I have been asked by a friend why I don't buy expensive craft knifes for my modelling. It's easy, and although many people will disagree, this is how I see it.

Cutting thick card is not the most delicate operation. It abuses your knives, and has a tendency to kill them. Not just the blades, but the whole thing. I have used craft knives, and I snap them. I've used Stanley knives, and it caused it to drop to bits. Maybe if I had used a top quality product, then it may have lasted longer, but it would still have ended up the same, as they simply aren't made for cutting heavy duty card consistently.

So, I use cheap knives with decent blades, and even though they need replacing regularly, they do the job perfectly, and in the long term work out no dearer than an expensive one, with the benefit of not feeling gutted when it drops apart in your hands.

So that's why. I can justify wrecking a pound knife as opposed to a 20 pound one.

That aside, what I've been doing lately is a lot of little jobs that don't progress the layout much, but do take time. So while I am financially empty, it still keeps chugging along. This has mainly been ballasting (About half of current track done, need to turn the board now), but I have also made a start on the main tunnel section. This has meant making use of the pre-purchased tunnel mouth from scalescenes to make the first double mouth tunnel entrance.

I'm not going to go through the construction again, this has been covered in more than enough detail by myself before, (if your interested it can be found here http://draconusde.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/mr-scalscene-print-and-build/ ) but I do have a few little tips for anyone building the same model.

First, as always, take your time and follow the instructions. Make sure you read them through first and understand them before you begin. As long as you identify the right parts, it should be plain sailing. Don't be afraid do sand down pieces when you have finished cutting them if they aren't a perfect fit. Repeated cutting of the same parts wont mean you've cut every one perfectly.

Most important with this model though is the tunnel mouth. This model is great in that the tunnel mouth can be cut in many ways to fit your layout. But...

Every layout is unique. Just because you are running your track in a particular way, doesn't mean it will be in a perfect line or distance to match another layout. So don't rely on the templates to fit your own layout. Before you push ahead and complete the model, take the time once you've cut out the tunnel mouth to put it in place on the layout and check that your loco's will travel through. Take your biggest carriages and biggest engine and just run it round to make sure it doesn't catch on the tunnel mouth. If they catch, now is the time to sand the mouth to make it slightly bigger, make your adjustments now to ensure it runs smooth.

The next part of the construction is to add the tunnel interior. This will fit it's shape to your opening. If your tunnels going on straight track there shouldn't be a problem, but if it;s on the curve, then it could cause you the same problems, so now is the time again to make adjustments and shorten the tunnel as needed to make sure it;s all smooth running. You want to do it now before you build up the rest, to save yourself the time and trouble of finding out too late that you haven't got it just right...

And of course, the biggest benefit of the scalescene models...if you get it wrong, you can just reprint the part and try again...

So personally, I now have the first tunnel mouth built and in place, with my layout trains running through without derailing or the 'tunnel wobble'

of carriages rubbing up against the side of the tunnel mouth, and after a bit of weathering it will be ready for the hillside to be constructed over the top. Or at least it will when a second tunnel mouth is done, and the raising track, and the static grass, and the.......

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