What have Cornflakes to do with model making you may well be asking. Well the Cornflakes themselves are a delicious breakfast cereal or indeed any other time of the day snack but for me the box has uses other than containing the aforementioned cereal. A source of cardboard which in my more impoverished days of model making served as a raw material for making buildings. Today I tend to use mounting card which a £2 a sheet - well it was the last time I bought some last year but has probably gone up since then - provides a good quality card. However where the card is sacrificial in a project I still turn to the likes of a Cornflakes box - a nice 1kg one is nice and large. Good job I like these cereals!
In my case I have moved on with My Last Great Project layout to start to build the valley sides on the dropped section of baseboard. Polystyrene is my choice of infill material and I have a couple of sheets of it as outlined yesterday. This will be covered with a mix of wall filler and paper towel but first I need to get it to near enough the right shape. Having thought about this and in line with my 'Working smarter not harder' philosophy I decided that it would be useful to make a templet of the valley sides which would enable me to cut the sheets to the right shape. Given the mess that cutting polystyrene can make with all those spheres through the wonders of static electricity, attaching themselves to anything nearby namely me (must be my electric personality or as Mrs. Woody would say more likely to my static personality!) minimising cutting means less mess.
Templets were made and the first polystyrene profiles cut.
Although I am only about a third of the way through the cutting process the mess was reasonably minimal.
Although only part way through things are beginning to take shape. I will need to infill the arches with smaller profiles.
With continually lifing the track it has come out of alignment but once all the landscaping is done I will put it back as it should be ready for ballasting - that is some time off yet though!
With my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout being built in sections (I discussed the reasons why back in my post on the 18 March 2021 available here ) I need to have a way to ensure that the joins at the four baseboards and level and flat. Fairly easy for three of them. I can just bolt them together. For the dropped section though is little more difficult as I need to be able to lift it out for when my body can no longer duck under it to gain access to the middle of the layout. In other words as Mrs. Woody would say I need to future proof for when I get old and decrepit although in her view I am already there!
My mind has mulled on various solutions to ensure that the board is held fast in both vertical and horizontal planes. All sorts of complex solutions went through my mind but eventually the simplest solution came to the fore. Screws and slots!
I used some G clamps to get the board level with its neighboughs and then drilled tow holes through the end boards at each end. Screws were fastened in that went through to the neighboring board as arrowed in the photo below.
Much as Mrs. Woody would like to see me cut back on spending this cutting back relates to my day at The Rocks By Rail Museum. Following on from last week my battles with nature continued as I cut back more bushes and hedges that have narrowed some paths. Slowly I am winning the battle although it will grow back next year but that is something for Future Woody to deal with. I don't envy that guy!
In my inevitable way before and after photos show my vegetation butchery!
Meanwhile in the restoration shed where I visited whilst it was raining, Rob was tackling the broken step on Harriot the JCB. I have no idea where the name originates from but it sort of suits this JCB! Much rust cut back, much new metal, welding and grinding are taking place so the new step will probably outlast the rest of Harriot!
Back at WMD HQ I have managed to do a bit more on the Metcalfe Viaduct kits and one now has the basic parapets in place. I need to do some fettling before adding the various coping stones but it is looking good!
After this busy day I won't be cutting back on my dinner tonight although I do have to cook it!
The Metcalfe viaduct now has a track bed. Yesterday I sealed the underside of the track bed pieces with a sanding sealer which waterproofs the cardboard. Today I did the upper side just to make sure it really is all sealed. Once dry it was time to fasten the various sheets to the main structure of the viaduct. There were one or two places where joins needed a bit of reinforcing with scrap cardboard.
Once the sheets were glued in place things looked a lot better. These may only be small steps but at least this project is moving forward.
Next stage is to get the various parapets and coping stones in place. In my tidying and sorting of the garage (hope you read that Mrs. Woody!) I did uncover these polystyrene sheets which I saved from a delivery of something or other which Mrs. W no doubt ordered! However it should be good to create some landscape around the viaduct when I get to that stage.
I must admit to feeling shattered today so I will be looking forward to putting myself in bed tonight!
It was cold this morning - very cold as my kneecaps can testify as I cycled this morning. However I was warmed by the fact that my total mileage for this year so far has ended up at 5556 miles which is a record for me in my later years of life. Not done that kind of mileage since the times I could get out of bed without creaking! Last years grand total was 5544 so with eight weeks of the year left I may, health and weather allowing, get to 6000 miles which would be a record I would like to get to.
Back in the relative warmth of the WMD HQ I had an hour or so doing some more on the viaducts for my 00 gauge Last Great Project. I have now managed to finish the various parapet wall sections that go either side of the main structure. A bit of a boring and repetitive job but it is now at least done.
I also had a look at the track bases for the viaduct. The track will be ballasted once I get to that stage so there will be diluted PVA glue used. This is great for gluing ballast down but not so good for cardboard which can turn a rather soggy mess. Trying to think ahead, which is alien to me in most cases, I need to seal the surface of the track base. I used the sanding sealer that I used for the balsa canal boats that I built for my 009 narrow gauge layout (which is still undergoing construction). This should at least act as a waterproof coating keeping the viaduct from ending up as a water infested collapsed cardboard hulk! That is the theory at least.
The various parts awaiting the next stage of construction. I will however have to paint the other side of the track base to ensure they are fully sealed and waterproof.
Today I took Mrs. Woody for a day out to the Spalding Model Railway Exhibition! Not sure if she knew she was going but she went and as I highlighted to her she could not only enjoy my company and the show but also see first hand how little I would spend there!
The exhibition was brilliant. Some really good layouts, good selection of traders all well laid out and lots of people talking and chatting, including me. I had not realised until I thanked a member of the club on the way out that this was the Spalding's club first exhibition since the pandemic.
Layout wise I will highlight a few from the many there - they were all great but some had those little things that make you think WOW!
Firstly is this layout called Kozel and based on a cement works in Czechoslovakia. I really showed my skills of observation when I asked the operator on which country the layout was based. He said Czechoslovakia and then highlighted the large Czech flag on the front of the layout which you can see in the photo below. Oh well sometimes you just don't see these things!
What I did observe though was the inside of this office building. Superbly modelled with office staff at desks and filing cabinets and although I thought I had seen it all in the model railway world I was about to be further educated. In this building even the computer monitors were illuminated! You can just about make them out in the photo below on the top floor left hand office. A brilliant touch and one I have never seen before. .
The owner even sculpts and casts his own figures of which there are many on the layout. back in those days labour was cheap and the work hard.
Modelling of this type really captures the atmosphere of the time being portrayed. It takes skill to make and compose all the elements in scenes such as this.
Moving forward in time to the 1970s this rather large but equally atmospheric layout 0 gauge layout called Netherwood played on the griminess of that period on the railways. It was a time when the Country was going through economic problems and there was no money to modernise or maintain the railways.
All that detail is possible in 0 gauge and the layout looks fantastic.
However there is a price to pay - the space needed. This photo of the fiddle yard shows just how much space is needed for a layout depicting longish trains. It has to be at least 30 foot long by 15 across. Nice if you have the space.
Talking of space no model railway exhibition is complete without a Darlek or two. Mrs. Woody found this one hiding in a station building.
I could go on about the layouts and fill this blog with lots of pictures but I will leave it there and conclude by saying that Mrs. Woody did admit to being impressed! As to my spending? Well lets just say that my wallet is somewhat thinner than I intended it to be which didn't really impress Mrs. W but as I said to her my company for her today is priceless although deep down I know it is going to cost me!
After cutting my profile boards yesterday they got a coat of grey paint - much of my life is grey as Mrs. Woody says! I attached them to the baseboard frame with some self tapping zinc screws which contrasted well with the grey paint. Even model railways can be fashionable unlike my wardrobe.
The only thing about this is that it makes the rest of the layout standout as needing more work! Oh well plenty to keep me going then!
