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!

More life for Hexworthy

I mentioned that I'd been adding more details to Hexworthy as one of the multiple tasks I was working on ahead of its first show last weekend, but I'd not managed to keep on top of blogging. As well as painting passengers and loco crew, more people, animals, and some details were prepared for the layout. 

On the top row are Bachmann trackworkers, given to me by my son when we dismantled his train set. I've touched up the paint in places and given them a shadow wash. The rest of the figures and animals are from the Finescale Figures batch I got in a sale a while back (it may have been a closing down sale as the website has gone!). They're 3D printed and appear to be scans of real people (probably not the animals though they are well proportioned), maybe not quite as crisp as Model-U figures but very good. You can see I got carried away with the animals, and even got a Dobby (if you know you know). All painted with enamels, with the aid of Google images to help with the animals. 

So, starting at the left hand end we have a group of (presumably volunteer) trackworkers in conversation. The compressor, welding kit and generator are by Westhill Wagon Works. There's also a robin on the wall, a squirrel on top of the container, and a (HO scale Faller) photographer in the distance behind the gate. 

Under the station canopy we have a lady checking her phone, and a cat (Monty's models) curled up by a bin (Layouts 4 U). The birds on the canopy have a special role. Lining the end of a carriage roof up with the blue tit puts the coupling over the magnet for Greenwich or modified Peco couplings, the same against the robin puts the coupling over the magnet for Microtrains couplings. This is a real help when uncoupling locos while operating from the fiddle yard end. 

Over by the café a young man seems to be in conversation with his Dalmatian while his partner checks in her handbag, there's another bin, and a long-haired lady tells her partner to hurry up with his coffee. There's a bottle of coke/beer on the table and crates of bottles left outside the café (Faller). Out of shot, the other table has a tray of bottles and an ash tray.

There's a bottle on the bar of the ice cream stall too, an upturned crate serves as a step. I've added a bin too. 

A solitary figure waits thoughtfully at the end of the platform with his dog. 

Another trackworker waits by the ground-frame. His pose seemed just right, once I'd cut away the "rock" his foot was resting on.

At the edge of the woods a pair of pheasants lurk in the undergrowth. 

The other side of the tracks a badger explores the field.

Dobby lurks near the playground. The discarded pallet used as a step/duckboard for the caravan is an experiment, I've not stuck it in place yet. It may be a bit large but I quite like the effect. Let me know what you think!

It's a lot of fun adding detail though it does take a lot of work, it feels like I've been painting figures and details for months! I reckon there's 35 figures on the layout, and that's without carriage passengers or loco crews. Hopefully viewers will enjoy finding them.

Readying ready to run

I've a lot of small tasks ongoing in parallel at the moment, mostly preparing stock for Hexworthy in preparation for its first exhibition next month. The first to be finished was a small but important task, making ready-to-run coaches actually ready to run. Lovely though the Peco coaches are, they have a bit of a plasticky look (particularly the roofs) and are too clean even for a preserved railway.

The three Lynton and Barnstaple coaches had a number of little jobs done:

• The white plastic roofs were airbrushed with off-white acrylic, as much as anything to reduce the plasticky sheen and to take the edge off the starkness
• They then had a fine mist of black splattered over the top to represent soot, as with the Ashover coaches
• The lamp tops were then picked out in matt black (well, very dark grey), the little covers next to them were left white
• The plastic moulded hand-rail had the edge picked out in black, which from most angles makes it look much more like a handrail than a white ridge
• The steps, lamp brackets, and handrails on the coach ends were also picked out in matt dark grey/black, I also painted the buffer beams black
• The grey/black thinned slightly was also run along the footboards and underframes to soften them and make them matt
• A mid-brown acrylic was then airbrushed lightly over the footboards and underframes, allowing a little to mist onto the lower sides and ends. 

The airbrushing was done very lightly, using the end-stop to limit paint flow, aiming for a very subtle weathering from track dirt and loco soot, but otherwise leaving the coaches clean as though regularly washed. I guess it reflects my increasing confidence with the airbrush. 

I've also been painting passengers, a mix of Faller and the 3D printed Finescale Figures (the legless ones). These used acrylics, some were a bit shiny so I added a coat of Humbrol Matcote - which left them more shiny. Am I doing something wrong? Fortunately I had some Vallejo matt acrylic varnish, a couple of coats of which worked. 

Passengers fitted to the L&B coaches, and also the WHR coach built a little while back. A couple of people per compartment works well, so 5-6 per coach is sufficient to give the impression of a partially occupied train. 

The passengers are just visible through the windows, and the subtle weathering to roofs and underframes is effective at removing the plastickyness. 

The four-wheelers  got the same treatment. I didn't like the white roof on the brake so it was sprayed with grey primer, and the lamp-top painted black along with the steps on the ends. As with the L&B coaches a light airbrushing of soot from above and track dirt from below gives the impression of use, a few minutes work makes a big difference. I've not yet fitted passengers, although the small windows means it probably isn't essential. 

New coaches and people

 Christmas has brought a couple of new coaches...

A Festiniog Railway "bug box" and a freelance Glyn Valley style brake van. There were a few other model railway related presents with some scenic items and some 3D printed figures...

These are from Finescale Figures (actually ordered in a sale some time ago), the selection includes some seated figures destined for coaches, a variety of animals, and some modern dress figures. These are resin printed and although the detail is not as sharp as Model-U, they are realistic in proportion and pose and I'm sure will benefit Hexworthy. 

I trust Santa brought you nice goodies too!

Recent progress

So the recent distractions included clearing and decorating the second bedroom for Son. I did find time one evening while getting the decorating stuff from the garage, to make up these two wooden "spacers" to sit on the front top corners of the layout and lift the lighting bar/pelmet another 2 inches higher. This obviously can't be done at home (see picture below!) but will make it easier to view at exhibitions.



You will also see they, and the rest of the visible woodwork on the layout, has been varnished to match the rest of the furniture around it. (I made use of the empty, uncarpeted bedroom!) Now it fits into the room quite smartly! The cable for the lights is normally tucked behind the layout.



Finally there is a picture of my "portable" workbench. I have started making up kits for a few wagons, there's a WHR van, 2 Glyn Valley opens, and a Welshpool sheep wagon. I've a few more to make up if I get time before the show. Behind them are my Christmas presents, a selection of whitemetal people from Montys, which have had a visit to the garage to be primed with Halfords primer, along with the lorry mentioned previously. It

looks like the pain shops will need to get busy soon!