Here is another first, something I can safely say I have never modeled before is a dugout entrance. As firsts go though I can thoroughly recommend it! Just the sort of modeling I like bringing together lots of different techniques and quite a few new ones.

I started off by making up a door frame from balsa which I then lined with some slightly cut do cigar lighting tapers. I then stained it with EDM's weathered wood mixture which at 99% alcohol is slightly eye watering at eleven o'clock in the morning! The sign above the door says No1 Railway Villas printed up in suitable font from the computer.

Now the fun really started as I then had to cut a great big hole in my newly created bank to instal the framework. Once done it had to be sand bagged in. I described the method I developed for making sandbags out of DAS a couple of months ago but have refined it further. A new mould has been made to a more accurate size but the real set forward is my new cutting tool. Just a bit of brass etch off cut bent to the right size which is then pressed into the DAS 'sausage' to make consistently sized blocks that are then just finished off with a little gentle prodding and squeezing.

A very simple thing but has really increased the production rate which when you consider that this little project used about sixty sandbags is pretty significant.

So here it is just needing some painting and finishing tomorrow.

And with a bit of stock to put it in context.

Another new development today was the corrugated iron panels. I got some of these from Duncan Models a while go but while very good they are quite expensive and I will need quite a lot. So, I got some tin foil, pressed the panel into it then glued it to some stout paper. Once dry I carefully cut to size and there you go! The panels at the front are proper ones but the ones on the roof are my own.

Getting a bit carried away with foil, I then wrapped the helmet of one of the figures with it and after a bit of swearing got a really fine replica. then filled it with PVA as was very delicate and now have some extras for detailing.