VJ80 at the Rocks By Rail Museum.

Having an Uncle who was a prisoner of war in Changi Jail during World War 2 and survived makes today a special day for reflection as I visited The Rocks By Rail Museum with Mrs. Woody. Being VJ80 day or Victory over Japan 80 years ago many people around the World will, wherever they are, be remembering loved ones, some of whom survived that conflict and others who did not. 

What has this to do with the Museum? Well the Museum is custodian to locomotive Singapore which was also captured by the Japanese. It returned to the UK after the war and worked in the naval docks at Chatham before becoming part of the Museum in the late 70's/early80's. It is now registered as a National War Memorial and is visited by many whose relatives were part of the Far East conflict. 

Being VJ80 da , the Museum made a big effort to ensure that both loco Singapore and the Museum itself were able to properly and appropriately host guests who had come to remember and reflect during the day and those involved in the events of World War 2 in the Far East.

There were a number of dignitaries including the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire representing the King and looking at all the medals being proudly worn by many of those attending it was clear that many of those attending had seen military service during their lifetimes.

Even clearer when colours are presented.

Various wreaths, poppies and white orchids were laid on Singapore following a various readings.

When everyone had finished, there were refreshments available in the cafe.

And Yvette baked and decorated this stunning cake. It tasted as good as it looked!

A day certainly of mixed emotions but a day for me to have pride in my Uncle, the Museum and its volunteers and those who attended to remember and never forget.

Good job I remembered!

As I am ballasting the sidings on My Last Great Project 00 gauge layout I luckily remembered that I wanted to incorporate a diesel refueling point. I had bought a Knightwing kit for this some 15 years ago when I was going to put it on my terminus layout Gailston before plans changed! 

Having unearthed the kit in the WMD Stores, I hoped that it would fit where I intended it to go and luckily it just about does! I say just about as I will need to make a slight amendment as it is about 2mm too wide but I have something in my mind that will hopefully work!

Next stage is to build the kit which will be a bit different from the recently completed Airfix Stoilly!

RIP Chloe Cat.

Only thirteen days after loosing Murphy Cat, Mrs. Woody and me had to let Chloe Cat go. She had lost the use of her back legs and could not stand up le alone move. 

She was about 15 or 16 we think. Like all our other cats, she was a rescue cat who came to us in late December 2019. She and her brother were roaming in Gainsborough after their owner died. Chloe's brother unfortunately did not last very long after that but Chloe was rescued and we became her new family.

She had a wonderfully characterful face and a beautifully soft coat which she hated being combed! 

She was one for going outside even in the snow but stayed in the garden where she would seek some shade on sunny days and sleep before coming back to the patio door asking to come back in and tucking into her food. Chicken was her favorite!

Even towards her last days she was still going out and looking out I still see her and will continue to do so. 

She is now under the apple tree along with all the other WMD cats who have passed on so she will have good company.

Rest in peace little girl!

All very therapeutic

Having now finished building the Airfix Stolly it is time to get back to My Last Great Project model railway layout. Having not done any work on it for a month I thought that I would get back into it with something simple and that would show quick results and all be very therapeutic. So, it was out with the ballast and a start on the sidings at the side of the station. As usual, the WMD Stores had already stocked up with the necessary materials including some special siding ballast.

I did mix the two ballasts in an old ice cream tub which I had to empty of the ice cream which was something that I did find somewhat enjoyable!

These were the sidings that needed ballasting with the mix.

A quiet hour or so saw part of the sidings spread with ballast and brushed into place.

Once happy that it was where it should be a diluted mix of PVA glue with some drops of washing up liquid was spread over the ballast.

It is now time to wait for it to dry before going onto the next section with further ballasting. All very therapeutic and a good way to get back into building the layout.

Woody's model bodgery on film!

The build of the Airfix Solly was documented by the WMD film crew and uploaded to YouTube and if you are interested in the visual delights of Woody's model bodgery just click on the video below!

The Airfix Stolly is finished!

The Airfix Stolly is finished! Well, just need to add an aerial when I find my small drills, but otherwise finished complete with base to display it on which now has some greenery added to add a bit of interest. All in all I am very pleased with the way it has turned out and hats off to Airfix for producing this long awaited kit.

So, here are a few photos to record the Stolly.

Just like making a pizza!

Time to think about a base to put the Airfix Stolly on. My traditional method is to cut a piece of Styrofoam to a standard sized rectangle to match up with the other bases I have made. Indeed, this is what I decided to do in this case to! The Styrofoam comes from a time when shop pizzas came with base made out of that material. Long gone to be replaced by more environmentally friendly cardboard, I did, as is my way, keep a box ful of these pizza bases so I have stock for many years to come and fond memories of consuming the pizzas that said bases supported!

I do tend to add a piece of mounting card to the underside of the foam to add to the strength so first job was to cut foam and card to size for the base.

Second job was to use a rattle can to spray one side of the foam grey and the glue it to the card.

With that done it was topping time, just like a pizza, (oh the memories!). In this case I am trying to mimic a rough stone area which is not maintained so will have grass and similar vegetation growing through or over it. The stone is some old model railway ballast that I had in a draw and was applied to a coat of PVA glue.

Leaving it all to dry overnight I have covered the stone with a plastic bag so that the glue will not stick to it and on top of that a wooden board with heavy jars should keep things flat - hopefully.

So with my version of pizza making underway I do actually feel like a real pizza - hope Mrs. Woody does too!

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!