Rusty tracks!

Having climbed all over the Rocks By Rail Museum's dragline excavator yesterday I was quite familiar with rusty tracks which was useful as today I had to make the tracks for the second amphibious vehicle rusty! Firstly though I had to finish assembling the second set for the other side. I followed the same method as the first and it went well - learning as I get older! The bits of card along the top of the track are there to induce the sag that the real track would have between the idle rollers. As I had used Tamiya Extra Thin glue the joints between the track links were still flexible some time after being glued allowing the sag to form

And this is how they set - nice!

With the tracks assembled on both sides they had to come off for painting. As I had not glued the drive wheels or rear idlers this was reasonably easy as the wheels came off with the tracks. Both sets of tracks went into the WMD HQ airbrushing booth (cardboard box!) where a mix of Vallejo Rust and Flat Earth was applied and rusty tracks appeared!

I just need to highlight the polished areas where the various wheels keep the track links free of rust and then they can be put back on the hull. Luckily these rusty tracks do not need to be greased unlike the dragline!

Grease monkey!

Today I was back at the Rocks By Rail Museum doing my grease monkey impression helping Rob grease and lubricate the drag line which we put a new steel rope on last week. Greasing involves uncovering the various grease nipples that are located all around the machine. Many were encrusted by old grease and dirt.

Some degreaser and rag uncovered many of the grease nipples.

No doubt we have missed some but Rob was on a mission searching underneath for those hidden grease points which ended up with grease pumped into them using a grease gun.

This is one area where you need to be careful with the grease and oil. These two drums are the winch and bucket spools over which the cables go. The drums wind in by power from the engine but wind out under gravity. The control of these is via large brake shoes that operate on the two drums controlled from within the cab by two pedals.. In effect it is almost like the old style drum brakes on a car.

Of course after hours of dirty work you have to test whether it has made any difference! Rob took the opportunity to not only test it but give me another training session. 

It is all about co-ordination between the levers and pedals and a gentle touch! I need to work on all of that but I am getting there with the bucket at least going close to where I wanted it to!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon by the Small Faces is a great song and if you need reminding it is on YouTube here. For me and the rest of the volunteers though it was no Lazy Sunday Afternoon as we were at the Rocks By Rail Museum welcoming guests to the Driver for a Fiver event. These have really taken off over the last two years with more people seeing it as a great value event and getting to drive a loco for £5 is a bargain! Last one for this year though so if anyone missed it they will have to put it on next years 'to do' list. Wish I could put Mrs. Woody's 'to do' list items on a list for next year rather than this year!

Panzer Ferry wise one set of tracks has been made and mounted over the wheels. I did this side in one session of gluing which made life interesting! 

Basically all 105 track links were glued with Tamiya thin cement which sets slowly. 

Using this to advantage I was able to put the completed but still flexible length of track over the wheels and because the cement had not fully set I could still get the required sags and bends in the track links.

Just the other side to do now - maybe I will wait for a lazy Sunday afternoon to do it!

Standing on its own wheels.

With the various wheels mounted to the hull, the amphibious tank can now stand on its own wheels! Because I try to anticipate what may go wrong, like in the future tracks breaking, I tend to glue tank wheels on to the hull using a glue like UHU. It provides a reasonably strong joint between parts but it is usually possible to separate parts in the future without major damage. Using a plastic cement would melt the two parts together bonding them into one piece. UHU on the other hand holds the two parts together without bonding them and given the flexible nature of the glue parts can be separated without damage in the future with some well placed but reasonable force 

Next thing is the tracks which will just about bring this model to the same level of completeness as its partner vehicle in this Panzer Ferry.

Despite having spent a fair amount of time on this model my mind has not been inactive in thinking about other projects. My 00 gauge layout has been developing at, for me at least, lightning speed and I am looking at the next stage. The photos below may show a white strip of card supported by a tub and a couple of bottles but this in my mind is the basis of a road bridge crossing the four railway tracks. 

Imagination is a great thing and I can already see in my mind a finished bridge with scenery crossing the railway and making a great scenic focus point. Now the difficult bit is transforming that imaginative image into reality! Will I produce what I imagine? I will let you know in due course - anything could actually happen!

Matching weathering!

With the second amphibious tank in its stark clean paint work it has been time to tone and weather it down to be sympathetic with its partner vehicles. I have done this using an airbrush and Vallejo Flat Earth paint.

Luckily I think I have managed to match the general level of weathering on the two models.

Next job is to get the wheels on and tracks built. Seems like only a few weeks ago I was doing just that on the other vehicle!

A stark contrast!

Back to the Panzer Ferry and the second amphibious tank is now in top coat! First off the hull was painted grey and then it was time to paint the deck light grey so some masking was required.

With masking in place the deck was painted.

Compared to the first vehicle that was painted in the same colours but has now been weathered there is a starkness but with weathering the two should look similar. However the photo does show how weathering can really tone down a model and make it look more realistic.

 

The various wheels have also been painted. To save having to repaint the tyres on the running wheels I cut a circle out of a handy piece of card using my circle cutter. Luckily the smallest circle that I could adjust it to was just small enough to match the wheels. It has certainly made painting the wheels much easier and quicker - just wish I had done it on the first vehicle!

Wind on the drum!

A day at the Rocks By Rail Museum. However a different day from my normal mowing. Having had the drag line cable snap on me last week as Rob taught me how to operate it I was helping Rob replace the cable. By the time I got to the Museum Rob had the old cable out. It was that rusty it was beyond sensible saving so the new cable in stock was wheel barrowed to the dragline. 

Now a spool of cable weighs a lot and is not the easiest thing to manipulate so we both knew our backs were in for some stress! However we took the opportunity of the boom being down to do a long required grease gun job on the various greasing points.

This is the pully at the end of the boom where the broken cable runs over.

Rob got hold of a large can of grease with a grease gun and we soon had grease flowing into probably dry surfaces.

To make life easier next time Rob used some Red paint to mark the grease nipples.

Greasing done it was time to wind the new cable onto the winding drum which is where I had to do the guiding whilst Rob operated the drum. First though we had to feed the cable along the boom.

One of those pieces of brilliance was that Rob had brought along a piece of heating pipe insulation through which the cable could run saving any snagging on my gloves! Brilliant!

I actually manged to get a smooth run of cable on the winding drum.

So with cable on and then reconnected to the bucket Rob started the machine up....

and all was well!!!!!!!

Flushed with success and in a rush to avoid the start of Storm Agnes we headed back to the restoration shed to put the tools away and I was surprised to see more progress on Harriot the JCB!

Bet there are some greasing points that need greasing on that!

Its a grey day!

I had got to the stage yesterday of being ready for some paint on the second of the amphibious tanks for the Panzer Ferry. As is common with most of my model painting the first step was a coat of Vallejo black primer. This covers well and gives a good base for the top coats.

You will have to excuse my makeshift spray booth!

I have even managed to get some grey top coat onto the underside. Things going well for me!

Ready for paint!

The second amphibious tank of the Panzer Ferry is ready for paint! I have left a few parts off to make painting easier and they will be added once paint has been applied but it is going well - unusually for me!

I have posed the two tans and pontoon together before but getting to this stage shows just what a large model it is.

It will be interesting to see how I pose this on a diorama base. However that is for later. In the meantime I still have a lot to do!

Silent Sunday - nearly anyway!

There is not really much to say other than the deck of the second Panzer Ferry is getting near to being finished! The pictures say more then I can so I will stay relatively silent this Sunday - now that is unusual for Woody! Just don't tell Mrs. Woody o she will want silent all week!