The unexpected afternoon out for Mrs. Woody!

I took Mrs. Woody out for the afternoon! She wasn't expecting that and equally wasn't expecting to end up at the East Midlands Narrow Gauge Modellers Group  show which mysteriously was on our route!

Never been before and upon questioning neither had Mrs. Woody - strange that! Anyway, it was one of those small shows where there were not massive crowds and you could chat with the exhibitors and take your time looking at what was there. I also had the opportunity to meet fellow blogger Steve, from Steve's Narrow Gauge Adventure - linked on my blog list on the front page or by clicking here. He had said he was attending and as I said I would be carrying a copy of the Beano or Dandy comic if I went we did recognise each other. As I was between him and the exit he had few options other than to talk to me! He did question as to whether Mrs. Woody really does have a list of chores for me to do which Mrs. Woody answered by saying there was a list of lists! That is news to me as well! Being serious, it was great to meet Steve and he is a really great guy with a real passion for narrow gauge modelling and if you have a look at his blog he produces some fantastic models.

Taking in the show itself there were a lot of layouts and traders. I did restrain my purchases but Eddie from 3D Printing For Charity was there to empty my wallet and a number of items from his ever increasing range came home with me.

Talking of 3D printing, this entire layout had been built from 3D printed items including the track.

There were some beautifully executed layouts like this simple circle of track constructed in a cable drum. Very effective!

This O gauge layout only measure 4 x 2 feet for the scenic area  and talking to the builder he only built it to do some shunting at home with a beer or two!

He may only have built it for home use but it had some incredible detail like the guy having a sleep in his conservatory! That could be me if Mrs. W was not about!

This was another layout which was just a simple single track going through scenery but done like a picture with a frame round it.

Get inside the frame and it looks so real!

Another small layout which was for sale - Mrs.W pushed me past this one!

A most unusual layout in that it supposed a narrow gauge layout had made it into a World of automated trains, Amazon delivery pods and the tech world!

Another well presented layout with some real Welsh slate quarry atmosphere.

There were some real example of humour and I will cover those tomorrow but just as a taste.....

Revealing a multitude of wires!

It has been a long tine since I did any work on my 00 gauge My Last Great Project layout but work has recommenced - for now anyway. Who knows what might sideline this!

I still have a great deal of wiring to do and I still need to split three of the four baseboards so that the whole layout is, and I won't say portable but I will say moveable! All the tracklaying was completed back in April ( that post is here )of this year with 86 wires attached to the tracks to wire up the power to the layout. There will be point motors as well so there will be about 200 wires by the time I have finished. 

First off is to cut through some rails at one of the baseboard joints.

With a fine bladed saw these were cut through and it is always a moment I dread in case the rails rip from their sleepers but it went well!

With the rails cut through the end baseboard could be lifted for the first time sine installed to reveal a multitude of wires.

It is at this point you think that I wonder if i should take up flower arranging or fishing as a hobby! However with a bit of thought (not my strong point!) and patience (not a strong point either!) things become organised!

This is going to take some time!

Woody the failed detective!

It was a case of missing the obvious at the Rocks By Rail Museum yesterday. I certainly would not make a detective! I was busy looking at progress in the smokebox of 1931 where dismantling of various pipes was going on as part of the re-tubing work that I missed the obvious major piece of work.

It took me about ten minutes to realise that the cab roof had been removed - so obvious but undetected by me!

Going to the back of the loco it is obvious!

You really get a good view of the firebox without the roor in place.

Of course I needed to detect where the roof was and luckily for my limited detective skills I did not have to look too hard. In fact a few step out of the restoration shed had me detect that this wagon might be concealing something!

Yes! My detective skills were back!

Luckily my detective skills were not needed to find John and Mr. D. John is preparing Mr. D for further painting so it is a case of flatting the existing paint in readiness for fresh paint to be applied. My detective skills would tell me that the new paint maybe similar to that that John painted the removable grills in last week!

This loco is John's project and I think he would set up his bed in the cab if his family would let him!

Once he has finished Mr. D there are a number of other projects in the background that require painting!

For me, despite the Museum now being closed to the public until next year, the grass still grows and needs cutting but at least it was warmand sunny - just the right weather for grass to grow in!

I also had another session of moving some more of the pile of cuttings that has been in place for a couple of years. There is a lot gone as you can see by the bald earth patch of where the pile once stretched to.

I filled two 1 ton builders  bags up and the pile is now getting to the point of almost being undetectable! Well for my detective skills anyway!

Seeing double!

 Its finished!

Is it really finished? That is not like me!

Rubbing my eyes in disbelief that it was finished I had to double take on the situation!

Then there were two!

No! I have not built a second one! Mr Beecham, he of cycling and model making prowess dropped off his build of the earlier Airfix kit of the P-40B which is an interesting comparison. Mr. B's model making skills exceed mine but Airfix have certainly provided a far more detailed kit in their revised model that I built. Most markedly are the panel lines that are recessed on my model whereas Mr. B's has the raised panel lines.

Mr. B's model looking good back it will have to go back to his display shelves!

A moment of panic!

Sometime you doubt yourself and a moment of panic struck me as I applied some panel line to the Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk. Basically panel line is an enamel based product that is thinned black paint. The idea, like my home made washes, is that the dilute colour collects in the recesses of the model to highlight the details, in this case the various panel lines that make up the aircrafts superstructure. The idea is that you paint your model in acrylic paints and apply the enamel panel line over it. Being a different product the enamel being oil based should not harm the acrylic water based paint and so you can use enamel thinners to clean off the excess panel line. It just looks horrible when you apply it first and so that moment of panic strikes as to what happens if the two products react or the enamel thinners don't clear the excess off!

However, calm was restored as I applied the thinners and it worked! Whats more is that it left a nice streaking weathered effect!

Having started on the underside, thinking if it goes wrong at least the underside is partly hidden, based upon it going well attention turned to the top side.

 

All that mess cleaned off laeving the panel lines highlighted and a nice weathering effect!

All I need to do know is fix that canopy permanently along with the side glass and things should be almost finished!

Almost finished! That is another moment of panic - I never finish things this quick!

Canopy capers!

As I said yesterday the canopy to the Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk needs fitting but before that can happen it also needs to have the frame parts painted. Now the last time I did one of these I probably painted the frame with what would have been like a tar brush as a young lad with lots of imagination and keenness but no skill or patience! Things haven't changed much then in the passing years as Mrs Woody would no doubt say!

However, with this caper I did take my time and thought about the issue of painting fine lines on a clear canopy moulding. You can, if you hunt about on the internet, find firms who sell self adhesive masks that you can mask up the clear parts of the canopy with and from what I have seen most are really good. However my wallet is empty, I am not patient enough to wait for delivery and in my typical way I am sure I can manage without. Hence the mass of masking tape in the picture below. I did the vertical lines first and then masked off the horizontal once the paint had dried and....

...it turned out quite well in my view for a first attempt. The good thing about clear parts on a model is that you can generally clean unwanted paint off them using a soft blunt instrument such as a cocktail stick which is what I did.

I trial fitted the canopy which seems to fit and just need to fit the two rear canopy side pieces that are in front of the model in the picture below.

In other news, and of interest to those loyal blog readers with an interest in canals, a bike ride past the recently dried out canal has revealed that it is full again! Not sure if this is down to storm Ashley and its rain or whether some flow stopping device has failed or if all the repair works that required the drained canal have now been finished?