Experiments with magnets for uncoupling the microtrains couplings have not come to a conclusion yet. I have found that the cupboard latch magnets from Homebase are weaker than those from B&Q, so I need to pop to B&Q at some point! I also need to see if I can widen or extend some of the oblong holes in the ply baseboard under the track - not an easy job now the track is laid!

I recently bought some tiny (2mm diameter x 2mm long) Neodymium magnets off the web (www.first4magnets.com). These are very powerful for their size - but not powerful enough! I hoped to place them in the ballast between the sleepers but the field is not strong enough. Bigger magnets would work I'm sure but would be harder to hide, plus the postage rather prohibits experimenation.

Still I have made some progress by painting the rail sides - I'll need to give the sleepers and ballast a wash of dirty brown too, but I will have to touch up some of the ballast first. Now I just need to clean the rail head!

I have also made a start on planning the townscape on the backscene. I have some Townscene town-scape prints which need cutting around the skyline and pasting onto the sky. The photo below shows them mocked-up (not properly trimmed!) to see what works. I'm not sure how best to stick them on, avoiding bubbles as I had with the sky. Pritt-stick, wallpaper paste, or spray adhesive?