Backscene and Buildings progress

I haven't managed to publish any updates about progress on the layout for a couple of months, and with family and other comittments, and keeping the wife happy by sorting out the garden, there hasn't been a lot of time for model making. However there has been some progress ...

Last weekend I had a second go at sorting out the backscene. I had cut fillets of foamcore board and fitted them into the corners as shown, then fixed two layers of lining paper to form the continuous curved backscene. I stuck it in place using a spray-on impact adhesive from Bostik, which worked fine until I gave it a coat of white emulsion, as an undercoat to painting the sky. Then the paper shrank and wrinkled, and the glue came unstuck!

So I got a roll of sky-paper from Townscene (advert in RM). I ripped off the lining paper and cut and stuck a new piece in place, this time using wallpaper paste. Then I stuck the sky-paper to that, also using wallpaper paste.

Once the glue has dried and the bubles and wrinkles straightened out, it doesn't look too bad. However the sky-paper is very thin, and despite my best efforts some creases crept in whilst fitting it in place around the ends. I'm hoping I can hide the worst when I fit the cut-outs of buildings for the skyline.

The pictures also show the buildings progressing. The station and goods-shed is now painted, and pretty well complete. I have recently been putting together some Metcalf card kits for warehouses and house-backs, these are the first card-kits I have used in 15 years or so, and I was sceptical. However they are not at all bad, I've taken care to paint the visible edges of the card to match the brickwork. They may not stand too close a scrutiny but they will look fine from normal viewing distances, and most importantly will allow me to complete the layout in reasonable time!

The buildings need some finishing, and when I get chance I will finish laying the tracks, then we should really see some progress!