A wet and warmish summer is great for grass growing!

A day without tracklaying, ironically at a railway museum - Rocks By Rail. Instead of the joys and delights of 00gauge track wiring and laying I was out yet again with the mower but ut has made a great break!

It was tough getting through the new growth....

 

...but ut looks as though someone cares afterwards!

All this wet and warmish weather just encourages it to grow. Last year's heat wave saw most of this as almost straw!

As always, a look at what else is happening and Thomas has almost finished the body of the van wagon with its lower top coat of red. Looking very smart!

In the restoration shed John continues the painting of the planks for the new three plank wagon. 2 coats of primer followed by 2 coats of undercoat followed by 2 coats of top coat and then finished with 2 coats of varnish! As John assured me, it should out last all of us! 

Meanwhile Harriot the JCB comes along slowly in her restoration.

There is still a lot of corrosion to deal with but rumour has it that there is a cab available with less rust - whatever that means!

Ketton No 1 which I said last week might be nearing an engine start does indeed look as though such an event is near as I found it with its rocker covers off. That will be a great moment and no doubt a lot of smoke and soot as she has stood some years now.

A frustrating day!

Sometimes a day comes along when you think that you can get a job done in a couple of hours and it ends up taking 5! Well today was one of those days. I set out to wire up the point complex on the other side of the layout and had visions of having the job done as well as several others. The drilling of various holes through the baseboard for wires and point motors went smoothly enough. Then the frustrations started. The points in this complex are Hornby. Not my first choice but as I had them they were used as part of this layout and the cost of replacing the eight of them (four in the complex that I did last week and four in the complex I dealt with today) would be over £100. One of the problems with Hornby track is that the metal or the covering on the metal that they use for the rails will not accept solder very well. Occasionally a good joint will be formed first time but the majority of the time I have to scrape the metal to try to get a decent surface for the solder to adhere to. I do get some joints that look OK but if I give them a tug they come away so I have to start again. Very frustrating! However I have managed it! The curved Peco point took just five minutes to do!

Hopefully over the next few days this scene of track carnage will be somewhat more calm!

To add to the frustration I tried to change the soldering bit in my iron which should just screw out. It didn't! Instead it snapped with the shaft of the bit left in the iron which I suspect will not come out. Luckily there is a spare soldering iron in WMD HQ Stores!

Hopefully tomorrow will be less frustrating!

The monotony of ballasting but photography can help and the Panzer Ferry project gets bigger - with some inquisitive cats!!

It is certainly not the most exciting task in building a model railway but it is necessary and needs to be done neatly. The first viaduct is almost completely finished but as this picture shows there are still a few areas that need a bit more attention like the section of track at the bottom left of the photo. 

Not sure why I failed to put enough ballast in between the sleepers but what the naked eye doesn't notice at the time sticks out like a sore thumb in a picture taken later on. At least this way I can see where I need to go back over.

Although I have not had the chance to progress with the Panzer Ferry kit I did get something in the post the other day.

When I posted about the original kit I did say that there is a second amphibious vehicle to go with it which I might get at the next Sleaford Model Makers Show. However one came on a certain auction site at a good price so I thought it would be best to get it!

As with anything at WMD HQ, sooner (as in this case) or later a cat or two will take an interest in a new arrival. In this case Peggy and Monty. 18 years separates these two with Peggy being the grand age of 19 which in human age is 92 but she still acts like a teenager!

 

No soggy viaduct!

Despite the almost wintery weathering that hardly inspires me to do anything involving going outside and getting soggy, I have ventured out into the Man Cave where further ballasting has taken place on my 00 gauge layout. It may not be much but I have done half of one of the two viaducts. 

I did, in a post a few weeks ago, outline my worries about in effect spreading dilute PVA on a cardboard structure and possible water damage with the whole viaduct ending up as a soggy mess. I did lay a plastic track bed with some pre-applied ballast along the edges and middle in an attempt to minimise any risk of water damage. Amazingly, for one of my ideas, it has worked. No soggy viaduct - so far anyway!

With the ballast dry this Class 57 in Freightliner livery took its train across to see if there were any issues and I am pleased to say there none. Just the addition of the ballast to the weathered track makes the scene look much more realistic.

The Freightliner livery is one of my favorites and really suits this loco. 

So far about 2 feet, or 60cm for younger readers, of track has been ballasted. There is a lot more to do which should still be keeping me busy into the real winter period!

The enormity of it!

As things move on with my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout I begin to realise why some people just build micro model railway layouts. The enormity of building a modest sized layout is beginning to hit me! I have spent a week in which I have laid about 10% of the track to the point where it can be ballasted. Then there still is the proper wiring, point motors and ballasting and that is without even thinking about scenery. No wonder my progress appears to be glacial! However each piece of track laid and glued down is one piece closer to the end and if I want to run reasonably long trains in a reasonably realistic setting then this is the price! If I wasn't building this layout what else would I be doing as I said to Mrs. Woody who just rolled her eyes and added a further couple of lines to her list of jobs for me to do!

Today there was more soldering of wires to another complex of points.

 I have also weathered some more track and actually started ballasting - just to see what it looks like!

Painting some PVA glue directly onto the underlay to provide a base gave a good start.

The ballast was spread and encouraged into place before being 'wetted' with some IPA AKA rubbing alcohol. Then some diluted PVA glue was dropped onto the ballasted and having already 'wetted' it with the IPA the PVA soaked into the ballast without moving it. It looks good in my view but there is a lot more to do!

Still at least things are moving on even with my glacial work pace!

Police bike - could it catch me?

Out on my morning bike ride I deviated along a village road I have never been down before and came across this.

Obviously an old bike and one even I feel confident of being able to outrun if chased given the flat tyres unless the rider was a Tour de France winner!

Back at WMD HQ there was more head scratching and brain strain today as I cut more holes for wires and point motors on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout. This time I am working on one of the adjoining baseboards to the removable section. However before getting too far on with that I did remember an important fact. When I cut the rails between the baseboards I will probably do that with a cutting disc or saw so there will be a gap in the rails equivalent to the width of aforementioned disc or saw blade. having thought about this I have opened up the baseboard joint and inserted a piece of cardboard between the two boards.

Cardboard strip ready to be inserted between the baseboards.

Joint created by the cardboard strip.

The theory behind this is once the cuts in the track are made I remove cardboard and close up the baseboard joint which should see a minimal gap between the rails. Cunning or am I just waiting to fail? Have to wait and see!

Holes drilled and some wires soldered on.

.A lot more to do yet but I have time unless that Police bike catches up with me!

More glue?

Having left the glue to set as I highlighted in yesterdays post I can confirm, thankfully, that it has set and the track on the track is securely glued to the underlay and appears to be nice and level. I found that out last night so flushed with success I glued the next section of track across the viaduct in place. Much the same process was used with PVA glue spread under the track which was then aligned and secured in place whilst the glue set with some handy heavy items!

This morning I checked and it had all dried as it should.

Moving onto the second line of the loop I needed to put some further underlay in place which is the left over laminate floor underlay. Cheap - it would only have ended up being thrown out - and I explained all about it back in December of last year in a post which can be found by clicking here.  As there were curved bits I actually had to engage my brain to think about what I was needed and luckily, although probably only engaging first gear, it worked out.

With underlay in place I set out the loop track and having one track already secured in place I could use my track gauges to set the second track in place.

With the track set into place my handy weighty items were placed on top to secure it whilst the glue dries. There is a lot more glue going to be used to get all the track in place! Maybe WMD Stores needs to get some more in stock - those two bottles weighing the track down may not be enough!

I have also been progressing with the panzer ferry. Fitting the hatches to the cabin has been a testing eyesight activity. The piece of plastic between the hatch on the left and the scalpel on the right is one of the 12 hinges that I had to fit. Not easy and two had to be scratch made by me as the originals disappeared off into the depths of the man cave when they pinged off the end of the scalpel!

Never the less it is progressing. Certainly an unusual vehicle!

Board?

I did not go to the Rocks by Rail Museum last week so todays visit saw a veritable jungle of overgrown grass encouraged by the warmish wet weather awaiting me to take the mower to it. It did not all get cut so there is still some to do on my next visit! Much as you can become board with grass cutting there has been progress made on a number of projects which includes a board! More of that in a bit

Thomas has nearly finished painting the wooden box van as well as progressing with Ketton No1 which now has its air intake in place so an engine start is not far off.

John, in his ever skillful way, has taken something that would probably have been thrown out many years ago had it not come to the Museum. 

This board was originally in the restoration shed when it was an operational loco shed fifty or more years ago and the would have been used to chalk messages or notes to loco crews and maintenance staff. John has sympathetically repaired where necessary whilst preserving as much as possible - nice! 

Meanwhile Martyn has undercoated in yellow various parts of Harriot the JCB. At least it is looking more yellow now then in its recent  multi-coloured coat of many paints.

Back at WMD HQ I did last night glue the point complex to the underlay on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout. I used PVA glue and to ensure all will be flat I used a variety of available things in the Man Cave to weigh the track down.

Whether it will work is yet to be discovered but I figured the longer I leave it the better the chance of it having stuck flat! I will find out if ny theory has worked later tonight or tomorrow.

Setting out.

I set out to do a lot of things. Sometimes I actually get them finished as I inform Mrs. Woody as she reviews her job list for me to do. This time though, the setting out is in relation to my 00 gauge layout. Having run the new Class 37 loco round it yesterday I had the urge to move things forward with the layout again so was in the right frame of mind to do some setting out. The crucial thing about any layout to make sure that trains run reliably is making sure the track is laid flat, level and it is aligned as required. With my layout the starting point is to get the point complex on the removable section aligned properly so that the rest of the track can be set out from that fixed point. Today, I have threaded all the already soldered wiring through the baseboard having put some petroleum jelly on the tie rods of the points to stop them getting glued up when I ballast the track.

Also I have removed the plastic sleepers at the baseboard joints ready for the copper clad strip sleepers to be inserted and the rail soldered to to to provide a robust joint. 

A true straight is useful to make sure the tracks are straight and this piece of aluminum I rescued from the patio doors that were removed as part of the building works earlier this year is perfect for the job.

With all that setting out done next job I need to set out to do is to glue this point complex down. I will be setting out to do that later!

A new arrival - the Accurascale 37402.

I had a break from the Panzer Ferry today to have a look at a recent arrival at WMD HQ.

I did pre-order this almost a year ago from Accurascale and almost cancelled it several times after being a bit disappointed by the robustness of the Deltic loco that I got from them. It wasn't the detail, finish, performance, presentation or value for money that I was disappointed by as these were all exceptional. It was the way detailed parts dropped off seemingly every time I ran it round the layout. I still have a bag of bits I need to glue back on when I am in the right mood! However I persuaded myself that with the Class 37 loco, which I do have a great fondness of, things would be better on the robustness front. What is more, I really liked the livery of the one I ordered - something about a blue Class 37 with full yellow ends and with the addition of the Scottish markers like the Scottie dog that really attracted me to it. 

It was with some trepidation that I opened the box and was presented with the usual wonderfully done owners manuals and booklet together with some spare etched name plates and the detailing pack for the buffer beam and snow ploughs. 

Getting to the loco itself, there were no loose parts in the packaging which I hoped bode well for long-term life of the model. After all, if it survived the in one piece the various stages of postage and delivery then it should at least stand my track laying skills! It is incredibly detailed and well finished and just looks right as a Class 37. However the real bonus comes with the sound chip in it. Class 37s were called Tractors by the train spotters I believe because of their engine sound. Whoever did the sound recordings for this one got it spot on. It really does sound authentic. If I had the time I could listen to it going round the layout for hours although no doubt Mrs. Woody might not think that a good use of my time!

The cab internal detail is superb. 

So am I pleased that I did not cancel the order? In one word - yes!