The weather is nice so I will do some weathering!

After a bit of a dull start and a bike ride that was not the warmest mid morning the sun came out and it began to warm up. I had planned a day of sorting things out in the WMD HQ loft and garage which Mrs. Woody refers to as the junk repositories but the weather just said come outside. So I did! So that Mrs. W does not think I frivolously wasted a day sun bathing I did cut the hedges and did some weeding. I did at one point wonder whether WMD HQ was going to have an over night visitor when I found this young crow that seemed lost.

My temporary guest however made his way up to the greenhouse roof after an hour and was crowing which attracted his mother and off they went.

Congratulating myself on a good job done and won't Mrs. W be impressed and that my potential overnight guest had found his mother, I had a leisurely hour in the man cave to get out of the sun - don't want heat stroke from my exertions! 

Todays job was to start weathering the engine and chassis of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck. It is not a pristine truck but is cared for so is generally clean but is grubby on the unseen and difficult to reach parts. At the moment I am using my favoured dilute black wash to highlight edges and bolts.

Before...

After.

Subtle but it makes a difference.

Looks like the weather will be good tomorrow as well so looks like I will be doing more weathering! This is getting confusing!

Some light relief!

Continuing the build of the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas Truck gave me some light relief by fitting the lights! The various indicators brake and side lights clear castings have been painted with Tamiya clear red and orange paints. Where the headlights and fog lights are the body parts have already been painted silver giving that effect of a reflective backing to the light unit.

Whilst I had various clear paints out I put some green in the  airbrush and painted the sun visor.

Talking of light relief, todays bike ride which I took for light relief, took me past these rather beautiful poppies in the middle of nowhere that I just had to take a picture of.

Instatnt gratification!

It is a Tuesday so it is a Rocks By Rail Museum day for me. Arriving on site this morning I found this, which I thought was fly tipping, in the car park. Someone, to my mind, had got instant gratification, by dumping their rubbish!

However, it was not fly tipping but someone who had dismantled their somewhat derelict garden shed donating it to the museum as kindling for the steam locos! Apparently the loco crew were most excited by its donation! There you go - one persons rubbish is another's gold as the saying goes and no doubt they still got gratification from the donation!

Back to the reality of the summer months with grass and hedges growing I was out as usual with lawn mower and again the cordless hedge trimmers. Amazing what you can do in a few hours. This was just part of todays vegetation butchery! 

Before....

 

After...

This is the view that always makes the day seem worthwhile when I can look up the carpark and see acres of cut grass - just waiting to grow again! 

That is the thing about grass cutting - it is instant gratification! For the projects in the restoration shed gratification can take months, years and even in some cases decades! John has been progressing quickly with the restoration of the Shark brake van but so far this is about two months work. It has come on a long way but it certainly is not instant gratification. Latest work has involved the replacement of the running boards and painting of the chassis.

Whilst taking the photos John was busy at the work bench and always being nosey of an inquiring nature I had to find out what he was doing. John is one of those guys who has so much experience of things that he always has a novel way of doing things and you always learn from him. Today he was cutting bolts from a length of threaded rod. 

All had to be the same length and when cutting threaded rod you also run the risk of damaging the thread. Johns solution - simply thread the bolts onto the rod at the required length and then cut to length. All the bolts will be the same length and the already threaded on nuts mean that they can be unscrewed from the rod clearing cut the cut thread which is a lot easier then trying to thread nuts onto the cut rod. Brilliant and in this case instant gratification in getting the bolts made! I like it!

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!