Hi All.
Blimey, was it really September the last time I updated the blog!
To be honest, Ropley has had something of an early winter hibernation, but the last week has seen some progress made with the embankment and groundwork on top of it. Those who know the real Ropley will have seen the recent landscaping which has taken place here, with the removal of the miniature railway and the regrading and resurfacing of the upper car park. As this work happened just before the scenic 'cut off' date I have now imposed, it required that the top of the embankment was remodelled also.
This was done by cutting the basic shape of the carpark from card, and gluing it on top of the existing terrain. The surrounding landscape was then built up using polyfiller, before being sanded to shape once dry. The Real carpark is edged with old sleepers, and so a thin strip of plastic was fixed around the edge and sprayed brown. The carpark surface was then created using the trusty old Normady Earth Powder fixed in place with Kleer.
As a little experiment, I sieved some Treemendus Forest Floor scatter and brushed it to the edges to try and represent dead leaves. You can just make out the effect in the photos, and once the treeline to the rear of the carpark is installed I think it should look quite convincing.
The steps down from the carpark to the footpath and bridge were made up from plastic and again sprayed brown before being fixed in place. The actual footpath surface is yet more Normandy Earth powder, only this time it has a dusting of black weathering powder applied whilst still damp.
The photo of the real location shows how it should look, and hopefully the model is somewhere close!
Also recently installed is the relay box just opposite the water tower. This required a small amount of embankment to be dug out being being fixed on a small platform to bring it up to the required height. The box itself is a stock Ratio one, sprayed with Halfords grey primer and then just given a dusting with the weathering powders. The limited clearance sign was made by very carefully painting two red squares on a piece of paper then cutting it to the required size. A thin piece of wire was then glued to the back and painted grey. It makes an interesting comparison with those on the rear of the fuel pump shelter, which were printed and look a little faded!
So, not a great deal of progress, but a few small steps in the right direction. I would like to have a concerted push over the next couple of weeks to get some of the outstanding jobs done, including finishing up the dimensions of the bridge so I can get this off to PHD for etching. I've also done some groundwork on the shed and wheeldrop building and hope to make a start on these quite soon.
Cheers,
Tom.
- 18
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