cornamuse

You know how you start the New Year with the intention of finishing jobs… well, here is one I have been avoiding for months. The little petrol railcar, from a bashed about IP Engineering kit. Agnes, the driver, must have seen something in the line… loco was made around the time of the coronation, hence the cypher.

it’s pigeons with our dog. Al Capigeon and his mates keep taunting him from the structure at the bottom of the garden. However he is only any good at catching dead stuff…

It is indeed. We have Rattersby, Molehaven, Fort Campagnol and Volehenge. Partly in reference to the size of the dwellings, but mostly because of an ongoing bit of family silliness regarding our dog’s imaginary best mate, Dead Vole… bet you are glad you asked 🤪

Other than flags, Fort Campagnol is about done, replete with a very diverse selection of troops. WW1 troops, guards in bearskins, napoleonic troops in shakoes, 1700s tricornes. To be honest, a Roman galleon wouldn’t be much more surprising. Funnily enough… The oriel window is lit from within, but needs a much brighter lamp to be any good. I’m wondering if a cheap set of battery fairy lights can be repurposed to provide lighting, including some spotlights on the front of the fort. I have decided to do without pointy roofs, they looked too Disney, even for me! Two do need floors dropping in for sentries, though. The left hand tower is due to get a ton of ivy, a couple of flags, then maybe the quayside or, if I’m feeling brave the hillside at the other end of the layout. Or worse, the 4ft girder bridge. I’ve a Staithes style village to work on, too, but that is likely to be fun, so I’m leaving it until I’ve completed at least one job I know I've been putting off!

Slow progress, and the troops on parade while I work out some lighting. I’d like C20 style floodlighting for nighttime just the left wing to dry brush, then ivy and other details. Fancy a few gargoyles and a statue or two like on York city gates.

I’m getting a bit bored of castle walls, so I thought I would do a little tentative planning for the village of Molehaven. Any suggestions? There will be steps and levels built in as I go, to make it feel more like Staithes, but cliffs behind it looked just awful. The exit to the mission hall, which will of course be a glorious tin tabernacle, will be moved to the end to save the padre from falling down the cliff…

Thank you, kind of the effect I’m going for. That or a live action version of Trumpton :)

More progress on the fort. There will be stained glass and a light in the oriel window, a lot of dry brushing to make it all very much paler and some very unmilitary ivy.

There is a Society for Creative Anachronism. I’m applying it to an imaginary narrow gauge railway in an imaginary island… and seeing if I can still create something believable. I think mentally giving it a backstory helps. The story isn’t fully formed, but there are elements already.

well ok, some stone houses, but enough white ones to give me a break 😂

Thank you- I’m so glad it does. It’s a long way from any serious modelling I may have done, more a sort of 3D doodling. Like doodling, it lets my mind wander nicely… however, I can confirm that the fishing village will be predominantly whitewashed plaster walls. I need a break from painting stones!

And so Fort Campagnol grows… Gun platform, Oriel window, lots more stonework

The grey castle walls were too grim, so a more Bamburgh colour is being aimed at. Too dark at the moment, but will be heavily dry-brushed until a nice pale brown.. the grey version was painted in minutes. This is taking a while as each stone needs painting individually.

I used CA, again cheap super runny stuff for pound shops, building my own laminated card up from thin layers. It’s like making your own mdf… Boy are the fumes exciting, as Annie has pointed out. Plus I can identify all my models by traces of dna and fingerprints left glued to the models.

Jim’s models are amazing, gave me the confidence to try locomotives from card. My accuracy isn’t great though, so I’ve moved up to g scale where it doesn’t show. Still in cardboard because I’m rubbish with anything else!

0 gauge in card is definitely a possibility- this even has a card chassis- works well enough. I must confess to using a computerised card cutter though, although it is far from necessary. the tram skirts hide my appealing level of technical skill rather well……

The distant Lakeland boozah is none other than this; made famous by being illustrated in Jemima Puddleduck, and a jolly good pub to boot.

Fort Campagnol is slowly getting finished, too. Patchy stonework, as I’m intending ivy on a lot of the castle. Crenellations carved from more blue foam. The main keep just left now.

BEHOLD! VOLEHENGE! made from blue polystyrene, carved and painted. Rather warhammer style, really. I think the pink curtain will have to go. The Saxon chapel is maybe 10mm/ft and the Lakeland village is 4mm. I’m hoping to achieve some ultra forced perspective by careful planting of ever smaller trees.

Castle slowly grows… Some of the Ffestiniog stock out for a run… how much seaweed is enough? Model crabs? Rockpools?

Also, I’d go with no gradients, out in the open storage, screened with trees and slopes. I think small stock benefits from minimal gradients.

As early as 2028? Bit hasty, surely?

A plinth. Made from carving polystyrene, foam board and card. Painted like the castle: years ago, I bought an SM32 steamer in memory of my grandparents. It has sat on a shelf since I converted to g scale. Now it can have a home on a platform, Ffestiniog style: I wish I could regauge her and have live steam on the track again, but at least this is a way to include her in the model.

A quick coat of paint and a dry brushing, and another tower is completed… very much a product of years making wargaming scenery. The aim is for a convincing (in a Disney castle way) portrayal of a castle, rather than an accurate one

Cliffs drybrushed and with some seaweed. Bollards starting to come together. Beautifully turned by a friend. Some work on His Lordship’s residence, too.