JustinDean

More avoiding dry wall building.... started to scribe the knackered barn for the lane leading to the crossing:

Just scroll past the locomotive section: https://traders.scalefour.org/LondonRoadModels/locos-tenders-chassis/lnwr/

They sell tender only kits mate:

Your not tempted by those London Models brass tender kits Al?

Fantastic Al. Love your layout mate and photographed in this setting is just perfect.

I’ve seen EZ line used elsewhere on RMWeb and considered it. I’ve just received some magicians invisible string which has similar properties but slightly finer. The sag is a tricky one isn’t it? I may try the superglue technique - thanks for that.

This is great- love it!

In an attempt to avoid embarking making dry stone walls I’ve made some of the telegraph poles required for the layout. Here’s an unforgiving up close photo and a shot of the prototype:

I think the Judith Edge kits have both Kitson variants. Here you go, just in case you havn't seen it:

Are you modelling 47000 then Al? 47006 and 47007 also were found on the C&HPR I believe. There’s a great colour photo of 47000 Outside Sheep Pasture shed - have you seen it?

This kit is on my want list obviously :-) Good luck, and looking forward to seeing how you get on. Are you going to document the build on here Al?

Your walling is looking great! This is all useful information for me and I’m starting to accept the fact the only realistic way of modelling this type of wall is one stone at a time. Luckily I’ve got about 10kg of clay in the cupboard! Thanks for the link to that thread also - that made for a great and long read laSt night. Jay

Thanks for the input Al - so at the base these walls are 10mm wide but I’ve made them way to high. I’ll see if I can effectively reduce that when I start carving. If I don’t have any luck I may have to try your styrene rod method; I’m just concerned about my level of patience doing it that way! Geraint told me he’s experimenting with tile grout to produce walls so I might see how that’s working out for him also. The trackbed grass was a good colour match to photos I’ve got of that location but in situ looks off in contrast to the ash ballast. This may be a victim of ‘scale colour’ which I’ve read about on this forum and I’ll possibly tone down using the airbrush. Cheers Jay

Most of that grass will be coming off the track work. The colour looks a bit odd in these photos - it’s less artificial looking in real life. I feel happy with the meadow and the over grown spoil tip so far. After the walls go in I’ll detail with more shrubs and weeds. I’ve been having a nightmare with the walls. The latest attempt seems to be working better so far. This time I’ve wrapped card formers with pva then clay. I’ll reserve judgement till I’ve engraved and carved a few sections.

Some unforgiving photos of static grassage. This is pre- hoover up as it’s still drying. I used various shades and lengths to make this look more natural. Ignore the brown clay blobs - these are the foundations for the dry walls! I’ll post more shots once it’s dried and I’ve cleaned it up but any feedback welcome - it’s my first proper attemp at this.

I was really unhappy with how the dry wall came out on that previous photo....I’m now on attempt number 3. There’s a huge amount of this around Middleton Top so it’s got to look right! While the latest set of walls are drying I’m now contemplating how I’m going to approach making the meadow that runs across the front of this board. Time watch some YouTube tutorials....

That is an incredible piece of modelling - thanks so much for posting your progress on this!

Scribed a test piece of DAS that has dried...this is the best result I’ve achieved so far. The shell of the first structure, an old barn, sits on the lane leading to the crossing. This is also going to get the DAS treatment.

The landscape has received a fine coating of chinchilla dust while the spoil tip has had varying grades of basing stones added. I’ve been testing out different methods of replicating dry walls. Although construction of these type of wall in real life tend to have a standard method of build the walls at Middleton Top have a fair bit of variation- differing heights, some have rounded capping stones and some are falling to bits. I tried making a wall using basing stones placed in a ‘mound’ of sorts then soaking and dousing with PVA. They looked to rough and also the undulating landscape of the Top makes it difficult to bed a straight mould in. I’ve gone back to DAS clay on this attempt. I’ve roughly sculpted each wall for its location. These are placed but not fixed and when dry I’m going to attempt using an engraving pen. Here’s a couple of photos to show where I’m at with this:

Sealed the foam scenery this morning and started adding some more textures. The ballast still seems a tad too coarse so I’m going to experiment with some finer powders on this till it’s right. Once I’m happy the whole lot will receive layers of appropriate colored paints and weathering using powers I’ve made from pastels.

Really enjoying watching this coming together on here :-)

One of the things that nudged me back into modelling was seeing photos of one of Chris Nevard’s layouts. The track particularly struck me - it wasn’t buried in neatly packed grey boulders. Ballast was something that had always irked me when I was younger so seeing Chris’ use of DAS clay was revolutionary to me. Studying photos of Middleton Top reveals a few different textures in the track bed. Over by the incline it’s all wooden boards and dirt. The engine shed and water tank are has that very fine ash/cinder ballast which DAS is so suitable for. As the line leaves Middleton the ballast is coarser; it still has that almost black colour but it is most definitely rougher. I felt the DAS technique would be to smooth for this. I bought some Woodland Scenics fine ash/cinder ballast and tested a very small section. This was waaay too coarse. So what you’re seeing in the photo is baked dirt. Sieved in the back garden into an old roasting tin and popped in the oven on 180° for an hour. I feel this is a good starting point, a base layer, with the right colour and texture right out the tin.

That would be one hell of a flock!

The only issue is it would be yellow snow.....