LBSC123

I haven't got the rails DCC sound terrier, as it unfortunately sold out before I got round to making a purchase, so can't make a comparison to that one myself. However a friend of mine kindly fitted a Locoman Sounds Terrier chip alongside a Sugar Cube speaker in the cab of a Hornby Terrier, which sounds rather good (video from the supplier, not my loco below). I'm also planning to fit this to my Rails one when I get round to it. Note: no connection other than being a happy customer.

Spent a few hours this morning on the static grass. This is a mix of WWS summer and autumn 2mm, summer, patchy and muddy 4mm, and 6mm dead and burnt grass. As inspiration I followed the techniques of Luke Towan, and the video from Luke's APS below. Generally speaking, the look I was trying to capture is similar to this photo I posted a few pages ago: I first went over with a pass of 2mm grass, then roughed this up as shown in the video above and used some WWS 'static grass layering spray' to make further more selective passes with 4mm and 6mm grass. I've also put a few grass tufts around, which were made from 4mm/6mm grass applied into a blob of PVA. I'll let the results speak for them selves, but I'm pretty happy with how this has come out. I then pressed on with the trees. I used the same WWS layering spray to the branches and then covered them with Woodland Scenics medium green coarse turf. I've put a few Noch leaves on these, but will also be adding some fine turf (when this arrives) but think they're coming together rather nicely anyway. I offered them up into position, they're not glued down which is why they aren't straight, I think I'll add a few smaller sea foam trees between them to represent Birch trees but I'll wait until I've fitted the wire fence and these trees to see how the scene looks. Finally, using a Dremel, I ground out the base of the hand crane so that I could glue a 4BA bolt to the bottom. A suitable hole was drilled through the baseboard and this was fitted. The bolt will allow for semi-permanent attachment of this, whilst still enabling it to be removed for track cleaning, or to be adjusted for photographs. (I've just spotted for a few lose bits of scatter and the fact the roof isn't on properly at the building at the rear!) Anyway, I think that will do for now. More soon.

Keep up the good work @TeakDB, I’ll watch for updates with the IWR wagon with interest.

Not sure where you bought it from but they still seem to be in stock at Kernow and Rails (for example), so would've thought you could return it without too much fear of missing out.

Not the best light as I still haven’t got round to building a lighting gantry, however this shows the progress over the last few days. I have weathered the track, given the warehouse a first coat of paint and glued Woodland Scenics fine turf soil, and real sieved soil to the baseboard. The warehouse wasn’t quite the colour I had hoped, nevertheless I think this is shaping up nicely. (The funny shadow on the background is me, not overspray. I’ve checked!)

Thanks Ray!

After a fair bit of pondering I decided to change the roof of the warehouse to something a bit more UK looking. This was done using Will’s sheets, the ‘leading’ at the top of the roof is made using a few strips of paper Superglued into place. I’ve just given it a quick first coat with some grey. One or two areas need a little work but with some weathering I think it will come out OK.

Thanks for the kind comments. I've got plans to put the chassis of one that's been dropped under the non-motored one, I already have both in stock. I really didn't need to see this! (thanks really).

Spent a few more hours on the layout this morning. First I painted the trees brown, after they were dry I offered them up on the layout. Secondly I finished off the road crossing and gave this an initial weather. Then I painted the point rodding into a more appropriate colour. The next job is to weather the track and get some leaves in the trees. More soon.

Made some good progress with the trees today. Attached sea foam to all of the branches. This was done with PVA and super glue when required to hold it in place until this had dried. Next job is to spray them brown/grey and then crack on with some foliage! I may turn my attention back to the layout tomorrow and finish off the road crossing depending how I feel. More soon.

A small tease of the planned progress over the weekend. I took delivery of a few Woodland Scenics tree armatures and some sea foam. I’ve roughed these up on position at the fiddle yard end of the layout. These will also have a few sea foam trees to represent Birch trees and smaller saplings amongst and around them. Next job is to tidy up the armatures and start gluing some sea foam on. Although I think that will wait until the weekend. I also need to start thinking about finishing off the buildings, I still need to work on the loading dock and to find a suitable Harbour masters office... More soon.

Caught a few more hours over yesterday and today. On the backscene I toned down some of the hills and tried to break up the solid blocks of colour. I then went over and put a few hedgerows and clumps of trees on the hills. There’s one or two areas I’m not 100% sure about but I’m going to leave it for a few days to see how I feel about these later. Anyway I think it’s fairly subtle and should blend into the background nicely with the addition of some grass, hedges, trees and fences. I also made a start on the road crossing to get to the front of the quay. This was built using offcuts of the wood used in the quayside, it’s about the same size as a sleeper and I always prefer using ‘real’ materials where I can. I think I’ll join this up using DAS clay rather than more sleepers but I’m not quite decided yet. Next jobs will be to weather the track and finish the roadway, then I might take a look at some trees! More soon.

Thanks for the kind words @Schooner! It’s been enjoyable to try out new techniques myself, so glad someone else has enjoyed following them.

Thanks for the info regarding the tank wagon. Is this the same ones as the ones behind the Terrier in an earlier picture? Any info on what these storage tanks look like would be appreciated. I may try and incorporate one into the quay somewhere down the line. I really like the Alum Bay wagon, very imaginative... would be a nightmare to unload though!

Thanks for the kind words! Still plenty of work to do in breaking down how uniform the colours are and putting some hedges and trees in for detail. The blog was very useful and I'm not sure I would've attempted it without it!

Problem duly fixed with microswitches operating off the point motor ‘pin’. Still not entirely sure what the problem was!

After chatting to friends and looking at other layouts such as the beautiful ‘Shell Island’ I concluded that I needed some sort of landscape in the background. To do this I followed these very insightful instructions: At present I’ve just done the bare outline of the hills, I’ll go back and do trees and hedges with another colour once this has dried. I’ve tried hard to make these look right from normal viewing angles and not too over powering. I’m imagining some small hills the other side of Newtown Creek, and in the distance to the west of the island. There’s still plenty of work to do on this, but think it’s shaping up OK. More soon.

Buffer stops fitted and the ground painted burnt umber, we’re getting somewhere now.

A few coats of emulsion later and the backscene is saved. I just need to paint over the few areas of overspray and I can turn my attention onto the scenics properly. the first job will be to start making some trees. More soon.

Thanks @TeakDB, I’ll probably save it for building my own stock then.

Thanks Rob, I think you’re right. I’ll do some investigating

First coat of water based B&Q primer applied to the backscene (still wet) but I think I’m winning.

Thanks @arv did you use 3, so one for each individual frog? I have got rail insulators in the 4 inside rails and have wired all of the switch rails so not relying on the blades for continuity.

Found this photo of a model of an IoW wagon online. Does anyone have any idea who it was made by, where I can acquire one, or how I can make some transfers for the lettering on the left?

Hmm, I'm not convinced with the colour or method of application. So It'll be back to primer before being painted with emulsion. More news on this later this weekend.