Holiday break happenings

Since going on leave on Christmas Eve I have been busy in the shed or as busy as I can be with two small boys who were getting cabin fever with all the rain that fell at the start of this period! The missus sent them out to me to get out from under her feet. They usually potter around in the shed and don't take too much supervision which was great. During this time I was able to finish off the fencing on Kensington Hill farm. I used a very fine single strand copper wire for the runs but have elected not to paint the wire a rusty colour as I am afraid that (a) it may get on the scenery, and (b) it would very tedious! This was originally suggested by my good friend Mr Mackie a couple of months ago. I also positioned the station in its place ready for the carpark to be gravelled and the road to be made. Livestock was added to the farm as well.



Hi Def view of farm





End of fencing




The fencing up and across the top of the hill




The farm gate in position




Hi Def view of the livestock




Sooty the black sheep (lamb)



Another view of Sooty



The station in place and a view of the farm



















Station ramp end and the hill

















On the Wednesday after Boxing Day I went to the club for a bit of a sanity break. I was finally able to run in the new NSWGR 44 Class loco I received a few weeks back. I had installed a NCE decoder into it the night before. I also ran in the wheat wagons and guards' van that were purchased at the same time as the loco. They look very good behind the 44, and ran extremely well on the club layout.

 I also spent some time on Lachlan's layout so go on over to Beaver Springs to see this update. One thing to note is that I used Woodland Scenics static flock in a Noch GrasMaster. The W/S flock is a much smaller cut than the Noch static flock that I have used on Illavearf. This is probably a good thing in the OO vs HO debate, however the W/S flock clumped so I may have to use less and restock more often in the applicator. The only other thing I tried was the funnel attachment recently given to me to try out. It wasn't the best with the W/S flock and I have yet to use it with my Noch static flock. It tended to come out like long strings of snot with the W/S flock. Not a good look and not very realistic!


Hi Def view of The Ridge static grass



Another Hi Def view of grass



And another for comparison with Kensington Hill grass below



















Kensington Hill grass hi def view

















Last week I was also on leave and took Lachlan down to the club on Wednesday to give his DC Alaska RR engine and wagons a run. We also did the annual pilgrimage out to the Ipswich Rail Museum for the Thomas the Tank Engine show on the Thursday. Lachlan is moving out of this phase but Matthew is moving into it. So a few more years left doing this. With the deluge that Queensland is going through at the moment I might find some time doing modelling in the absence of being able to tackle the yard's ever growing grass. I will have to start on fixing locos 4494 and EL51 so that they can go back on the running roster. I have to start paving the road and parking area around Kensington Hill station as the next thing to scenic on Illavearf.

Roll on 2011.