MAP66

That's a shame, especially after all your brilliant painting detail. Could the bottom of the barge be sanded down level instead, maybe using a belt sander held in a vice with the bottom of the barge being gradually removed by being held flat against the moving belt, H&S disclaimers - watch those fingers and also helps if you have a belt sander.

Here you go Chris, ducks to cover those annoying bubbles https://seriousplayscenics.com/products/serious-play-00-scale-ducks-sitting-swimming-resin-animals

Took a shortcut through the park this afternoon on the way to the station. Glad I had my 4mm scale camera to hand as there were plenty of opportunities for some candid shots…

After many trials with various optical aids, I too ended up with the Optivisor and can also vouch for how good it is for when needed for the fine detail stuff, that’s how I am able to do things like this in 4mm scale... Its extremely comfortable to wear with no need to remove it when not needed, just flip up the visor instead and carry on modelling. I wear it over my normal glasses with no problems. In fact, I often forget I am wearing it and have walked around the house with it still on my head. Our postman is no longer alarmed when I answer the door still wearing it. He just gives a smirk and I think, not again 😄

Well I’ve gone as far as I can with this diorama, the oak is now permanently stuck down and all the figures are now in place. Below are a sequence of shots showing how everything ended up into their final positions. For the next tree, I’m thinking about taking on a Weeping Willow on a river bank 🙂 So until then, I hope you enjoy these final pics.

Thank you once again Mikkel. You know that it is quite ironic that to find a modern era 3d printed figure with a mobile phone is almost impossible, as you quite rightly said “they should all be staring at them” You could argue that from era 10 onwards, almost every figure on a model railway whether sitting or standing should have their mobile phone out 📱 Regarding the figures themselves, I recently came across another manufacturer whose figures are a fraction of the cost of ModelU. Although I did purchase the band from them and the chap sitting on the bench. All other figures are from Scale3D https://www.scale3d.co.uk/ Unfortunately, no Edwardian figures as yet, the closest to that era are a range of WW1 soldiers. Worth a look though and maybe post them a comment to consider including some Edwardian stuff for Farthing. 🙂

Leonard Brakes (AKA Lenny Latte) named so because he is never seen without holding a coffee enters the park. Lenny, not wanting the first to grab a deckchair, spots an empty bench and heads there first.

One of the next tasks will be to plant the oak tree in permanently, with the aid of some super glue and deep gap filler. The filler will help the base of the trunk blend into the ground. Before this there are a few more figures to paint and then to decide where best to place them all. I painted 2 more today and took a couple more shots of the diorama. Note to myself: remember to iron out the crease in the backscene

Well, Rob has finally got his finger out and has made a start putting out the deck chairs...

Looks like the Parks Dept missed the memo to put out the deckchairs. Chris and Rob are now desperately playing catch up getting the chairs out as quickly as possible, as the music has already started! and its a pretty good sound, look at the second image as they have already raised the roof! The chap in the Hi-Vis (Rob) still needs a bit more work on the painting. I chopped his right arm off at the elbow as it needed lowering slightly so that his hand lined up with the top of the deck chair. There is still a bit of white filler visible which needs painting over.

Not sick at all Chris, keep it coming. Tis a grand job.

Hi Steve, Glad you like the pictures. The railings are from Scale Model Scenery, they have a search facility within their web page - just search for school railings as they have 4 foot and 5 foot tall versions in 1/76 scale. They also have extension railing packs if you are after a longer run.

Continuing with the figures, the first family group complete with ice cream!

It's good to get the band back together - Quintet is now complete!

I returned to the ensemble of band members (Brass Quintet). Four members have now been completed, 3 of which are now glued in place within the bandstand itself. The trombone player is the last piece which I approach with trepidation, as this will certainly break into numerous pieces when attempting to release from the support sprues, this being the most fragile of the group. Something was also missing from the diorama, ah yes, a female presence. So, in order to restore balance, the first female has been painted. More to follow, most likely.

A 4mm scale dilemma Well, they're out of strawberry sauce. Crushed nuts then? No, its these skinny jeans, they’re really tight.

Today, I have been painting a couple more figures for the park scene. As this is modern era ish, It certainly makes a change from painting flat caps and 'cor blimey trousers' all the time. Apart from the 6 band members, it's looking like there will be at least another 8 figures in total. This is all about the oak tree really and that still needs to be the centre of attention within the diorama. However, I wanted it to sit in a scene where there was plenty of stuff going on. Here's some pics of the figures I painted today and where they are likely to be located.

I thought a bit more about adding an orange nylon rope and came up with this... The rope is rigging used by model ship builders which I painted orange. I also inserted tie down lugs under the edge of the trailer to tie the rope around. There will be a second rope which was used to tie down the tarp at the rear end of the trailer, this rope will be left wrapped up somewhere.

If you did consider cutting the brass tube, try inserting some brass rod or wire with a diameter which is a snug fit into the tube. This should prevent any distortion when cutting it, you could probably clamp it while cutting as the rod will support the thin wall of the tube and prevent it being crushed.

Hi Chris, While you ponder over the hoss harness, by the way your last mock up looks good to me, This week World of Railways are running a skills week and tomorrow there is a feature on modelling canal water. Might be a few tips to pick up. Today and tomorrow they are running features on scenic modelling 🌳 🐏

Thanks for the comments Gents. I’m very pleased at how the tarp turned out. Here's a bit more detail on the process itself; I wanted quite a few wrinkles and folds, so I achieved this with the brush I used to apply the diluted PVA. Once the tissue paper was soaked, I could easily manipulate it, using the same brush, to follow the contours of the load it was covering and introduce a few extra folds. The blue colour was achieved using Vallejo 70.965 Prussian Blue which was diluted very slightly and just enough for the paint to flow from the brush into the tissue paper. This again was allowed to dry overnight. I then applied Vallejo Game Wash 73.207 Lavado Azul which is a dark blue colour. I made sure that plenty of wash was applied all over and ensured it found its way into all the folds and crevices. Once thoroughly dry, I then sprayed with matt varnish from a rattle can. The final stage was to apply some Humbrol white weathering powder. With the minimalist amount of white powder left on the brush, after a good session of removing the excess, I gently worked the brush over the tarp catching all the raised edges. I did this in several go’s as the build up needed to be gradual. The final result ended up with a good range of lighter blue highlights on the raised areas and going right down to deeper blues within the crevices and fold lines. As an afterthought, I think some nylon orange rope would be in order, as the tarp would have been tied down to secure the deckchairs onto the trailer. Them things could slide all over the place, especially riding over that cobbled road. I’ll have to think about that one 🤔

And then the paint went on... Oh, and the pigeon is back!

My next stint of modelling involved the flatbed trailer. I wanted one stack of deckchairs to be partially on view and the two remaining stacks to be covered by a tarpaulin. I represented the two covered stacks by cutting a piece of polystyrene foam to size and then glued a folded deckchair to the top and bottom of the foam block. This saved me using 24 folded deckchairs which wouldn’t be visible. For the tarp, I cut kitchen towel to size, folded it over the trailer and then applied dilute PVA with a brush and allowed to dry. This is what I ended up with…

Thanks Mikkel, I have recessed downlighters in the ceiling and by placing the diorama directly beneath one of them you get a lovely natural light effect shining through the tree branches from above and casting shadows onto the ground, sort of like dappled sunlight. It actually looks like, to me, that the second image was taken outside in natural light. The chap on the bench gets around a bit, you may remember that he is actually came from the garden diorama, sitting in a deckchair. Any way he now has a Tesco supermarket carrier bag glued to his leg, so I guess that now makes him a permanent resident of the park scene. One area I still need to resolve is how to create a convincing looking ‘park themed’ backscene for image taking. The photo ID scene I use at the moment is just put in place to hide from view my untidy work bench as the background. 😀

B*gger off squirrel and keep your eyes off my Tesco meal deal. 😠 My next idea for adding the detail, is a flatbed trailer stacked with deckchairs, ready to be put up by a couple of park staff. The trailer below is HO 1/87 scale and came with a load of moulded on resin hay bales which I managed to remove using a razor saw. I need to make good the saw marks and scribe in the wooden planks and then stack with folded deck chairs. I think a tarpaulin half pulled away would also look good.