(F) Seal Point -- APA

[AndyA]

SWMBO has gone to Towersey Folk Festival. I'm not performing and previous years when that's been true I've sat in the Horseshoes playing in the informal session. But this year they want £140 for a camping ticket which in essence permits me to provide additional free entertainment and make the festival look good. It's a good session full of good musicians, but it's really not worth £140. So, as she left yesterday morning she asked “what are your plans for the weekend?”

“I thought I'd do a bit of shopping down town: I need more socks and I'll just have a bimble round, then see whether the blackberries are ripe.” Well, I did get socks, but I accidentally passed Ikea. I'm going to try to build an APA in less than twenty-four hours, mostly from the bits box.



I admit I've been planning it – I know, I do the planning bit well, but then something goes wrong. I started by making a list of everything that's gone wrong when I've tried time-constrained modelling and APA modules. Considering that's just five projects: one successful and one not actually broken, it's a very long list. So this time I've left a margin of error. Welcome to Seal Point.



My wife is a sucker for seals. I remember when we were on our first holiday together, at Ardrossan harbour, on the ferry and she was literally bouncing up and down 'look, a seal', and I shrugged – it hadn't occurred to me that she'd never seen one in the wild before. So, when we went to Norfolk for a much needed break, a trip out to Blakeney Point was a must (and is recommended).

The area has a string of boardwalks (see above): we have some similar stuff round here and I thought of modelling a Gn15 line on them but I was put off by the need to model reed-beds. The ones around Morston, where the boats are based, however, have much simpler scenery. Essentially mud-flats and some kind of plant that looks like a Berberis but less spiky. I'm not sure that Loch Lomond looks the same, but it's close enough to Ardrossan that the fictional Seal Point will fit in with Inversnaid. Surely even I can manage that.



I started at six, by brewing a pot of Rooibos tea. I'd forgotten how difficult cutting the mouseholes is without a scroll saw, so I'd drunk most of it by the time I finished, and it was light enough to take photographs. In retrospect, I should have cut the holes before assembling the box, but probably something would have gone wrong and they wouldn't line up. The paint is emulsion testers from Wickes at two for £1.29, since I know that an APA takes one and a half pots. I set it aside to dry.





Next up was the track base. The mussel farm shows the dimensions I need for the trackwork. Just a case of copying that but changing the style, and matching the interior profile with Inversnaid. I cut the longitudinals before painting the inside of the box, and cut a piece of card that would space them 13.5mm apart so that the rails, when I fit them, will be exactly over the centres of the longitudinals.



The planks are cut from coffee stirrers. It must be said that paying for tickets for the Olympic yachting, plus about a hundred quid for transport and an eye-watering amount for refreshments is a pretty expensive way of purloining stirrers – it works out at about four pounds fifty a plank – but this is probably the only APA which will include an Olympic souvenir.



I started off by trying to get the planks exactly even and using a credit card to space them, but I started to think I'd still be there at six this evening, so in the end I settled for placing them by eye. The rustic look suits me, but of course it's not the way the prototypes are put together – maybe there are different public safety regulations at Seal Point. You'll notice I haven't stained them: I'm going to stain the whole thing with black diluted with meths (I've found it penetrates better). There's enough differentiation of colour in the sticks (I blame LOCOG's contractor's quality assurance – if you're paying that much for a coffee...) and I can just pick some individual planks if I need.



This stuff is drying, so time for a leisurely bath while listening to Broadcasting House. Next time: create the water and stain the track base. Yes, I gnow I'm working in the kitchen again, and you'll guess that it already looks as if a bomb has hit it. That's gnot a problem; she's gnot back until about six tomorrow, so even if I miss my self-imposed deadline there'll still be plenty of time to clean up. Of course she'll notice the extra layout, but if I can make a seal to go in it by six tomorrow, I think I'll be forgiven.

regards
Andy A

[AndyA]

It's astonishing how much more time there seems to be in the morning when you don't have to keep very quiet because SWMBO is still asleep after staying up until two watching telly.

After my bath, I stained the track-base, and amazingly none of it fell apart. It came out a bit dark so I dry brushed it with burnt ochre, and once that's fully dry I may go over it with some green and then a black wash. Or I might not.



I then cut a square of 10mm foam - once again a very expensive piece of scrap, since we had to buy three hundred quids' worth of freezer to get it. Between the three APAs I've almost used it all, so hopefully the dishwasher will need replacing soon.



I glued it in place (there's been some damage to the Inversnaid board, which I'll repair tomorrow, which I left loose to put the cobbles in.). Then I painted it directly with another tester pot (FTR, the colours are "Shadow" and "Sargasso Sea").Once everything else is fixed in place, I'll cover it with a couple of coats of PVA sealer, should hopefully look like ripples.



I cut the first pieces of the "islands" from 1" insulation foam, and glued them to the first layer of 10mm foam.I have to fix another layer on top, but I'll come to that in a minute. I'm using a hot knife to cut the foam, with the extractor fans going full pelt, but I've still got a bit of a headache. These "islands" are on the critical path, which is why you can see marks from the dark emulsion where I needed to trim the big one.

Everything is now drying again, so I made a door for a small building that will be one of the scenic breaks. It may seem odd to make the door first, but space is at a premium over that side and there's a lot more to do yet.



I really did mean it to look like that - the buildings are liable to flooding at high spring tides, and this is a fairly pathetic attempt to make it look rotten. I'm going to put the building on short legs like the one on the mussel farm.

Next up, finish the islands, test fir them, mark up the skyline (as in the first picture) and paint both it and the islands themselves. But first, I notice the pub has opened, so I'll go and see whether anyone I know is in there, and if not, write another postcard home from Inversnaid.

[AndyA]

Okay, well the pub visit was... odd. I was sort of going for a quick drink, but first there was the new kitten to admire. Then one of two new babies. I duly made a note of all the standard answers in my 'phone - I've been told off before for not asking every question:).

Then the new manager arrived to move his stuff in - Mike, the incumbent, goes on Tuesday - the gear included a pole-dancing set-up and a coffin. This is either going to be the start of a beautiful; friendship or 'my wife doesn't understand you.

Then another baby - I must try to remember whose is whose. And then the outgoing manager with 'I never did buy you a drink for facing me down that time'. (The idea that I might have saved the barmaid's baby is stupid: but I did face him down because after a fairly hot afternoon I was worried about her pulse - facing down consisted of offering to pay her for the rest of her shift and cover it myself, at which point he realised I was serious.)

Anyway, I got back and everything was well dry. I trimmed the first layer of 10mm foam, and measured the space for the small shed that will be the scene blocker on the left. I cut some new pieces, and glued them on top...



The twenty mil gaps are there because they're a push fit for the longitudinal beams, which will need shimming by three or four mil to bring it up to the level of Inversnaid, which uses one level of one inch, two of ten mi and two of two mil card. I gnow that the 5" connectors allow that degree of latitude, but I might as well at least get my own modules as close as I can.

The next things can go on in parallel with it all drying: the shed, and something like this:



I was never happy with the end of the hotel on Inversnaid, which, coupled with the fact that I didn't like the cobbles, is the reason for the lack of progress there, but there are plenty of these round the Blakeney area and I figure that another one at Inversnaid itself won't come amiss - if it works.

So, one mooring, which I will clad with nets and buoys if I can find the bits, and one hut, while the islands dry, measure the shim depth and paint the skyline, then several coats of acrylic on the on the islands, fit the vegetation I bought (OO 'bushes, dark, from Woodland) and make a couple of seals.

I've been five hours on it so far and there's probably three hours of daylight left, so it'll probably be too dark to take decent pics by the time I finish, but I'll take a flash one as proof and replace it in the morning.

[AndyA]

Okay, I've finished the sandwiches for the "islands" either end of the "bridge". When I finally trimmed it and got everything together to measure it, it turned out that the shim required is a mere 2.5mm, which by my standards is pretty accurate.



I've sanded them a bit and put a coat of acrylic on, but there's no point in taking more pictures until I've got the colours right.

I've also done the skyline, now that I can calculate the height. It's already getting too dark for decent pics, so I'll just photograph anything that's going to get glued in place, then one to show that I'm 'finished', and add the rest tomorrow.



I've been at this on and off for twelve hours, so with five-ish hours to go, tie for anther break, I think. Firstly, whilst the acrylic dries hard and secondly because if I want to put a wqrkboat in later the mooring only has about 20mm depth, making it a frame. I need to think about that one. I've sized the shed, which just needs cladding. I'll tackle all the remaining stripwood in one go. And I've found some seal pictures: a couple of those should be easy enough. Famous last words...

[AndyA]

I've made a crass measuring error on the little shed - easy enough to fix but I'm obviously, even by my standards, losing my touch. And I like what I've got too much to want to wreck it. So I'll head back to the pub for a brief nightcap, get an early night and if I wake up in the morning, see if I can get the two hours work I needed in before seven, which would be 24 hours.

The problem hasn't been the amount of work involved, but the time required for stuff to dry (Michael M may remmber the Yucatan saga all those years ago...)



But here's where I'm at, and apart from not having got right to the end, I do actually have a working APA. That's "Pop", my first ever Gn15 loco (still not fully detailed after nine years:)) and a wagon on the bridge. The shine is because the second coat of acrylic isn't dry yet; I'd have waited but if I'm making mistakes, the one thing I gnow is it's time for bed.

[AndyA]

Right, it was 8/8 overcast this morning, so too dark to start work early enough to meet the 7AM deadline, so I made tea and got up in a leisurely fashion. The islands were still fairly shiny, which I've fixed, and I've re-cut the pieces for the shed (I'd measured it so it would go on the island, but when I moved it so it cleared the mousehole it overhung the edge.The first elements are setting and I'll photograph it when I have enough to photograph. Next to cut the stripwood for the two bents to go under the trackwork, the 'foundation' for the hut and the mooring (now basically a rack). More later.

[AndyA]

Oh, I'm only about five hours in, in terms of work time, but I was slightly disappointed not to make it in a single day. Well on track to finish by four, giving me time to clear up properly before SWMBO gets home.

Here's the revised shack. I need to get that rigid so that I can make the wooden foundation, which I need before I can finish the larger island...



There's a wonderful bit in Terry Pratchet's "Diggers". Masklin the [g]Nome is learning project management. "Today I learned Critical Path Analysis" "What's that?" "I think it means 'there's always something else you should have started first'."

The foundation, as on the mussel farm, will allow me to swap the building over - I photographed a winch house, but can I find the picture?

[AndyA]

Okay, it's been a fortnight, interrupted by an ISP outage that lasted almost a week, and some work. But I've got a little bit done, which I thought I'd post before closing the 'puter down for going on holiday...



The islands are done, and the 'foundation', after three attempts, is square and doesn't foul the loading gauge. The building is solid and just needs cladding. If I can find a suitable container to protect it, I'll take it on the ferry with me and add the planks. But I am still working on it, when the opportunity presents itself.

regards
Andy A