Recording my progress, or usually the lack of it, in building kits, creating model railways and other related and sometimes unrelated matters!
Search this blog
Saturday, November 19, 2022
A bit philosophical!
Friday, November 18, 2022
Woody goes to a gig!
I got a phone call at 4.30pm yesterday from an old friend, Dangerous Dave. Now that 'Dangerous' doesn't mean that he is an unsavory character just that he does some dangerous things! Best illustrated by the fact that when he wired a new light fitting into his and Mrs. Dave's bedroom he managed to wire it so that when switched on it also switched the light on in the next bedroom. No one could work out how he managed it - not even the qualified electrician called in to sort it out! Anyway Dave had an offer that apparently I could not refuse! I thought what does he need sorting out after his latest 'gone wrong' project? However he had a spare ticket to see a Thin Lizzy tribute band and would pick me up at 6.30pm. I had nothing else on and Mrs. Woody had a whole series of some murder crime mystery to catch up on so I said yes please! I am glad I did. The band was Limehouse Lizzy and they were incredible musicians as well as recreating very faithfully the music of Thin Lizzy which was part of my misspent youth! Both Dave and myself have played in bands during our times but neither of us are any where near the professionalism of these guys. The singer was a great front man and had the audience fully behind the band within seconds of coming on.
I walked out slightly hard of hearing but I would certainly go and see them again. If you like Thin Lizzy this is the band to see.
Back at WMD HQ I decided it was time to clean my car both inside and out - it needed it! Whilst the bucket and sponge were out I also thought it might be an idea to clean my bike. Normally I prefer to spend my time riding the bike rather than cleaning it. Some cyclists I know spend hours polishing and cleaning their bikes only to see it smothered in dirt on their next ride! However I am sure me being slower these days is down to the weight of all that dirt! At least that is what I tell myself! The photo doesn't do the build up of muck and dirt justice but it was bad.
Some water and sponge work together with an old toothbrush (and Mrs. Woody thought that those old tooth brushes were thrown out!) to get into the nooks and crannies and it was looking better and weighing less!
Back in the Man Cave a bit more work on the dropped baseboard section of my 00 gauge layout. Today the road and canal sections were put in which means that I can get on with finishing the landscaping. I must admit that this part of the project is dragging on for me but I do need to see it through!
The road and canal sections were cut from a sheet of foam card and hot glued into place.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
The bread knife comes out again!
The bread knife found itself being secretly transported back to my Man Cave for another session of polystyrene carving. I am sure that knife must be confused about where it lives and what it should be doing but luckily it can't talk to Mrs. Woody.
Following my time for reflection a couple of days ago which resulted in the decision to move the viaducts closer to the baseboard edge, the previously formed landscape found itself subject to forces that nature would have taken millennia to achieve - who says I can't be fast when I want to be!
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Be prepared!
I was a Scout in my early years so that motto of Be Prepared does actually bring back memories mainly of not being prepared! However you live and learn as the saying goes which is what I try to do to stay one step ahead of Mrs. Woody! Doesn't work very well though as she still manages to be two steps ahead of me most of the time.
Being prepared today I had my phone ready to take this photo of a stunning rainbow which formed whilst I was out on my bike ride this morning.
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Time to reflect.
Ever since last night when I had finished the plastering of the valley sides I had a thought in the back of my mind that I had missed something. As Mrs. Woody was off today as well we had a day out where I had time to reflect on that thought.
It was a wet and misty day so much so that the top of this TV transmitter mast was invisible in the low lying cloud. A bit like my mind at that time!
Mrs. Woody and me had a purchesless (that amazed me) perusal of the rest of the garden center which was great for my wallet before returning to WMD HQ.
Having had time to reflect on what I had missed on the valley sides I realised i needed to move both viaducts closer to the outside edge of the baseboard. Why? Well I need to put two platforms for the station on the rear most board. Having concentrated on the opposite board I had totally forgotten to check that all was OK on the back board. At present there is room for two 4cm wide platforms or in real size 10 feet/3m. That is not very wide and given the platforms will be about 6 foot/2m long they would look strange.
THe platforms will go between the second and third tracks from the right of the picture and the fourth and fifth tracks.
On the opposite board I have about 7.5cm between the track and the edge of the baseboard so I can gain about 4 cm if I revise the landscape and move the viaducts over.
That will give me an extra 2cm for each platform bringing their width in real life to a more realistic 15 foot/4.8m. Whilst this will mean there is some undoing of some of my work done so far it is much better to discover at this stage then in a few weeks time when the destruction element would be much greater. Reflection and time for it, even if it means going to a garden center, can indeed be a good thing!
Monday, November 14, 2022
Racing Santas!
Mrs. Woody was at home today so we had a look round a local garden center which as is the case these days is more akin to a gift shop with a garden center attached. They had a lot of Christmas stock in and much as I could ignore the fancy Christmas trees with all the trimmings, the motorised reindeer and singing snowmen this did catch my eye.
The Santas are lifted up the elevator to then roll down the roller coaster track. Hypnotically simple but pleases my mind which probably explains a lot!
Back at WMD HQ I started to plaster the valley sides on my 00 gauge Last Great Project layout. A mix of plaster and brown paint was made up (the brown paint colours the plaster so if it ever cracks or chips it shows brown rather than white) and strips of paper towel cut.
Sunday, November 13, 2022
Mixed up World.
I had to remind myself that today is the 13th November as I did some work in the garden today. Normally at this time of year the flowering bedding plants are dead and the other plants have gone into their Winter hibernation. I have more colour in the way of flowers now then I had in the Summer drought. These flower beds should be barren by now.
Yes, it is a mixed up World at the moment! However I can isolate myself, unless Mrs. Woody decides other wise, to the World of my Man Cave where although things are mixed up it is me doing the mixing!
Following on from yesterday when I had completed the landscape profiles for the valley sides around the viaducts I spent today dismantling most of it so that I could fully glue it all together.
The viaducts slot into the gaps which at the moment makes the next stage of covering the polystyrene with paper towel soaked in plaster a lot easier. That will come in the next few days - hopefully!
Despite my previous success at keeping the mess of working with polystyrene to a minimum today in my mixed up World, there was a lot of mess!
Oh well, it will clean up! Just a good job it is in my Man Cave and not the house!
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Infilling.
Friday, November 11, 2022
Hot Stuff!
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Cornflake time!
What have Cornflakes to do with model making you may well be asking. Well the Cornflakes themselves are a delicious breakfast cereal or indeed any other time of the day snack but for me the box has uses other than containing the aforementioned cereal. A source of cardboard which in my more impoverished days of model making served as a raw material for making buildings. Today I tend to use mounting card which a £2 a sheet - well it was the last time I bought some last year but has probably gone up since then - provides a good quality card. However where the card is sacrificial in a project I still turn to the likes of a Cornflakes box - a nice 1kg one is nice and large. Good job I like these cereals!
In my case I have moved on with My Last Great Project layout to start to build the valley sides on the dropped section of baseboard. Polystyrene is my choice of infill material and I have a couple of sheets of it as outlined yesterday. This will be covered with a mix of wall filler and paper towel but first I need to get it to near enough the right shape. Having thought about this and in line with my 'Working smarter not harder' philosophy I decided that it would be useful to make a templet of the valley sides which would enable me to cut the sheets to the right shape. Given the mess that cutting polystyrene can make with all those spheres through the wonders of static electricity, attaching themselves to anything nearby namely me (must be my electric personality or as Mrs. Woody would say more likely to my static personality!) minimising cutting means less mess.
Templets were made and the first polystyrene profiles cut.
Although I am only about a third of the way through the cutting process the mess was reasonably minimal.
Although only part way through things are beginning to take shape. I will need to infill the arches with smaller profiles.
With continually lifing the track it has come out of alignment but once all the landscaping is done I will put it back as it should be ready for ballasting - that is some time off yet though!