West Highland Line V4, a 1980's West Highland Line layout

[young37215]

Peco's news from Glasgow looks a positive development for Scottish modellers. I considered an intermediate extension station such as Glenfinnan when planning WHL4 but did'nt have the space to fit it in and settled for my version of Mallaig instead. 

 

On with the landscape development at Arrochar. Here I am uncertain how to mix the upper and lower levels and so am experimenting with offcuts of insulation to get a feel for what looks best. It is essential that I blend the two levels as seemlessly as I can, I will not start gluing everything together until I have got clarity in my mind as to what works best. Cutting insulation is easy enough but messy, the vacum gets a good workout picking up all of the rubbish created. First task was extending the siding that I effectively use as the Alcan smelter because it is where the hoppers get stabled on arrival at Fort William. The siding will be hidden away but needed to be 300mm longer so as to accomodate the longest hopper consist and locomotive. An easy win, an additional piece of track was cut to size and added. Job done. The next job was to cut some of the insulation at a 50' angle to mimic the actual landscape above Arrochar. I am not sure how high this will go, whatever I decide looks best will have to peak and then fall back down towards the upper level. I tried several variations but could not get a clear picture in my mind; one to sleep on.

 

The Alcan siding before and after extending.

 

 

 

180mm high insulation above Arrochar feels to high.   

  

 

 

I removed the top pieces of some of the insulation leaving 90mm of height which feels closer to what I want compared with 180mm but probably a little low. Baring in mind that the landscape will get dressed and covered with trees and bushes it is not easy to picture but I fancy that another 40/50 mm of height should be about right. More mess to create as I fashion the insulation to the required size. 

 

[young37215]

Having got clearer in my head about what I want in respect of Arrochar I returned to the 2M scenic section to the north of Arrochar which needs finishing. The 1 in 60 drop away from the station required infill on ether side of a ramp leading down to the baseboard at viaduct height. A rather messy and frantic 20 minutes trying to fill the gaps with Sculptamold before it started to set worked well and after a day or so, the Sculptamold was dry enough to paint. After viewing a number of video clips of the WHL and trains passing through cuttings, I wanted to create a 'floor' that looked similar. Where cuttings were blasted out and as one might expect, the floor remains clearly as rock. Therefore I used the same mix of Woodland Scenics paint as applied to the rock molds to colour the Sculptamold; the results look fine to me. 

 

Sculptamolded infill

 

 

First coat of paint is applied on the far side of the track, the match and effect is pretty good although one or two areas will need a second coat.

   

 

All Sculptamold has had a coat of paint. Ballasting can start once it is all dry. 

 

 

There was a fair amount of contamination of the track which will need cleaning off or painting over. Note to self; cover the track next time!

 

 

With track and sleepers cleaned, ballast was finally dropped. It needs tidying up before glueing.

 

[03060]

That all looks to be coming along very nicely, Rob, the rock cutting looks particularly effective and in the last photo you've definitely captured the 'lie of the land' in preparation for your 'green' invasion.

 

Best wishes,

Ian.

[ISW]

4 hours ago, young37215 said:

Note to self; cover the track next time!

Rob,

 

Very good advice indeed. Thankfully, ballast is excellent at covering up such issues.

 

Ian

[Module00]

Excellent work ! 

[billywhizz]

Looking great Rob. The rock faces look particularly effective. 

[meanach]

I like the rock faces . What colour paint did you use and was it all brushed together whilst still wet ?

[young37215]

The rock faces are painted with Woodland Scenics earth colour paints suitably diluted so that they run through the cracks and crevices to cover everywhere. Essentially I follow the leopard spotting technique from one of the their Youtube videos, it seems to work well and is easy to undertake. In this instance the rock molds were created and painted several months ago, once they were fixed into the landscape and the Sculptamold infill mostly dried, more paint was added in an effort to create the appearance. It takes several coats of the dilute paint because it dries lighter than when applied but overall is a very simple process.

 

It took a while to brush the new ballast into its desired position before gluing it in place. There are a few shoulders where additional ballast is required but overall it looks fine. Having spent Wednesday as part of a Permanent Way gang moving a large part of 400 tonnes of full sized ballast on the GWSR (it should have been moved mechanically but the booked tamper failed hence the manual effort), an hour or two with a paint brush was considerably easier. Hopefully I will ache less today than I did on Thursday. It should be transformation day today as I intend dressing the landscape with scenic material.  

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by young37215

[Module00]

Excellent as usual. Very interesting thread. 👍😃

[young37215]

PVA glue applied to the landscape and scatter scattered with the usual transformative impact. The scatter is a mixture of Woodland Scenics coarse turf with a small amount of fine turf added. I try to lighten the colour the higher I go up the mountainside because, to be prototypical, it is wetter lower down and underneath the trees and bushes. Talking of trees and bushes, these will get added next once the glue has set and the scatter is held in place although some of the scatter and glue has already found its way onto the rocks by accident which has created a small impression of what I want to create. I am planning on adding Woodland Scenics polyfibre at the top of the rock faces to create a green over hang because most of the rock that I have seen is covered in greenery of various description.

 

 

 

37108 and its short rake of Grampus is seen making its way through the new landscape.

 

 

 

[David Bell]

Looking great Rob.

Cheers

David

[ISW]

3 hours ago, young37215 said:

PVA glue applied to the landscape and scatter scattered with the usual transformative impact.

Rob,

 

No kidding. That's a real transformation and excellent work.

 

Just out of curiosity, do you have Shares in Woodland Scenics? :-)

 

Ian

[young37215]

2 hours ago, ISW said:

Just out of curiosity, do you have Shares in Woodland Scenics? :-)

 

I probably should have bought shares in them given my outlay on their products! At least I bought much of what I am using 10 years ago in the Modelzone firesale when prices were somewhat lower. Tree and bush planting has commenced, as ever it is a balancing act to get the tallest trees for impact and still allow access to the upper level. I have a few larger trees left, it is smaller ones around 75mm in height that I am short of. It just so happens that every box of Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage comes with a 75mm armature onto which I should be able to glue foliage to make my own trees. That said I have not had much success with making my own trees to date, clearly more practice is required. Whilst I am keen to get planting, my experience is that when it is done in a controlled fashion it usually delivers better results. This is the view I am trying to recreate, there is a lot of foliage required. 

 

 

Planting so far 

 

 

 

 

Bigger trees look the part but can restrict access to the upper level hence the need for smaller trees higher up the landscape 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ISW]

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

I probably should have bought shares in them given my outlay on their products!

Rob,

 

That was exactly my thinking.

 

2 hours ago, young37215 said:

At least I bought much of what I am using 10 years ago in the Modelzone firesale when prices were somewhat lower

That was very 'forward thinking' of you. It's probably saved you hundreds of pounds.

 

I suppose my large stock of 1980s Lima coaches falls under a similar category. They were ~£2.50 each back then (at BR Open Days - remember them?) whereas a 'similar' coach is ~£30 these days.

 

Ian

[young37215]

After several days of building and development activity I need some R&R to recharge the batteries. A little running helps, a new day from the 1983 WTT gave me several hours of enjoyment yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by how much the new scenic section has changed the feel of the line between Arrochar and Ardlui which has caused me to think I should press on with the scenery that surrounds Arrochar. 

 

37264 had charge of 8D19 and is seen arriving at Crianlarich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[young37215]

Several inches of snow appears to have put paid to volunteering today, a 100 mile round trip in these conditions is not a good idea. Looks like more modelling then! In between the trains more bushes were added to the new scenic section which although still incomplete, is beginning to look the part. 37014 heads north with 7B13, 1250 Mossend to Corpach. 

 

 

 

 

[meanach]

My recollection is that it’s quite a damp section of the line , although the tree coverage is definitely far greater now than in the 80s. 
 

Those trees definitely add to it, making it look much more west highland . I will refer back to that rock painting technique in the future. Look at the new photo opportunities it has created already! 
 

I have some sun damaged Anita de cor fir trees. I looked to replace them and sadly it seems nobody imports them anymore in the U.K. . Primo tress are the next best I’ve found, but at £9 and upwards per tree, they are a lot more expensive! 
 

The old DIY sea moss trees are a good cheaper alternative if you don’t want to be too tree specific ! 
 

 

[thegreenhowards]

Hi Rob,

 

I’m loving the scenic work - very convincing. And I enjoyed the photos of 37264 - one of my favourites. I had a good run with her in Summer 1983 when she was still NB and then several runs on the Far North. A question though, do you have photographic evidence of her in all over blue with a Scottie dog? l looked at putting one on my model, but came to the conclusion that she was ‘dogless’ until she went to Crewe in late ‘83 to have boiler reinstated and emerge in large logo. 
 

Regards

 

Andy

 

 

[young37215]

21 hours ago, thegreenhowards said:

Hi Rob,

 

I’m loving the scenic work - very convincing. And I enjoyed the photos of 37264 - one of my favourites. I had a good run with her in Summer 1983 when she was still NB and then several runs on the Far North. A question though, do you have photographic evidence of her in all over blue with a Scottie dog? l looked at putting one on my model, but came to the conclusion that she was ‘dogless’ until she went to Crewe in late ‘83 to have boiler reinstated and emerge in large logo. 
 

Regards

 

Andy

 

 

 

No evidence to support the dog, it is an error on my part. My version was created 10 years ago when I paid less attention to this sort of detail. Having discovered Flickr it is now easier to get a reference photograph and avoid inaccuracies like this. I want to change the nose end appearance on 264, mine has the pair of old WR name board brackets which are also incorrect; it should have a single and slightly larger bracket from its Stratford days. When I do this I will remove the dogs at the same time.

 

Several hours of running yesterday was enjoyable, even so I only managed to complete about a third of the days activity. I have probably commented on this before but I estimate that to complete a single days operations must take between 6 and 8 hours. An issue with a servo at Crianlarich had me crawling around underneath the baseboard for a few minutes which created an interesting angle to view the new scenic areas. The panoramas below give a good view of recent work. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by young37215

[young37215]

I have been experimenting with Woodland Scenics Polyfibre and some aincient Noch ground cover material as I attempt to make the cuttings appear greener. A small piece pulled away from the large ball of fibre sits quite nicely on top of the rocks when glued in place with superglue. It is a fiddly process that takes a little time to get right but the outcome is rewarding.

 

An example of an overgrown cutting rockface on the WHL

 

 

My efforts so far

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thegreenhowards]

That looks really effective Rob.

[billywhizz]

Looks great Rob and captures it well. Thanks for sharing the tip. The new cutting is coming on great!

Cheers. 
Bill. 

[Legend]

Actually I would have thought that was real . Superb stuff. Not just the foliage but the rock colouring too 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Legend

[03060]

6 hours ago, young37215 said:

I have been experimenting with Woodland Scenics Polyfibre and some aincient Noch ground cover material as I attempt to make the cuttings appear greener. A small piece pulled away from the large ball of fibre sits quite nicely on top of the rocks when glued in place with superglue. It is a fiddly process that takes a little time to get right but the outcome is rewarding.

 

An example of an overgrown cutting rockface on the WHL

 

 

My efforts so far

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am enjoying seeing how you are making the cutting come alive, Rob, it's certainly got that West Highland look and feel about it. Also, that is a superb photo by Bruce Galloway that you've found there, it would make a great wall picture or interesting an basis for a painting (if I could paint, that is !)

 

Regards,

Ian.

[Module00]

Very fine and interesting pictures.