...well, not really, but it was time to do a test layout of the scenic modules to see if clearances needed to be tweaked prior to track laying starting in earnest, particularly as I had now finished 3d printing the platforms. 

 

Ooh look, a train!  The 3d printed platforms aren't actually very straight but now I've weathered them with the airbrush, and having 3d printed combined bench and planters to help disguise some of the joints, I think it will work out once I've laid the track and got them into their final positions.  The plaster retaining walls also need to be glued into place hence the slight uneven façade.  They've also been gunked with the airbrush. It does show how the station is tucked away behind the townscape.  I've also given Courthouse Square a quick blow with the airbrush of crud.  The Wednesford in Bloom Taliban clearly need to have words with themselves over the floral displays around the town.

 

 

The restricted canopy on the platform, and yes, I did forget to paint the one section.  The bay platform will terminate alongside the entrance to the Civic Centre, and will be used exclusively by the Wombourne Wanderer.  The bay will be a completely separate, electrically and operationally, terminus to terminus via scenic break operation which will double up as a programming and test track, allowing me to keep stock on the main line electrically isolated.  AC Electrics has also had a visit from the airbrush.

 

 

Station Forecourt and Civic public entrance.  Not quite sure what has happened to the "Civic Board but it will butt up against the station forecourt.

 

 

 

Courthouse Square has also had a visit from the airbrush which has toned down some of the 3d printed paving.  Still needs a bit of attention/filler I think.

 

 

The 1960s created a lot of what might be called "a**e end of town" type developments, with no clear public realm or sense of place, usually well away from the Zones A and B rental districts of shopping areas, but which often had important uses in them.  The sort of places which often were forgotten or had unclear boundaries, I've tried to recreate such an area here with Shaw Taylor House on the right, the Central Wednesford nick, and Government Buildings on the left, housing the Labour Exchange/Jobcentre, and DSS/DWP.  The nondescript Government Buildings are a Vollmer pitched roof office/school/whatever, and a Vau-Pe East German office block.  Surprisingly they come together quite well.  I'm going to buy an EiiR tunic button for the end wall to mark out it is a Crown Estate building, next time you go past a Post Office or Government building, have a look for the Royal Cypher, it will usually be somewhere on the building. Shaw Taylor House is a cut and shut of two Kibri kits, a Postamt Badenweiler for the entrance and a "Hochaus" for the office, with a 3d printed roof channelling vibes of Mander House in Wolverhampton, and the old Walsall central nick in Green Lane, now gone.

 

 

The pinch point.  Having printed the platform slightly wider than I originally planned I find the kinematic envelope on the branch bay is a little cosy.  I think when I start laying track I might be able to tweak the alignment a bit as the test track uses Settrack and I will be laying flexi, but two Mk1s get around OK, although I do need to run a 153 round to make absolutely sure it has C3 clearance as well as C1.

it looks like a job seeker has barfed up on the path...

 

The Government Buildings are not quite finished and the scene needs some tidying.

 

 

I've rethought out the layout of the residential district.  I've moved the nine storey Euneda House to the other side of the tracks, leaving a medium-rise estate which despite comprising Kibri and Jouef HO kits actually works architecturally.  The row on the right is flats over shops although the shops face away from the residential area.  Crowne Court and Cylencyn Court face the Chav's boozer which has had the roof temporarily removed to allow fitting of opaque glazing film, saving me the faff of building an interior when I illuminate it.  The area around the estate battle cruiser will be grass mat, and some "lollipop" trees as landscape architects I worked with call 1960s tree planting.  I need to put some fat tattooed drinkers in the benches, minding their pushchairs.  I might even put a bloke in there as well.

 

 

Putting Euneda House on the other side of the track, together with the multi-storey mugging centre, creates a virtual scenic break and has allowed me to include a footbridge across from Euneda House and the prefabs off Sprowte Lane into the shopping parade.  The buildings on the left are two Faller "Hotel Stadt-Prag" bases, whilst those on the right are the well known Kibri shops with flats from the late 60s.  The footbridge will lead to the dead end of Sprowte Lane, which at one time would have been a level crossing but which was taken out at modernisation.  Euneda House is the fate which awaits the prefabs on the right.

A work in progress which I'll come back to after I've laid track.

 

St Flo's Corner.  Wentec now sits on a 3d printed forecourt on top of the retaining wall to the old engine shed.

 

I've given the Bank of Bitch a slight weathering with the airbrush, difficult to see in this shot.

 

 

The Co-op now has signs.  I'll 3d print a supermarket interior for the ground floor before illumination.  The Chief Planner for Wednesford has a VC10 sized wasp up his knickers about shop facia signs insisting they be applied lettering and 3d.

 

 

The station forecourt has also had a visit from the airbrush, the asphalt looks a little less new.

 

 

The Library with the Council Chamber and shops on the right, with a glimpse of the station between the two buildings.

 

 

The Staffs Police badge outside Shaw Taylor house, with another glimpse of the station behind.

 

So onwards to the track next, then Wombourne, before finishing off the remaining details.  Then, working out how to light up the layout.  I may still be some time...