So over the year I have been busy with kids soccer, work and kids schooling. One week blurs into the next and before you know it Christmas is here again followed shortly by another New Year.
My modelling year has been spent getting stuck into numerous Metcalfe card kits for my British railway based layout. While I was in the mood I also knocked over a few plastic kits. I have yet to paint the plastic kits so I haven't included photos of them in this post. For my 50th birthday I bought myself a 3D printer which I really enjoy. I am still getting to know it and the various apps needed to produce a print. However I have printed a few railway based prints which will appear on the layout in due course.
My youngest son's layout has also taken precedence in the spare time slot. It is moving along nicely and I have taken some time on my current Xmas holidays to move it along further. I have to admit I am using his layout as a test bed for some techniques I have read about so as to practice before deciding whether to adopt them on my layout.
I finally took possession of a number of Qld Rail based locos which I have been waiting on for the last couple of years. The wait was well worth it as detail and sound on these locos is great.
I 'll leave my followers with some photos of recent modelling activities mentioned above and to wish you all a great 2020 and hope it brings you peace and prosperity.
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| Terrace Houses with added 3D printed chimney pots |
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| The Art Shop (for my wife's hobby) |
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| Yard Office |
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| Yard Office close up of 3D printed ridge capping and chimney pots |
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| Engine Shed front on (sorry about the brightness, I didn't realise the flash had gone off!) |
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| Engine Shed from the side |
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| ABC Engineering from the back |
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| ABC Engineering from the front |
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| Some more different styles of chimney pots |
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| Bray Engine Depot and recent corner scenery |
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| Bray corner hill fills in a dead zone. I used foam as the base and then applied PK's no more gaps recipe. Once dry, I painted in the earth tones and then scattered some grass flock on. I will add static grass eventually. |
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| Close up of the corner hill |
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| Progress of Matt's layout with ballasting done (yes different shades as I couldn't easily source the darker shade) and grass flocking done. Matt added some bushes flocking and puff ball trees that I had made. |
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| Close up of some shrubbery (not for the Knights Who Say "Ni!"). Static grass will be added eventually. |
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| Recently I read an article in Hornby magazine where a modeller had used tiling grout and PVA for track in filling. The tile grout gives the concrete texture needed in some scenes such as a wharf area or engine shed. I thought I might give it a go. I had some pre-made up tiling grout in a tub in the shed when I re-grouted the kitchen a couple of years ago. I checked and it was still moist. So I dug out some, added the PVA (which is supposed to give it some resilience against cracking (we'll see)) and added a squirt of black acrylic paint. Mixed it up and it had the right shade for concrete. I then smeared it on using a plastic grouting spatula. Earlier I had super glued some old track of the same radius in between the main tracks as infill barriers / flange guides. Once the grout had dried about 24 hours later, it had sunk in some places like the sleepers. I should have bogged these up beforehand to provide a sturdy foundation. However it wasn't that noticeable and I didn't want to do a second coat just in case I buggered it up! |
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| I asked Matt did he want concrete or bitumen over the crossings, and he said bitumen. So out with the black acrylic paint and the concrete was painted over. For some reason one the flange guide rails came away and you can see it on the grass. It was going to be too fiddly to put it back in, so I am thinking of using it as a scene with maintenance gangers removing it for repair. I will definitely use this technique on my layout for a Bray side rail crossing |
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| The small farm access crossing had another feature. On the town side the groat was used, but in between the rails and the farm side I used match sticks as the 'road'. Glued the lot done with PVA and let it dry before applying a marker with a brownish shade. |
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| Concrete became bitumen again. The black around the farm side sleeps will be grassed over and/or muddied up. |
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| The marker pen I used for the sleepers. It is a water based artist's marker I picked up at an Art Shop for another reason, but found it 'stained' the match sticks just right. |
