SonOfMike

Thanks folks! I make models for my own amusement but if others appreciate them then I'm really flattered. What started as a small inglenook has now grown to be the world's largest micro layout and takes up an entire side of a domestic garage. There is still room for further expansion though...

I'm thinking I need some HO Scale racoons and / or rats to add to this rather unpleasant overflowing dumpster (an upside-down Lego brick)

Wonders will never cease! At the weekend I actually managed to get into the garage and play trains for a bit. In order to substantiate this claim I took a few snaps whilst doing so. The quality isn't great; I'm no photographer and I'm terrible at multitasking, but here they are anyway...

Here's one I made earlier: part Airfix Pug kit, part Aifix half-track kit, the inside of a small gloss roller and bits from my scrap box.

Love it 😀

Not these days Keith. Now that I have moved house, the bottles have a cupboard to live in and the layout lives in the garage. I have to admit that I am generally pants at taking photos; not just in terms of technique, but also in terms of remembering to take them. It's always an afterthought rather than anything else. Today is a case in point. I went into the garage to have a quick play and it was only when I was packing stock up that I remembered to take some pictures. Scenery is still underway in Tucsupes. The basics are all there but I still have lots to do in terms of details and I have another structure to build still. I have had a go at making some trees that may pass* as Bald Cypresses, complete with Spanish moss. They don't seem to have appeared much in the pictures I took today so I will try and take some next time. * In the dark, wearing sunglasses, with your eyes all squinty / shut and presuming you have never seen a Bald Cypress. Or Spanish moss. Or even better, a tree. Peering from within the trees, Shay #12 can be glimpsed pulling a train of flatcars up outside Victoria Wood ready to pick up some planed lumber. Then there are a few other snaps taken around the vicinity.

Ballasting and the application of basic ground cover are now underway. TOP TIP: When shaking finely sifted earth and other scatter materials onto the layout, make sure your cup of coffee is placed well away from the baseboard. Ask me how I know.

Good point, and one that I have been considering. I have indeed used the front and back side by side. The section with the single large door had the "mounting points" for the canopy moulded on it which is why the canopy is there. I put the loading bay on the other side as it had 2 doors and I thought it looked better, but as you say, keeping the platform dry & sheltered would make more sense. I think the easiest thing to do would be to extend the platform under the canopy - I'll have a fettle.