Colour and texture

Because I'm up against it time wise I've been cracking on with getting the layout advanced so I've been splashing paint and glue about over the last couple of days.

The first area to start looking as I have envisaged is the bit between the railway and the fishermen's cottage. The beach is probably the trickiest bit to get right so I started there by gluing down a layer of chinchilla dust and then adding areas of larger size sand and O gauge ballast.

This evening I made a start on adding some greenery and some other more subtle painted colours on the track and so on. The only bit of plaster white left is the road in front of the pub which will get a cobbled surface made with DAS clay.

The halt has gained a gravelled platform surface and the edging stones have been whitewashed. All in all not bad but plenty more to do.

Onwards and upwards

I am happy to say that I have made enough progress this week to be confident that Underhill will be in an exhibitable state by the middle of February at the Slate Museum exhibition.

The new Bagnall posing with a train at the halt

The backscene MDF in place

I think this will be a good place for pictures

The track is 'ballasted'

Today I started putting some basic colour on

In the workshop I realised the Bagnall looked wrong but couldn't work out why and then I realised the cylinders needed painting. As a result it looks much better balanced. I've also finished the Robex flying bench I got from Shapeways a while ago. It has holes to add the canvas roof and I may do another one with a lid but this one will stay open.

Plastered again

I grabbed a half hour earlier and poked a bit more plaster about today.

That's the big cutting and new bit behind the cheese factory. Track next, brown paint and then 'ballast'.

Also the Bagnall now only needs glazing and nameplates to be finished.

Making progress finally

I spent the day working on the scenery on the new bit and made some gratifying progress.

I started by cutting to size and gluing and screwing the end piece of timber in place. This meant that I could construct the rear of the big cutting.

I started coating the plaster bandage with ready mixed plaster and subsequently bedded the buildings into the wet plaster. I have a pet hate of buildings floating above the ground on otherwise good models.

In other news, the new Bagnall has it's basic paint on and looks good. I have name plates on the way but I am wondering about trying out some lining. I have various colours to try. Hmm...

Bagnall begins

Finally I have got back on the modelling bike, having fallen off it at Christmas. A couple of days ago I sprayed the body of my new Narrow Planet Bagnall kit which was my Christmas present to myself but which had languished unloved in it's box.

It follows the usual NP format of having a 3D printed core with etched overlays which add detail and strength.

I've opted to make the version with the fully enclosed cab as it will hide the motor better.

Talking of the motor, I have managed to disconnect one of the wires from the motor which might be a bit fiddly to resolder. 

One thing the instructions don't make clear is how to attach the body to the chassis which might require some fiddle arsing about too.  The basic bodywork is done which will need some filing and filling and then it will be time for the details to be added. Nice little loco on the way, just need to get the layout finished enough for the February exhibition in the slate museum.

Suddenly I did something

After weeks of inaction caused by all sorts of reasons I finally found that I had some time yesterday to start work in earnest on the scenery of the new bit. The exhibition in February seems very close all of a sudden.

The start of the cutting

 



The basic scenery will be made in my usual way, i.e. making a basic former with expanded polystyrene block then covering with plaster bandage and finally adding filler to taste.

I use PVA to glue everything together and a mixture of a Stanley knife and my bare hands to get the basic shape. The way I think about it is that the polystyrene is like rock and the plaster is the soil which accumulates on the rock.

I've done most of the 'rock' work now except the other side of the rocky cutting as I need to get another sheet of plastic rock, the grey stuff you can see in the pictures.

 

The far side of the railway slopes down the beach with the back scene being the sea, I need to get a decent set of pictures and get them stitched and printed but hopefully it will look nice and give the layout some depth which is only about a foot deep in reality.

Where the new meets the old at the cheese factory end I've ended up fitting a few more building in than I originally planned. There is my scratch built wiggly tin building and three modified Scaledale ones. Hopefully they make a reasonable join between the town and the countryside. The only structure left to construct is a footbridge over the line for access to the fisherman's cottage and shed. I'm going to base it on the famous Padarn Railway bridge at Bethel which I drive past most days and have yet to stop and get a picture of.

Picture from Penmorfa website

Warley, Weed and that coach

It has been a busy couple of weeks, not least because I spent the weekend in the NEC at the Warley show. This is a mixed blessing, it's a busy weekend where I get to meet lots of people and see lots of models. I also get to eat some excellent curry in the evenings and try not to spend too much cash during the day. We had hoped that the new PECO FR liveried coach would arrive in time to take with us but sadly they turned up on the Tuesday after.

They are rather splendid

One Warley purchase was the second Technomodels coach to complete my train.

The FR coach with an IoSR one

Another excellent find was another pack of Busch bush which will enhance some cheese very soon.

My only real modelling this last week has been Stonerizing a Minitrains Boehler loco. Mostly this has involved changing the chimney and rebuilding the rear of the cab. More on this project to follow but I am pleased with progress so far.