Gardening, rusting, cute cats and a mauled toilet roll - welcome to a day in the life of Woody!

Nobody I believe can accuse me of not having a variety of things going on in my life. Mrs. Woody would like to see those things expanded to include more of the jobs she has lined up for me but as I tell her I have lots on! Today was a case in point. An early morning bike ride and a bit of cleaning house started the day before a bit of a gardening as the weather was good. What remains of my lawn (after the builders destroyed much of it at the start of the year) was cut and edges trimmed. The reseeded areas of lawn are beginning to grow to so hopefully before long the mud pit will all be green! A bit of greenhouse work saw lettuce, spinach and radish seedings planted out so those together with the tomato plants should see some salads on the menu - then again with my growing skills......

In the sanity(or should that be insanity?) of the Man Cave I did have an hour doing some rusting of the tools and jerry cans that I had painted for the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma over the past few days. I also did a bit more on painting the two figures.

For the rusting I used Vallejo rust paint applied with a sponge. The procedure is to did the sponge into the paint, then dab it off on a paper towel until very little is left on the sponge. Dabbing the sponge on the item to be rusted then leaves a random pattern of rust paint that should replicate what happens with rusting metal in real life.

Some two weeks after having had a clear up of my work bench I can say that it is surprisingly uncluttered!

Going back inside I found these two cute cats - a real Ying and Yang. 

How wonderfully incent I thought as I headed upstairs. That thought soon went out of my mind to be replaced by !!!!!!!! (cue contribution to the swear jar) as I found this mauled toilet roll that those two cuties had got off the holder and proceeded to destroy!

Now I need to get the hoover out - again! Just another day in the life of Woody!

It's a fair cop!

As I drove into the car park at Rocks By Rail I thought either the Police were visiting the Museum in connection with the vandalism over the bank holiday or, as Mrs. Woody would probably hypothesised, they had caught up with me! Much to Mrs. W's disappointment it was the former reason!

 There is not much they can do but, with all such matters, an individual incident can provide a piece of information that makes building a bigger picture a lot easier.

In the meantime it was a day of grass cutting for me but not before catching up with some projects going on.

In the exhibition center the Yorkshire loco DE5 that I have shown being rubbed down in preparation for a repaint is now in primer ready for its top coat.

In the workshop John was busy fixing the disabled access door to the brake van that is undergoing a quick makeover by, as he stated, disabling it! With John's skills it will no doubt soon be back in place and looking good.  

However behind him some rather chunky planks have arrived. Not for the brake van but another project that I was introduced to.

It might not look much bot under the dirt and vegetation is a solid wagon chassis that will be a three plank coal wagon once the wood has been cut to size and fitted for the floor and sides. John looks impressed that he has another project to under take!

One of the great things of being behind the scenes as a volunteer is that you do get to see things that you would be unlikely to unless you are involved in such things. A case in point are the springs for the buffers and coupler that I never knew how they were constructed - now I do!

Back at WMD HQ I continued painting parts of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma ready for fitting.

May Day Misdemeanors at the Museum!

Todays Quarry Day at the Rocks By Rail Museum was a success but somewhat dampened for the volunteers by the fact that vandals had visited overnight and their misdemeanors were concentrated on window smashing of the various excavators and excavator cabs that we have. Unfortunately the face shovel excavator was that badly damaged that it was inoperable. 

Why did someone do this? Who knows? It is upsetting, costly and difficult to deal with getting repairs on machinery decades old. However this didn't stop the visitors having a great day with both the quarry still operating which was where I was based as Shunter...

 

as well as brake van rides behind a steam engine.

.The Shark brake van that was undergoing a rapid makeover last week was looking good out in the fresh air.

Last week the buffer beams on this Yorkshire loco were in primer but now looked stunning witha fresh coat of gloss red.

Back tomorrow to probably cut more grass but hopefully I will not ne seeing any more misdemeanors!

 

Anniversary!

Not much model making today as it is mine and Mrs. Woody's anniversary of her putting up with me for more years then both of us can recall! She does deserve a large medal!

Whilst she was still slumbering this morning I did go out for an early bike ride to bring my mileage for the first third of 2023 up to a measly 1107 miles which compared to the 1500ish of this time last year is not good! I had 779 miles in by the end of March but have averaged only just under 11 miles a day this month. I blame the weather! Even on this morning's ride after last nights heavy rain there was flooding on parts of the road where I have never seen flooding before. Maybe I should take up sailing?

I also manage a half hour and painted the tyres on one side of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this evening which makes it look even better.

Tomorrow sees me at the Rocks By Rail Museum volunteering as we carry out a quarry day of operation for our visitors so I am hoping for a dry day!

Decaled after visiting a country house!!

A coat of gloss varnish on the turret and parts of the hull of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this morning....

....allowed the application of decals this evening.

They do make a big visual difference to the model.

Obviously they will tone down when some weathering is applied. This will be done after the various small additional parts are fixed on and the tyres painted. The two figures, once painted should add a bit of interest and I suspect I will end up make a small diorama for them all to be posed on.

In between the varnishing and the decaling I did take Mrs. Woody out to visit Belton House as it was one of those rare things this year - a nice day! A National Trust property we have visited before but always good to see how we could have lived if our lottery numbers had ever come up!

I have made it clear to Mrs. W that there is no way that we can replicate this in our back garden! It is very nice though!

That building at the back would make a great Man Cave......

Camouflage.

A pleasant few hours applying some camouflage to the  Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma this evening. I had finished painting the underside of the hull and the various other parts this morning in Dark Yellow and by this evening the hull was dry and ready for further painting.

First colour of camouflage to be applied was the Dark Green. Airbrushed on in random patterns just as the crew would have done on the real thing. They would probably have been neater though but there were, as far as I know, no defined painting patterns so it was for each crew to be crative.

Next up was the Red Brown which was again randomly applied.

I just need to tidy up some of the edges of the green and brown with a paint brush and then apply a coat of gloss varnish to allow for the application of the decals.

A wake, a book and dark yellow - a day in the life of Woody!

Unusually I had a day at the Rocks By Rail Museum today. The Museum closed for the day to host the wake of one of the members whose funeral it was. Unfortunately I did not know the member as he had succumbed to illness before I joined but he had made a big impact on the Museum over the years and it was obvious that his loss had affected those who did know him. It was great to see everyone come together to remember him and there was more laughter than tears which was a lovely way to remember someone. Although not knowing him I did assist with the catering and hosting duties which I hope went some way to making the day somewhat easier for his family and members to deal with. These sort of events always make me somewhat reflective and I do always have a sense of the preciousness of life and the need to live it to the full afterwards.

Anyway, enough of the philosophy! Whilst awaiting the arrival of the guests I did peruse the 'previously loved' book section in the cafe. Always interesting to see what is there and I did find this book on the Bicester Military Railway that I bought. Whilst I have known of this railway system for many years the only thing that Mrs. Woody knows about Bicester is the Retail Outlet Center where all the designer labels have shops. We did visit once and once only. My wallet was securely secreted on my person and my eyes wide open at the prices of things. There was the bargain handbag reduced from £12,000 to a mere £6,000 that Mrs. W had here eye on but I persuaded her that the colour did not suit her! The book was a much lesser price and will probably out last most handbags!

I will get round to reading it although I do have a pile of books that also await my availability to sit down and absorb their writing and illustrations.

Back at WMD HQ work on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma has continued with an overall application of the base colour of Tamiya Dark Yellow to the hull, turret and wheels. This was the main colour German vehicles were painted in during the later part of WW2. Just the underside of the hull and the other sides of the wheels left to do.

Crews then usually applied random patterns of dark green and red brown in order to camouflage the vehicle. Tamiya do all the paints required with the Dark Yellow being XF60, the Dark Green being XF61 and the Red Brown being XF64. Luckily the WMD HQ paint stores have all of those in stock!

Primed!

Although I am normally primed to do the chores on Mrs. Woody's list of jobs for me, primed in this case refers to the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Having prepared the various components yesterday, today saw them primed in my go to Vallejo black primer. Both sides of  the various small parts have been primed as well as the hull and turret.

 I am now primed to get some colour on it in the next few days - chore lists allowing!

Grass, repairs and paint - oh, and progress on the Puma!

Three things going on at Rocks by Rail Museum today. Me grass cutting and at lunch the mass of brain power of my fellow diners calculated I walked ten miles cutting the grass today! No wonder I had an apatite! 

Back at the tracks the recently restored Midland Brake Van is looking good in its grey paint making its two companions look a little shabby.

However in the workshop works on a quick make over on the Shark brake van continue with it beginning to look a lot more solid and tidy.

Andy performing magic with car body filler!

John looking bemused as to why I keep taking photos!

However you can tell the progress with the end nearest me still needing more work whilst the far end is almost finished.

Also being painted is Paul's loco buffer beams. The photos don't do the undercoat justice as it does look rather pink in true day light! Not what you expect on a diesel but Paul assures me that the top coat will be a full blown bright red!

Back in the comfort of the WMD HQ with my legs rested and energy levels topped up with a superb Mrs. Woody lasagna, I did my preparation for painting of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma with various parts attached to plywood strips using my favored masking tape ready to be airbrushed. The two figures have also been assembled.

And I am pleased to report that three days in the work bench is still looking clear!

Puma and bird table!

An odd title but starting with the Puma (which in this case is the tank not the large cat), today saw further progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. It is all the small bits that take the time to prepare and there are a few on this kit. The jack is an example/ Five parts go to make it all of which have to be cleaned up and then glued together. Add to that time, the time it also takes to find the parts that fall from my fingers onto the fall as I try to clean up joint lines (I made the right choice in having a hard floor rather then carpet - you can never find parts once they go in the pile of the carpet as I know from bitter experience!) and soon the jack becomes a 25 minute job. 

The exhaust units were also added to the rear of the hull which is the last of the major hull parts.

Here are the various cleaned up parts, most of which I will paint separately before adding them to the painted vehicle.

There are four wing markers and two aerials to add and the two figures that came with the kit to assemble and then it will be paint time.

Moving onto the bird table I did cover my restoration of it in this blog back in July 2021 (click here to see it). Unfortunately it was a victim of the recent building works. Not sure what happened to it but its roof ended up in pieces. Just hope the builders built a stronger roof then I did!

To gain some much needed credibility with Mrs. Woody and clear an eyesore from the garden I have repaired it and given it another coat of wood paint.

Mrs. W was suitably impressed although she did point out no birds had landed on it which after all is the purpose of the structure. She does have a point! However, landing birds or not, hopefully it will last for a few more years yet and no pumas will be seen on it!