Rail200 - a few extra details

It didn't take long for me to add to Whittingly Hospital. I was tidying the workbench putting away left over materials and wondered if I had any ducks left over from previous projects. I didn't, but I did have a pair of swans - and what's more, they had been painted already! As I thought, they do add a little interest to the front of the layout.

 In the same box I found a couple of other details I could use. Both are in this photo...

The letterbox adds a splash of colour in the foreground too. My thinking is the guard collects the post a couple of times a day, transferring it to Royal Mail at the junction. This small letterbox on a post was also already painted, recovered from a past layout, it seemed more suitable than a full size pillar box. 

The other detail is this pinch bar, used for moving wagons by hand, it's been left leaning against a wall. Subtle, but just helps to break up an otherwise bland corner.

I wouldn't be surprised if other details get added in time!

Rail200 - trees and people

A day off on Friday and some time free over the weekend has enabled me to catch up where I'd wanted to be with the Rail200 project. The first job was to finish the trees. I'd got most of a pack of Woodland Scenic armatures left over from Loctern Quay, but the larger sizes were too tall for the height limit of the challenge and only the shorter trees could be used. My friend Tim mentioned he had a pack of smaller Woodland Scenics trees but had found them a little short. We did a swap so he got some of the taller trees and I got some of the smaller ones.

As usual, I cleaned up any moulding lines and marks, and drilled the bottom of the truck to superglue in a length of paperclip wire. They were then dunked in hot water and twisted to spread the branches, and tweaked into a 3-dimensional shape.

The trunks look a bit plasticky. In the past I've brush painted them, but this time I thought I'd airbrush them while the airbrush was out to weather the buildings. This seemed to work well.

And so, this week was foliage time. I'd picked up some Busch foliage at a show, but first impressions was it didn't tease out and fell apart if stretched too much, so the trees looked a bit lumpy. I couldn't find any left over foliage from previous trees (there must be some somewhere), so ordered some Woodland Scenics foliage which I know works well, and some WS polyfibre too. The foliage can be teased out until it is light and fluffy, then glued onto the branches (I use Matt Modge Podge). The polyfibre can be teased out even more, but needs foliage adding in the form of finely ground foam scatter stuck on a liberal coat of hairspray. 

The polyfibre tree (left) is fuller and more dense, but still lets light through. This will be a view-blocker for the front of the layout. The WS foliage (third, fifth, sixth trees) looks better than the Busch stuff, but together there is a variety of shades and density of foliage. 

The trees are planted in place on the layout by punching a hole through the (kitchen towel) surface, and poking the wire in covered in matt modge podge. The trees on lower ground needed a hole drilling in the ply surface below. The two tallest trees (second left and far right) are 135mm tall, so needed the trunks recessing into the polystyrene below the surface so they fit within the 140mm height limit!

The other job this weekend was to paint the details that had already been prepared and primed, and a few figures too. There are a couple of Monty's Models figures, the rest are Dapol/Airfix/Kitmaster - they still look good! Painting is using acrylics. The plastic figures were drilled up their legs for a 0.5mm wire to help locate them securely, the whitemetal figures already have a rod below a foot.

I've started gluing the details and people in place, and a few last jobs are in progress, so the finish line is in sight!

Rail200 - green fingers

The last couple of weeks have been manic at work with no time for modelling in the evenings, so I'm falling behind where I'd like to be with the deadline for the Rail200 challenge at the end of the month. However, I have managed to progress the scenic work over a couple of free Saturdays, and I've a day off later this week, so I'm confident I can catch up. 

You may have noticed in the last post that the water crane has found a home. There were a variety of opinions on this, but some good arguments that by the shed was logical and helped justify the extent of retaining wall. I was worried it would look too crowded, but realised I could trim the rear corner off its base to clear the wall so it could fit further left, It's surprising how much difference that made. 

Greenery started with traditional scatters over slightly diluted PVA. This provides a base layer for static grass, avoiding bare patches. For more rough ground, I add some ground foam type scatter too. 

The static grasses came next, using the Peco applicator and basing glue. I've used a mix of shorter, greener fibres and longer yellower ones, vacuuming up as soon as applied (with a jay cloth over the nozzle to collect and reuse fibres) then going back for a second and third application before the glue sets. I still find most of the grass lies down though! Shades and lengths of the grasses are varied depending on the type of ground. 

Finally, shrubs, bushes, and undergrowth are added using a variety of materials, Rubberised horsehair, lichen, and some carpet underlay I dyed green years ago in a failed attempt to make long grass but teased out makes a great foliage base. These get a liberal spray of hairspray and sprinkled with (or even dipped in) one of a selection of scatters - usually the fine ground foam type, sometimes a coarse foam or even just a plain fine scatter. Clumped foliage is also used, though I find that a bit dense and too crumbly. I use shades that are not muted and don't differ too much for a cohesive look. Matt Modge Podge is used to stick things in place, scissors to trim them, and tweezers to hold them during the messy gluing and place them.

For weeds in the grass, I brush a little slightly dilute matt modge podge over the top of the static grass and sprinkle on some of the ground foam, using a couple of similar shades for variety. 

I'd been thinking about a fence along the back, in the end it was a bit of a spontaneous decision. It's Dapol/Kitmaster fencing as I had some in and it looked right, painted shades of brown. Somehow it could fit a contour line with a little bending. The hill behind the engine shed was another matter, so I tried a foam hedge but that looked far to neat. I had some Busch foliage which I found didn't tease out well enough for trees. I cut a strip, folded it lengthways stuck with matt modge podge, then stuck it in place. I picked some chunks out with tweezers, and applied some different colour foam scatter over parts of it to make it look like a line of bushes rather than a foam sausage. There's a lot of undergrowth in the space between the hedge and the engine shed. 

The great thing about scenery on a model of this size is that progress is rapid and it makes a big difference to making it look more complete. Next, it needs some trees, which I'd made a start on but made no progress recently...

Rail200 - ballast, gravel, and water

Time for an update of progress over the last week, which has been focused on the ground cover around the tracks. I wanted a mixture of ballasted track and areas buried in gravel/ash, so for the latter areas I started with a layer of DAS clay. 

A simple jig allows the clay to be rolled out to a consistent depth. 

This was laid between the tracks on a coat of PVA, trimmed around buildings, and smaller pieces or offcuts used to fill the gaps between the sleepers, so bringing the ground up to sleeper height (or slightly below).

Ballasting was surprisingly tedious. I didn't want dilute glue finding its way down between the wooden base of the "modular" track and the surrounding foamboard as I'll need to remove that later. So, I applied neat PVA alongside that track and sprinkled the ballast on. 

Neat PVA was also applied around the moving parts of points and ballast applied, acting as a dam to keep the dilute PVA from getting where it shouldn't. After that ballasting took my usual route - applied dry, misted with water with about 20% IPA added from a spray bottle, then diluted PVA dripped on using a pipette. Then ages spent picking ballast from where it shouldn't be...

The ballast is a bag of granite chippings I've had for years and there must be the best part of a kilo left, so it will do a good few more small layouts. This time, the ballast had a slight greenish tinge when the glue dried, I've heard of others having this problem but I've never seen it - perhaps because this was cheap PVA rather than Resin W?

For the gravel/ash surface I applied fine sand (rescued some years ago when the kids grew out of the sandpit) over a layer of dilute PVA. The sand is applied through a tea strainer which helps give an even covering. The cocktail sticks (halved) hopefully protect the holes for the canopy supports.

I'm looking for a better solution as the sand needs painting! I applied a couple of coats of a dirty grey, changing the shade slightly for variation. 

When dry I applied a wash of dirty brown in a slightly patchy fashion, followed by an even more patchy application of smoke grey weathering powder over the still damp surface. 

The result is intentionally uneven and varied, although perhaps a little darker than I was aiming for as ash surfaces look surprisingly light from a distance. The shape of the sleepers just showing through the surface works quite well, the area providing easy access by foot although with the rails proud. I'd like the change from fine gravel/ash to ballast to be more blended, but I can't figure out how to do it. 

The ballast also had the dirty brown wash, which has removed most of the greenish tinge as well as toning it down. While the paints were out I painted the pond surface a muddy green colour, and blended it to a muddy brown colour near the edge, using acrylic paints applied very wet. This had previously had several coats of dark brown with a rub back in between to smooth the ply. Once dry, the water was added using Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic, a thin layer first, then a thicker (~2mm) later which was left to dry for a couple of days. I'd dammed the front with masking tape, the Aqua Magic is thick enough not to leak through it, but thin enough to self-level, and I did have to use a scalpel to remove the masking tape! The result is pretty much what I was aiming for - a still pond. 

Planning some details

With time to complete the Rail200 challenge running short, I've thought about the details needed to finish it. This pack of benches and luggage trolleys from Shire Scenes will add some interest to the station. They're assembled with superglue, a little fiddly (especially the wheels) but not difficult.

The point levers are also Shire Scenes etched brass, I've had plastic ones before which are vulnerable and easily break so I'm hoping these are a bit more robust. I've made up sleeper extensions and planks to fit them to the ends of the point timbers too. 

I'd found a Knightwing water crane in my stash, it's white-metal and easy to assemble, and has now been painted. I'm not quite sure where to put it...

Option 1 is alongside the engine shed, by what will be the loop track. It's the most logical place as locos can water while running around or during shunting, but a bit close to the hole in the sky, and doesn't stand out well. 

Option 2 is in front of the shed, it's convenient for the sidings and probably the run-round loop as werll as the shed siding. It's a bit tight for space, and up against the open door.

Option 3 is next to the coaling stage, if that is pushed up against the shed doors. It does mean a loco needs to move "on shed" to water. 

Option 4 is next to the weighbridge, at the entrance point to the engine shed. 

Option 5 is at the end of the platform, between the "main" line and the pond. Locos can water while backing onto their train.

Rail200 - adding terrain

Building a layout to a deadline means progressing multiple tasks in parallel. While working through the painting of the buildings I've been adding terrain to the baseboard. As usual this uses expanded polystyrene foam from my stash in the garage, saved from packaging over the years - especially if it's a flat sheet since that makes it easier to build up contours. 

It's less messy to slice the foam with a sharp knife than carve it with a serrated one. The constrained space against the backscene meant it was easier to make the first cuts off the baseboard, having marked out the approximate shape with a sharpie, then trial fit and trim until the right general shape is achieved. The foam layers are then glued down/together with PVA (yes I know it shouldn't work on foam but it does!) and once dry, final slicing achieves the landscape shape that fits the space and looks right. 

The foam is sealed with a couple of layers of kitchen towel fixed and soaked with more PVA glue. Once dry (it takes a while) this forms a surprisingly tough but flexible surface, which helps when fixing trees and fence posts (holes in the foam alone would open up). 

Normally I'd mix up some brown coloured tile grout and apply a thin layer, which smooths and can be used to form minor changes in surface shape. However, here I was happy with the shape of the foam and the surface was pretty smooth, so I tried a quicker and possibly less messy technique I'd used on a diorama before, A mix of PVA and acrylic paint was painted thickly over the surface...

...the dry tile grout was then sprinkled onto the wet surface through a tea strainer. Tapping the teaspoon against the strainer causes an even distributed flow of powder. This didn't coat as evenly as I'd hoped, so I sprayed water over the surface and applied another layer of grout powder. Excess was then vacuumed up. I'm not sure if it was really much quicker or easier than spreading wet grout, but the result is a nice even soil texture.

There was some brown paint/PVA mix left over so I put a couple of coats on the pond, which will be sanded smooth then painted - er - pond colour. 

White water

After the last post about the river, my local expert Tom Dauben pointed out (with photographic evidence) that Dartmoor streams flowing through rocky areas do have areas of white water, such as over rocks or through narrows. So, I thought I should make the stream look a bit more dynamic with some more texture, and a touch of white water in appropriate places.

Out came the heavy gloss gel again and "ridges" were created over and upstream of rocks and where the stream narrows to suggest the water flowing over obstructions. 

As expected from the previous experience, these ridges didn't dry completely clear but had some milkyness in the thicker areas, but this time that's OK. I then added more white with white acrylic paint dry-brushed onto the tops of the ridges, and streaking downstream of them, where water would be turbulent and appear white. I obviously forgot to photograph that stage...

After about 5 days I added the Magic Water over the lot, despite the extra wait this still started to look milky in places, though not as bad as last time, but this time I knew I only need to wait.

And here's the result, I think the magic water might have smudged/blurred the dry-brushed white a little but that's OK, it does add a clear and high-gloss finish and slightly softens the texture from the gloss gel which finishes off the stream nicely. The little rapids as the stream flows through and over the rocks hopefully looks convincing and adds interest and drama. 

After the culvert the stream opens out and after some final rocky obstructions joins the slightly slower flowing, deeper river.

The rest of the river edge has also had the magic water treatment now and sparkles nicely. I also moved the heron from the wall where he was vulnerable, and didn't have a good solid foundation (the wall is just foam), and is now rooted into a hole drilled into one of the plaster rocks. 

Over the last couple of weeks I've also been testing stock, carrying out repairs and adjustments to couplings and mechanisms, and generally preparing for Heworthy's second exhibition this weekend at Uckfield. It's always a good show, and Hexworthy will be easy to spot as it will be located in the entrance lobby. If you visit do say hello!

River ups and downs

Following the last post on the experiments creating ripples, I applied the same techniques to the river and stream on the layout. Or at least, I thought I was using the same techniques.

I stippled on the gloss gel and pushed it into wavelets with the airbrush, using a cocktail stick to push it into the cracks between the rocks, but after 24 hours the waves were still opaque. 

This might be OK for whitewater rapids or surf on a beach, but wasn't what I was after! I thought it might be a disaster, but actually the gloss gel layer proved easy to peel off. Perhaps it wasn't fully hard. 

So, back to square one. This time I was careful to keep the gloss gel to a thin layer with the stippling much more fine. Again, a cocktail stick was used to push the gel between the boulders. 

The airbrush has minimal effect to be honest, but the higher peaks of the stipples take on a more wave-like appearance. I tried to make these wavelets in a broadly consistent direction. 

This time the gel dried completely clear, and the ripple effect was much finer and I think more effective than before. 

The water glistens nicely in the layout lights. I then thought I'd apply the Aqua Magic as I had on the test piece.

Another disaster! As I was applying the aqua magic, the gel layer underneath started to turn opaque again. I stopped after the first length of riverbank, but there was nothing I could do but wait and see what happened as it dried. This hadn't happened on the test piece?

Fortunately, the next morning the river had dried clear again. I guess the Aqua Magic softened the gloss gel, despite that having had over 24 hours to dry. This bit of river looks nice and glossy but not really noticeably different to the rest of the river that hasn't had the Aqua Magic, so I'll hold off applying that for now. Quit while I'm ahead I guess...