Scania coming together - but needs more glue!!

Yes it is coming together after 2 years on the shelf. The windscreen is in, well nearly as I noticed when I uploaded the photos that it has sprung out on one corner so more glue required! The indicator lenses are fitted and putting the front panel on the main cab together with the roof gives a good idea of the finished product. Just have to paint the chrome windscreen wipers black and fit the doors and the door mirrors and that should be it - hopefully! Now where is the glue.....

 

The Scania 141LB comes back on the bench and a surprising discovery!

 In my quest to finish off projects the Heller Scania 141 LB has come off the shelf after being placed on 2 years ago and onto the workbench. The biggest problem with getting back into a stalled project is finding out just where you got to so some time was taken to establish that. 

So far I have painted the windscreen surround black to represent the rubber holding it to the cab and painted silver the backing to the light lenses that need to be fitted.

I had a clear out of some rubbish and finished kit boxes one of them being the box for the Trumpeter Grille30 30.5cm(Grw) L/15 Mörser "Bär",

I always take a picture of the box cover for reasons I never really know! However in opening the box lid out to be flat I discovered these two odd pictures hidden by the folds in the box.

Quite what soft toys and fruit and veg have to do with printing the box art for a military vehicle I just cannot work out but it was a surprising discovery!

Almost there!

My famous last words but I can report that the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas truck kit is just about there! 

The shortened side underrun guard is fitted and looks much better than the original. 

The sun visor is fitted. 

The mirrors are fitted. 

The windscreen wipers are fitted. 

All I need to do is touch in some of the black parts on the mirrors and wipers and glue the cargo body to the chassis so almost there!!!! I know I can do it!

Well I never!

Mrs. Woody persuaded me to have a look at the new craft department that had been opened in a nearby garden centre. I didn't really need persuading so off we went. I'm not sure what I was expecting but given that both Hobbycraft and The Range here in the UK already have well stocked shelves full of a wide range of hobby items I thought that anyone competing with those types of retailer would at least have an extensive range of items. Not so though! However there were a few things that did catch my eye and give me that 'Well I never' moment. It is interesting to note the divergence of Hornby Hobbies into other spheres of products with these jigsaws! Well I never!

I must admit compared to other jigsaws the price for this rather large 3000 piece spitfire at £30 seems reasonable especially as you get the 1/72 kit included. The 1000 piece kits were a penny under £15 which again was reasonable. They may be reasonable but I need to reason with myself that I don't have a reason for buying one!

On another 'Well I never' matter my bike ride today was a bit strange with my right foot never feeling secure in the pedal. My cycling shoes have plastic plates that clip into the pedals meaning your shoe is securely fastened to the pedal. You release your shoe by twisting it to unclip the plate. It sounds complex but it isn't once you are used to it. I got home and had a look at the plate. As you can see compared to the new plate which is now fitted, the old has literally worn out - Well I never!

When parts don't look right.

Despite everything else that has been going on, my job of finishing the Italeri DAF 95 Canvas truck has progressed - just not as quickly as I had planned!

I have started with fitting the side underrun guards which has inherent problems. When Italeri produce a kit like the DAF Canvas truck, the basically modify one of their tractor unit kits and add the body from one of their trailer kits. The result is that not everything fits as it should and the guards are an example.

On the one side the kit part fits nicely once I added some extra bracing from plastic strip and angle so that it mounted to the bottom of the cargo body securely. It just needs painting black now that it is mounted.

But on the other side there is no way that it looks right as it covers half the fuel tank and shrouds the filler cap.

To cure this, Mr. Saw came out and sectioned the part.

Out of the remains a shorter guard was fabricated which once smoothed and painted should do the job nicely!

For spares or repair and it all got very wet!

For spares or repairs is the advert I would put on this lot, which if you read last weeks post (available here) are the remains of the wagon that broke up as it was being moved! Off the track the remains are now being stored awaiting their fate!

A day at the Rocks by Rail Museum today where the plan was to give the Euclid dump truck a wash down. Rob had got the pressure washer out, filled a large water container and rigged up a power supply. Now at the best of times water and washing generally have some wetting probability for those engaged in the task. Add a pressure washer to the mix and the probability of wetness goes up and then add rain, heavy rain at that, and it is just inevitable that those engaged are going to get wet! However there is a point at which you get so wet you just carry on as you have already got wet and cannot get any wetter! So it was hat Rob, John, Pete and myself got soaked but the Euclid looked a lot better.

John surveys the cleaning products - I don't think my suggestion for polishing and waxing the paintwork after washing went down too well!

Rob arrives with the water and pressure washer. We got water pressure by raising the water container up in the air - clever!

Rob's enthusiasm sees him clambering all over to get the dirt off.

even to the point of getting inside the dump body - I did suggest we take the ladder away and leave him in there!

It may not have been muddy dirty but the amount of dirt that had just gathered on the truck from the weather shows in this picture where the pressure washer has cut through to reveal clean paintwork and rust!

What does the inside of the tipper body look like - well here is a photo but without Rob in it!

Finished and cleaner looking. Rob mentioned painting but that is definitely a job for a dry day!

Flushed or should that be soaked, with the success of cleaning the Euclid, Rob suggested doing the same with the drag line. We started but as the rain got heavier the enthusiasm wained and we called it a day!

This is how wet it was getting with flood water everywhere.

And to think I could have been inside in the dry helping Pam paint Harriot the JCB

Or Alex paint the ceiling of the cab of Ketton No1.

Or David and John fitting a makers plate to DE5.

Or Pete cleaning up a bench drill. Even Riley the dog is sensible enough to be inside - but not me!

Is Mrs. Woody about to take up model making????

A visit with Mrs. Woody today to the garden centre to buy 2 bags of compost turned into 5 bags, some plants and this......

Mrs. W showed an interest in this and I thought that's good and bought it for her. It will either be made soon or Mrs. W has the beginnings of a stash of kits waiting to be built just like mine! I will report on progress - so dont hold your breaths!

Yesterday I spoke about a day of frustration and this related to the gear cable on one of my bikes which broke a couple of weeks ago. Luckily I was only half a mile from home so being condemned to top gear was not too much of a strain to my worn out legs! What should have been about a 15 minute job turned into something a bit more major as I found that the lever itself had broken. Thirty years or so ago derailleur gears were hanged by levers usually mounted on the downtube of the frame or on the handlebars. Changing a cable was relatively simple. However with new technology comes added complications. The new technology was that the gear lever was incorporated into the brake lever making life so much simpler as you can brake and change down gear without taking your hands off the handlebars. I have been using this type of lever for 25 years now and like them and never had a problem with them until now! The added complication is that the brake/gear lever becomes a lot more complex and if you read the forums trying to repair them, even if they are repairable, requires levels of calmness and perseverance that I just don't have! To that end I had to order a pair of new levers - you can't buy one on its own very easily. List price £240! That nearly made me reconsider my levels of calmness and perseverance but luckily I am still using old technology! With the advent of hydraulically operated disc brakes, cable operated levers have become outdated and so I was lucky to find a brand new pair of levers for £70! Now whilst still a lot of money it is a lot less, even by my calculation, than £240!

With new levers delivered I decided to just change the broken one.

The handlebar tape had to come off, the brake and gear cables taken out.

The clamp holding the lever released and the lever slid off. It all sounds easy but takes time especially when you have not done this for a long time!

With the new lever in place and cables refitted the gear cable had to be fed through the frame itself which involved taking this bracket out of the bottom bracket. 

Eventually, after several deposits in the swear jar, the cable was through to rear mechanism. Then I had to index the gears which involves adjusting the cable so that as the lever ratchets up and down the movement of the cable moves the rear mechanism enough to move the chain to each of the cogs.

With that done and as the old handlebar tape was in good condition that was reapplied and job done!

It was going to be tested today but the rain prevented that! Later this week though I will find out if I have been successful or whether I should take up building model greenhouses!

Mr Beechams Man Cave visit.

It was one of those frustrating days when a half hour job took four hours but more of that tomorroe! In the meantime I look back to yesterday when I visited Mr. Beecham, he of model making skills and cycling prowess that surpass mine, and was shown round his man cave. A great place with a wide selection of models both built and waiting to be built as well as the beginnings of a model railway.

I could have taken hundreds of pictures but I cannot do the justice that the models require so here are a few pictures of some great models.

This APC - Armoured Personnel Carrier took my eye with its internal detail.

It is based on a real vehicle too as shown in the photo.

These two Land Rovers were also some really nice models - so nice that the beige one gained a Silver award at Telford  - nice!

Lastly this diorama based on a scene in Bosnia brings back memories of seeing such things on the TV news.

 Always good to see someone else's models and Man Cave and inspiring it can be - I really need to get mine more organised like Mr. B's!