Lumps of rock are quite gratifying to make; they happen quickly and have quite a dramatic effect on the landscape. I shall do some more work on them to refine the colours and textures a bit.

I'm quite pleased with the way my grass is coming on - the model grass on the layout - not my real lawn, which is sadly neglected. For a long time I've been using an old tin of sticky brown paint to sprinkle it into. The tin ran out and I was concerned that I wouldn't find a match, but B&Q's Cocoa Bean seems to do the trick. It's a bit redder than I would expect to want , but it seems to bring the green of the grass scatter stuff to life quite well, and to hold the grass pretty well. In one or two places where the layout gets leaned on regularly and the grass gets worn away, I may try adding some PVA in the classic track ballasting manner (a spray over with a plant mister and a couple of drops of Fairy Liquid prior to careful application of dilute PVA).