Putting my head down!

Putting my head down sounds like I have decided to get some additional sleep. However far from it (especially if Mrs. Woody is reading this) as in this case I have been putting my head down and getting on with the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. After yesterdays post about getting distracted my mind must have focused in on the task in hand and today the engine/gearbox/radiator have more or less been finished - amazing!!!!

It even fits in the chassis without having to bend or twist anything - double amazing!!!!

I have to admit having built many of Italeri's truck kits over the years I am impressed by the way the radiator, hoses and engine block all fit. Equally I am also impressed by the hoses having a reasonable representation of the jubilee clips that are used to hold them in place. I just wish my painting skills could do them justice.

I even had time to paint the yellow parts which make up the cab steps and airhorns firstly in black followed by a coat of aluminum. Triple amazing!

If I manage to keep my head down a bit longer this kit could end up finished soon!

Slow down for the details but will I get distracted?

I am at the stage with the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck where it is time to do all the small details. Such things as steps, air horns, pipes, wheel trims and the list goes on! It is also a point in the build where if I am not careful I loose interest and in my easily distracted way disappear off with another project! I have so many to be distracted by! Anyone who has read this blog before may recall the Heller Scania 141LB that I started and progressed with initial speed at the beginning of 2022. 

It is so close to being finished but it is not! I got distracted onto something else! Anyway it is on the list of my (not Mrs. Woody's) jobs to do. 

Back to the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck and I am holding firm in progressing it! The engine has had the two filters painted white and blue and the fan is now yellow ready to be attached to the pulleys and fan belt which will then allow the radiator to be added once the hoses are prepared! You can see how things slow down. The interior door trims have also been painted to match the rest of the interior..

The yellow parts in the picture below are the cab steps and airhorns. The other parts are related to the various covers over the rear of the engine on the chassis. What I need to do with them all is to paint them black and then for the yellow parts paint them aluminum. If I don't paint them black first the aluminum paint will never cover the yellow. As the only real way to paint these small detailed parts is by airbrushing them I am also trying to identify all the other parts that need to be painted black so I only need to clean out the airbrush once! Identifying the parts can also take time and then they all need to be prepared for paint with the sprue attachment points and mould marks removed. Can you blame me for getting distracted?

A walk out in the countryside .

Sometimes a walk out in the countryside is just the thing to make me realise both Mrs. Woody and myself are lucky to have access to such things and refreshes us. Today was one of those days when you cannot help but feel good when you walk round a lake with wildlife and stunning weather.

The local fishing fraternity were out in force and looked as though they were there for the weekend! Can't blame them!

 

The one thing that I could not really get my head round was why the sign on a nearby electric cattle fence was in seven languages when the picture of the hand makes it clear what it is!

Talking of good weather my cycling total mileage for the year was 1585 at the end of May which means I did nearly 500 miles in that month. Not bad but I am about 600 miles short of where I was this time last year so I need to do some more longer rides!

With me refreshed from my walk and cycling attention, back at WMD HQ, focused on the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck where the build moves on, slowly, but getting there! Today saw the underside of the cab, front valance and wheel arches as well as the cargo body sprayed matt black.

The various light lenses have also been painted silver before the lenses are fitted.

The green, green DAF truck!

In yesterdays post I highlighted my interior design skills or more to the point lack of them! I also made mention that the canvas part of the cargo body of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck needed a contrasting green to the metal lower sides - all part of my exterior design skills or indeed lack of those too! Well I have painted the canvas part and to be honest I like the contrasting green and how it works overall. Having looked through the WMD HQ paint store Tamiya XF26 deep Green was selected as a suitable colour and after some careful masking of the gloss green lower panels it was airbrushed on. 

 I still need to paint the underside of the body which will be aluminum applied over a black undercoat. The body and cab will need decals nad I have some for a UK company that should work well - hopefully!  

As I write this a YouTube video from the WMD What's On My Bench series is uploading and should be available showing where I am up to with this kit. If you need a cure for insomnia this will be it!

Interior design!

Doing some work on the cab interior of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck it was evident that the stark greyness would be somewhat uninspiring to the driver so a bit of interior design work was required. I guess I will never end up being asked to refurbish the interior of some exotic beach side pad with my abilities but I can add some light blue highlights to the cab! With a bit of masking and some light blue paint it looks a little better especially with the seats and bunks now glued in place.

I just tried the wheels on the chassis - just to see!

and with the wheels on the chassis it would almost be rude not to try the cab and cargo body on!

Don't worry! The green on the canvas of the cargo body is just what was left in the airbrush when I painted the gearbox. The final paint for the canvas will be more in keeping with matching the cab - all part of my exterior as well as interior design skills. Just don't tell Mrs. Woody or she will want more jobs done!

Lets give it some bling!

I gave the wheels, fuel tank and air systems of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck a coat of Vallejo aluminum paint to give them a bit of bling! Once dry I gave them a coat of gloss varnish just to seal in the finish. They should look good once they are on the chassis - I hope!

On Rocks By Rail Museum matters there are a couple of new videos on my YouTube channel featuring some of the action from the Bank Holiday Monday operating day and are available by clicking on the links below.

Or you can visit my channel to find your cure for insomnia by clicking here.

Vegetation Butchery and the art of rusted bolt removal - another day at Rocks By Rail Museum!

 Back at the Rocks By Rail Museum - only seems like yesterday when I was last there. Oh it was! Today back to mowing and hedge trimming. My corded hedge trimmers at home broke so I bought a cordless set that I have now tested at the Museum - they work well! Too well probably as I have been asked to trim more hedges!

Starting my vegetation butchery....

 

The results - it may not be Chelsea Flower show garden standard but its now under control and looks wider with the hedges trimmed back.

Whilst I was butchering vegetation, John was performing more technical processes in the restoration shed. The art of removing a rusted bolt - one large hammer and a cold chisel. It works!

As work continues on restoring the Shark brake van, John sweeps up the remains of some of it following his various 'removal' processes!

The perfect time for a Magnum ice cream!

Another great Quarry Operating Session at the Rocks By Rail Museum today. I was acting as one of the shunters so had the delights of points and couplings. Having done this a few times now I was taken aback by the number of visitors who took up position to watch the activities in detail rather than glance and walk on. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did. Unfortunately for them they would not have been early enough to see the Museum come to life. The steam loco being fired up, the diesels warmed up and the excavators readied foe action - all fascinating stuff to someone like me!.

Once visitors arrived it was action stations with shunting and wagon exchanges all day.

It was both a warm day and hard work so at lunchtime it was the perfect time for a Magnum ice cream!

I am back at the Museum tomorrow probably at the helm of a lawn mower - maybe a day for another ice cream!

Sunday spray!

It is Sunday so it is a day to spray - for me anyway! The spraying I am talking about is more colour added to parts of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck which is progressing.

The cab is now a satisfactory glossy green following the issues I experienced earlier.

Whilst the gloss green was in the airbrush I also sprayed up the drop sides of the cargo body. The canvas will be a slightly different shade of green when I get round to painting it.

The gearbox has also been painted green having masked up the join with the engine giving a bit of a contrast to the grey of the engine block.

I have also been busy with the black paint. Many of the parts will be sprayed aluminum or silver so the black is the ideal undercoat. There are a few parts such as the radiator and air intake which will remain black.

A day at the Rocks By Rail Museum tomorrow with a quarry operating day where I have been posted as a shunter which means I will be shattered by 4pm! Given that I think all this paint will be having an additional day to dry as I will probably be asleep on the sofa tomorrow evening.

A real garden!

As it was a Bank Holiday, a warm day and a way of avoiding doing any gardening myself as I still feel shattered, I took Mrs. Woody off to Easton Gardens near Colsterworth in Lincolnshire to see the hard work of others in producing gardening magic. I thought that we had gone there last year but through the magic of being able to go back through this blog it was actually August Bank Holiday 2021! Click here for that post. Time flies! Anyway, despite it being nearly two years much was the same but much was different with a different season displaying itself in the garden. I do love those little spots where something has been created or there is just so much character.

Take a look at the gable end wall of this building. So much history with various builds, alterations and repairs. To build a model of that would require real skills - so I won't be building one!

This little bench set under trees with a few pots scattered around it just looks so simple but just so right.

 Then you have the bigger picture that is some view!

Going back to the character of the place there are these two metal giraffes that are welded up from metal sheet of all things!

 Then you get the oddities such as this rather tall post which seems to have no purpose.

But all is explained by this notice.

Then I came across something I did remember from the last visit - the robotic lawn mowers. This one, having completed a day of mowing, was on charge. 

Maybe this is something that the Rocks By Rail Museum should invest in!

Back in the reality of the WMD HQ Estate the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck cab has been rubbed down, washed and is currently drying thoroughly before going back into the spray shop, hopefully tomorrow.