Time for some coaching.

With the Italeri Kangaroo airbrushed in matt varnish and the various tools being painted ready to be mounted I am having to wait for things to dry before I can progress.

Given the opportunity I thought it time to unpack the coaches I had bought at the Newark Train and Toy fair on New Years Day.

There are 4 Southern Railway and 6 LNER coaches. I put together the rake of LNER coaches behind Limberg and it does look an impressive train.

Included in the rake are two of these sleeper coaches.

I do like these teak coaches, they look classy - unlike me!

That Kangaroo is coming along in leaps and bounds!

I have to blame Mr. Beecham, he of model making skills and cycling prowess, for the title to this post! I sent him a picture of progress on the build of this Italeri kit and that was the response I got!

Anyway, The external parts of the Kangaroo have now been painted with Tamiya Olive Drab. For some reason the paint has come out in various patches of differing greens which looks quite good!

With the paint dry I applied some gloss varnish to the areas that the decals were going to be applied to. This avoids a white frost forming under the decal if applied to a matt surface which is what the Olive Drab is.

With the varnish dry the decals were applied using some MircoSol to soften then to conform to the moulded undulations.

Once the decals are dry I will apply some matt varnish to seal the decals and provide a base for some weathering. Yes, the Kamgarro is certainly coming on in leaps and bounds Mr. Beecham!

A grey day!

It was a grey day both with the chilly weather as well as with the Italeri Kangaroo APC which along with many parts received a coat of grey undercoat. Having already painted and weathered the internal part of the upper hull some basic masking tape around the edges enabled me to hold the model upside down so that any spray missed the already finished areas. The three figures were superglued to icecream sticks - luckily in stock as its too cold to eat icecreams!

With the masking done the grey was airbrushed on which will give a good base for the Olive Drab top coat. You can see the large number of seperate parts that also require painting and mounting on the vehicle. Did I say this was going to be a simple build?

By tomorrow the paint will have dried ready for the top coat and the weather may not be as grey but hopefully not Olive Drab in colour - that is just for the Kangaroo!

I take Mrs. Woody for a train trip in a freezer!

It doesn't seem like it but a year ago I was at the Rocks By Rail members day with Mrs. Woody (Click here to read about that) but that is where we were again this year! It was like last year just colder, in fact almost freezer like and the steam engine had apparently broken with something having fell off the boiler (I was no where near it so you cannot blame me!) so the brake van rides were diesel powered. Great to see friends again and a chat over cake and mince pies went down well before a ride in the fridge brake van down to the end of the line and back.

The problem of being on the open verandah of a brake van being pushed back into the wind is that the fridge like conditions on the way down suddenly get turned down several notches to deep freeze! I don't think Mrs. W was that impressed but I enjoyed it.

There can be no doubt that there are plenty of projects to be going at for volunteers over the next few years!

Even on a members day Richard and Riley the dog are working cutting back vegetation!

Back in the land of model making some small progress with the Italeri Kangaroo APC with the joint between lower and upper hulls now glued, filled and smoothed as well as the side climbing handles and rear lights being fitted. Just about ready for some paint.

Hopefully when I apply the paint it won't be in freezer like conditions!

Getting a hand on waiting for glue to dry!

One of those inevitable events in building a model making in that there will be a time when you have to wait for the glue to dry. Usually not a problem as there are always other things to do like the jobs on Mrs. Woody's list for me to do! However, in gluing the upper and lower hull parts together of the Italeri Kangaroo APC, due to the slight bow in the lower hull, I couldn't just glue and leave it to set. I had to actually hold it together with my hands in the right place until the joint was strong enough to allow the two parts to be joined together as they should without resorting to the original bowed shape. The shape of the parts was such that clamps, elastic bands, tape or indeed weighty objects were of no use in holding the parts together so I just had to sit there for an hour or so listened to the radio whilst the glue did its job. 

I must admit that the join was actually better then I thought it would be but I have spatulared some filler over the join which once set and sanded back should provide a seamless join!

At the rear of the hull I had to layer on the filler a bit thicker as the join between the two parts was not that great. It could be down to the jit design or more likely my poor abilities! Never the less, once dry and sanded it will all look a lot better.

Better get my hand in at sanding now!

Weathering or petina?

Much as Mrs. Woody says I am weathered as I grow older, I like to think of it more as gaining a patina as they seem to say on many of the restoration programes on TV these days! In the case of the Italeri Kangaroo APC build the interior didn't have any patina or weathering following my earlier painting so I had to add some before I finally glue the upper and lower hull parts together. I could have done the work with the two halves glued together but it was just easier to access everything with them apart. Working smarter not harder as I get older even if I am weathered!

My weathering/patina creating was down to these powders applied with a soft brush and then streaked by using the cotton buds in a downward motion on the vertical surfaces and in  random circular pattern on the floor. The polished metal pigment was used on the floor areas as the material used in the vehicle is a chequered plate. The upper parts of the chequer pattern would have the paint worn off by being walked on and a polished surface would result unless left for a long period when rust would form. However, lets not get too complicated! 

After a couple of hours this is what the two parts looked like.

With the application of a coat of matt varnish to seal in the powders the interior is looking ....weathered or patinaed depending on your preference!

Once permeantly glued together the exterior can be painted, decaled and then weathered/patinaed!

'Figures not included' or are they?

 After the flooding events of the last few days it was a pleasant relief just t sit in the Man Cave for a couple of hours and loose myself in the Italeri Kangaroo APC. That couple of hours allowed me to paint up a few of the details that are needed for the internal part of the vehicle as well as the two machine guns that are mounted on top of the hull. In addition, despite the kit box stating that 'figures not included', there are in fact three, seven part figures as well as a mortar and various kit bags included on one of the sprues. Not one to look a gift horse, or even a figure or three, in the mouth, I decided that I need to improve (drastically) my abilities to both construct and paint figures so I have started to put them together. If they come out OK they will be of use in some project and if I fail in doing an acceptable job they can go into 'Need to improve' container AKA the recycling bin!

The photos below show the painted internal hull, the figures, the machine guns, the radio and the dashboard for the driver. The dashboard is a decal that came with the kit and probably makes a better job of presenting the dials and switches then my painting of the moulded details could. I smoothed off the raised details to make applying the decal easier which it did. The radio however had no decal so I had to carefully paint the raised details and I think I did a reasonable job.

The drivers seat is now painted and glued in position - not a comfy looking item though!

The figures, although reasonably detailed, were not the best fitting in the join of the various limbs. I used acrylic putty to fill the joints. How successful that has been will be shown once I prime them.

The machine gun is a nice moulding and with some careful painting looks the part mounted on the pulpit.

Talking of  mounting I had to look a second time when I saw Milly the cat looking as though she had been mounted on the WMD fish tank! You can almost hear her say ' Fish? What fish!' The fish are however safe under the tank cover from any unwanted feline attention!

Wet, wet, wet, but some painting is done!

Starting with the painting, the internal parts of the hull of the Italeri Kanagroo APC have been top coated with some Tamiya Olive drab. I ended up having to do several coats as the first was probably a bit too thinned and did not cover well. However, there is now a base layer of paint ready for the application  of further details and weathering. The details include the first aid box, the radio set, the drivers seat and the dashboard for the driver as well as some fire extinguishers.

Most of these details have been undercoated as well as some of the tools and various boxes of cargo that will eventually go somewhere on the vehicle!

Wet, wet, wet in this case is not the band of the 90s that Mrs. Woody had a soft spot for, but like many places in the UK the wet, wet, wet was the incredible amount of rain falling on saturated ground leading to flooding. The Man Cave escaped luckily but for others near by it was not so good with internal flooding just months after the October flooding.

Luckily the Fire Service was able to attend and pump away some of the water. Talking to one of the crew, the pump was sucking out water at the rate of 600lts per minute. Even at that rate it took some time for the water level to go down. Just hope we have some dry weather now.

A short lived resolution and the cat has been fed!

'No more kits or trains' I informed Mrs. Woody as my resolution for 2024 which I decided upon whilst doing my New Year's day bike ride. I then foolishly suggested we have a trip out - to the Newark Toy and Train Fair. Just for a look and a bit of exercise you understand! Having been before on several occassions, this years event seemed much busier when we arrived with large numbers of people carrying bags of purchases. However, as I reassured Mrs. W, that would not be the case for me!

'Famous last words' came to mind regarding my newly and decidedly ill conceived and thought out resolution! There was just too much temptation! Several railway coaches at ridiculously good prices found their way into my bag - why did I take a bag if I wasn't going to buy anything???? Also I found a kit that caught my eye and ended up in the bag along with the coaches!

The Grille30 was an anti tank gun with a 305mm cannon developed as a project in 1942. Based upon a modified Tiger 1 chassis and weighing 120 tons, the project never went into production but the work did influence other vehicles that did go into production such as the Sturmtiger assult gun. Should be an interesting build. Meanwhile Mrs. W, not to be out done, found a book to buy and this great sign that sums up the influence of cats at WMD HQ!

Meanwhile back at WMD HQ work on the Italeri Kangaroo APC has progressed a bit! I did realise at an early point in the build that as an open top vehicle the painting of the interior was going to be interesting! Despite being open, once the upper hull was joined to the lower hull the ability to easily paint the interior was going to be compromised. Therefore I have left the two parts unglued at the moment.

I have primed the internal surfaces with a light grey and once dry that will get an initial top coat of a suitable green. 

Now, whilst I wait for the paint to dry, I better go and feed that cat and make another resolution for 2024!

Happy New Year!