I was still not happy with the brickwork on the signal box, or the platform for that matter.

A while back I ordered from Wizard Models and when rooting round their site found the only 'scenic' product they do - a set of 12 Weathering Pastels. On the basis that this seems to be a shop that knows it's stuff and they must sell these pastels because people want them, and they want them because they work , I ordered a set.

I tried them on the old desk-tidy tipper, but really it's to far gone to see how it went. Then I accidentally found a YouTube video of a military modeller using similar for bricks. OK, lets give it a go.

So not ideal, but a lot better than before. Here I 'drew' on white chalk and then wiped over with a damp cloth. I will be revisiting this. Hubrol Dark Earth again - not a million miles from the brown BR(W) used for boxes.

After this I got carried away and did the platform wall too, only this time I drew the chalk on much harder, and brushed it away with a dry paintbrush. It needs toning down a bit (less chalk next time, with some yellow perhaps) but it woks very well in principle. The platform surface and edging have been painted too, I'll be experimenting to see how the pastels can help here. The surface sections have shrunk a little since painting which has rather spoiled things, but local Plan A is to find some sort of printed drain channel to mask the gaps.

These are pastels, I think a sort of chalk like water colours is a better description, pastels makes it sound like crayons.

View the full article