Tricky

That’s good to know, and comforting that I can at least put the blessed backscene to bed as it were and move on to something else! As always ‘based on’ can cover a lot of artistic license...

Here goes with a couple from me. Not a train (or Pannier) in sight...!

This afternoon I finally got round to getting the paints out and going over the distant buildings that make it look like one is looking down into a valley. I have replaced them with some not very distant trees but at the same level as the layout, ie not looking down on them. I plan on making some semi-relief trees immediately behind the wall. Not quite Paul Bambrick but what do you think?!

Looking good Dave.

Thanks for your comments. Perhaps I should forget distant hills and just paint sky down to the wall, and add a couple of very low relief buildings immediately behind the wall?

Now I have managed to replace the fascia at last. I have also taken @rcf ‘s advice and started on the rear-most scenic element: the long wall. So, your views and opinions please on whether the height of this works in relation to the painted backscene. I still think it looks like the viewpoint is too high, but that may be because of the distant buildings I’ve painted over to the right which look like they’re in a valley. Perhaps if I substituted some very low-relief buildings here which don’t look that far away? I must confess I have been looking at it for so long I can’t decide. The wall itself isn’t quite finished yet; it will have coping stones running along the top and a fair degree of weathering. Photos of similar walls in the vicinity of the engine shed look to be quite badly spalled. I’ve tried to show this by picking off some of the top layer but I think it needs more doing to really notice.

A little bit of progress going on in the background: all the wiring is complete including a natty little control panel, made from a backing of 3mm stained mdf, the drawing (done in Autocad of course!) stuck on and aged with cold coffee. I went for good old DPDT toggles as you can see. The whole concept of getting the Tortoises to work with DCC is beyond me. The backscene is still ‘floating’ in these photos but now that it is operational it can all be fitted together permanently and the fascia completed - much like ‘Bristol’. Just tussling with a traverser at the moment as well, getting it to motorise and index. More hair-pulling!

Absolutely nothing wrong with those planks whatsoever. Perfect in my mind.

Amazing work. Even ‘cruel enlargements’ aren’t cruel. Forgive me if this has been answered somewhere else but what do you weight your wagons with? And how much weight do you aim for?

Uh-oh.

Here’s a project I’ve been working on to build a diorama; lettering for a transit shed door and the brickwork over the door. Similar processes for both - find a modern font that’s close and print to scale to use as a guide. Form the main outlines using a white pen, changing the font here and there to follow the prototype. Touch up the edges and there you go!

Yes, totally agree they are brittle - one little catch and they’re gone. But I suppose at the price they are fairly ‘disposable’.

Oh dear, I’ve got it bad then...! Tewks will stay Midland but I’m already thinking about its successor... as a previous poster intimated, a pre-grouping Arun Quay beckons.

I get small drill bits from a well-known auction website, marketed as PCB drills, available from 0.1mm up to 2.00mm in 0.1 increments should you so wish. They all have a 1/8” shank so fit in the dremmel.

Agreed.