Laying the foundation for the '2012 comp'!

As previously mentioned, the stone wharf will provide the scenic block to the fiddleyard & will be based on an amalgam of the wharves at Box and Corsham stations. The actual buildings, cranes etc will be the basis of the comp - but they need something to sit on, so the last ten days - apart from working - have been spent building track for the wharf siding & its run-round' loop -

By the end of this evening I was somewhat tired of clenching rivets, soldering rail & staining sleepers - so it was time to do a bit of scenic work!

The wharf itself has a base of high-density urethane foam - an offcut from a previous baseboard. Luckily it is 17mm thick - just right. It is faced with 2mm 'Depron Foam' - whose virtues I have extolled on other blogs. Cut to the right height it was first impressed with a 'stone' pattern (using a 0.3mm pecil) of large blocks supporting the wharf - which would have seen point loads of up to 15 tons... The foam was then attached to the body with a limonene-based adhesive. Both Depron & imonene are used in the 'flying scale model' fraternity & can be obtained from any shop supporting that hobby.

Once the adhesive was set, the 'stonework' was washed over with (very) dilute black acrylic - this will allow the stones to be picked out indvidually - probably over several days! However it will provide a break from laying the track, setting pms & wiring etc. Or vice-versa..

Only six more working days left - then it's on with the serious modelling!

('Did I hear you mention housework, dear?')

Regs

Ian