goldngreen

Brilliant, inspiring and informative. Thanks

Looking good. When do we get to see more trams?

Your bare tree looks really good. You have managed to capture a realistic tree shape. It will be interesting to see how it progresses. I too like to use stripped mains flex for tree structure. I model in n gauge and find that anything else is too thick.

Very precise ballasting there. Looking good.

I am working on a new roof for the coal office. I have succumbed to the point of view that says, "a viewer sees more of the rooves than anything else" so I have decided an upgrade is in order. The tiles are 2mm wide which makes them 12" to scale. I have tried to make some of them slightly uneven to make it look more natural by slipping some by 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3mm. This is the effect so far: I still have the ridge tile, painting and a new sign to do. If this works well then I will do some of the other buildings.

Good to see you on Saturday at Aylesbury show. I will hopefully get to one of the above to see Fen End Pit working again.

A couple of photos from the excellent Ely Model Railway Exhibition Books Bridge East Quay

Thanks for the comments. This is an effort to see what kind of results I could get with an iPhone13 Pro, which includes an optical wide angle sensor. I do have a Canon DSLR which I will probably attempt another version with later, but, to get the wide angle, I would have to invest in another lens. On the depth of field, the reason I called it cheating is that I used focus stacking on this one. It is my first attempt - the results are far from perfect but it was an interesting exercise. The lighting on the photo is a cop-out using a couple of LED desk lights at the front plus the overhead LED light installed on the layout. I completely agree with you about the shadows. I have previously taken better lit shots using my DSLR and a flash gun pointing away with a reflector, consequently avoiding the shadows. I also agree with your points on composition - building of the layout is progressing very slowly (an almost geological timescale!) so this kind of detail is on the TBD list. I did a post-adjustment on the white balance to try to get a daylight look from a photo taken in doors - perhaps I went a bit too far! I will take your tips on board for the future.

Wow. Very nice.

I would love to be able to say that I made it but I am afraid I bought it!

A bit of a diversion. Here is a little video of a solar powered Stirling Engine that sits on the window ledge next to Marlott:

Here is an attempted wide angle focus stacked image to get good depth of focus close up. Unfortunately the wide angle does not focus so well at this range around the edges. My eyes are not what they were either so my judge of focus may be impaired, however I think it is all in better focus than any of the images that went in to it. It is similar to the last photo I posted but is actually completely new.

Thanks. It is not easy to get a good photo of N gauge. I am experimenting with methods to improve the photos at the moment.

Following up on Long Grass, here are some shots of the messy business of laying the grass. Looking back at my inspiration again: I see a greener layer under the straw coloured grass. With anything that is not stuck down removed, I marked out the boundaries of the grass lightly with a pencil, making clear the areas that should remain as path. I then started by laying a short green layer first painting the area to be grassed with PVA and then using the Flockit to drop the grass. This image shows it immediately after spreading with the glue still very wet: The glue dries translucent so the whiteness has gone. The long straw coloured grass was then laid by spraying the required area with Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement spray glue (a dilute PVA). The areas were masked with a combination of printer paper and paper towel. Some of the areas, in particular the fence, were masked by holding paper in front of the them while I sprayed the glue. Although it looks a mess here after spreading the grass, it only stuck to the areas I wanted it to stick to. A quick vacuum with a cleaned portable Dyson cleared the area and allowed me to empty the Dyson back in to the bag for reuse.

In my last post I said I was aiming for long grass in the foreground. These were my inspiration shots from a walk in late summer: Armed with a mid-green for the base at 1mm and a straw colour at 6mm, here is how I got on. First a close up attempting to show the detail: A wider shot: One thing I learned is that it is not easy to get a photo that reflects the actual colour of the grass. It looks a bit more vivid in the photos that in does with the naked eye.

A new picture for no better reason that it is a Friday. Not a train in sight! Below is a photo I took of some long grass during a cross country walk in the summer . It is my inspiration for what might go in the foreground in the above image.

It came from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0917FL9MW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It is intended for computing equipment, keyboards etc but it is also good for layouts.

My latest little investment is shown here. Despite appearances, it is not a phaser! It is a small vacuum cleaner for cleaning up the layout, amongst other things. For years I have struggled to clean the layout with a larger vacuum attachment. It works but it is easy to break something along the way. This is rechargeable via USB, quite small (it is sitting on n gauge track) so easy to manipulate, and works really well.

It looks really good. I would be nice to see some bigger pictures of the already completed modules.

Good luck with it. I hope you get it all sorted out soon. A house move is a nightmare for a model railway. Good to have the dedicated room though!

They are worth the re-post. I love your buildings, scenic work and sense of colour. Great work.

The ratio cattle dock kit includes a couple of very small cow pats! They are not in place at the moment. It is however weathered in various ways including to look like it has been lime washed (which was common practise).

She does although not too frequently

My 9 year old daughter has a new name for the fiddle yard. We have talked about the "hand of God" descending on our layouts for years. The fiddle yard is the natural home of the hand of god so it has now become known as "The Yard of God" in our house thanks to our daughter Eleanor!

They are good. I use the N gauge ones.