Woody gets it right - for once!

I posted a few days ago about my decal disaster which you can read about by clicking here. Given that the decals were nearly 50 years old I knew they would be fragile and probably break up when soaked to release them from their backing paper. Much as Mrs. Woody would hate to admit I was right. I had sprayed the decal sheet with some acrylic varnish. The theory being that the varnish would hold the decal together. It didn't, proving Mrs. W is right that I usually get things wrong! However, having thought about it a bit, I wondered if soaking the decal to release it from its backing paper was also dissolving the water based acrylic varnish? Hmmm! Having only taken a couple of the decals off the main sheet I still had the main sheet. So out came a can of enamel varnish and the sheet given a coat of it.

My revised theory that the water proof enamel would not be affected by soaking the decal to release it from the backing sheet was right! Mrs. W would just roll her eyes at that but I was pleased! It is not all plain sailing. You have to cut the decals out of the sheet close to the actual printed detail other wise you end up with a large film of clear varnish surrounding the printed detail. Not easy when it is white print on on white backing paper! In addition, despite soaking the decals in water as I need them, I am having to use a scalpel blade to slide between the decal and paper to get the decal fully off the backing paper but in general the decals are coming off more or less complete. Once applied a coat of decal softener is applied to help them set in place. 

It is taking some time to apply all these decals but it does make the model look better. I will need to apply a coat of varnish once all the decals are in place to seal them ready for further weathering.

Whether I will actually get anything else right is open to debate although I know Mrs. W's view but at the moment I am basking in the supposed glory of getting this right!

Woody and the Great Bake Off????

Not sure if I would actually make it to the Great Bake Off with my recipe but my ingredients certainly produced the right mix for my diorama base. Starting with a mixing bowl I added filler, brown paint, PVA and water - Mmmmm!

After a thorough mixing with this less than hygienic looking spreader it looked like this. Double mmmmmm!

 Having placed masking tape around the edges of my base to keep spillages to a minimum the mix was spread to create my desired landscape which was a lane on a slight curve. 

Left to dry in the kitchen (don't tell Mrs. W) things did not quite go to plan! It dried but despite the PVA glue to provide grip to the base there had been a slight warp during the night which loosened parts of the mix. Never mind! The art of the modeller is to recover from mistakes and as you know I make a lot of mistakes so I am used to making recovery strategies! In this case I glued the pieces back with PVA. It did not need to be perfect as it would be covered in scenic materials later.

Once that gluing session had dried it was time for yet more glue! This time for the lane surface.

I brushed the PVA glue on and left it for 10 minutes to spread naturally. Then I spread my favoured road making material, kiln dried sand. It is perfect for this type of effect where I am trying to recreate a gravel lane. I bought a 10kilo bag years ago for about £1.50 and still have most of it so value wise it is great.

That Gaugemaster Scenic Puffer Bottle gives a hint of the next stage which was to spread yet more PVA and then apply static grass using the Puffer Bottle. Although I still need to tidy up the edges it certainly has made a big difference.

You may notice some decals appearing despite the issues I posted on a few days ago. More on that hopefully tomorrow.  In the meantime I feel like baking a cake for some reason !

Pizza bases and modelling!

Some more work on the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier. I have started to weather it with some washes of dilute Earth Brown applied to the trailer sides and the canvas top of the truck.

As usual it looks terrible but just give it time. Whilst waiting for it to dry the two crew of the got their helmets on their heads which made them look a little better than having flat heads!

I am going to place the finished model on a base. Some years ago ready made pizzas used to come on a polystyrene type base. Good in supporting the pizza but not so good if you forgot to remove it before placing said pizza in the oven. Don't ask how I know! However when they were removed I did tend to keep some much to Mrs. Woody's bemusement. I still have a box full - we like pizza at WMD! 

I can just get the right length out of the 12 inch base. With some scenic treatment it should add to the model - that is the theory! 

No what's for dinner - for some reason I have a hankering for pizza!

A day at the Museum!

More painting at the Rocks By Rail Museum with the kitchen area receiving more attention from me in another day at the Rocks By Rail Museum There were some large cracks which I filled and the cleaning cupboard was, well not so clean on the outside so that was cleaned down and given a coat or two of gloss white. It will never be perfect as it is made from scrap wood and old doors but at least from a distance t looks more like a clean cleaning cupboard now!

You can see just how mucky the cupboard was.

Once painted it looked, well cleaner!

A lot of filler was required to fill those cracks.

On other news,  work on the new garage for Harriot the JCB and the CAT continues with a back wall and fully fitting front doors - and the JCB fits! The roof is the next job which should be an interesting exercise in team building!

And a brand new lawn mower arrives! It wont stay like that for long especially if I get to pilot it at least it will never get lost with its bright orange paint.

Four weeks on Sunday and we open to the public - just need to finish that kitchen and cut the grass, fit the roof to the garage, then there is.... 

What do you expect to find at a garden center?

I took Mrs. Woody to a nearby garden center today. We figured on a cold damp day that part of the center was inside and in the warm so it was worth a visit. I did need some compost and grass seed as well so I could get those at the same time too. Mrs. W always enjoys looking round the various 'gift' type items that many garden centers seem to stock these days. Normally these are items that I have little interest in but today I was in for a shock!

What do you expect to find at a garden center? Certainly not these wooden models. Not just trains either.

Apart from the compost and grass seed I walked out with this.

Oh dear! Yet another project! If garden centers just sold garden stuff then I would not have this temptation as I informed Mrs. W at the checkout! After all model shops do not sell handbags! Don't think she saw things quite the same way! 

Pallet dismantling and major wood butchery!

As a byproduct of the recent building work at WMD HQ I have acquired a lot of wood in the form of things that were removed during the work as well as some pallets that had building materials on them. It doesn't look particularly attractive strewn on the drive and no doubt is commented upon by passers by. However there is a reason I asked the builders to leave the timber. Firstly some is useful to construct outside things such as bird tables or compost bins. Secondly there is an open fire in the lounge and on a cold evening having a fire does make it nice and cosy. So having a supply of redundant wood to burn is useful! Just that I had to sort out what was suitable and what needs to go to the recycling center. If its painted it can release harmful fumes when burnt so is best dealt with by the experts who recycle such things.

Now much to my amazement the World of pallet dismantling is a highly specialised one with various websites and YouTube videos demonstrating the ideal tools and methods as well as how to identify the type of pallet! No doubt all very useful for those into such things but for me a selection of large hammers and cold chisels are my preferred tools of butchery!

The first pallet to be tackled seemed to be made from fossilised wood as the stuff just shattered at the slightest tap from the hammer although the nails just would not come out. The other pallets were a lot easier and after a few hours it still looks a tip but a slightly more organised one!

Whilst in the working outside mood I also tackled some of the many sprouting weeds. All in all a good result but I am shattered. So I am going to play operate some trains and just sit back and watch them go by which should at least calm any nearby surplus wood from fears of my butchery. However in the meantime the WMD Film Division has been busy with the latest escapades on my 009 narrow gauge layout. For your cure of insomnia just click the video below!

Decal disaster day!

 

I guess you can not realistically expect decals from a near 50 year old kit to still be unscathed by the passage of time as the above photo shows. I had anticipated that they would be likely to be fragile so whilst spraying gloss varnish on the areas of the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier that would have decals applied to them I also gave the sheet of decals a coat to. I just tried these two decals from the sheet to see if my experiment worked but as you can see they will not release from the backing paper without breaking into small pieces.

The theory is that the varnish bonds to the decal preventing it breaking up when soaked to release it from its backing sheet. Well the theory did not meet expectations much as I probably don't meet most people's expectations of a modeller! My next step could be to source some aftermarket decals which might give some similar designs but the cost would probably be £10 to £20. However the WMD HQ stores does have a stock of unused decals from previously built kits and I may be able to cobble something together from these. They wont be right or accurate but they may just be enough for the truck to look interesting!

With no decals to put on for now I did some more painting of the figures. The closeness of digital camera photos does me no favours with these figures showing I have failed to properly deal with the mould lines and the painting is not the best. However from normal viewing distances they look OKish and that suits me! I could spend hours on this kit but fundamentally it was a part built glue bomb when I bought it and the drive train is assembled wrongly so it will never be a museum quality model. Strangely Mrs. Woody thinks I should be in a museum!

Despite the decal disaster tomorrow is another day as they say!

Now I am getting somewhere!

My famous last words - Now I am getting somewhere! Well, whilst a number of things in my life have not progressed much, Mrs. Woody's list of chores for me for instance, I do actually feel as though I am getting there with the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier. More painting of the figures today. Never sure of uniform colours but a search on the internet seemed to indicate that for USA WW2 GIs the jackets were a lightish brown with the trousers a darker shade. Whether that is right or not is almost immaterial as my painting skills will no doubt produce some unrecognisable and horrendous rendition of WW2 fashion! However the truck and trailer are looking more like they should. Amazing to remember that this was a £5 part built glue bomb kit when I bought it late last year at the Slaeford Model Makers Show. 

Even more amazing is that the kit has got this far in just a few months! That really is me getting somewhere!

Detail time!

Detail time for me on the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier involved picking out some of the deails in appropriate paints. One thing airbrushing can not do without a lot of detailed and sometimes impossible masking is to touch in those small items where a contrasting colour makes them stand out such as instrument dials. My choice is to use a small brush just that my eye sight these days requires magnifying glasses to try to get the brush and paint in the right place! 

The seats, instrument dials, lights, mirror, gun and the straps on the canvas have all been detail painted and I have started the figures - I just cannot paint figures but I will give these another go!

I think that Mrs. Woody wishes I was as detailed in painting the house as I am my models! 

If you want to see the ultimate in how not to paint you home have a look at this classic Mr. Bean sketch which as I have told Mrs. W is something even I would not consider - just yet anyway!

 

Whats on the menu?

A wet and cold start to March which pretty much follows on from much of February. I did manage to get out on my bike building on the 320 miles I managed last month which brought the total for the year to 527. Whether March will see that increased much is debatable following the weather forecast that suggests snow is on the menu next week!

On the menu today though was some more work on the Airfix Dodge 1 1/2 Ton Personnel Carrier. the body and trailer got another coat of Olive Green and the canvas top was painted a stone colour. The tyres have also been painted in grey. It all looks a bit bright at the moment but it will all tone down with some weathering. I still need to paint some details in like the seats and instrument dials before that happens though.

Not sure whats on the menu for tomorrow apart from more rain by the looks of it!