World of Wayne – He didn’t see that coming!

Guest editorial article by Ian Campbell (www.partworkupgrades.com)

I’ve known Wayne for a few years now, somehow stumbled upon his YouTube channel ‘World of Wayne’…. and was hooked!

Early in 2021, with my wife Julie I met up with Wayne, his good lady wife Esther and Daniel Goldman from OliGo Models, just for a social evening (yes, we were 2 meters apart with masks!) and chatted about general things in life, the channel, partworks etc.

We spoke about Wayne’s desire to give Riley (Wayne’s son) his room back, as this was where Wayne aired his live streams and was known as his workshop/man cave. Although we spoke at length, Wayne was a little hesitant in making the move, planning his own new workshop. We bounded ideas back and forth about how to raise funds… but Daniel and I were not convinced Wayne would take the plunge. He’s a proud person with principles, he needed to be 100% that his community would see any new workshop as 100% beneficial to them and not some new toy for him!

A month or two later, Dan and myself got together and enjoyed some of the local Charnwood brewery ale…. discussing our chat with Wayne to see if there was anything we could do to ‘push’ the workshop along…. both Dan and I could clearly see how much Wayne meant to his channel community.

So…. we hatched a plan! We contacted Esther in May and outlined our plan, putting forward some ideas and pictures of different style workshops and asked if she would allow us to do this, would Wayne accept it and most of all…. could she keep a secret! Esther chose a summerhouse style workshop for Wayne, something that would be in-keeping with the look and feel of their garden.

During May, June and July, I was busy planning along with Daniel and buying everything needed for Wayne’s new workshop. We planned everything, down to the last detail, of how we actually pull this surprise off when Wayne and Esther returned from holiday.

As time when on from our first contact with Esther, Wayne started to come around to the idea of a new workshop. It was so funny watching him on his streams telling everyone about his plans and how he would progress once back from holiday. When Wayne gets a thought, he has to ‘get cracking’ oh, excuse the pun…. so there he was, outside, digging up trees, bushes, taking down a shed…. all in readiness for his build.

But little did he know that some of us where scheming and had been for months! And during this time, Esther had secretly recorded him hard at work. We set-up a Facebook group so that we could chat along the way, ensuring what we were doing fitted the ideas Wayne was talking about.

It really did feel like an eternity waiting for the Greens to go on holiday in August…. and as soon as they had gone, Operation Victory pounced! Yes, we gave our project a name, which really ticked all the buttons in terms of Victory as in a partwork Wayne was building and also what we knew we would achieve… Victory in the successful building of a new workshop for Wayne, allowing him to expand into one large room for his community.

I knew this wasn’t going to be a cheap adventure and both Daniel and I put forward the idea of a crowdfunding page, after the event. We couldn’t do it up front, as the risk was huge Wayne would find out….. so I accepted the risk and invested in this…. the workshop itself being the most expensive item.

The risk was that I only recognised a fraction of the investment, but it was a fair risk, as I set out doing this for Wayne and his family, the monetary aspect was second to this….. although I don’t think my wife was enjoying the fact I was spending our savings at an alarming rate.

With the planning and secrets all in place, the time had come to strike… Operation Victory was a go. On the 15th August, the team rolled into Corby (UK) and got to work….. well, nearly…. first we used their kettle for an early morning brew!

We knew that the slab base needed levelling to take the new workshop. It was so funny that prior to their holiday, as Wayne was keen to get someone booked to sort the base out, Esther was put into a situation she had to tell a little fib, ensuring Wayne didn’t book any workers….. the fib being that my Daughters fella (Ryan) was in that business and would do the groundwork for £500 cash in hand, which I heard Wayne was very happy with. To ensure this little fib held up, a few days later, I messaged Wayne, explaining I had heard about Ryan doing the work and I would see if I could get him some discount. Obviously Wayne was really happy with this hehe.

Here we were, after months of planning, we had created an awesome new workshop for Wayne. It had everything he needed. We had positioned Wayne on the patio near his house, facing down the garden. The air was electric… I asked Wayne to remove his blindfold, there was a pause which seems to last a long time….. did he like what he saw, well…. shortly after, tears from a grown man… well I never! Tears from his wife, my wife…. but I held out strong… the emotion was intense…. hugs and man-hugs all round.

Wayne had his new workshop and by the time you read his, has moved in.

I put up a Just Giving page on the evening of Monday 30th and within 48 hours, we had achieved our target. We are all gobsmacked with the support. Any monies raised after the target will be donated to the Michael J Fox foundation for parkinsons research. That risk I was worried about…. what risk. Thank you all so much.

It’s been an absolute pleasure to have done this for Wayne. He’s a great friend, has a beautiful and supportive family and most of all, it’s all of you, the World of Wayne community!

I’ve a couple of shout-outs for the Operation Victory team:

• Esther Green
• Jack Green
• Charlotte Green
• Elaine Green
• Daniel Goldman
• Peter Campbell
• Robert Campbell
• Julie Campbell

Ian CampbellIan Campbell runs Partwork Upgrades and supplies props/parts/fixes/3D prints + many other items for big scale models. He is also a site moderator for World of Wayne. https://www.partworkupgrades.com/about