Jet powered rail mounted snow cleraer!

I got to the Rocks By Rail Museum yesterday and Ray, Who I have posted about before in this blog, said he had something to show me. Now at 94 years of youngness, Ray has over the years accumulated many interesting things including this picture that he showed me.

You may, like I did to Ray, ask what it is. The back of the photo explains!

Sometimes you just have to imagine what something was like and other times there is a photo to show exactly what it was like! Being 1947, which was a harsh Winter in the UK, and just two years after World War 2 came to an end and just a few years after the introduction of the jet engine we have this, a rail mounted snow blowing jet engine! The photo does show the thing in operation with ballast flying through the air as well as snow which looks somewhat dangerous. Of course. the operator in his Trilby hat will be well protected from any ballast coming his way!

Being intrigued by this contraption I did find a Pathe News silent clip about it on YouTube which makes it all look even more dangerous! Click here to see that clip.

On a much more safer level and building up to the VJ80 event the Museum has next week, Ben was giving loco Singapore a good clean. The loco is s registered War Memorial and the Museum will be playing host to families of those whose relatives were involved in the Far East conflict during WW2 and there will be a number of guests representing various organisations and bodies who have a connection with events.

Meanwhile Thomas and John were painting Mr D's buffers in readiness for Sunday's Driver 4 a Fiver event. Thomas was most keen to point out the cloth to catch any drips of red paint and not stain the floor. I made the point that a good painter shouldn't have any drips of paint!

For me, it was a day of further vegetational butchery including cut back the self seeded trees in this clam bucket.

Amazing how nature can take over!

It is nearly there! A few more parts to add, a bit more weathering but the Airfix Stolly is just about finished and I am pleased by both the kit build which has mostly been very enjoyable and by how it is turning out.

Windscreen wiper masks!

With the few parts still be fitted to the cab now weathered...

...it was time to think about putting some glazing in the cab. First off I needed to remove the masking tape from the inside of the cab which went remarkably uneventful!

With the masking out of the way I painted the inside of the glazing with Tamiya Clear Green to simulate the tinted windows that I have seen on the real vehicles. Before fitting though I cut suitably shaped masks for the windscreens to simulate the wiper coverage so that when I mist a coat of dirt over the vehicle I will get that clear area on the glass where the windscreen wiper blade would keep the glass clean.

This is just a test fit and I will test fit all the glazing before gluing - just in case!

A bus has to be on a bridge - its model railway law!

Whilst the Airfix Stolly is coming on I thought I would just go back to my visit a few weeks ago where I took Mrs. Woody to the Lincolnshire Road Transport Museum which she found fascinatingly interesting! Visiting such a place that relies upon money it raises to keep running means that making some form of purchase from it is a good way to help out. There was the usual selection of books and DVDs but also model buses. Having a number of road bridges on or planned to be on My Last Great Project 00 gauge railway layout means that by model railway law you have to have a bus crossing them. This is little known outside of the model railway faternity but its the law! Therefore, and I have to point out that this logic is not understood by Mrs. W, being in an establishment selling a selection of 00 gauge buses, the sale of which helps that establishment to keep going and the purchase of them helps fulfill model railway law, two buses were selected to go back to WMD HQ. I should probably say a bus and a coach before any bus enthusiasts get upset with me!

I have no idea what these two are but I liked the look of them. The double decker has no information on the box but looks very smart in its red and cream livery.

The coach is an Alexander Y type which is what is on the end of the box.

Having now obtained the vehicles I just need to build all the bridges for the layout so that I can justify the purchases to Mrs. W or I would be breaking model railway law. For reasons beyond me, Mrs. W doesn't think that there is such a thing as model railway law!

Time to get dirty

With the Airfix Stolly in green and the wheels painted up it is time to get dirty!

I start off with a dilute brown wash which sounds as though it will not really do much but take a look at the before and after on these wheels.

Applying the wash to the body of the Stolly makes you initially think that the model is ruined.

However, once gravity works taking the pigment down and the wash dries the effects are very subtle but realistic as to how vehicles get dirty in real life.

All this is the result of three applications of wash. Just let each one dry before applying the next and let gravity work!

During August the Rocks By Rail Museum opens every Sunday and on non-event days visitors can walk around the museum and just enjoy the delights of the exhibits. These days are usually fairly simple to run as the cafe is not open so there only needs to be two volunteers on site. Somehow I managed to be asked to be one of those two for today! So, I arrived, having also picked Geoff up and whilst John was happy enough to speak with visitors as they arrived, Geoff and myself took the opportunity for some site maintenance. Geoff got a lot of weeding done whilst I tool out Sammy Strimmer and butchered vast areas of overgrown vegetation!

It has been a long time since that was cut and all this rubbish came out of the cut area!

Before...

After....

All in all a great day with a fair number of visitors despite Google wrongly telling everyone we were closed! Must get that fixed!

On the Airfix Stolly things move on with decals applied. Not many but they add some colour.

Now in green!

The Airfix Stolly build has now reached the stage of being all green!

It really is beginning to take on some character. A good weathering should really enhance it. Just need to find the time to do it!

Pizza time!

Whilst I had the day at the Rocks By Rail Museum yesterday, I actually spent all my time cutting grass which the recent rains have encouraged to grow! That means I never got to see what was happening around the site which was a bit strange but I was on a tight schedule to get the grass cut, get back home, get cleaned up, pick Mrs. Woody up and head out to Easton Walled Gardens for an evening Pizza event! Now, I have to say that attending this was very much Mrs. W's idea. The prospect of pizza had nothing to do with me agreeing!

It was fantastic freshly made Italian pizza and it was delicious! 

Having stuffed my face it was of course a good idea to have a bit of a walk round the gardens which took on a different look in the evening rather than daytime light.

Although it is supposedly Summer, you can see the Autominal colours coming through already with the reds and oranges.

What a wonderful way to end a day! And Mrs. W enjoyed it too!

It's all grey!

It is strange how getting a model into a uniform colour changes the way it looks, especially when that colour is grey! However, that is what has happen to the Airfix Stolly which is now in grey undercoat awaiting its top coat of green. Having a number of separate parts yet to be fitted makes the painting a bit more of a challenge but it is certainly easier in the long run then trying to mask them or paint them in situ. Anyway, it all has to dry off now so I will have the delight of seeing it all grey for a while!

RIP Murphy cat!

RIP Murphy Cat

The WMD fleet of cats is now reduced as Murphy has now unfortunately had to leave us. Always a difficult decision to make, but it was clear he had suddenly become very unwell so it was time to visit the vet who was very compassionate and gentle in dealing with Murphy.

He was 15, which is a good age for a cat, especially as he had been diagnosed with a growth on his heart in 2019 and at that time given just months to live. Move on over six years from that diagnosis and he outlived both his sister, Holly, and brother Spike.

Of the three he was the most laid back! Nothing really phased him even the growth on his heart. Maybe that was the secret to his long life?

The three of them were close which was nice to see.

When Spike suffered a stroke he had to come on holiday with me and Mrs. Woody in our caravan which meant that Holly and Murphy came as well! The three of them are eyeing up the pigeons outside!

Even in the caravan he was laid back choosing to go under a quilt to sleep!

However, he was a bit of a night owl and would play with a Ping-Pong ball at 3am in the caravan which was a bit of a shock as it rattled around the hard surfaces and acted more like a pin-ball machine!

As with all our cats, he will be sadly missed but never forgotten! RIP Murphy!