Hello

At the DEMU exhibition a few weeks back I joined the 2mm society and have now received my membership goodies plus an order of Easitrac. As I've not done much scenery I decided to make a small 'sampler' board to try everything out- doing water , buildings , landscaping etc - I've looked at a fairly topical location for inspiration, so I have somewhere to pose my Peco CDAs - which are my favorite models Im pretty sure you can guess the place in question!

The little layout is built on a single sheet of pink insulation board - which is light , stable and can still be glued painted etc easily. The bridge is a modified Peco girder bridge - with its 'odd' supports based from a Ratio viaduct kit - based loosely on the bridge at G****t. I plan to use a handfull of Hornby buldings - all modified - they do a little garage that will be turned into a small boathouse, plus a loco shed that will become a rowing club and a few other - I have some "lyddle end" drystone walling which I think when painted up properly , should look very good. The Hornby redymade 'N' scale buildings are perfect for a numpty like me whos never scratchbuilt structures - I'm happy to kitbash etc - and I think for the money the Hornby stuff has potential with a few mods here and there.

At the moment ive just finsihed the landscaping - this is all polystyrene - covered in a mis of shredded paper(put through an old blender) and patching plaster. The fibres in the paper stop everything cracking - so you dont need to add pva to the mix- This makes it much easier to sand to shape when its set.

Once the plaster/paper mix was on and just still wet - I use the leftover plaser/paper mix add some water and acrylic paint to make a thick colored slurry , then work this into the surface - 'fresco' style to get a base color down.

Here's some quick pics so far - the white building shown will be used elsewhere -

I have to try and include it somewhere on the layout , as its Hornbys 'Lock Keepers Cottage' and I work as a lock keeper It'll need need a major repaint first though! Also in the background is some bits of card showing the intended boathouse and slipway. There will also be 2 slipways next to the bridge for the 'Rowing Club'

back to plaster and painting