White lines and more swans!

I am putting finishing touches to various parts of the landscaping around the viaducts on my 00 gauge layout. Small things that make all the difference such as the white center line on the road. We all see these everyday and probably take them for granted but there are specifications for how they should be set out. As someone who was involved in highway maintenance in my time I could clear out even the most wild  party in less then two minutes by talking about the intricacies of Chapter 5 of The Traffic Signs Manual which covered lining! It is also a subject that Mrs. Woody has banned me talking about at home unless she is suffering from insomnia! 

However for those with a thirst for such knowledge the center line on a road with a 60mph speed limit in the UK is set out with a 3m long line spaced at 6m intervals. If it were a 40mph limit the lines would be 2m long set out with a spacing of 4m between them. The line is also between 100 and 150mm wide. For 4mm scale this means a line about 1mm wide and for the 3m line about 4cm long. To replicate this I cut a stencil from a scrap piece of card. Apart from when fresh laid white lines ware and fade. To replicate this i used a dry brushing technique where most of the white paint was wiped off the brush on some paper towel. As the brush was fairly stiff I could then use a stippling action on the stencil to replicate that worn look. The photos below probably illustrate it better than I can describe.

At last some lane discipline for the 4mm scale vehicles!

I was subject to a swan road block a few days ago as described in my post at the time - available here. Luckily I have not been subject to more swan activity whilst out and about but strangely enough today saw the arrival of this that I ordered a few days before the swan road closure incident.

They are small but well formed and painted and when I ordered them I thought they would bring a bit of interest to the canal. I tried a couple out just to see - I like that!

Given the various random directions that they appear to be floating in they could perhaps benefit from some lane discipline on the water especially with that approaching narrow boat! 

Now I wonder if Mrs. Woody is interested in hearing about the detail of setting out a give way marking at a junction? Oh! I think she is asleep!

Nearly there!

Yes! Nearly there with the two viaducts on my 00 gauge layout. everything is built apart from the end parapet supports which will have to wait until the viaducts are finally ion position as I think they will need altering to fit. The viaducts have also received a dose of weathering to make them look less like they were built last month and more like they have suffered decades of hard life - just like me! Only thing is I have done it naturally over the years as Mrs. Woody highlights as she smiles with no wrinkles!

The weathering has been done with an airbrush to highlight various areas where dirt would make itself known. Firstly I used a very dilute light grey and then a dilute earth brown. No real art to it although the experts would be able to do a far better job but for me I am happy that both structures now look somewhat more aged than before I graffitied them! 

This is what it looked like in mid October.

Six weeks later (is it that long???)

Still more to do with the weathering using some weathering powders and a few parts of the landscape to tidy up as well as fastening the road and canal down but certainly getting towards putting the track back!

Road closed!

 Out on my bike ride this morning I found my route subject to a road closure. No road works causing the closure but a group of swans who had probably decided being out of the canal water was warmer than being in it and the road was the perfect place to warm up. Only problem was that they were not willing to share it! As I approached they showed their aggitation!

Having stopped they went back into guard mode. I was not going to risk my wellbeing or bodily extremities by going any further so turned back! 

Having survived the potential swan incident I returned to the relative warmth of WMD HQ where some progress was made on the viaducts. One viaduct now has all its parapets and capping stones which makes a visual difference and brings this long ongoing project a step forward to finishing. Maybe by the weekend I might be able to get some track back in place and actually see some trains running. That is unless Mrs. Woody has other ideas for my time.

 I also added the cosmetic stones around the underside of the arches to hide the join between two parts.

There is a gap as I have not fully bedded the viaduct in yet. It is getting tight so I don't want to damage anything!

5882

5882. Not just a random number but marks the total cycling mileage I have done this year so far. November saw me pedal another 421 miles which given the weather during the later part of this month is not a bad total. Just another 118 to do this year to get to that 6000 revised target - it was 5200 so I have certainly beaten that by several miles!

Back in the relative warmth of WMD HQ I did a bit more on the landscaping of the valley sides of my 00 gauge layout. The edges of the landscaping looked ragged so some card formers were glued onto the sides and the gaps glued and then covered with static grass as these before and after shots show.

Some progress with the viaducts too with the parapets being added to the second viaduct along with some capping stones.

I will be glad when the viaducts are finally installed and I can get some trains running again.  Just have to keep pressing on ....just like my cycling!

 

In the cold but learning new things!

A cold day at the Rock sby Rail Museum today and I was out in it! 

Since I was last there progress has been made on Harriot the JCBs step.

One thing I found out today is that there is a drivers door - never knew that! Not much of a door but it is a door! Not even time for a full paint job for Harriot....

She is being pressed into service to start some more ballast washing with the oversized washing machine! Oh joy - cold water splashing about all over me no doubt!

Meanwhile Mr. D the shunter is awaiting a refurbishment of its hydraulic transmission hence he is parked over the pit. Hopefully he will be operational next year.

One of those interesting things is to see the chain drive which I had not noticed before. 

Back with my vegetation butchery I continued clearing around the weighbridge office building. I also cleared all the mess from under the rail trolley. I didn't realise this had a brake but having to move it I did learn that it has one and how to make it work! As usual some before and after photos.

I might have been cold in body but my mind was warm with all the new knowledge I picked up today! 

Home in the warm!

It was one of those damp cold days that probably feels colder than it really is. However whatever temperature it is it is not warm enough in the man cave for the landscaping on the valley sides of my 00 gauge layout to dry. Luckily it is not glued down to the baseboard although given the current issue that glue would not be dry either. Never the less it was easy enough to bring it into the house when Mrs. Woody left and it has a nice window view above a radiator to hopefully fully dry. I have closed the room off to cats so the only threat to it from feline claws is the pottery cat peeking round the curtains which is a risk I ma willing to take!

Meanwhile attention now turns to the pair of Metcalf viaducts which need finishing and weathering before being installed in place. Given that weathering methods and materials take better on a rough surface I have sprayed the viaducts and remaining parts in Tamiya matt varnish. You realise just how big these structures are after you spray two bottles worth of the stuff to cover everything.

Hopefully I can begin to make a bit more progress again - then again I don't think it is going to warm up any time soon!

Italeri M977 HEMTT hi Oshkosh

I am still waiting for the glue to dry on my 00 gauge layout landscaping so for today I am going to have a look back at something I built around 2010. The Italeri 1/35 scale model of the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). The truck is an eight-wheel drive, diesel-powered, 10-short-ton tactical truck which makes it a go anywhere type of vehicle. It is extensively used by the U.S. army since its introduction in 1982. Being so successful it has also been used by the military in Greece, Israel, Morocco, Egypt, Brazil and Taiwan to name but a few.

My model is the standard truck but there are many variants including tankers, wreckers, container transporters and gun trucks which there are also kits for but which I have resisted - so far!

If I recall correctly I had to spray the cab windows with a very thin coat of green paint to get that tinted effect. The truck s fairly heavily weathered as these working vehicles never received too much in the way of loving care other than for the mechanical parts. 

This kit included the crane on the rear of the cargo body which meant these trucks were not reliant on other machines for the loading of heavy items. Now that is the sort of vehicle I could do with when Mrs. Woody takes me shopping!

I even managed to build it so that it can be posed.

The cargo bed has been given a good going over with weathering powders and various liquid stains to try to convey that it has carried a variety of cargo on its journeys.

One day I might put a load in that cargo bed - wonder if Mrs. W's handbag would fit????

The waiting game.

As written about over the past few blogs I have been doing work on wilding the valley sides of my 00 gauge layout. I have used a lot of diluted PVA glue to stick things down. Brilliant when it dries but when it is cold it takes ages to dry! Even following the heating with Mrs. Woody's hair dryer yesterday the glue in many places has yet to dry. If I carry on with any further work at the moment on this area of the layout I risk damaging what I have already done. I really can't do any other areas of the layout until this is done as the alignment of the rest of the track is dependent on lining up with the new position of the viaducts. So I am having to play the waiting game which could be several days yet. I may bring the section into the warmth of the house when Mrs. W is out on Monday but I have to be aware that there are several inquisitive cats who could either see it as a new scratching post or some funky new type of litter box! I will think about that option!

As I was out in the man cave and I have created chaos over the past few weeks I decided it was time to at least clear some space on my workbench.

After a bit of a half hearted tidy I can at least see the cutting mat!

Something I did come across in my tidying activity were these two Metcalfe card kits which I was fortunate enough to win in the Tombola at the Sleaford Model Makers Show last week. I should be able to make use of these and they are nice kits. The tower block is a fairly new kit too!.

Despite a desire to start building these I will not! I don't need any more projects on the go at the moment so for the moment it is back to the waiting game!

More wilding!

A continuation of the wilding project on my 00 gauge layout. It has moved on and things are certainly coming together. 

A variety of products being used and I am never organised so it all looks a mess!

However from that chaos this has emeged!

Unfortunately with the arrival of Winter it is cold in the man cave so the glue is not drying very quickly. However with some intervention from Mrs. Woody's hair drier (I am going to be in trouble if she reads this!) heat has been applied to encourage the drying process!

If I don't do a post to the blog tomorrow you can assume Mrs. W has done her own form of wilding - on me!

Wilding!

A strange word but one that has come into favor over the last few years as ecologists and environmentalists try to turn back time and return habitats to pre human industrialisation times. Well whilst not strictly wilding in those terms I am trying to wild the valley sides of my 00 gauge layout so that they look unkempt, natural and hopefully realistic. Using a variety of Woodland Scenic products I have been adding vegetation. Whether this wilding will succeed is open to debate but here are some photos of progress so far.

I have been using dilute PVA glue to soak the various products so they look a bit shiny at the moment but once dry the should look better. At the moment nothing has been fixed down to the baseboard which means at the moment I can have better access to areas of the valley side - working smarter not harder as I get older! Once I have got the wilding done then it will be time to start fixing things down and merging the tops of the valley side into the main baseboard tops.