Finishing Touches

Whilst shift work can have its disadvantages, it has had the advantage that after we returned from Devon, I wasn’t back at work until Wednesday allowing a couple of days to blitz the final touches to the layout alongside finishing off the stock. This resulted in the final pieces being glued in place on the Tuesday afternoon, allowing three days grace for the glue to all dry before the layout gets taken down in readiness for Burton. 

The final area to complete was the garden of the cottage. The cottage is a Petite Properties  May cottage, with added guttering from ModelU. The basic shell was covered in my now usual technique of covering with embossed styrene. I attempt to make as much out of one sheet as possible, cutting out and scoring the corners to wrap around the building to line up the brick work courses. Any joints are either hidden by guttering down pipes or placed on the rear where they’re not seen by the viewer. 

Slates covering the roof in this case are from York Modelmaking, to make them look different to those on the Clay Dry buildings and the building was finished off with my growing range of acrylic paints. 

Being at the front of the layout, plus having the big windows of the conservatory meant that this area cried out for some added detail. I’ve noticed when visiting model shows that my daughter really enjoys finding all the small details on layouts. People, layouts and plants. So was keen to add them to ‘Wheal Ponder’. 

The watering can and the wellies by the door come from Petite Properties. The door mat is fine sandpaper painted up and the cat is from ModelU. Conservatory furniture is from Seaside Miniatures with a mug and tea pot again from Petite Properties new 3D printed range. There are very few snoozing figures around but managed to find a suitable figure in the ModelU range. 

This area has made very good use of manufacturers from both the model railway and dollshouse miniatures suppliers. Showing how much of our hobbies intertwine. The advancement of 3D technology is also making some of the older cast white metal detailing features seem quite crude and over scale in comparison. I’ve also found that provided you choose carefully, it is possible to mix 1/48 and 1/43.5 scale products together effectively. 

Out in the garden is a chicken coup and chickens from Langley and if you look closely you will see a squirrel climbing the tree. 

Elsewhere in the garden, I’ve added raised beds made from stained coffee stirrers and used scatter material for gravel, soil and greenery. The summer crops have germinated well in the raised beds but haven’t got too big just yet. 

The greenhouse and shed are Petite Properties Grandpa’s Hideaway. With some plant pots from the Petite Properties 3D range with plants added. The garden tools are by Mudmagnet Models and are arranged as though one bed is being prepared for planting, a job interrupted by the need for a snooze. If you look closely, you will see a hedgehog taking advantage of the peace and quiet for a snuffle round. 

The pig sty is made from resin castings of the Corris brake van that a friend produced, turned inside out and covered with wriggly tin. With a couple of pigs making the place their home. The fence came with the Grandpa’s Hideaway buildings, modified in to an L shape with an additional bottom board from another coffee stirrer. 

Elsewhere on the layout, rabbits have appeared near the stable block. The Linhay stoker is sat in the loading bank enjoying his lunch with one of the cats (there are three on total) curled up alongside him. There is a passenger awaiting the next service, sensibly wearing a raincoat with showers about and in the field are a pair of trainspotting donkeys. 

The final job was to make a name board for the layout. Due to the disparity in height between myself and my daughter, there needs to be a compromise in viewing height. Too high and she can’t see it, too low and I’m stooping down so I decided not to put a proscenium arch across the top. It’s a comfy viewing height for me when sat in a stool operating. 

The name board was made from some offcuts of ply I had that were by chance just the right size and some timber so that it fits on the top of the backscene. Painted with some of the emulsion paints used for the rest of the fascia and backscene and finished off with some neat vinyl lettering. 

So there we have it, the deadline of Burton has overcome years of procrastination and roundtoits and I have finally, built a fully scenically finished model railway. 

Completed just in time for some testing / playing ahead of Burton. There has been a little bit of snagging and I’m learning that the layout is best suited to the Fletcher Jennings trio. But for now, I’m quite happy with my achievement, roll on Saturday!!