Easton, Isle of Portland

[Stubby47]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

 

Yes I've got the ruddy codebook, it must be a fault at your end...

 

Best. Film. Ever.

[MrWolf]

Ingrid: "Pay attention Burton, the bit that's talking to you is up here.."

 

 

 

[NHY 581]

John has a long moustache. 

[MrWolf]

Molasses tomorrow will bring forth cognac.

[Mick Bonwick]

3 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

John has a long moustache. 

 

34 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Molasses tomorrow will bring forth cognac.

 

Way over my head. Don't understand what's going on here, at all.

 

More work with the blue foam has revealed that if you sand it too enthusiastically, the sanding block gets warm enough to melt the foam. A logical conclusion, really, and if you bother to stop and think about it, it won't be  surprise. I didn't and it was. Further work with the hot wire cutter is required, mainly to get rid of some of the rather abruptly defined undulations.

 

 

 

 

 

[MrWolf]

Sorry about that old chap!

Random BBC radio messages of a type which were used to alert the French resistance to the impending Normandy invasion.

 

I like what you're doing here, being able to think in 3d is quite interesting after the planning stages.

I used good old expanded polystyrene, I had a heap of it for free. Not having a hot wire cutter thingy, I attacked it with an old bread knife and other assorted edged weapons. I found that a piece of 80 grit Emery cloth, particularly a belt for a power sander makes short work of shaping without too much mess. It also didn't clog up like I expected.

I was fortunate enough to have the memsahib armed with the hoover hose as an autonomous extraction system. 

I suspect that she just wanted to make sure that I cleaned up properly!

 

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by MrWolf
Clarity

[Stubby47]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

I suspect that she just wanted to make sure that I cleaned up properly!

 

 

 

I suspect she didn't trust you to clean up properly...

[MrWolf]

1 minute ago, Stubby47 said:

 

I suspect she didn't trust you to clean up properly...

 

We do share the room for our interests, so probably...

[Mick Bonwick]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I like what you're doing here, being able to think in 3d is quite interesting after the planning stages.

I used good old expanded polystyrene, I had a heap of it for free. Not having a hot wire cutter thingy, I attacked it with an old bread knife and other assorted edged weapons. I found that a piece of 80 grit Emery cloth, particularly a belt for a power sander makes short work of shaping without too much mess. It also didn't clog up like I expected.

 

Because there is a fair bit of stock sitting in the fiddle yard I am trying to minimise the amount of dust created while working, hence the hot-wire cutter. I could, of course, cover the stock with a dust sheet

 

I have almost mastered the knack of moving the cutter around and keeping it steady at the same time, so some more shaping can be done this afternoon. I have a belt sander but am reluctant to use it on this material, especially after finding how easy it is to melt it rather than shape it. The landform does not have a flat top like the current shape, so a good deal more work is necessary. The next step will be the covering of the foam with plaster-impregnated bandage, and the challenge will be doing that without getting the underboard electrics/electronics wet.

[Mick Bonwick]

My ongoing quest for variety and realism in the scenic department brings exciting parcels to the front door from time to time. A few days ago one arrived from Spain - a company called Green Stuff World. They market something called "Micro-Leaves" that looks just like dyed sawdust, and I'm sure that's exactly what it is.

 

But.

 

When it's applied to some seafoam/seamoss using dabs of PVA it doesn't look too bad at all.

 

 

 

 

[nickwood]

The texture does look rather good. That particular green looks to be best suited for the spring season.

 

Do they do any scatters in pink?

 

Edited June 11, 2021 by nickwood

[Mick Bonwick]

1 minute ago, nickwood said:

The texture does look rather good. That particular green looks to be best suited for the spring season

 

 

 

I agree with you there. They produce other colours, too. Dark Green, Medium Green and Pink Brown.

2 minutes ago, nickwood said:

 

Do they do any scatters in pink?

 

 

See above.

[Mick Bonwick]

A comparison between the light green and medium green shades.

 

 

Thanks to @nickwood for the prompt.

[Mikkel]

Green Stuff World make some interesting stuff, also rollers for complex sett patterns.

 

Those leaves need some toning down though, wouldn't you say?  You know, like Land Rovers 

[ian]

1 minute ago, Mikkel said:

Those leaves need some toning down though, wouldn't you say?  You know, like Land Rovers 

 

I suspect that weathering individual leaves might be a bit too much, even for Mick.

[Mick Bonwick]

2 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Green Stuff World make some interesting stuff, also rollers for complex sett patterns.

 

Those leaves need some toning down though, wouldn't you say?  You know, like Land Rovers 

 

I have a selection of their rollers - more about that later . . . . . . . . 

 

The medium green ones are certainly too bright, far too strong to go with the colours in use for Easton. The light green ones are better, but would benefit from some 'modification'. I don't know what you mean about Land Rovers.

[Mikkel]

Just now, Mick Bonwick said:

I have a selection of their rollers - more about that later . . . . . . . . 

 

Looking forward to that. They work especially well on blue foam, but maybe that's part of you plan.

[Fishplate]

14 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

John has a long moustache. 

 

10 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

Way over my head. Don't understand what's going on here, at all.

 

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Random BBC radio messages of a type which were used to alert the French resistance to the impending Normandy invasion.

 

Glad that was explained. I was sure I had shaved this morning. . . . . . 

 

 

4 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

When it's applied to some seafoam/seamoss using dabs of PVA it doesn't look too bad at all.

 

Agree with that @Mick Bonwick. They look really good.

 

Post Brexit question ~ presumably no uk supplier and no problems with buying stuff direct from Spain (?) 

 

John

[Mick Bonwick]

Further hot-wire work completed today. The land form is looking more like the way I envisaged it.

 

 

The infill for the watercourse is now in place. There was never any such feature anywhere near Easton, as far as I can tell, but this is my version! Ultimately there will be a rail bridge to support the mid-air section of trackwork and a road/track bridge just to the right in this view, where you might be able to make out a 'flat bit'.

[MrWolf]

I like the look of how the track flows through the landscape, from above, the styrene looks like an OS map. It's much easier to visualise how things may develop.

 

BTW, I only used the belt from the sander on the styrene, because it's designed not to clog. If I had used a power sander in the house on styrene, well, let's say that it wouldn't have ended well...

[Mick Bonwick]

A summary of tree work based upon seafoam/seamoss.

 

1. Green Stuff World Micro Leaves, Light Green.

2. Woodland Scenics Fine Turf Yellow Green.

3. Green Stuff World Micro Leaves, Medium Green.

4. Untouched, as it came out of the box. Not many are this colour.

5. Polak Purex 2202 Medium Withered Grass.

 

 

All of these are very simple to make, and the combination of different sizes, shapes, materials and colours makes for a fairly realistic scene.

 

 

 

[DGO]

1 hour ago, Fishplate said:

 

Post Brexit question ~ presumably no uk supplier and no problems with buying stuff direct from Spain (?) 

 

John

Hi John, it takes about 10 days for the stuff to get here from Spain but no problems getting it, I had a box arrive from them about a week ago. 

 

David

[Mick Bonwick]

2 hours ago, Fishplate said:

Post Brexit question ~ presumably no uk supplier and no problems with buying stuff direct from Spain (?)

 

No problems at all, John. Brexit has made no difference at all. I have no idea whether there is a supplier in the UK, I just went straight to the website and ordered the stuff in the same way that I did last August for other items.

[nickwood]

2 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

A summary of tree work based upon seafoam/seamoss.

 

1. Green Stuff World Micro Leaves, Light Green.

2. Woodland Scenics Fine Turf Yellow Green.

3. Green Stuff World Micro Leaves, Medium Green.

4. Untouched, as it came out of the box. Not many are this colour.

5. Polak Purex 2202 Medium Withered Grass.

 

 

All of these are very simple to make, and the combination of different sizes, shapes, materials and colours makes for a fairly realistic scene.

 

 

 

 

Excluding the the pink one, or is it mauve?, a good variety of greens there.  Your next assignment Mr Bon(d)wick is to mix them and demonstrate the results.

[KNP]

My favourite tree ‘leaves’ is Woodland Scenics Blended Turf T45 as it gives you multi shades.