Exhausting!

A day at the Rocks by Rail Museum is usually exhausting for me with a fair amount of physical work. However in this case I am talking about the exhaust on Mr. D the small diesel shunter.

The ever resourceful John is finding the parts that are scattered wide and far over the Museum and getting them to actually fit as originally intended.

I see John even found the horn! Not sure what will be louder? Horn or exhaust?

The weighbridge project is coming on with the door now in its company maroon colour thanks to new volunteer Steve - we don't give any new volunteers much chance to escape!

He also gave the weigh head a fresh coat of green and it looks really smart.

For me, despite a days mowing I had a half hour at the end of the day to remove another builders bag of rotting vegetation from the pile that has built up near the quarry.

It may be exhausting and may only be a bag or so a week....

But over time it adds up! You can see how the pile has been reduced. Hopefully by the end of the open season it will be gone!

That's why they hinge!

 A couple of posts ago I talked about the fan detail of the Tiger 1 kit that I am building at the moment and the fact that it would be lost under the grills once those were fitted. I should really have looked further forward as when I came to fit them I found that they are designed to hinge! Good job I did paint the fans! I did wonder if there was a reason for them opening such as a cooling issue with the real tank that required additional air flow but all I can find is that the grills hinged to allow maintenance.

Anyway the rest of the build so far has been adding small details to the upper hull which is beginning to make it look a bit more interesting. Adding a the hull top to the lower hull and adding the front plates and you can begin to see the Tiger emerge!

Small things can be frustrating!

Small things can be frustrating and are what many model makers dread - well I do at least! You can see the size of some of the parts on the Dragon Tiger 1 tank kit in the photo below. They actually look bigger in the photo then in real life!

However, as you might expect from a model maker with many years of bodgery under his belt I have developed ways of dealing with such things over the years and I shared them with the World in this YouTube video! It won't be an epic viral video but if it helps someone out it has been worth it!

Fantastic!

Having built the cooling fans for the Dragon Tiger 1 kit I needed to paint them. Given that there are grills that go over them and that there will be painting and weathering of the hull I am not sure how much will actually be seen. However, rather than not paint them and then wish I had I have taken the option that it is best to do the job just in case!. The plans give the required paint colours which seem a bit bright but I am sure they must be right! First off was a general coat of silver to both the fan sub assemblies plus the part of the hull interior where they fitted.

Then the fans themselves were to be painted copper but strangely WMD stores only had brass coloured paint in stock which was near enough for me. The etched panels around the fans were painted red which was the colour which struck me as being most unusual for a tank but there you go! The radiators were painted steel which given the silver surrounding it did not really show up but then all of this will be seen through a grill anyway!

With all the painting done the fan sub assemblies were glued to the hull interior.

I had already had to shave off the tops of the radiators so that the hull top would fit and I just checked that it still did fit before the glue set. It still did. Fantastic!

There are a host of small parts to deal with next as I move onto the top surface of the tank so the swear jar may well so some contributions!

 

Bending brass!

It was time to deal with the first of the etched brass parts on the build of the Dragon Tiger tank and I was armed for this! Last year I bought an etched brass bending tool and it was really useful as the pictures show.

At least the first pieces I am dealing with are large so that helps!

The bending tool made easy work of creating this panel to go over the cooling fans of the Tiger's engine.

They fitted as well!

This is how they fit. I will need to do some early painting whilst I have access but that is for tomorrow - hopefully!

Exhaustive work!

The Tiger build continues with the running wheel axles and torsion bars now in place - and they do work in providing some movement to the axles. Having got that done, the rear panel of the hull was attached and a start made on the Tiger's distinctive exhaust system. That involved a multitude of parts making it exhaustive work!

However, the finished items look good.

Torsion Bar!

Most tank experts seem to agree that the Tiger was at the time it was built, the most advanced tank that existed. It had superb and innovative features that when they worked made it the most feared tank to those facing it. However those innovations were also its Achilles heel. They were not as robust as the simpler designed allied tanks and complex t repair, especially on the battlefield. Take the suspension which on a Sherman and similar tanks was in reality a leaf spring. The Tiger had torsion bars. Whilst you could replace a leaf spring easily a torsion bar was far more complex and with interwoven running wheels on the Tiger, usually three wheels had to come off before you could even start.

The innovativeness of the suspension was brought home to me as I started the Dragon Tiger kit. For some reason the kit replicates the suspension even though there is no other interior detail. First part of the construction is to glue these small retainers to the inside of the hull - arrowed red in the photo below.

 The suspension arms incorporate the torsion bar, so once the retainers have set I will start to fit them. The idea is the the model can be posed with the wheels running over an object as the suspension should work. However the designers of that feature never took account at my poor model making skills!

Warm at the Museum and warm enough to bring a Tiger out!

It was one if those days yesterday where you sweated or if you are posh, perspired, without even moving. Given the conditions it was amazing that much got done at the Rocks by Rail Museum but it did!

The ever able and knowledgeable John was under the bonnet of Mr. D where he said it was actually cooler than outside. Mr. D has started and run but there are still small things to connect up like some oil pipes which John was doing yesterday.

As you can see he was dressed for a warm day!

Meanwhile, and not so well dressed for a warm day, Andy and David look on at John's contortions under the bonnet of Mr. D.

Andy did have some jobs to do though, such as soldering this pipe together - you don't often see soldering like this anymore.

Meanwhile, I spent most of the day in the outside heat! Mowing was one task but I did take some time out to remove another builders bag worth of dead vegetation from the long standing pile and transport it to the recycling point. That is the fourth bag now and it is beginning to show in the size of the pile left. I might have cleared it by the end of the year!.

Started with this....

Filled this....

And was left with this.....

Back at WMD HQ, the hot weather must be affecting me as I had a desire to glue plastic together again! I have also had a long term desire to build a Tiger tank which I talked about some time ago when I uncovered my three Tiger kits. Well one Tiger has come out!

It is a second hand kit and although no parts appear to have been glued the previous owner had separated a fair few parts so the first thing to do was to ensure all was there. Luckily the plans have a contents diagram so that made things easier.

All appears to be present including some etched brass parts - Oh joy!!!!

How things change!

 How things change!

Early 1950s....

And now....

When the Massey Ferguson TE tractor was first built it amazed farmers and reduced the physical part of farming directly. This more than compensated for the very basic nature of the machine. Move forward 70 years and the tractor above probably has more gizmos and comfort than even the most luxurious of cars and is a capable of doing the work of 20 little Fergies. However I don't think this monster will still be about in 70 years with probably a whole host of electrical issues making it uneconomic and maybe even incapable of being repaired. Meanwhile, the simplicity of the Fergie means just about anyone with a small tool kit can repair the simple mechanicals and the most complex electrical matter is probably a starter motor if fitted! 

And now for something very different!

Mrs Woody has wanted to visit the gardens at Doddington Hall near Lincoln for sometime so finding ourselves both with a day free we headed off there. Now I was expecting to see cultivated boarders and lawns but not this and please note this is not Mrs. Woody's new look for the summer! 

or this....

or even this....

and in closer detail...

There is a display of sculptures going on and much of it is for sale which is great if you have a big wallet. The cheapest item is £500 and the most expensive £42,500! However I did really enjoy looking at what the sculptures were made of as well as what they finally turn out like and I guess in some respects it is just another branch of model making!

Here are a few more but if you want to find out more have a look at the Doddington Hall website available here.