Levelling up!

With my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout being built in sections (I discussed the reasons why back in my post on the 18 March 2021 available here ) I need to have a way to ensure that the joins at the four baseboards and level and flat. Fairly easy for three of them. I can just bolt them together. For the dropped section though is little more difficult as I need to be able to lift it out for when my body can no longer duck under it to gain access to the middle of the layout. In other words as Mrs. Woody would say I need to future proof for when I get old and decrepit although in her view I am already there! 

My mind has mulled on various solutions to ensure that the board is held fast in both vertical and horizontal planes. All sorts of complex solutions went through my mind but eventually the simplest solution came to the fore. Screws and slots!

I used some G clamps to get the board level with its neighboughs and then drilled tow holes through the end boards at each end. Screws were fastened in that went through to the neighboring board as arrowed in the photo below.

Having taken the screws out again and then moving the dropped section out of way the screws were put back into the neighbouring boards leaving them sticking out by the thickness of the wooden cross batten.

I then cut slots into the dropped board cross battens.

THe dropped board was then put back into place where the slots in the cross battens engaged with the srews in the neighbouring cross battens and the board was level and held in place. Nice!

I also started the landscaping of the viaduct section by putting a base of polystyrene sheet into place.

Next stage is to start the valley sides which will be far from level!

Cutting back.

Much as Mrs. Woody would like to see me cut back on spending this cutting back relates to my day at The Rocks By Rail Museum. Following on from last week my battles with nature continued as I cut back more bushes and hedges that have narrowed some paths. Slowly I am winning the battle although it will grow back next year but that is something for Future Woody to deal with. I don't envy that guy!

In my inevitable way before and after photos show my vegetation butchery!

Meanwhile in the restoration shed where I visited whilst it was raining, Rob was tackling the broken step on Harriot the JCB. I have no idea where the name originates from but it sort of suits this JCB! Much rust cut back, much new metal, welding and grinding are taking place so the new step will probably outlast the rest of Harriot!

Back at WMD HQ I have managed to do a bit more on the Metcalfe Viaduct kits and one now has the basic parapets in place. I need to do some fettling before adding the various coping stones but it is looking good!

After this busy day I won't be cutting back on my dinner tonight although I do have to cook it!

Putting a bed in the viaduct!

The Metcalfe viaduct now has a track bed. Yesterday I sealed the underside of the track bed pieces with a sanding sealer which waterproofs the cardboard. Today I did the upper side just to make sure it really is all sealed. Once dry it was time to fasten the various sheets to the main structure of the viaduct. There were one or two places where joins needed a bit of reinforcing with scrap cardboard.

Once the sheets were glued in place things looked a lot better. These may only be small steps but at least this project is moving forward. 

Next stage is to get the various parapets and coping stones in place. In my tidying and sorting of the garage (hope you read that Mrs. Woody!) I did uncover these polystyrene sheets which I saved from a delivery of something or other which Mrs. W no doubt ordered! However it should be good to create some landscape around the viaduct when I get to that stage. 

However it was now time to run a few trains! I do like this picture below - somehow I managed to get the impression of speed with the passing DMU in the background. No idea how I did it so it will probably ne a one off picture! The parapets are only temporarily in place.

A bit later this class52 Western travels in the opposite direction.

I must admit to feeling shattered today so I will be looking forward to putting myself in bed tonight!

 

Cold morning for cycling but I break a record!

It was cold this morning - very cold as my kneecaps can testify as I cycled this morning. However I was warmed by the fact that my total mileage for this year so far has ended up at 5556 miles which is a record for me in my later years of life. Not done that kind of mileage since the times I could get out of bed without creaking! Last years grand total was 5544 so with eight weeks of the year left I may, health and weather allowing, get to 6000 miles which would be a record I would like to get to.

Back in the relative warmth of the WMD HQ I had an hour or so doing some more on the viaducts for my 00 gauge Last Great Project. I have now managed to finish the various parapet wall sections that go either side of the main structure. A bit of a boring and repetitive job but it is now at least done.

I also had a look at the track bases for the viaduct. The track will be ballasted once I get to that stage so there will be diluted PVA glue used. This is great for gluing ballast down but not so good for cardboard which can turn a rather soggy mess. Trying to think ahead, which is alien to me in most cases, I need to seal the surface of the track base. I used the sanding sealer that I used for the balsa canal boats that I built for my 009 narrow gauge layout (which is still undergoing construction). This should at least act as a waterproof coating keeping the viaduct from  ending up as a water infested collapsed cardboard hulk! That is the theory at least.

The various parts awaiting the next stage of construction. I will however have to paint the other side of the track base to ensure they are fully sealed and waterproof.

A day out for Mrs. Woody!

Today I took Mrs. Woody for a day out to the Spalding Model Railway Exhibition! Not sure if she knew she was going but she went and as I highlighted to her she could not only enjoy my company and the show but also see first hand how little I would spend there!

The exhibition was brilliant. Some really good layouts, good selection of traders all well laid out and lots of people talking and chatting, including me. I had not realised until I thanked a member of the club on the way out that this was the Spalding's club first exhibition since the pandemic. 

Layout wise I will highlight a few from the many there - they were all great but some had those little things that make you think WOW!

Firstly is this layout called Kozel and based on a cement works in Czechoslovakia. I really showed my skills of observation when I asked the operator on which country the layout was based. He said Czechoslovakia and then highlighted the large Czech flag on the front of the layout which you can see in the photo below. Oh well sometimes you just don't see these things!

What I did observe though was the inside of this office building. Superbly modelled with office staff at desks and filing cabinets and although I thought I had seen it all in the model railway world I was about to be further educated. In this building even the computer monitors were illuminated! You can just about make them out in the photo below on the top floor left hand office. A brilliant touch and one I have never seen before.  . 

Copper Wort is an 00 gauge layout based upon the brewing industry in the early 1900s. A superb model with loads of detail all scatchbuilt by its owner. The layout featured recently on the TV series about Hornby.

The owner even sculpts and casts his own figures of which there are many on the layout. back in those days labour was cheap and the work hard.

Modelling of this type really captures the atmosphere of the time being portrayed. It takes skill to make and compose all the elements in scenes such as this.

Moving forward in time to the 1970s this rather large but equally atmospheric layout 0 gauge layout called Netherwood played on the griminess of that period on the railways. It was a time when the Country was going through economic problems and there was no money to modernise or maintain the railways. 

All that detail is possible in 0 gauge and the layout looks fantastic.

However there is a price to pay - the space needed. This photo of the fiddle yard shows just how much space is needed for a layout depicting longish trains. It has to be at least 30 foot long by 15 across. Nice if you have the space.

Talking of space no model railway exhibition is complete without a Darlek or two. Mrs. Woody found this one hiding in a station building.

I could go on about the layouts and fill this blog with lots of pictures but I will leave it there and conclude by saying that Mrs. Woody did admit to being impressed! As to my spending? Well lets just say that my wallet is somewhat thinner than I intended it to be which didn't really impress Mrs. W but as I said to her my company for her today is priceless although deep down I know it is going to cost me!

Profile update!

After cutting my profile boards yesterday they got a coat of grey paint - much of my life is grey as Mrs. Woody says! I attached them to the baseboard frame with some self tapping zinc screws which contrasted well with the grey paint. Even model railways can be fashionable unlike my wardrobe.

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Getting the baseboard back into place and putting the track and viaducts back it looks like this.

Those screws look good but I am really pleased with how this whole has turned out so far.

Both viaducts have all their main structure completed now so they are just awaiting their embellishments such as the parapets which are coming along on the work bench. I do love that low down view looking through the arches - just need to run some trains over it now.

The only thing about this is that it makes the rest of the layout standout as needing more work! Oh well plenty to keep me going then!

Profiles!

Not the sort of profile you have on-line - mine no doubt does not figure highly on most peoples social media - but the profile boards that neaten the edge of layout. Before I go much further with my dropped section baseboard I need to have some profile boards in place. Having got hold of a suitable piece of 3.5mm ply and amassed my tools of wood butchery - hand saw, electric sander and jig-saw (I prefer the type with 500 pieces and a nice picture of a train but that was not going to be much use today!). After a couple of hours I actually ended up uninjured and with two profile boards that seem to fit!

Next step is to get them attached and painted. I can already hear Mrs. Woody saying 'If you have a paint brush out this could do with painting and that and that and then there is the.......'! Think I will keep a low profile! 

Groundwork!

Not the type of groundwork that is in gardening but getting my baseboards for my 00 gauge Last Great Project Layout into a more or less complete form. It was far too windy to do any outside work as I will tell Mrs. Woody - wish me luck with that one! So today I was undercover filling in the missing parts of the baseboard tops and lining everything up so the ground is all level and lines up. Still more to do - as always - but at least the track is not spanning open air apart from the one part awaiting the second viaduct! Most disconcerting if you are an 00 gauge loco driver!

Best Kept Secret!

After yesterdays major tree and hedge pruning operation I found myself at the Rocks By Rail Museum today where I was greeted by this proclaiming - Best Kept Secret!. 

Well even with my limited imaginative skills I could tell this Best Kept Secret was a steam locomotive! My investigations into this so called secret revealed that this little 0-4-0 steam shunter is off to Kent where its present owner lives. It will be restored and operational next year - well that is the plan but the owner has a team ready to go so it may well happen. If you see 'Vigilant' as it is known on the rails in steam next year it will no doubt look a lot different to how it looks now!

Having discovered what I needed I ended up doing - well more tree and hedge pruning! No escaping it whether at home or at the Museum. I certainly had a bigger job then at home. It started out looking like this.

Some big stuff came out including a 20foot self seeded Ash tree that was in conflict with the established tree.

After about 5 hours it looked a bit tidier and had widened the access path and given space for what remains to fill out next year.

One of the main differences to being at home with this type of job is I didn't need to be quiet as neat - no Mrs. Woody to answer to if there is a bit of a mess! Nice!

It may not look like much came out but here is the pile of stuff I had to stack round the corner. It is about 7 feet tall! Glad I don't have to bag that lot up and take it to the recycling center!

Back at WMD HQ I even managed, after a another tiring day of physical work, to get one of the viaduct kits glued together. It is no secret that it is progressing! How quickly more progress will be will depend on how much more gardening I need or Mrs. W thinks I need to do at home!

End of the month so lots of things need to be done.

I had my Covid booster on Saturday and yesterday I felt terrible. Mrs. Woody was unaffected but that seems to be the way it goes with these things. If I am bad she is OK and vice versa. Anyway I woke up today feeling relatively well which was good as this week I need to get on top of preparing the garden for its Winter hibernation. However a 20 mile bike ride first brought my total for this year up to 5461 miles. 

Back at WMD HQ there are some things which should have been done earlier in the year like hedge cutting and tree pruning but with the drought affecting them during the summer I have left them to recover until now. Well with the amount of rain and warmish weather we have had over the last few weeks they have certainly recovered. I should have taken a 'before' picture of this tree but in my haste to get jobs done (please note that Mrs. W) I just went straight in but you get some idea of the fact that about 6 inches of growth all round was cut back from the various bags full of the debris now awaiting to go to the recycling center.

The tree certainly looks more manicured then it did before .

Having done that job I felt I ought to reward myself with a bit of model making. The two Metcalfe viaducts still need finishing - like a lot of things I do! As an aside Metcalfe have sent me the missing part which is great service from them. However because as I have discovered my kit, although bought this year, dates from 2006 the parts references have changed so the sheet sent is the wrong one. However an email to Metcalfe was answered within 30 minutes and the right part is on its way. Apparantly sheet references were changed when the kit was updated a few years ago. Again I have to say great service from this company.

I am building the parapets at the moment and although small parts there is a fair amount of preparation work to do on them. This is the sheet with one of the parapets which is made up of two main parts.

The core of the parts requires bending in half and although the part is partly cut through at the factory to get a neat fold requires scoring the back of the bend.

The core is then overlaid with another part that provides some relief  with inset brick work. All those cut outs required crayoning in to hide the card edge and that took some time but is worth it.

I have been using UHU glue for the substructure but I have bought some DeLuxe Materials card glue which most of the modelling magazines have recommended. Although a little costly I have to admit it is good! It has an instant grip which holds parts together and means I can move the build on quickly - well as quick as I go!

In my usual manner I have temporarily put the two parts I have semi completed so far in place on the main viaduct to see how they look.

Certainly adds to the structure and I only have another 14 sections to make!