Manic May

Confirming the invite to exhibit at Burton has been a double edged sword. It has been great at concentrating my mind into cracking on with the layout. Particularly tackling the parts of layout building that are new to me, despite being a modeller for over thirty years. But by ‘eck there’s been a lot to do!!

However, I’ve been ploughing on with the layout and reckon I’ll be alright for Burton. But, having set up the Blog to help combat my ability to procrastinate, I’ve been too busy modelling of late to update it!

As mentioned above, my previous layout projects have either been as part of a group or club whilst my own projects have never got beyond getting the track working. This project is all about pushing myself to tackle the bits I’ve always put off before and work out which techniques work and which I might not choose to repeat again. 

One effect I wanted to create if possible was one of the rails being sunk into the surrounding landscape rather than sitting proud on top of the landscape. With the backscene painted, I laid self adhesive cork tiles on the baseboards to raise the level up. Carefully shaping them with a Stanley knife and scissors to fit round the track and certain buildings which need bedding in to baseboard level, such as the linhay. Holes were cut out for the tree bases to sit in, carefully marking out where they need to go using my largest loco (the Magic Train conversion) for gauging. Additional layers were put down for the platform and once set, these were dressed with lightweight filler to transition the changes. 

Once the cork was down, the first buildings were fixed in place. First up was the linhay chimney, a Skytrex casting, this has had a hole drilled in the base and a rawl plug inserted. A hefty screw going through the baseboard and up into the chimney should see this going nowhere. This was followed by the linhay itself. Made from foam board, this is quite light and so just glue sufficed.

Once the glue had dried, the next step was ballasting. Again, another venture into the unknown. Whilst some have described ballasting as tedious and boring, I recently watched a video by James Hilton about ballasting being therapeutic and aiding Mindfulness (search Mindfulness Ballasting for a Peaceful Mind on YouTube). I’m firmly with James on this because I found ballasting quite therapeutic. In a week where I was attempting to put the summer rosters together at work and produce an issue of Narrow News for the 7mmNGA at home, a couple of evenings spent ballasting accompanied by some suitable music (Fleetwood Mac in this case) was very good for the soul.

My attempt at ballasting is a bit heavy handed, but hopefully conveys a sense of the railway sinking in to the landscape. Most importantly, with everything cleaned up, it all still works. 

The second clay dry building has now been glued in to place, this one a Petite Properties kit and the ground covered with ballast in to the corner. 

When dry, I shall be adding a china clay effect to this area before starting on the greenery. There should then follow a process of adding greenery and buildings as I go along. 

More posts to follow as I progress.