wiggoforgold

More work on the track ballasting and painting as the scenery advances to the centre of the layout. Still lots to add in the way of undergrowth and the trees are a work in progress.

I ‘ve been working on the presentation and lighting of Lydbrook Dean. There are two lighting gantries, made of 4mm ply, stiffened with lengths of PSE. The structure is supported on “L” shaped brackets bolted to the rear of the layout, and “wings” at the front of the layout which plug in. The lights are LED strip lights from the “Colours” range at B&Q, which are “daisy chained” together into separate circuits for front and back. The back drop is wallpaper lining paper, suspended from the rear lighting gantry with drawing pins. The scenery above the tunnel and the crossing keeper’s cottage are removable for transportation. The cottage also covers the rear hinge block which allows the layout to be folded. Finally, a picture of a 46xx shunting in the quarry.

Some sort of ex LNER 2-8-0? Bit big for you Rob.😊

The quarry at Lydbrook Dean. 16xx shunting.

16xx shunting a Toad in the quarry at Lydbrook Dean ( The Toad was borrowed from Yelverton hence the inappropriate allocation) 16xx propels some mineral wagons into the loading dock 46xx in the quarry

Hi Graham. I don’t think they are quite the same. The realistic water gives plain still water, while the water effects is a bit thicker and can be used for adding things like ripples, waterfalls and icicles. There’s a number of videos on You Tube that are worth taking a look at, but beware some of the Woodland scenics ones. They don’t mention that the product shrinks and I have learned this the hard way. A retrospective look at the bottle yielded the information “product may shrink”. Take it from me, there’s no “may” about it. So, the jury is out on realistic water. I’ve got a bit more to do, so I’ll post my conclusions in a couple of days. What I’m thinking is that it works well for the pools at the base of the clif and for doing marshy ground, but for puddles I’ll go back to using microscope slide covers like I did in Yelverton. Alex

The quarry is taking shape. Next I want to finish the lights before working up the station area

Water running down the rock face from woodland Scenics realistic water. Muddy track in the quarry and pools of water at the base of the rocks both use Woodland Scenics realistic water.

A sprinkling of earth powder round the rocks, followed by static grass and a sprinkling of fine turf at a the base.

I had planned a grassy slope on the cutting where the line exits he tunnel. However, having covered the landform with earth powder I felt the slope was too steep for grass and decided to rework it as a rock face. This allowed me to take photographs of the stages on construction The rocks are cast in Hydrocal using Woodland Scenics rock moulds. The rocks are bedded in to place and blended together using more Hydrocal. When dry the rocks are carved with a modelling tool to enhance definition and to further blend them together. They are painted with washes of Woodland Scenics earth colours, using the “leopard spotting” technique they recommend. First they are given partial washes of yellow ochre and burnt umber. The whole rock face is then given a wash of slate grey. When dry, I felt this was too thick, so it was partially washed off using a soft brush dipped in plain water. This was allowed to dry. Some of the rocks were stippled with white to represent lichen and the rock face was dry brushed with white and yellow ochre to create highlights. This is now being left to dry overnight, before some additional shading with weathering powders.

I particularly like the under cut in the top picture. I've got some more carving to do tonight so it comes at a good time Alex

Thanks Martyn. As I don’t live in the FOD, Kit Hill has much to answer for 😊 Alex

I’ve repositioned the wheels without removing them from the axles buy cutting the axle in the middle before bending the stubs and glueing the cut axles back in place. Alex

Hi Graham. The puddles are a work in progress. I start when making the yard surface. Holes are cut in that where I want the puddles to be. They are then given a coat of plaster of Paris which is sanded back to leave a depression which is paired with a dark brown acrylic. This is the stage I’ve reached in the pictures. In due course the holes will be filled with something to give a wet appearance. I was initially going to use gloss varnish, but I’m currently using experimenting with Woodland Scenics “Realistic water” which I have used for the damp areas on the rocks. I’ll post more when I’ve tried it further. Alex

You can’t have too many J15’s 😊

I’ve been working on the quarry Scenics this weekend. This is Whitehill Quarry at Lydbrook Dean.

Thanks Rob. The real cottage is at Soudley and appears in a number of photos of the line. I'm not the first person to have modelled it! It's made from card and fits over the hinge block joining the two halves of the layout. Alex

Experimenting with the positions of trees

After posting this mornings picture I realised that my picture of the track leaving the tunnel was not of the final ballasting but after the cess had been treated but before the ballast proper was applied

First bit of ballasting done and playing with scenic ideas for the quarry.

Today’s work at Lydbrook Dean. I’ve reached a conclusion: There is no quick way to paint track. Alex

Great fun at the weekend Rob. I really enjoyed rhe operating, particularly when I'd mastered the uncoupling. Edington is always a great show. Looking forward to next year :) Alex

Lydbrook Dean station. The next step is to make a start on building up the basic landform on the right hand board. Happy new Year all. Alex

With the track laid and the rails across the baseboard successfully cut, I folded the boards to check the alignment of the cut rails and to check the clearances between the two halves of the folded layout. This revealed that I could raise the height of the rock faces at the quarry end of the layout by about 4cm. The increased height of the rocks would give a better sense of the quarry face towering over the trains. I started by raising the height of the existing rocks using foam and card formers, covered with plaster of Paris. For Christmas I was given various Woodland Scenics rock moulds, and some Hydrocal casting plaster. More rocks were cast in the Woodland Scenics moulds. The castings were used to build up the rock faces and were stuck in place with Hydrocal. Once dry, the rock faces were carved slightly with carving toots and a wire brush to blend everything together. Earlier in this thread I described how I painted the rocks. Further study of pictures and my model led me to feel the rocks were too brown in shade, and I wanted more of a grey colour. The old and new parts of the model needed to be painted in such a way as to blend everything together, so I decided upon a complete repaint. The problem was, the nature of the old and new surfaces were different. The new rocks were bare plaster and Hydrocal and could be painted easily with washes. However, when I had painted the original rocks, I had finished off with a spray of matt varnish to seal everything in. This sealing coat prevented washes from soaking in to the surface. Further, because it was already coloured, the colour would show through a translucent wash, resulting in a different appearance between the old and new sections. My Christmas present included a set of Woodland Scenics earth colours. These are acrylic pigments, and can be used neat, or made into washes. They are easy to apply, give excellent coverage, and dry absolutely matt. In order that the old and new sections were a consistent colour when the washes were applied, I first painted the previously painted parts white. I had wanted to paint everything with washes, but this was not an option as they could not soak in to the previously sealed parts, I therefore gave everything a coat of stone grey. When that was dry I applied washes. I used a variant on the “leopard spotting” technique suggested by Woodland Scenics. I applied washes of yellow ochre and burnt umber to sections of the rocks, covering about two thirds of the rocks. I then applied an overall wash of slate grey. When all this was dry I applied a further wash of stone grey to the previously painted original section, which resulted in a consistency of colour over the whole rock face. Because an autumn scene is being modelled there would be areas where water is running down and seeping through the racks, and these were given further washes of slate grey and black. Some areas were then stippled with a mixture of white and stone grey, to give the impression of lichen growing on parts of the rock. Highlights were introduced by drybrushing with the white/stone grey mix. The next step was the introduction of wet areas and pools of water at the base of the rocks. I used Woodland Scenics “realistic water”, another part of my Christmas present. It’s like a sort of pre-mixed resin, and is applied by simply tipping it over the rocks. It finds it’s own way down. I had previously painted the areas I wanted it to go with some darker shades, so the realistic water was now poured on (I decanted some from the bottle into a smaller jar) and left to dry. I applied it fairly sparingly and may apply some more.

Santa brought this for Christmas. This week I will mostly making rocks (and about 2 dozen birch trees) More pitures will follow. Alex