Train set on the floor!

Kato are a Japanese firm that produce a great deal of n gauge equipment that caters in the main for the home market where space is at a premium for Japanese modellers. However they have developed quite a catalogue of USA outline stock in both n and H0 scales and have done some UK both in n and 009 all at competitive prices.

This is the Kato CV1 track pack which is an oval of track which you may not think is that unusual. However, this pack is unusual!

Whereas the minimum radius n gauge track supplied by UK and most European manufacturers is 9 inches, this Kato track pack has 6 inch radius curves meaning this oval of track is just about 1 foot by 2 feet. That is small! I have a plan for it but like most of my projects will probably emerge around about the earth's next glacial age. But, in the meantime I needed to have a play so it was just like being a young lad at Christmas (only 77 days to go at the time of writing this!) with the train set on the floor!

I knew that the Kato chassis that I use for the 3D printed locos I have built would go round the curves but would anything else? Most manufacturers state that 9 inches is the minimum radius that their rolling stock will go round. Well that is not completely correct! Getting some of my USA outline stock out, most of the diesel locos would go round but given their bogie wheel configuration that was perhaps to be expected. Most of the rolling stock seemed happy enough too.

With the diesels having gone OK round the curves would a more rigid wheelbase steam loco do the same? This 2-8-0 loco had no problems.

The 4-6-2 had no problems but the lengthy coaches did! They derailed due to the couplers not having enough movement.
 

Whilst all this may seem a bit frivolous and Mrs. Woody could find better things for me to do with my time, it does prove that you can have a small layout that just about any home could accommodate. In fact Mike Potter from Budget Model Railways on YouTube proves the point with a layout he has recently built and this is the video.

It was great to see life in my USA outline stock and this has experiment has again awoken my love of the scale which means more projects whirring in my mind! Oh dear!

Workbench tidy!

After several weeks of creating a mess in the Man Cave building the Tiger 1 it was time to tidy the workbench, after all I had spent the morning tidying the house much to Mrs. Woody's amazement!

Nice Tiger tank on the cutting board!

I even went as far as giving the floor a wash bringing me to my knees!

By the colour of the water that floor really did need a clean!

So with the workbench tidy and the floor washed I had a few minutes to have a quick look at this.

More of this another time though as its time to make Mrs. W's dinner!

The art of knowing when enough is enough!

I was reminded of the art of knowing when enough is enough when Mrs. Woody and me went to Easton walled gardens. Although normally a regular place to visit, I have to admit that due to things like the kitchen rebuild, it had been several months since we were last there. In effect we had missed most of the summer views of the gardens and at the entrance that absence was highlighted by this autumnal display which showed just how long it had been since we last visited! I did think it rather nice and touching that they had put together this welcome for us after our absence but Mrs. W did highlight that it didn't state 'Woody' on it so it was not personalised to us but was a general welcome to everyone! Most disappointing!

The actual display caught my eye. The colours were just right, the composition was excellent and whoever put it together knew the art of knowing when enough is enough!

Knowing that is a great asset not only in putting seasonal displays together but when model making. Whilst I am no expert at this art but I do know that my Tiger 1 build is at  a point when it is fairly near to the point of having enough done to it certainly in my eyes.

The latest work has been to add the hull and turret hatches and then use various weathering powders to dull everything down brightness wise as well as giving the tank a working look to it. I do believe I am at the point of  having done enough to it weathering wise. I am happy with the look and adding more to it could tip it over the point of looking realistic to becoming a messed up model. 

With the hatches open on the turret there is that tantalising view of the main gun and its breech - just what I was hoping for.

Whilst I am not going to say 'finished' yet, it is close! I will look over it for a couple of days and if still happy think about mounting it on a base/diorama. Whatever happens, one thing is clear from the photos and that is I need to clear my workbench of all those things involved in this build - enough is enough!

 

The case of the missing water!

Another bike ride taking in the local canal where the case of the missing water has perplexed me and loyal blog reader Mrs. B! It was still much the same as my previous picture but in this picture there is a clue in the bottom right hand corner about what is going on. 

Given the opportunity to ask someone who looked as though they knew what was going on I discovered that a lock further up the canal has been leaking into the adjacent field. To carry out repairs the local canal group needed to reduce the water levels in the lock so used 'Stopping Boards'. This in effect reduced the level down stream of that lock hence the reduced levels. However, just like one of my projects, reducing the level upstream revealed issues around the bridge that I take my photos from. Using the opportunity of reduced levels the group are now in the throws of carrying out repairs.

Looks just like a Rocks By Rail Museum project!

With that mystery now explained and work ongoing it should not be too long before water levels return to their natural state.

Back ay WMD HQ, the watery mess on the Tiger 1 tank has now dried (another case of missing water?) and, in my view anyway, is looking good!

The 'mud' has atken on a variety of hues from the paint and weathering powders.

That 'filter'coat of dilute brown paint has toned things down. 

I just need to add those hatches, a radio aerial and some more weathering and rust and it should be good to go!

Getting dirty!

No smut here, just the Tiger 1 tank getting some more dirt added! In this case the dirt was the acrylic mud applied to the edges of the tank where mud would be thrown up by the tracks.

Whilst the 'mud' was still wet I tinted it with some paint and weathering powders.

It looks horrible at the moment but it will dry to a better finish - I hope!

I then gave the whole tank a wash of dilute brown paint to act as a filter to dull down the bright paint.

Will all this work? I will find out tomorrow when its dried and got dirty!

The gas man cometh!

 Ok Woody, so what does a Flanders and Swann song have to do with your day at the Rocks by Rail Museum? Well the link is tentative but the gas man did cometh to the Museum today! He actually brought fresh supplies of oxygen and acetylene in preparation for the re-tubing of steam loco 1391 

Once on the trolley the bottles were safely transported to the restoration shed near to where.....

Alex continues his great work in painting Ketton No1 and clearing the remaining caked on cement from its days at the Ketton Cement Works.

And it certainly is not the easiest paint jobs under the bonnet with all that engine in the way but he is doing a fantastic job!

Further down the shed Trevor and John were in deep conversation about the ideal consistency of the paint to be applied to part of Mr. D. What part, I have no idea!

But th epaint looks good as Trevor expertly applies it. Apparently, he denies any such abilities at home!

Having got out of the shed I found Richard, Riley the dog and Gary busy dismantling 1391 ready for that oxy-acetylene gear to cut out the tubes.

Gary must have drawn the short straw as he was inside the smoke box - not a nice place to be!

I think a shower is on the books when he gets home!

It was then off grass cutting for me and saw Martin making progress with the repaint of the drag line excavator.

Meanwhile Pam is celebrating finishing painting the back and one side of the Sundew cab which is looking really good.

Having finished one side meant that several of us had to move the so called lightweight staging around to the other side. It would be light if it were not for the thick rain sodden plywood base on top!

You would think Alex had better things to do like paint the underside of Ketton No1's bonnet or maybe await the gas man cometh!

Brook to stream but not canal!

As I contemplated whether I should take up boating instead of cycling given the amount of rain in recent days it surprisingly stopped! So out on the bike and as I was passing and questions have been asked in the comments to this blog, I took in the delights of the canal. A few days ago I noted that it had all but dried up and was almost like a small brook during a drought. Today it had advanced to slight stream status but certainly given the amount of rain I was expecting something more watery and river like at least! 

Strangely, turning 180 degrees the water behind the lock was almost brimming the canal sides with water cascading out of the closed lock gates at a faster speed then Mrs. Woody can order an internet shop! I'll be in trouble for that!

That would make an interesting shower!

I still have no idea why one side of the lock is full whilst the other side looks drought like.

Back in the Man Cave the Tiger build is almost at a point of being finished. The tools and cables are fitted and the whole model has been airbrushed with a coat of matt varnish. It certainly looks like a Tiger now which is more than can be said for the ones in that fantastic film Kelly's Hero's. Despite being made in the late 1960's less than 15 years after the end of World War 2, there were no working Tiger tanks left by then apart from a handful of static ones and the running one that is now at the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK. The film makers had Russian T34 tanks converted to look like Tiger tanks! More fascinating facts on the background to this film are on Wikipedia - click here.