No trespassing - I own firearms and a backhoe!

 It was the Rocks by Rail Museum Members Day yesterday so for an unfortunate Mrs. Woody it was time to venture out from the interior comfort of the comfy and warm sofa to the rather dismal day outside! However, it was an opportunity to show her the gabion baskets/cages that I had been talking about for the last few weeks and we were accompanied by some of the fitter and younger members - Alex, Thomas, Dan and George.

 

I have to admit that walking up to it a few days after having filled the first of the second layer of gabions it does look impressive!

I also had the opportunity to meet loyal blog readers Mrs. B, Gary and Alex who all are much valued by the WMD team - which is actually me!

Also on display was a rather nice 0 gauge model of Brittania. This was a retirement gift to Andy from none other than Jools Holland, he of musical fame. Andy has run a sound company for more years then he cares to recall although he can recall many fascinating stories of famous people which adds to the interest at lunchtime if he is at the Museum! During the last decade or so he has been working with Jools Holland and doing all his sound for his tours and TV shows including the Hogmanay show last New Years Eve. 

A beautiful gift and no doubt one that will be treasured by Andy sp much so that he refused my offer to take it away and run it in for a year or two!

Talking of the New Year I did take Mrs. W on her annual pilgrimage to the Newark Toy and Train Fair. She is not sure why she goes but I do facilitate the whole thing strictly for her benefit - at least that is what I have told her!

This years event was as busy as last year despite the storm over night. A lot of nostalgia on display which these photos may awaken memories from some older UK based readers. It is a big fair with a lot of stalls.

I was really tempted by this sign but having no firearms or backhoe made it a somewhat empty threat to any trespassers on the WMD estate!

A reminder of the 1990's with Churchill the dog from the TV advert for Churchill car insurance - Oh yes!

If you wanted a Mamod or similar steam engine, there were plenty there. Just don't expect to get the fuel pellets that are now illegal to own!

This is one of those, how did that never get made moments when you see something like this from the 1970's

And again, how did this Mecano set survive so well?

Lots of interesting things but Mrs. W bought some cookies and I bought this!

There is a reason for this and to some degree what is to the side of it may give some clue but in the meantime it is set aside!

More dark grey undercoating!

 With the Fergie now off the workbench the 09 gauge train has moved back onto it.

Having got the airbrush out to do the Fergie tractor it seemed logical, even to my mind, to spray up this train. First off it was all fastened to boards for spraying using masking tape.

It was all then sprayed in a dark grey undercoat - very similar to the Fergie tractor.

It is now already for some top coat once I can find the time!

2 Shades of grey and now with a bit of colour - The Fergie story continues!

2 shades of grey is probably about the best that I can get to in my Fergie story but I am talking about painting the Fergie tractor and not about anything of a literary and naughty nature! I would normally have undercoated the model with some black primer but this time I went for a dark grey.

Once that had dried it was time to top coat it with a light grey! It may look just like the model before it was primed, but the light grey paint actually brings a realism to the model rather than the raw light grey plastic that the model was mainly moulded in.

With the paint dry it was time to paint in some of the details such as the fan belt, steering wheel and seat as well as finish the wheels. The painting was fairly straightforward but the wheels had a few issues with the tyres needing thinning with my Dremel so fit on the rims properly.

Both the rear and front needed thinning.

With the wheels added and the bonnet on and some more colour the whole thing comes together. Only the decals to add and some small bits to detail and it will be finished. Its not going to get weathered as I have plans for this to be a Show Tractor but more of that another time!

I was disappointed with the hood/bonnet that promises to be able to be opened but in reality it cannot! I tried shaving away plastic on the inside of the bodywork but the radiator is such that if you open the hood/bonnet it will never close and if you close it, it will never open. Given the limited options it remains closed!

What I wasn't disappointed about was to hear from loyal blog reader Mr. Beecham, he of cycling proficiency and model making skills far beyond mine who let me know that the 'contraption hanging off the back' as I described it is actually the Three Point Linkage that these tractors came with and was used to attach implements such as ploughs. It is good to have knowledgeable friends and even better that they read this blog!

Not a bad start to the New Year!

Well it is only the second day into 2025 yet two of us were foolish hardy enough to go into the Rocks By Rail Museum today. It is a strange place with just two of you there and not the place I would wish to spend a Winters night! However it was a bright day although the ice never really melted making moving around a bit of a hazard.

Yes, it was another day of Gabion basket/cages work which meant we needed more hardcore to fill them. Given that we had mined out the supply available on the loading dock we had to move to new sites of supply such as at the back of the exhibition centre. 

Given the icy conditions at the ramped end of the platform, we moved the platelayers trolley to the far end where we could throw the hardcore from onto the trolley. Working smarter not harder as I get older!

The only trouble with this is that you have to reverse the trolley out of the platform road, change the point and then push back up hill and through the catch pint which are all hazardous when you are walking over them and unable to see where they are because of the trolley in front of you!

However we got two full trolleys of hardcore and managed to fill one of the second level baskets/cages.

It was not the easiest fills to do as being ta just over 2m high everything had to be lifted up.

That was the first trolley of hardcore and David seems pleased with it!

With the second trolley load David went to the back of the baskets/cages and I had the arm stretching job of handing him each individual piece of hardcore!

However we soon got to the point of the gabion being full!

David walks away a happy man - I think!

We did move a lot of hardcore as these after pictures show when compared to the pictures at the start of this post. Not a bad start to the new year!

Happy New Year 2025

 

Mrs. Woody gets to see some water and it is not the sea!

Mrs. Woody had a desire to go to the seaside. However by the time we actually got going it was getting late so I took her to the next best thing - Rutland Water! This is about as near as you can get to the seaside whilst being near the point furthest form the sea!

Now this is England's largest water reservoir by surface area (Kielder Water in Northumberland has a larger overall capacity), and created between 1971 and 1975 by flooding a valley it has some fantastic walks and is a water recreation haven for many.

During the course of flooding, two villages were submerged, Nether Hambleton and Middle Hambleton. Upper Hambleton survives on a peninsula and is now next to the waters edge. Also next to the waters edge on the opposite shore is what remains of Normanton Church.

To quote Wiki, 'The church was de-consecrated in 1970, and was to have been demolished as part of the reservoir construction, as its floor was below the proposed water level. Following a public outcry, the lower half was filled with stone and rubble, and a concrete cap constructed just below the level of the windows. An embankment was built around the church leaving it a prominent feature on the water's edge.' It certainly provides a memorable land mark looking like something out of an apocalyptical film set and it is now available for civil marriage ceremonies!

Mrs. W seemed to enjoy the day despite there being no ice cream or fish and chips available!

Back in the also ice creamless and fish and chipless WMD Man Cave things have progressed with the Heller 1/25th scale tractor kit. I have got to the stage where it really is looking like a tractor and despite there being good detail on the parts I still felt that the solid exhaust pipe was something that needed a bit of extra detail by drilling it out. Out came the pin vice drill and a suitable hole was created.

Adding the exhaust pipe to the manifold on the engine required some masking tape to hold it in place whilst the glue dried.

With that added I added the inner parts of the rear wheels and I then built the bonnet with its lights 

I also added the contraption hanging off the back of the tractor which I have no idea of what it is supposed to be but whatever it is it looks the part!

Just about ready for some paint!

The devil is in the detail!

It may not look that different to yesterday but the devil is in the details so they say! I have to admit that I did look up the Google AI definition of 'Devil in the detail' and it read - The idiom "the devil is in the details" means that something may appear simple, but the details are actually complicated and could cause problems. It's used to warn or remind people to pay attention to all the details of a situation to ensure success. Well I think that definition covers both the kit and me!

Anyway, back to the kit and the details relate to more brake linkages and steering linkages.

I don't think that I have built a kit with so many rods to it but at least most are now in place. What is evident is that each wheel was braked separately by a foot lever on either side of the gearbox which must have been interesting to operate.

The instructions were also lacking with the positioning of the stub front axles which I initially glued wrongly but luckily worked out that was wrong before the glue set.

I believe, that the rest of the construction is very much wheel and body work focused if the instructions are to be believed! In the meantime I will let the glue set before moving onto that stage.

I might be letting the glue dry but the devil in me could not resist just trial fitting the radiator and one of the rear mudguards!