Wombourne, Take 2...
Entry posted by wombatofludham
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I have had to re-hang Wombourne.
The backscene which I had applied developed bubbles and creases, which I assumed was due to me using Spraymount, or the conditions in the shed, but as the Spraymount had cured by the time I found the backscene has creased, in a fit of temper I decided to try again, turn the backdrop round, and this time use double-sided tape to stick it on. I decided to go for Gaugemaster's 9 inch "village" backdrop, and duly stuck it on.
I also gave the access track and wasteland a coating of artist's "Crackle Medium", a thick paste like paint which dries to give an aged, cracked look, ideal for dried mud, baked Earth, cracked and broken concrete and the like. My brother, who is also an accomplished sci-fi modeller and airbrush artist, had bought me a pot of "Agrellian Earth" texture paint which does the same thing, so I thought a combination of the two should give a suitably run down effect.
Well, the past two days I've been a bit under the weather, so today was the first day I've had in the shed for a while. Dammit, if the backscene hadn't (1) on the original side shrunk back to a near flat condition and (2) on the replacement, creased and bubbled! It seems that the backscenes must stretch slightly when first applied, then shrink back, either through the weathering effects of being located in a shed, or possibly due to their having been unrolled from a tight tube, but definitely nothing to do with the Spraymount adhesive. Fortunately, having used double sided tape, I was able to "rehang" the backscene which I expect will flatten out anyway, based on the other backscene.
Anyway, the crackle medium had worked, but now has been given a coat of the Agrellian Earth paint as well, I'm hoping the combination of the two will create a suitably cruddy dried Earth effect, but as it takes a couple of days to cure I won't know how effective it has been until the weekend. If successful, some grass tufts, weeds and spots of ballast and oil will be added, before an airbrushing of dark gunk to give a suitably dismal look to the scene.
It's 1965, and the London Midland has re-allocated a Park Royal railbus to the Wombourne Pullman from the Millers Dale branch in Derbyshire. The line beyond the temporary wooden platform was closed in 1959 so there is already some grass, buddleia and undergrowth taking hold.
The wooden halt is from "Torri Laser" in Conwy, it's real wood and a fabulous little model capable of taking two cars. The railbus lasted until 1968 before being withdrawn and replaced by a bubble car. Of course, in reality, the Park Royal railbuses never worked in the West Midlands and had been withdrawn by 1967, but as Wombourne only ever had a station between 1925 and 1932 in real life, I can bend reality a bit.
Forward to 2006, and the through Hednesford-Wednesford-Wombourne Class 150 looms out of the undergrowth which for some magical reason has remained exactly the same as in 1965. It's passing an engineer's compound, complete with junk sleepers and rails. There's a mix of rosebay willowherb, buddleia and grass together with an indeterminate bramble growth. The scene will get a blow over with a dark airbrush weathering mix, the sleepers are too bright and the rosebay willowherb is a shade of pink that would embarrass a Gay Pride feather boa wearer.
"Low relief" trees help disguise some of the backscene wonkiness. More grass and weed growth. Security fencing is from "Torri Laser", painted black rather than grey as galvanised pallisade fencing is a post 1980s thing, but railways used extensive amounts of iron spike railings from the days of steam, and as I want to have a span from 1965 to 2006, I felt a black paint job would allow it to cover a multitude of eras. Post and wire fencing by Javis.
The "Agellian Earth" paint by Citadel has been applied over the crackle medium. Once it has set and cracked, I will add some grass tufts and weeds before giving the whole lot a weak dark airbrush wash.
When the temporary station was built a sleeper stop-block was added, and the Wombourne in Bloom Ninjas have planted it up in a vain effort to make the station look nice. Unfortunately it's in danger of being drowned by a selection of thistles, rosebay willowherb and an unidentifiable yellow triffid, grass, and spaghetti brambleweed. A bit too colourful, a dose of airbrush gunk should tone it down a bit. At least "Babs", Minister for Transport Barbara Castle, listened and saved the line which makes a change as usually any line worked by the first generation railbuses ended up closed.
Still need to add lights, and information boards.
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