14.02.06 AJK members had a very busy weekend in February, completely rebuilding Ålunden!  The only thing not interfered with (much) was the actual metal shed into which the Fiddle-yard was built!  Having got everything out, as much of the original polystyrene sheet was re-glued, but damaged sections removed.  Extra sheets were purchased, and the whole shed was covered with it.  This will provide vital insulation, especially considering that we have mains power supply here, and cannot permit any condensation!  As much of this as possible was then covered with an inner wall made from hardboard, but we were unable to do this where the sliding doors need to pass.  The same was done on the ceiling, but the floor has a different insulation under the hardboard, and floor tiling over the hardboard.
For the railway, IKEA's "Ivar" shelving has been used, despite IKEA's desperate attempts to stop us ... or so it seems.  The materials were bought and got home one recent Friday ... and then it was noticed that we needed another corner shelf.  So back we went, to find that all the others had gone ... not sold ... IKEA has withdrawn these items.  Yes ... overnight!  This is now the fourth time that IKEA has done this (twice with parts of the 'Ivar' range, so we will be making no more big purchases there ... see note below about lighting).  The railway is carried on the lower level shelves, and the control equipment is to be located above.  Extra shelves have been bought to go below the railway to provide safer storage for stock boxes, buildings, tools, and everything else that has cluttered up the area in the past!
The railway is lit from "Tjugofem" lighting sold at IKEA.  This is mounted to the underside of the shelves above.  We will need to extend this, so expect the 'Tjugofem' range to be withdrawn!  Having forgotten to think about lighting for the rest of the area, and knowing that we may need to extend it when we can see how well it all goes together, we decided against going back to IKEA.  We bought some low-voltage LED lamps locally, and the results are impressive.
Starting on the Saturday, we made reasonably good progress, and we found a suitable point at which to stop for the evening.  The trip out by some of the members to get more materials took a lot longer than planned, but it was worth it!  On the Sunday, however, we had rain to contend with.  It didn't stop all day.  This made it very difficult to continue as we couldn't just put everything out in the garden again.  Much of the cutting and drilling had to be done outside, but not only were we getting wet, the materials were getting wet, and this was not good.  We had problems getting glue to stick to damp materials, so we changed the way we were fitting panels into place, and managed quite well.  The garden became a mud-bath ... but it will be quite some time before we can afford to pave it all over (and that is on the list of jobs to do)!  Thankfully, the weather was better on the Monday.  (Some members had arranged for the time off work, and younger ones had the Half-term holiday this week!)  Progress was more apparent, but by the time that we had to stop for the night, the job was still not complete.  Nevertheless, the Director General is able to continue with some of this work during his week's leave, and in essence the job has been a success.
During the work, we found only a few lost items; but none of the important ones that are still elusive!  Photography was limited, and the images provided here will be added to, once one of the members has had a chance to upload them and forward them to us!