Yesterdays bike ride saw me in a small local village. As I approached the center I could see the rear of a truck that was parked up. That was unusual in itself for the village. However as I rode round it I recognised the distinctive and unusual purple and yellow livery of the cab. It was, or rather had been as it had been stripped of the company name, an Edwin Shirley Trucking truck.
To some that may mean something but if not let me explain. EST as it was also known was a firm started in the mid 1970's as a music transport company moving the equipment of most of the major big bands to and from concert venues. I can well remember seeing their trucks parked up near music venues in my mis-spent youth. At the time and well before todays vinyl wrap liveries, most trucks were plain traditional blues greens and browns. EST trucks really did stand out - you could not miss them even if you had a few beers. I can recall reading an article on them around that time and the transport manager stated that the livery was designed just so no matter how much beer you had you would indeed remember their trucks.
The other distinctive thing about the trucks was the company logo that was always under the windscreen - You rock, we roll!
Given that this truck still had that I knew it had really been an EST truck. I really do like that livery even after all these years and if I had the skills I would paint one of my truck kits up in these colours. Another one for my list of 'like to do' things.
What it was doing in that village is anyone's guess but I am unaware of any major names in music playing a concert in the local village hall!
Back at WND HQ the conservatory rebuild has progressed with a roof now in place!
Progress indeed! Mrs. Woody is looking forward to its completion for me it means I then have to paint it inside and sort the garden mud pit which has formed as a result of the work.
Yesterdays post detailed that the Heng Long Tiger tank was brought back to life. What I did not say at the time is that it has a smaller brother! This is a lesser spec Panzer III. Again not operated for about 8 years so I will have to see if the battery will still hold a charge and probably invest another £2.49 in some batteries for the transmitter.
I really need a Sherman tank now to have a battle - mind you if Mrs. W thought that I was really getting a Sherman I can see me having a battle of my own where the odds are very much against me!
The Tiger tank got a decent charge to its battery today for a bit more of a play test. Given that it is clean and has not benefitted from the current muddiness of the WMD HQ garden I feel confident and indeed brave enough to test it discreetly inside the HQ. I have however refrained from firing the BB pellets from the main gun and the exhaust smoke is something that will have to await an outside run. As long as Mrs. Woody doesn't start enquiring as to what those strange tank like noises are and why there are track marks across the carpet I think I will get away with it!
Under test it certainly does all the things I remember it doing. It is not the greatest radio controlled tank in the World and has its faults. The engine sounds are a little gimmicky, the overall control of motion, despite it being proportional (i.e. you can control the speed it runs at through the joystick), is a bit jerky and the machine gun and main gun are a bit crude. However for the price, and I believe these now cost about £150, you get a lot of kit for the money and a first step into the RC tank World. After that you can pay £6K and upwards if you want the ultimate in RC tanks!
For me I just love the play value of the thing! Told you all I was a big kid! Having got it out of hibernation it will see some use and so far all I have invested is in getting it rolling again is £2.49 for the transmitter batteries. Bargain! Although no matter how I would explain it to Mrs. W, she would not see it as a bargain but you can't win every argument.
As today was very much about seeing the tank move and doing its actions, it makes sense to do away with the static pictures and have a short (about 1 minute) video of it performing.
Searching my memory and believe me that is not a great place to look for anything, I was trying to recall the last time my radio controlled Tiger tank actually was used. I am thinking at least 8 years ago. Given that length of time I thought that it was unlikely that the Ni-cad battery pack would take a charge. The transmitter on the other hand works on 8 AA batteries. Depending on the brand you buy that can be quite a costly exercise which if the Ni-cad battery didn't work would at this stage be a bit of a waste.
Whilst pondering on this dilemma I transported Mrs. Woody to the delights of Aldi to pick up a few bits and whilst queuing at the checkout wondering why we had a trolley full when we only came in for some soup I noticed a pack of 10 AA batteries for £2.49. Now that is my sort of pricing! They went on the checkout belt lost in amongst Mrs. W's 'we could do with these' items.
Back at WMD HQ the batteries were fitted to the transmitter and I was pleased that the power light came on when switched on.
Getting into the tank itself was a mystery. I just could not remember but after a bit of poking, prodding and pulling access was gained. The original plastic chassis was replaced with an aftermarket metal one by me when the plastic cracked around the rear wheels. The tank itself has a number of features. The main gun fires 6mm BB pellets, it has engine and gun sounds and with the right oil the exhausts give out smoke. All this for a price of about £69 back in about 2008 (I think) which was great value at the time.
With access to the insides I disconnected the battery from the tanks wiring and connected it to the charger. I left it for about 15 minutes then reconnected it in the vain hope that some life may be in it. Switch on transmitter, move joysticks and nothing. Then I remembered there is a on/off switch on the tank itself. Slid that across and suddenly the lights on the tank came on and moving the joysticks it moved with engine noises. Brilliant! I did manage to get the hull top back on and had a play test for about 5 minutes before the battery went flat. Hopefully with a full charge I should get about half an hour out of it. All in all a great result and something else to now waste time on according to Mrs. W!
A small amount of progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma with the interior seat bases painted a brown to simulate leather and the steering wheels painted black.
I was going to weather the interior but given that it will be all but invisible once the upper hull and turret are in place I am just going to leave as it is. Viewing through the open turret hatches will at least reveal a painted interior.
Not that I am worried about Mrs. Woody's reaction to one of my ill conceived actions but more moving bricks. There are about 200 bricks left over from the brick work of the conservatory rebuild and I have a number of projects - some known and approved by Mrs. W and others...well lets just say I am sure she will like them when they are finished - that they will be used for. Only thing is that they needed to come out of the way so it was up to me to move them to the side of the house where bricks and other 'useful someday' items are stored.
On the model making front nothing has happened but following on from Mr. Beechams Tiger tank that I featured yesterday I did unearth my 1/16th scale Heng Long Radio Controlled Tiger. You can tell by the dust on it that it has been resting for some while but given the current building site conditions at WMD HQ I am tempted to see if the battry will still charge and give it a run! Untilk then here are a few photos.
I will go into more detail about it in another post but it does fire BB pellets!
Whilst it was a busy day here at WMD HQ as I sorted through junk which has been made homeless as a result of the conservatory rebuild, unfortunately no time for model making activities. Therefore I am grateful that my friend, Mr. Beecham, sent through some pictures of his recently completed Tamiya 1/35th scale Tiger tank. I did see this when he popped round just before Christmas and it is, if you excuse the pun, a real beast of a model.
He has modelled it on the the famous 007 numbered Tiger that was commanded by Michael Wittman in WW2. If you want to find out more about him then Wikipedia has some information which is available by clicking here. In the meantime here are some pictures of Mr. B's masterpiece set in a diorama.
A brilliant touch is the crew looking at a map trying to make sense of where they are.
Whilst the rebuild of the conservatory is now making progress the bad weather and the scale of the work means that Woody HQ is looking a bit like a recreation of the Somme back in WW1! There is mud everywhere and being in a clay area it clings and gets everywhere so literally I am bogged down as I move around especially getting to my Man Cave. Over the last two days the drainage for the roof of the conservatory has been put in which meant digging a trench down my so called lawn and digging a large soak away. This has added even more to the recreation of the battlefields of WW1!
Being so bogged down means model making activities have taken a hit so I was pleased to be able to negotiate the mud and trenches to grab an hour in the Man Cave. This allowed me to give the interior of the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma got another coat of white as the first coat was a bit patchy and the Italeri SU-100 assault gun got its first coat of Russian Green.
Trudging back inside I now have the job of cleaning up the mud that I managed to bring into the house or Mrs. Woody will not be pleased! Bogged down in more cleaning - great!
I guess like everyone else, here at WMD HQ the cost of living has its affects. Money does not go as far as it did a few months ago but sometimes you do not notice until something suddenly hits you and gives you a jolt into reality! That goes for model trains too. About 10 years ago I bought a Lima two car DMU in good overall condition for £15 and a three car version about 8 years ago for £20. Here a couple of pictures of the two car one - I like it and for the money at the time this and the other were good value
So, whilst casually browsing eBay the other day when Mrs. Woody was distracted from watching over me by being busy catching up on the latest handbag styles, I saw a three car Lima DMU in blue and white livery which looked nice. On the basis of what I know of them the price at the time on the auction was £30 which sounded fair to me and as there was only two days left before the auction closed I put a bid in at a few pounds over. I was given that jolt when two days later i found that I had ben outbid and it actually sold for £76, well over my maximum bid! I am not saying it is overpriced at that, more that I have probably lost track of prices and it surprised me, for a model about 30 years old, that it achieved this price. I assume that given the prices of new models a larger number of modellers are looking at buying second hand which has to some degree increased prices of such items.
Lesson learnt and with my convoluted thinking maybe investing in more models would be a wise move. Whether Mrs. Woody would see it that way is doubtful though! All I can conclude with is that if I leave this World before Mrs. Woody, I hope she doesn't sell my models for what I told her I paid for them otherwise someone will get a real bargain!
I went out to the man cave with the intention of doing some airbrushing. The Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma needs its interior painting so I can glue the upper and lower hulls together before I can really move much further with this kit. The Italeri SU-100 assault gun needs to be painted as does the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier.
The bad news first in that I did not have time to even show the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier the airbrush so that awaits attention on another day. However Mr. Airbrush did get some white paint on the interior parts of the Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Most armoured vehicles were and as far as I know still are painted white inside to try to bring some light to the interior darkness. With that done I can paint the seats and other parts and perhaps just add a quick bit of weathering. It is not as though the interior will be on full display - just what you will be able to see through the open turret hatches.
With that done I moved to the dark of the black primer for the eventual top coat on the SU-100 assault gun. I have done a post or two before on the advantages of a dark primer in painting armoured vehicles but basically it means that you can get a shadow effect and any parts that are missed with top coat do not stand out. The picture was taken with the vehicle looking a bit like a beached whale in the 'spray box'! However it should look OK for the next stage once it has dried over night.
Talking of light and dark brings me onto the conservatory rebuild. There has been further progress as this picture in the light illustrates.
A day of positives today - well I look at it that way! It did not rain, the wind died down, Mrs. Woody didn't want any jobs done today, the builders came and I made some more progress on the Tamiya Sd.Kfz 234/2 Puma. Not a great deal but I am being positive! The turret is just about complete which brings about a near finished look to the model. There are lots of little details to add yet which will take time and being positive, I am positive I will probably end up making a contribution to the WMD Swear Jar as I try to fit these especially those etched parts!
On the conservatory rebuild half a days work - well it is Sunday - saw two pillars finished. That's a positive step forward. You have to love the temporary down pipe from the gutters - at least I hope it is temporary!
