James Harrison

Nope, at the moment the overbridge is red ink + earth + sand. It was supposed to look like brown gravel, but it didn't work. It's going to get a dosing of the fine brown ballast with the cutting footpath when I get that far. At the moment the rough idea is to fit the copings, then put the soil down, then the road/ footpath surfaces, then grass. I've already gone off-piste from that though in putting soil down before the copings are finished.

Scatter has started... Spray bottle of water first, then applying dilute PVA with a brush, then the scatter. Let it dry, then back with the spray bottle of water and dilute PVA applied via eyedropper to ensure it's all stuck. You might notice I've laid some of the copings too. These still need further work...

I've prepared my scatter material... I didn't and don't like the idea of just using one colour or type, so I bought a variety and mixed them together. I need a sandy loamy sort of a soil, so I bought a bag of Javis #30, sand, and a bag of Woodland Scenics fine turf- Earth. These were decanted into a plastic food bag and gently mixed and kneaded together. For the grass, I decided I wanted to suggest an autumnal palate. I bought a bag of Woodland Scenics coarse light green, a bag of Woodland Scenics coarse burnt grass, Javis #19, Rough Pasture and Javis #10, Light Meadow Green. Likewise these were then mixed. So now if I need to replenish my stocks any time I've got it noted down what I used! I think the soil should go down first.

Looking forward to seeing seeing more of your project! It took a while to build my station kit but it was worth the extra effort of cladding it.

I got tired of various pinkish/ brownish/ greyish hues. Paint happened. Some cheap watercolours were used for this... now at least I can see where the gravel path runs. That's the first order of business for flocking/ ballasting/ surface finishing. But before that I want to get the copings done, which really should be the priority for this afternoon. I've also been looking at the elevation for Red Lion Square I drew last weekend. I think I might change it in places as it strikes me that there's no provision for a joint with the platform and concourse canopy. I think perhaps I should add a parapet to the roof that would allow a neat join. It wouldn't need to be massive.

Surprisingly I did find a little time to do some modelling this afternoon. I applied a final coat of plaster.... once it has dried I will be, I think, putting some paint down onto the cutting. I have tried to add paint to the plaster in case it should ever get chipped but it always seems to dry very pale and wan and washed out. So.... The first bit that will get painted will be the light/mid-brown for the footpath from the down platform to the overbridge. When this has dried I have a nice bag of fine brown ballast that will be opened, to lay the footpath, the French drains around the down platform building, the road over the bridge and the road to the main station building. '' Then there's also progress in the offing on the running-in boards, as both the boards and the letters have arrived. I would like to get them done but right now I think if I did anything with them they'd get damaged. So they are going to wait until at least the retaining wall copings are finished and the grass laid. I suspect this is going to be one of those cases where for months it looks like there is nothing going on and then suddenly a massive jump forward...

Bit of a change this weekend; I have University assignments coming due so modelling has to take a backseat. I have however managed to complete the ballast hopper and I have begun work on the Ratio bolster wagons. These broke years ago practically as soon as they were finished so last night I spent a little while trying to repair the damage; the permanent coupling had fallen apart, the stanchions on the bolsters had come adrift and the chains had fallen off. Amazingly, about 95% of the missing bits I found in the bottom of the box so it was a fairly straightforward process to reinstate them. New 3-link couplings were fitted so now the main task is to give it a repaint.

I'm itching to get my hands on that double slip.

That's a rarity- a disused station that hasn't been demolished. It looks very much like Edwinstowe- which was the origin of my station building plan (I've just articulated the rooms a little architecturally and then put new elevations around it...) which is to be expected as the LDEC stations were largely built to a standard design. I hope it has a secure future- I only found out recently about what happened to Killamarsh Central several years ago, which struck me as something of a tragedy. I'm looking forward to seeing your model progress.

I tried that last year when I built my entry for the first cakebox challenge- in that instance it was fitting the coping to the loading dock. I found it was a little awkward to get the fit exactly right- because I put everything in at an angle to the baseboard edge- I managed it eventually but afterward thought it would almost be easier laying the coping one stone at a time. This time of course the coping is that much longer!- so I'll probably finish thinking it should be done in a few lengths! I guess I'll find out over the next few weekends.

Now speaking of Red Lion Square, I spent a good part of this afternoon, three hours or so, drawing up the first of the elevations. Unfortunately the camera on my 'phone has a wonderful knack of getting the focus right, then blurring as soon as you press the shutter, but I think, hope, pray that the resulting image still gets across a good idea of what I have planned. It leans quite heavily on Douglas, Isle of Man, for inspiration, but I think you can also see hints of Birmingham Moor Street and maybe Leicester Central in it too. I think I've caught the flavour of the late Victorian/ early Edwardian Arts & Crafts/ Vernacular Revival style. This is the station concourse elevation. The 'outside' elevation and end elevations will follow next week.

It never occured to me to reduce 7mm posters!- thanks for the tip. I think Red Lion Square might have a few foreigners- Great Eastern would be one, possibly Great Northern too?, Cremorne for Pittance might well be exclusively Great Central then. I would like to work in that poster somebody made up for Castle Aching too, somewhere.

Yesterday work ran to applying transfers to the ballast hopper and filling it with, err, ballast. Then moving onto Cremorne for Pittance I built and fitted the last of the retaining walls and then I cut 280 or so blanks for the coping stones to run along the top of them. These blanks are cut from corrugated card so before they can be fitted they need to be covered over somehow- paper perhaps?- and painted. That looks like it will be a tedious job. Another very little thing ticked off the to-do list is that I have ordered some running-in boards from Langley and some moulded plastic alphabets from Slaters, which will provide the station running-in boards/ nameboards. Considering station furnishing generally I bought some platform lamps from Langley a few months ago and they are waiting to be built, painted and fitted- not yet. Then there are the running-in boards, then there is a signal to be fitted at the platform end just ahead of the road bridge (Ratio GWR lower quadrant, very very similar to the GCR pattern signals). I keep looking for Roger Smith GCR station posters but they don't seem to be available anywhere at the moment. Benches and seating- I've not looked at that yet, much of this is going to be kept waiting until after the major scenery work is done. Station signage- included in the original Metcalfe kit, I don't think I discarded that sheet with the redundant material.... I've also got hold of some fine brown ballast, I'm going to be using this for the road surface on the bridge and for the path along the cutting side to the down platform. Plans for today- if the dilute PVA I applied yesterday has dried I will mix up some paint to suggest a sandy loamy soil and paint the cutting sides. If the ballast in the hopper has solidified, I can weather the hopper wagon and call that wagon finished. At some point today I want to start drawing up the elevations of RLS main station building.

The result of about an hour and a half of work spread over three nights, plus a lot of drying time between for the Humbrol paint. Plan for this weekend? I should be able to finish it....

Plans for the weekend; - The ballast hopper should be able to be finished. - Continue with the drawings for Red Lion Square station. - Build the last of the retaining walls. And- whisper it- if I manage to build that last retaining wall, I might even get so far as putting some ground colour down on the cutting sides. The copings will need building and fitting before the scatter material can go down of course but the basic soil colour should be possible.