Mark 2

the success of the set piece has made me re-consider my layout, and I have started again from scratch. The new layout will be modular, so it can be taken apart and potentially a section can be worked on in the house, and the wiring accessed relatively easily. It will be narrower too, with sections typically 18" by 4'.

Work started a couple of months ago. This image shows an early view:

Phase 1 involves the "lower" station (to the left in the image) and "middle" station (to the right), with the line between running over an embankment and bridge over a river.

Phase 2 will be further to the left, a single baseboard featuring a dock. Phase 3 will be to the right, coming back down the third wall, three baseboards including a viaduct, quarry and the top station. Phase four will be to complete the fourth side of the loop.

Last weekend I finally finished wiring. It was not a huge job as far as these things go, with only 9 points and a single isolated section, but not my favourite job!

So this is the current state of the lower station. The buildings at the back are all SuperQuick, and date from my childhood. Eventually they will be replaced by scratchbuilt models. the station building is the one from the Mark 1 layout, so does not fit. Replacing that will be a priority. The old one might be suitable for the middle station if the bottom story is removed.

Clearly a lot of work still to be done, but it does feel like I am gettng somewhere at last!

Set piece, part five

I am pretty much done now. The local club has a competition on Monday, so just in time! 

Set piece, part four

This is my second try at trees.I decided the wire armatures did not work - there was just not enough branching. So these are sea foam, sprayed brown, with static grass stuck on with hairspray. Very easy to do (my eight year old daughter did two of them, and I cannot tell which two), and they look good too.

Then I added grass. I hopede to borrow a static grass applicator from the club, but it has not been seen for weeks, so I had a go at making my own. Not a complete success, but looks okay from a distance, though in the bottom shot you can see a join that needs covering. The stone wall at the back needs work to bed it in better.

I am particular pleased with the rockface, though.

 

Set piece, part three

By Sunday it was looking like this. The rock face of the cutting has been painted, and a "Whistle" sign installed.

 The bridge has been painted and the river has it first layer of varnish.

 I repainted the sky too, to make it more blue and cover a few blemishes. I used a small roller to avoid getting brush strokes in the sky!

That is the end of the holiday and most of my free time, so work is going to go a lot slower from now on! The stream needs more varish, but the next big job is the grass, for which I hope to borrow a static grass application from the local club. After that, it is trees, bushes and weeds.

Set piece, part two

Friday, and the landscape has been painted:

And a bridge built:

A Set Piece

With the winter weather, going to the garage becomes less attractive. With some free days over the holiday period, I thought I would create a small set-piece that would serve as a kind of practice area, as well as a test track. The local club has a modelling competition at the end of February, so it can also be an entry for that.

Construction started on Saturday. The base is 76x21 cm, and ithe track is simple; it emeres frm a tunnel on the left, over a small stream, on to an embankment.

Sunday I put on the first layer of papier mache:

Some trees under construction. I have never made trees before, so somewhat experimental. They are made from wire  stripped from kettle leads (working in IT I have plenty of them), twisted into shape, with "SuperSculpey" modelling clay added to bulk out the trunk and main branches, then painted.