Chris Chewter

Point rodding fitted by the station last night. Also took the day off yesterday to try to find a suitable location to photograph for a backscene. Once I returned, the photos were fed into the computer to stitch together. I have no idea why panorama stitching starts like this, but it managed to spew out a workable landscape from the process, which has now been sent to the printers.

Coupled up, the crew wait for the station master and guard to decide whether they can start their next journey.

Last night I attempted the challenge known as point rodding. Something stronger may be required! Two hours later and all the components had been assembled ready to be installed, and my sanity is still intact. Ive found that putting the point stools on a piece of double sided tape and using careful dabs of plastic weld really help make this easier.

The loco can now set back onto the train, but stops short to await the signal from the guard.

At the other end by the engine shed, the crew have to stop both for the middle frame and upper frame to be operated, although there's no rush really.

In between rain showers, I fitted the alignment dowels and laid the track work. Which means I can take a photo of trains in the platform! Backscene, ballast, and some more rubberised horse hair on order.

Once the fireman has operated the ground frame, the loco can run around the coaches sat in the platform.

Managed to get a quick hour last night to start on the fencing. Although, the glue needs to cure before I start threading it together. No progress this morning. A “quick” trip to Coventry for my COVID jab. One of the things I observed trundling along the fosse way, is that trees are actually a fairly light shade of green! I kept on stopping on the way back to take photos! Looking at the tree I made yesterday, the medium green isn’t as offensive as I remember. In fact, it looks alright to my eyes. I also found this beauty on the way back. I dare you to model it!

An afternoon making model trees for Carterton.

Ah, I use my favourite, posts painted with Halfords body shop primer grey. The posts are stuck into blu-tac blobs like a hedgehog and given a light spray. The problem is the next bit. Fitting the posts and adding the wire!

I had hoped to get the layout outside to fit the alignment dowels and start laying track, but alas no. It’s raining. So this morning I’m trimming fence posts. If it wasn’t for the fact I had several packs of Ratio fencing in my supplies, I’d be buying these ready cut. It’s a fairly mind numbing task...

The trouble with trees is their trunks aren’t brown, or so I read in a modelling book somewhere. In fact it’s grey. Well, it’s a tad more complex, as there are brown and green hues, but the trunk is predominantly silver grey. Trees were clad in DAS clay to give them a little more flex. Tiny pinches of clay were put onto the armature and smoothed. Don’t use big bits, it’ll turn out lumpy. The questionable bits will get hidden by the horsehair in the next stage! So out with the trusty Halfords body shop grey primer, and the trunks were sprayed. But wait, aren’t trunks brown? There is a bit of brown highlighting, so a slight waft of Humbrol earth brown should replicate that. I did read in one of the wild swan books that they use Tamiya grey and greenish brown, and texture with Artex. Another modeller suggested used tea dust from the bottom of their tea bag tin. Perhaps some ideas for another day. Now to give the tree its foliage.

Managed to get a spare hour, so fired up the static grasser. At first it looked a bit flat, but a quick go over with some 6mm fibres seem to have livened it up.

The loco once unhooked, can move into the headshunt in preparation to run around the train.

Yesterdays train comes to a stand at the platform at Tetbury

Looking down from the hillside, a young boy waits and watches with awe as the loco eases past.

Put a Tetbury photo forward for the Bachmann Collectors Club photography competition. Managed to get shortlisted for the model category. Didn’t win but really pleased to see a photo of the layout in print.

I’ve also been winding tree armatures, but they are even less photogenic at the moment! Some of the lower limbs are a bit long, but once covered with rubberised horse hair, it should do the job. I need a date with some DAS clay to clad the trunks and waiting for some woodland scenics mid green coarse turf for the general foliage cover.

I haven’t updated my progress as I’ve been having a nightmare with the platforms. Currently I’m waiting for the chinchilla sand to dry on the platform surfaces as textured paint just looked too lumpy. With textured paint: With chinchilla dust: The texture is better but the colour is wrong. I need to paint it somehow. Let’s hope the glue cures! I’ve also found photos suggesting a small privvy behind the signal box. It looks like it’s made from asbestos, so a Wills privvy was filled and flatted and painted cement grey. I couldn’t find an image of the door so presumed western region brown to match the station doors. To be honest, I don’t really know if it served the signal box or the allotments, but it’s been modelled either way. Finally, I found that scale model scenery do signal box nameplates. Carterton box now has its nameplate.

Another view of yesterdays photograph

I thought I'd give the green 64xx a run over the weekend, and grabbed a few snaps of it working a two coach train into Tetbury.

Managed to cover the expanding foam with plaster bandages yesterday and painted with a base colour of dark brown. I did try textured paint for the roadways, but decided to just use chinchilla dust instead. Now onto grass. I thought about static grass but I might save the pennies and use hanging basket liner. Not sure on that one. Either way, my PVA supply is lower than I thought, so I’ve got a bit of time to decide.

Supplies have arrived, and topography commenced! Roadway is supported on a polystyrene bank, and the rest has been made with expanding foam. I now need to cover it with plaster bandage to create the ground, and I can then move onto grass and foliage. I also took delivery of a Dapol signal to sit by the signal box. The only one required for the layout, as all other signals are all off board. Hopefully, I can make a bit more progress this afternoon.

The fireman keeps a watch as 1664 shunts the toad around the yard.

I didn't think the closer crop worked on this photo, but here it is for comparison.