On With The Bricks

That's another of the remaining tasks ticked off - the 3 courses of brickwork have been added beneath the render.

When it is in position on the layout the landscape will come up to the bottom of the bricks with all the white sytrene buried in the ground, just like real foundations.

The thing I need to keep reminding myself is that I need to add the window cils.

Usually this is something I do right at the start of the build process, once I've cut the windows out, before the walls are even glued together.

For some reason I didn't do that this time and I can easily imagine a scenario in which the first time I noticed that I've forgotten is when the layout appears at an exhibition.

The Leveller

For the first time since I began building it the house is sitting straight and level.

The wonkiness is part of the design because the ground slopes up from the front to the rear, and because these houses have a few courses of brickwork on show below the render I have to make them with the bottom of the walls following this profile.

In order to stop the building leaning when we put it in place on the layout I add these foundations with styrene sheet fixed to the inside surface of the walls.

This has a number of functions as well as making the house sit level.

It is a surface that I can glue the three brick courses onto, using pieces of embossed styrene for the job.

The deep foundations also give us a lot more scope to build the scenery up around the house and 'plant' the structure in the landscape rather than sitting on top of it, if that makes sense.

You will also notice that I have added the chimney since the picture I posted two days ago.

The remaining tasks are the brick courses, the ridge tiles, window ledges and guttering.

A Bit On The Side

Just when I was thinking that I had finished the main structure of the house I remembered there was a small extension I had to add onto the side.

This is the wall which faces the public at exhibitions so I can't really ignore it.

I've had to make a few assumptions with this.

From the images on Google Street View I make out the basic shape and position of this extension, but as it sits behind a solid garden fence I can only make a guess as where there might be any windows and doors.

The only purpose I can see for a small addition to the building here is to act as a porch and it doesn't look to me like there is a door in the wall at the side or to the front, so I've presumed there's one at the back.

In fact, the whole of the rear of the house is guesswork.

I had no images to work from to I supposed that as the front of the house is a mirror image of another of the houses in the estate which we have already made then I would copy the outline with the position of the windows and the doors reversed.

I think maybe some tactical shrubbery is required when we come to landscape around it.

Red Lilla

Himself has put his repairs to the cab front of our 3D print of Lilla to the test by giving the body a coat of primer.

The join is not quite invisible but it doesn't stand out especially, the only difference to the rest of the model is that the lines are vertical rather that horizontal.

Now the body has a coat of paint, rather than the translucent finish of the print,  you get more of an idea of the quality of it.

In places, particularly the rear cab sheet, I am surprised just how visible some of the lines are, even having opted for the best quality print.

Despite that I remain impressed with the way the body has been designed, and it is clearly a very impressive technology.

For the moment, however, it is clear that it cannot compare to the quality of finish that can be achieved with etched brass or injection moulding.

The one consolation is that the pictures of the recent repaint of the real Lilla at Boston Lodge show just how rough and pitted the surface of the platework is, so perhaps by the time our engine has been top-coated, and lining distracts the eye, the imperfections of the 3D print might not be quite so obvious.

Roofing Begins

I have started to fit the roof to the latest house.

It appears at first glance that it might be simple but in fact these pieces are very complicated to cut and fit.

The lower section was particularly tricky because it needed a slit in the middle and a slice out of the right hand end to fit around the wing walls either side of the recessed gallery window.

The upper piece also has to be done carefully with its double dog leg

I'll be moving round to the front of the house next but that also has its challenges with a piece which needs to fit around the dormer window and the section on the top of the garage which includes a tongue which goes up into the bottom of the gully.

Last Windows In

It's always hard getting back into the modelling groove after a week on holiday but I did manage to restart work on the house and get a couple of hours in.

I've finished off the main structural elements of the walls of the house now, adding the dormer to the upstairs room nearest the camera and the wall on the opposite side with the gully that connects it to the opposite side of the building.

The long gallery window at the back, which is a feature of a number of the houses in the development, has been made up and fitted into place.

The obvious next step is to cut and fit the sections of slate roof.

The Faerie Queene

Our Britomart is finally complete.

The name and works plates have been fixed on and she's been reunited with that wonderful little chassis.

You only really see just how dinky the loco is when you see it lost in the middle of the expanse of Bron Hebog and sitting next to one of our NGG16's.

The project has been a slow burner but I'm really delighted with how it's turned out.