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I’ve made a start on the road across the middle of layout. As before the basic shape of the road was built up from mounting board. A couple of squares were cut into the card and pre-prepared glass slide cover strips glued in place as the basis of puddles. Das was applied to create the basic shape. Baulks were laid against the rails where the road crosses the railway. These were made from cut down coffee stirrers. A toy lorry was pushed along the wet Das to create tyre tracks and ruts
The area was as sealed with a couple of coats of burnt  umber acrylic and the line of the road marked in in pencil.

The road was painted with a mixture of Mig earth and rotbraun (which gives a reddish tinge to the earth) and while wet this was sprinkled with a mixture of grout and chinchilla dust. When dry this was hoovered off. The edges and middle of the road were painted with pva and Treemendus earth powder sprinkled on.
At this point I managed to lose part of the nozzle of the airbrush (it’s somewhere on the garage floor) so I had to hand paint the surface which proved to be better . Various Mig acrylics were used blended together with lots of water. When dry, further bleeding and shading was done with weathering powders.

Next steps will be the addition of mud and vegetation.

Although Lydbrook Dean station closed to passengers many years ago, sometimes enthusiasts specials visit them the station. Here 6400 arrives with an excursion from Lydney.

1623 collecting an empty wagon from Lydbrook Dean yard

In October 1962, Lydney based 8701 is found propelling a coal wagon into the yard at Lydbrook Dean

Rapido brake van

I’ve done more on the woods behind the goods yard and installed a fence between the goods yard and lane. I need to add a bit of mud and damp patches.

The road surface was painted with grey enamel, and while it was still wet a mixture of sieved ash and grout was sprinkled on through a fine tea strainer.

The gutters at the edge of the road, the centre of the road and the area around the puddle were given a coat of pva. Treemendus earth powder was sprinkled on it. When dry, the surplus was brushed and hoovered off. Parts of the road surface were rubbed down with fine sandpaper, with further abrasion from a glass fibre brush.

Some small patches of wet mud at the edge of the road and around the puddle were created by sprinkling fine ash on a dab of pva. When this was dry, Humbrol glosscote was used to create a wet effect.

Larger areas of wet mud were created using a mud mix, made up of Mig acrylic mud, mixed with Treemendus earth powder, sieved and dried soil from the garden, some orange scatter and a squeeze of burnt umber acrylic paint to give the desired shade. This was applied to the edges and centre of the road with a small palette knife.

Static grass was applied, with green scatter used to create small weeds

For brambles and hanging Ivy, acrylic fibre was place on the top of the walls and given a coat of hairs spray, followed by a sprinkling of brown and orange scatter.

The whole will now be left to dry for a few days, before adding some wet patches to the walls and road surface.

More work on the lane leading up to the tracks. The side walls were glued to the card backing with pva, held in place with bits of sponge and blutack while the glue dried.

The road surface was cut from artists mounting board, slightly narrower than road bed, and glued down. It was blended into the side walls with Das, leaving a narrow trough at the edge of the road which will become the verge. The road surface and centre was built up and textured with Artex. At the bottom of the hill a puddle was let into the road surface, using my preferred method of a glass microscope slide cover slip, painted on the reverse and blended into the road surface with Das.

The road surface was then given a coat of grey artists acrylic to seal it. This revealed imperfections in the Artex surface which were sanded back before a further coat of acrylic was applied. The verges and muddy area round the puddle were painted with Mig earth.

The next step will be the basic texturing and colouring.

Recent work at Lydbrook Dean hasn’t been particularly photogenic, hence the lack of photographic updates this week. Much work has been done tidying wiring, installing signals and making sure the boards fold with out the scenery on one board fouling the other when folded. The layout is currently on the garage floor while I repeated fold it to make sure nothing snags. (Trees, chimney pots and signals don’t mix!)

I’ve started work on developing the scenery at the centre of the layout. A road crosses the tracks, It rises between two stone walls at the rear of the layout, crosses the tracks on the level, and becomes a muddy track which drops away and gives access to the quarry.

I cut a slot in the board where the road drops below the level of the track and the shape of the road and cutting have been built up with thick card. Because the road is on a curve, I have used small pieces of card glued to the baseboard to help the top edge of the wall retain the shape of the curve.

The stone walls have been prepared off site, as once in place it will be difficult to access them for painting and detailing. The basis walls are made from Slaters stone plastic card, cut to the shape pf the road. This is then given a coat of grey primer, before being painted with various shades of grey and earth. Washes of black and burn umber oil paint are then applied and allowed to dry. Weathering powders are applied, mainly earth. Staining the top and bottom of the wall where mud has washed on to the stone. Smoke is Smoke coloured powder id added for variation., Some areas are given a light brushing of green to  and a yellow shade to represent lichen. Mig concrete shade is used to represent areas of lime staining.

A very small brush is used to apply pva between the courses of some of the stones, and this is sprinkled with green scatter to represent moss. Finally, some laser cut ferns have been added.

The next steps will be the installation of the walls and road surface.

I had intended Lydbrook Dean to have a small ground frame cabin, but as I worked on the layout I realised this would be too small for the necessary lever frame, so I have changed it to a small signal box. I have used a Ratio kit, built pretty much out of the box, but I’m adding a locking room door, and changing the stone steps to a wooden stair.

It’s still a work in progress, but here are some pictures of what I’ve done so far.

I’ve added an interior, using parts from Ratio and Modelu

Finally, a signal cabin needs some signals to operate

A good trip to the Saltash model show. It all packed in to the car as planned and no major gremlins at the show. I took a few pictures of the layout

Getting ready for the Saltash model show this weekend.

Lydbrook Dean is having its first outing  next weekend to the Saltash model show at the Ashtorre rock. Here’s a couple of pics of the engines being prepared.

Whitehill woods, Lydbrook Dean.