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Building a Beach & Play Area


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I had a little corner to fill on my layout, and as my little boy is so fond of the seaside decided to scratchbuild a beach scene. This was also inspired by family holidays in Cornwall & racing down Dawlish Warren. Bits of this have been seen elsewhere here so do forgive me, but I wanted to keep it in one place.

 

First of all a prom/pier was laid out:

 

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I got hold of some Faller Water (eyewateringly expensive from the supplier I found, must improve my Googling skills as I've seen it for half the price since) and used some old sandpaper for the beach:

 

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Some Evergreen rod & beads pinched from the sewing box made railings, and Langley castings supplied a manhole cover:

 

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Beaches need telescopes for admiring the view of boats & bathing beauties. A bit of old sprue, some styrene rod & the innards of a biro sufficed:

 

2012_02_21_0147.JPG Time to try it in place:

 

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A few benches for weary holidaymakers to rest, and a lifebelt in a styrene strip holder made from a little rubber gasket (the plumbers' merchants thought we were mad going in for smaller & smaller ones:

 

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I then added an extension to the prom to form a pier. Blasted texture paper had changed colour between print runs, a learning point for the future:

 

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More seating for on the beach:

 

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It's dusk, now:

 

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A beach is not complete without Punch & Judy. This booth is a replica of The Boy's Godfather's one - it's pretty cool being seven & having a P&J Professor as Godfather:

 

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There's a little halt station for passengers to get off in the dunes:

 

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Rather pleased with this, bodged up from Wills Pagoda & Station Halt kits:

 

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The dune now has some flock on it to represent marram grass, although it is a little short.  I'm also going to experiment with some gorse using the dyed sawdust from my station plants for the flowers.

 

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A bit of a pier to add to the scenic break:

 

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Getting it populated. The Godfather said this is the typical size of his crowd, but he fibs. Note the bits of white rod repairing the railings when a bit eejit (me) dropped a book on them:

 

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Quite pleased with the effect:

 

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You may notice the improvement in pictures. This is partly because I swiched from a phone camera to a DSLR & partly as I went to a class at Pendon run by Andy Y from the site & learnt some tips about model photography. Thanks for looking!

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As mentioned in the title of the thread I also had another corner to fill to the right of the tower here:

 

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I scratched my head a lot on this area as I wanted to get some kind of scenic break and to hide the corner.  Having found Scalelink's spear-top fencing fret I thought about a park or similar.  Again to please the boy, I hit on the idea of a playground.  Work commenced:

 

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Playgrounds need some things to keep the nippers happy (poor pic as taken in a hurry on a phone camera):

 

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Did a quick test fit with some old lichen from my RPG days 25-odd years ago:

 

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Job completed, now with some Faller trees:

 

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And a wee close-up:

 

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There's also now a phone box to the right of the picture.  If doing this again I'd start off by having a proper backscene behind the railings, but otherwise I'm pleased!

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Thanks, Jeff.  I am weighing up a sea picture or just putting silhouettes of a couple of ships on the horizon.   As I've just been dealign with a move into and improvement of the 1:1 house cash a bit tight for the while!

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Ummm yes rather familiar. 

Love your punch and Judy, and the deck chair, and the slide......as you know.

For the swing seat you could use a little rubber tyre ;)

Love that you make such nice stuff from scratch. 

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Thanks, both. I ended up making the swing seat from the inevitable styrene strip painted in Humbrol natural wood & the supporting chain from bag tie wire. I wanted to be able to fold the layout up without tangling up cotton supports & also for it to be quite robust.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, I am sure I recognise your work elsewhere!!

Ummm yes rather familiar. 

 

 

Easier to hide a tank on Salisbury Plain    ………..      :declare:

 

Great to see the beach scene, it is a delightful mini gem  …..    

 

 

J

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