Another good day at the Museum!

Progress at the Rocks by Rail Museum today with the last of the track around the platform area having been lifted ready to be re-laid once some drainage has been installed. The digger for that comes next week after which, hopefully things can be put back in place.

With the wet weather that we have been having at the moment it all looks a little bleak and muddy.

Meanwhile, in the restoration shed, the work on Loco 1931 and its retube continues. Although not really visible, there has been considerable progress with 21 of the 134 tubes having now been removed. It gets easier as you get into the job, so I am told which means that the remaining 113 tubes should be no problem to get out!

The tubes come out through the smoke box with the door open.

Having been hammered through from inside the firebox.

These are some of the tubes that have been removed and they show that the water treatment used in the water that is put into the locos saddle tank has prevented any limescale buildup.

And these are some of the tools that are used to put into the tubes in order to hammer them out. I have no idea how the whole process works but luckily there are those that do!

For me, it was another day f moving backfill for the viewing platform. Luckily, Alex had been in earlier in the week and had added to the backfill so we started with this....

and finished with this....

Next stage will be to add some hardcore type material to the top to provide a solid standing area. We have moved a lot of material as this replenished spoil pile shows. All that work will be worthwhile though and all in all another good day at the Museum!

Flushed!

Well, I am flushed - with success! The cloakroom/downstairs toilet rebuild is almost finished with a major achievement - a flushing toilet! The basin also has running water and both drain as they should! It is a major improvement of what was there before too! I just need to paint some skirting and door architrave to put in place and a loo roll holder needs to go in as well but those are minor matters! 

Of course, it wouldn't be WMD if there was not a cat involvement in this project and Monty was the one involved during the latter stages of construction. His paw prints are also in the self leveling compound that didn't self level!

Light at the end of the tunnel?

 After a few days of bleak weather the sun came out and it seemed a lot lighter - a bit like seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Well, there has been some sight of light at the end of the tunnel making saga on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout as I managed an hour out in the Man Cave. The tunnels have now got a roof and supporting tabs so that they can be glued to the main structure so progress is made!

My work bench is so untidy!

More clamps!

Once all the glue dries it should be time to glue it to the main structure and then I can see if there is light at the end of that tunnel!

Sometimes your hobbies have to take a back foot!

Sometimes your hobbies have to take a back foot as other things need doing. That is the case at the moment with the cloakroom/downstairs toilet rebuild taking up much of my time. Not that I am doing the main work but just being there to hold onto things, get items and sort out some of the more mundane things that I can do such as painting the door whilst it was out of its frame so that the floor could be laid. Anyway, the result of todays work is a floor in place, a radiator mounted and working and the first of the cabinets fastened to the back wall.

Hopefully the toilet will be working by the end of tomorrow. I can stop crossing my legs then!

Filler, sanding, paint and an empty wallet!

Filler, sanding, paint and empty wallet describes most of my weekend! No model making, just cloakroom/downstairs toilet this weekend as Mrs. Woody has now emptied my wallet following the purchase of paint yesterday. Never the less we have some colours that we seem to both agree on which is unusual However, before getting to the point of applying said paint to the ceilings and walls there was a great deal of preparation to do. I did start last night with by filling various holes and blemishes so that the filler would be dry in the morning. I also applied a mist coat (very watered down paint) to the new plaster to seal it. Not the easiest thing to do when the lights have been disconnected and you are working by a portable light.

This morning it was down to sanding the mainly dry filler. There was a lot of filler to sand too such as this.

In fact after three hours I had collected this amount of sanding dust.

At least with all that out of the way the painting could commence with the ceiling to start with. May as well get the neck ache job out of the way.

Two coats save that a new look and made the place brighter. Was it going to stay bright though?

Mrs. W are I did take a bit of a risk with this colour and initially I was not sure but only painting a small amount never paints the full story!

With the whole room done it looks much better and once the floor and fittings go in it should all harmonise - hopefully! But, as I told Mrs. W I am not painting that room again for many years so we have to like the colour!

When self levelling doesn't level!

On occasions, you wonder how a product managed to get its name. Take self levelling screed for example. You presume, that if you follow the instructions, that when you pour it onto the unlevel floor it will do as it is named and self level. However that was not the case with the rebuild of the cloakroom, which appears to be the posh way to describe the downstairs toilet! With the freshly installed plaster board plastered, it was time to level the floor. Phil mixed the product to the instructions and poured it out in the far, most of level part of the existing floor.

Now you would think that it would flow out and literally find its own level. Not this stuff! Phil poured a second batch to see if it needed more mass. That didn't work! The stuff just sat there as though it wanted to be a hill!

Finally, Phil had to venture in and start prodding and troweling to get the stuff to move.

Finally he managed to get it spread but there were still some humps!

Luckily, when it dried, which was quite quickly, the self leveling product remains soft so Phil was able to use a scrapper and level off the humps, Later in the day Marty Cat decided to investigate as he was sure there used to be a litter box in there!

 Next job for me is to get some filling of small holes done and then do some painting once Mrs. Woody has decided on a colour!

Meanwhile, back in the Man Cave, slow tunnel sub-base progress has been happening. The tunnel inner walls are being constructed.

Trial fitting has taken place.

And it all seems to work but I will need to fill the hole on top from my previous cardboard butchery as I tried to make the previous two attempts work!

Maybe this is third time lucky!

More back filling!

 The work on the track at the Rocks by Rail Museum continues! 

From a higher viewing point the extent is clear to see.

Of course we do have mechanised assistance - when it works! Harriot did decide to break down for a short while but luckily had a change of mind later on!

Meanwhile, working on the viewing platform continues with more back filling to get a level approach.

This where we got to last week.

Following some intense quarrying of some conveniently placed spoil nearby which Alex and David are gigging through in this animated GIF we got to this.

It may not look much different but there is about two tons of material dug out, wheel barrowed and tipped which is not bad going for a cold and damp day!

We can actually stand at the edge of the barrier and see the view that visitors will get looking up to the quarry sidings. It should give a whole new perspective as well as giving photographers a nice vantage point. Still more to do but this is one of those projects that has moved forward quite quickly which is nice and gratifying. Hopefully we may get some warmer and sunnier weather next week!

Clamping down!

A large number of clamps on the tunnel mouth section of the sub-base that I am building at the moment as I construct the tunnel lining. Card and paper brick paper do tend to warp as they get wet and then dry with PVA glue so it is always advisable to try to encourage them to keep straight by clamping down on something such as a steel ruler.

Although going on for the last week or so not much mention of the cloakroom rebuild but it is progressing. Having taken the ceiling down it made sense ti insulate it.

Phil plaster boarded the ceiling and wall which made it look more like a room again

Just awaiting some plaster to be applied and then it is ready to paint which is my responsibility - Oh joy!

Third time lucky!

Hopefully, this is third time lucky and I have found the ladder to the finish of this tunnel sub-base. Following cardboard butchery I now have this.

Which whist the clearances are still tight they are far better than before.

From a distance it looks reasonable as well!

Could this be third time lucky? I have no idea but I do know I have a lot to do to make this look as it should!

A game of snakes and ladders!

It has been a long time since I played the snakes and ladder board game. More often then not my progress along the board was thwarted by those snakes whilst the handy ladders were always elusive to the score of the dice that I rolled. So, interesting my board game failures may be, but, what has this to do with model making you may ask? Well. the current tunnel scenic module build is akin to a game of snakes and ladders in that every time I think I have advanced up a ladder I find the snake to take me back down again!

I have, over the past few days related how I have now had two attempts at getting the arrangement of the tunnel mouths right and you can now add the third attempt! I thought that I had it sorted with the second attempt and I got as far as constructing walls and tunnel internals only to realise that the tight clearances between rolling stock and the structure were just too tight! I should have recognised that earlier on but I didn't so down the snake I go and having to find another ladder to get back up on! These two photos show just how tight the clearances were.

Another rethink was required and has resulted in this as a potential solution or ladder to use the board game analogy!

It needed cutting back a bit before  it was in the right place.

Clearances are certainly much better between the structure and the rolling stock.

Will this be the winning ladder or is there another snake to thwart my progress? I have no idea but may find out in a few days!