below show the results.

With a bit of weathering later on those joints will all but disappear. Dropping what is built so far into the dropped baseboard gives me a better idea of how this will eventually look. I'm liking it - certainly more than I would 4 shirts for £120!

Building a viaduct.

Getting back to My Last Great Project I need to build a couple of viaducts to span the dropped area in one of the baseboards. I had decided to use kits to build these. I have to accept that life is too short to get involved in complex projects that I could actually get a better result from using a readily available kit rather than scratch building. The kits of choice for me in this case are cardboard and produced by Metcalfe.

I have built some of their kits before and always been impressed by the quality and ease of construction. Card kits may not be everyone's choice but with care and some weathering they can make really great structures.

The Metcalfe lit has a plain card core that is then covered with an outer sheeting of brick printed card.

Gluing the sub-structure together gives a strong and stable base for the rest of the kit. There are two of these two arch sections and then two end boxes that provide the approach to the arch section.

Having built the four sections it was time to see just how accurate or otherwise my baseboard frame measurements and construction were. To my utter surprise the various components slotted into the dropped section with no gaps or tightness! Unbelievable! Maybe I should have more faith in my abilities?

Flushed with success I started the job of cladding the sub-structure with the brickwork. This involved some thin printed card with a series of flaps that are glued to the sub-structure. All very clever and the pictures probably show it better then my words can describe it!

Hopefully some more progress tomorrow unless Mrs. Woody has other plans for my free time!

The curtain closes but what a show!

The final day of the season for the Rocks By Rail Museum today. The metaphorical curtains are now closed but our guests got a great show. Two steam engines and two diesels running, brake van rides, shunting wagons and excavators working all on a gloriously warm and sunny Autumn day. Wonderful!  

For me it was a different day too. I was up at the quarry end of the Museum working with the Shunter getting wagons coupled and uncoupled and changing the points. 

I got to know this point lever very well today!

All very different from my usual role but so very interesting and educational. I have to admit by the end of the day I was shattered. Good job Mrs. Woody had a lovely dinner prepared on my return!

A short video just to give a flavour of today.

5200 miles and putting a wagon back together.

5200 miles was the target I set at the beginning of the year for the distance I was going to cycle this year. It is mid October and I clocked that mileage up today well actually 5201. That leaves me with about 11 weeks before the end of the year - that is frightening in itself as to where three quarters of the year has gone and no doubt someone will tell me how many days to Christmas before to long! So I could simply put the bike away and have a restful and warm time staying inside until 2023 when I start cycling again. Or, I could stretch myself and try to break last years total of 5544 miles. Or I could actually do something a bit more stretching and go for 6000 miles. Despite the attractions of the first two options the Woody mind (and remember according to Mrs. Woody that is a strange place!) has decided to go for 6000 miles by the end of this year. So I have 799 miles to do which is not that much when the weather is warm and the winds light but as Winter approaches and the temperature drops and the winds rise, getting out becomes at my age harder! So it will be a good challenge! 

Meanwhile back in the warmth of WMD HQ I had to deal with a victim of my recent Man Cave upheaval. It is almost inevitable when you do such work that something will get damaged. In my case I was pleased that all that has been damaged is one wagon that fell off the USA switching layout. The strange thing is that it actually did not really break. It just broke into component parts which was very lucky! It was even luckier that I found the two pins that hold the bogies to the base.

The parts literally just clipped back together.

Until it was a complete wagon again. I took the opportunity to give it a bit of a clean as well and the dirty cotton buds in the picture below shows it did need it.

Back on the layout looking slightly better than before its accident! Having cleaned it I guess I should really weather it to make it look dirty again!