009 project

[andyram]

Members who have ventured into my shop (A2B Model Railways, Matlock Bath)  may be forgiven for thinking that they have seen this project somewhere before! In truth they probably have. The plan was to develop a simple 2ft square baseboard into a basic circular 009 layout during the first few months of the shop's life, developing a wintery scene to form part of a Christmas window display. Things stalled and the layout ended up acting as a shelf for some 009 stock for much of 2019. 

The track was glued down and some polystyrene was glued to the board to begin the scenics back in June 2019, just before I headed to Fawley Hill for filming of the Great Model Railway Challenge. In August, I marked the shop's first anniversary with a demonstration of scenic modelling. Part of this was to add balls of screwed up paper to build up the central section.

  A quiet evening recently allowed more progress to be made. My daughter, Amber, lent a hand as we built up the plaster bandage layer in the centre. I am not setting a timescale on this project now, but the hope is to make progress before the main summer season in Matlock Bath so that the layout can be displayed in the window. The previous plan for a winter scene has given way to plans for a park scene.

 

 

[andyram]

So lock down means working from home with A2B Model Railways operating online and over the phone at present. This has given more time for modelling. Another project has just been started (maybe a new thread coming soon), but there has been some more progress with this 009 layout. It has been brought home in order to allow work to continue. The track was tested and some dead spots were found. It seems that the glue had not been sufficient and some of the track had moved resulting in a poor connection. The track was amended and tested until full and continuous running was achieved. Then further glue was added, the track pinned and the layout tested when dry. All seems to be fine now.

 

Today I took it out into the garden and added the remaining covering of plaster bandage to the corners of the layout to create the small cuttings. It may be small progress, but it is progress. Who knows whether Matlock Bath will see a summer season this year anyway!

[andyram]

Two more days of lockdown and more progress made. Yesterday the children joined in to paint the landscape in a green undercoat. It looks a little too vibrant at present but will soon be covered over with scatter and static grass. 

Tonight I have added a wash of acrylic paints to tone things down a little and create some rock effects. It is clear that the green will need covering.