Ground Hog Day and a white stripe!

Out on an early morning bike ride this morning it was like Ground Hog Day as I came across the pack of dogs that I encountered out on my ride yesterday morning. Either they had been on a very long walk or our paths crossed as they went out on another walk. Either way it was an unusual event and in less than 24 hours - Ground Hog Day!

The reason for the early morning bike ride was that it was another day at the Rocks by Rail Museum. In my last post I highlighted that variety was the spice of life and today was no different. My morning job was to paint a white stripe along the edge of the platform to clearly define the edge to passengers. 

Start of the morning.

Mid morning....

End of the morning and looking good!

After lunch a bit of work with others in tyding and sorting the 'bone yard' of parts which revealed some interesting discoveries such as this pile of parts for several sets of points! It may just look like a pile of junk but it all has a use at the Museum just like my pile of junk useful things that Mrs. Woody calls on an almost daily basis junk! Now that is another Ground Hog Day!

Just about done!

I was just about done having finished going up a series of hills on my bike when I was able to take a well required breather having caught up with this pack of dogs out for some exercise! I was not going to take on the cycling prowess of the accompanying staff so as they turned left at the top of the hill I turned right!

Back at the comfort of WMD HQ the Peco Leyland National Bus is just about done too! The closeness of the digital camera shows up flaws but put it in the setting of the layout and it looks at home. It will probably make any bus enthusiast weep in frustration at what is wrong with it but I am happy with it and that is what matters! Sometimes you can to concerned with getting everything spot on when in actual fact as long as it looks right in its final setting from normal viewing distance and you are happy with it then it is actually right. I will let you decide if my philosophy is right from the photos.

The bus has windows.

In between bike rides, cleaning bikes, fixing punctures, grass cutting and the other things that make a day of relaxation not so relaxing I did manage to fit the windows into the Peco Leyland National Bus. The front windscreen took some filing down to get it to fit and I did paint the moulded in windscreen wipers to add a bit of detail. I also managed to paint in the lights and attach the main front lights as well as adding some of the decals. Things are looking good unless you are an expert in buses in which case my build will no doubt grate! However in my World anything is possible!

The wheels on the bus go round and round - well not quiet yet!

The wheels on the Peco Leyland National Bus would go round and round if they were fitted but I am getting there! The bus now has a driver and passengers. Having searched through the WMD stores I came across some Bachmann engine crew figures which had a suitable already painted member in a seated with arms looking as though they would hold a steering wheel pose which was liberated from the pack. No driving the Flying Scotsman for him - just a bus. Oh the indignity! Apologies to any bus drivers reading this! I also came across a pack of Dapol platform passengers which had two seated people that were duplicated across the three sprues that the pack contained. Two ladies and a gent were taken from the pack and they were painted in my vision of fashionable attire for the go getting bus passenger of the time. They will not be on the front page of Vouge! 

The bus body has had a white stripe applied over the windows despite my fears of things going wrong. Firstly Tamiya masking tape was applied and the edges sealed by airbrushing a coat of the green paint around the tape edges. The theory is that if the masking tape leaks it will not show once removed as the same coloured paint wont show and will also seal the edges of the tape before the final colour is applied - well that is the theory!

So lets see how the theory works out.....

Not bad! A few odd places where there has been a bit of bleed through but it looks remarkably good - to me anyway! Some touching in will sort out the paintwork and there is a need to paint in a few details like the lights and apply the decals yet so more to do but this is where I am up to.

Should look good with the wheels fitted!

Chip day and the Leyland National bus turns green - with envy?

For many people Friday is chip day with a visit to the local chippy. However the chip I am referring to is more about electronics and model railways but more on that later.

The Peco Leyland National bus probably is not envious of the electronic chip but has now been painted green following some more work on getting the joints smoothed.

The paint is Tamiya Park Green and was airbrushed following thinning. It probably needs another coat but I will let this one dry overnight.

There is probably going to be a white or cream strip along it unless I see sense and realise the issues of masking to airbrush the strip. Once the paint job is done then I can fit the glazing and floor pan. I do think I need a driver and passengers so I will need to see what is in the WMD stores which will probably mean more work and painting.

Moving onto the chip part of this post I have had for some time (and if Mrs. Woody is reading this that some time is a very long time) an 00 gauge Dapol Class 73 in EW&S livery. It goes with my other similar liveried locos. I had not run it yet so as in a frenzy of tidying up that revealed its presence I decided to put a DCC chip in it and get it running. The job entails taking the body off which is held onto the chassis with 4 small screws. Having done that the circuit board for the DCC chip and the various lighting sockets is revealed. 

There is what is termed as a blanking plug on top of the circuit board which enbales the loco to operate on DC. The blanking pug is taken off allowing access to fit the 21 pin DCC chip.

I did not photo the DCC chip in place as I forgot due to spending a frustrating hour trying to get it to work. I even went to the extreme of dismantling the circuit board to see if there was a detached or broken wire. What actually was wrong was that I fitted the chip upside down - Doh! However with the chip the right way round it worked fine! It is a beauty of a model and runs superbly. I had it run in hauling a rake of Mk3 coaches as I did some more tidying up. Maybe the bus is green with envy at this loco?

Variety is the spice of life!

Another day at the Rocks by Rail Museum and more variety spice up my life. The lady who was rostered to run the café today was unfortunately unable to come in so I found myself volunteered to run the café and welcome guests. Luckily for those with delicate digestive systems it was agreed that I would not have to prepare any meals and only offer drinks and prepacked food. So no spices there then! It was not a busy day so I spent most of the morning having a deep clean of the kitchen area. Just don't tell Mrs. Woody or she will expect me to do the same at home!

Looking sparkling!

Whilst I was doing this job that brought me to my knees the rest of the volunteers were trying to sort out some sleeper issues at one of the points. It must have been complex as at lunchtime the 1956 book of track laying (costing 28 shillings at the time - that is £1.40 for those unfamiliar with old money) came out for reference! I think I must have aided the process by serving strong tea! Despite my top rate service the only tip that I got was to make the tea quicker next time!

The afternoon saw me reacquainted with the lawn mower and a session cutting the grass around the car park whilst Geoff strimmed the edges.

All in all another great day a lot of variety to spice up my volunteering life!

National Bus moves on the Woody Way!

The instructions for this kit instruct that you build the body around the floor pan. Now I have in the past said I should follow instructions and certainly if Mrs. Woody gives one I do - well usually! In this case however there are issues if you do. For one thing you would need to paint the interior of the body panels and fit the windows. Do this and the job of masking all those windows to paint the exterior of the body becomes a nightmare. In addition I knew that the body panel parts did not fit together that well which would mean that I would have to either live with a model with horrible parts fit or struggle to make good the joints with the glazing fitted. So I adjusted the 'instructions' so that I would paint the interior, build the body, make good the joints, paint the exterior then fit the glazing and then fit the floor pan. Technically this should not be possible but I noted that I could flex the floor pan enough to get it into the body shell.

So with the revised 'instructions' in my mind the work began with painting the interior of the separate body panels. The instructions helpfully have the prototype colour scheme which was chocolate brown for the floor, green for the seats, earth brown for the lower body, cream for the window surrounds and roof and black for the doors and front panel. Say no more!

Once dry the body was built up and sure enough there were some issues with the fit of the front and rear panels. These were filled with plastic putty and after a while sanded back.

The bus then had its windows masked in readiness for the paint booth.

A grey coat of primer was then airbrushed over it which highlighted that my filling skills were not as good as they should have been! However the primer did highlight that the body shell is very detailed and deserved some time spent getting the parts fit as good as possible.

At the moment the joints have another application of plastic putty which needs to harden over night before being sanded and a further coat of primer added to see if I have cured the problem! Then we will see just how good the Woody Way is!

Jobs you would rather leave to others!

Mrs. Woody has a list of jobs that she would rather leave to other people - namely me! Whilst I am happy enough to do these jobs there are some tasks out in the wide World that you would rather other people have. Out on a long bike ride today (now at 1917 miles this year so far) I saw two such tasks. 

First off National Grid are uprating some of the transmission network as part of a project to increase capacity as we become more electrified as a Country. The guys doing the work are in a cradle hanging off the wires attached to the pylon. The whole thing sways as they move about and with a bit of wind it can take on a life of its own. I don't know if any of the wires are still carrying current but regardless I am more than happy that these guys are doing the work and not me!

Second job was on the East Coast Main Line where they are working on the overhead wires. Although much closer to ground the electricity will still kill you if it goes wrong.

I know the lines are live as the trains are still running. Again, another job I am glad others are doing! 

I did however end up spending a pleasant 20 minutes train spotting! No idea what these new trains are but they look good!

I think I will stick to the relatively safe pastime of model making and doing Mrs. Woody's rather less challenging jobs!

National Bus.

In my characteristic manner of starting new projects before finishing others I have started the Peco National Bus kit. This is for my 009 narrow gauge layout so it is at least connected with my current project. It no doubt is a bit modern for the period I am modelling but it is my layout so Rule One applies - I do what I want! Well only when Mrs. Woody isn't about or can find out about what I have done!

I could have gone on eBay and bought a diecast bus for a song as there appear to be thousands of the things out there looking for homes but I had the kit around in my stock of kits to build and it is much more fun to build a kit them simply plonk a ready made thing on the layout. Well at least that is my philosophy until it all goes wrong at which point I will think it would have been a lot easier to buy a ready made bus and save myself the trouble of building a kit!

The kit is from Peco although produced by another company previously. 

It is a reasonable kit but has a fair amount of flash on the parts as well as ejector pin marks and some large sink holes especially in the seats. I spent a quiet hour or so removing parts from the sprues, cleaning them up and filling in the various sink holes. Painting is going to be interesting as the interior is very visible through those large windows so I think I will need to put some thought in to just how far I go with this!

Live steam at Rocks by Rail.

Another Bank Holiday weekend so a busy time at the Rocks by Rail Museum. Today it was an operational day with a steam engine offering brake van rides down the line and back as well! Tomorrow is a full blown quarry day where two steam engines and at least one if not two diesels will be in operation. Having worked the last Bank Holiday Monday I know it will be busy day for the team working tomorrow but today was also a busy day for the volunteers despite the cloudy weather. 

It is always good to have a chat with our guests and it seems I am good at talking! From my chats I find a mixture of local people who have never visited before as well as people who are holidaying in the area and have picked up a brochure and come along because their interest has been kindled by what they have read. Not everyone is a hardened rail enthusiast and that is one of the many plus points for Rocks by Rail - it is a museum about the iron ore industry in the area and has a working railway as part of that. 

Everyone seems very happy with their visits and it seems for many children this is the first time they have seen a train let alone a steam train at close quarters and they all seem to love it. It makes it all worth while for everyone running the Museum. 

As always when you work the day you never have a chance to see everything but here are a few photos of the day. One day I will have to go and visit as a guest and experience the Museum as our visitors do!