Review Of The Year - Part 3

July

The early part of the summer was taken up with work on the housing estate scene.

The conservatory which I had to build for the back of the latest house was one of the more challenging bits of the estate I've had to make.

Himself had been doing some work on the gardens of the houses which are already in place on Bron Hebog.

He'd also been busy creating the cemetery above the crossing on the far left hand side of the layout.

August

I decided to take a break from house building and put together the castings for Superbarn 118 which I'd cast the previous year but kept stored.

Himself was also giving some attention to the scenery on the top of Goat Tunnel, planting a copse of trees.

We also made a start on the last major scenic challenge on Bron Hebog which is lining the Cutting Mawr at the back of the layout with rock.

Instead of using slabs of real rock, which is what we did on Dduallt, we've decided to try casting copies of sections in resin which will be lighter and make the layout slightly less heavy.

September

By this time I'd started work on the last two houses to complete the Oberon Woods estate scene, both of them are detached (mostly) bungalows.

Himself had a few models which needed priming and decided it was time to give our Welsh Pony a coat.

The photo was taken in black and white - if it was in colour you would see that the primer is actually red oxide.

We did use grey primer as the base coat of the new Superbarn 118 which was ready to start being painted.

It's seen here on the shelf in front of some of the Superbarn fleet including the service car 125 and the observation car 150.

Tombstoning

I like it when you get to the stage of adding those little details which really complete the scene.

One of them is the cemetery from which Cemetery Crossing gets its name which is shortly beyond the exit from Goat Tunnel, or shortly before, depending on which direction you're traveling in.

Himself has made a nice job of a batch of grave stones which he has set out in the enclosed area above the line.

I did offer to make some masters and cast them in resin, thinking it might speed up the process, but it turns out he's made them all from scratch.

Here's a shot he posed featuring our newest carriage, 150, and a Triple Fairlie combo.

Grid Reference

The anti-sheep grid castings I produced last week appear to the just the job!

Himself has sent me these snaps of the prototype castings chopped to length, glued into position and painted, and I hope you'll agree they look very effective.

So far we've got just one grid completed, at the southern end of cemetery crossing.

Unfortunately for me this one installation has used up all the first six casts I sent down south so it looks as if I shall have to get the resin out again soonish.

White Lines

We did say before the show at Woking that while the layout may be complete in terms the length of the run and the basic shape of the scenery it's a long way from finished.

So Himself has got back down to work with some detailing on the first board which includes Cemetery Crossing.

New things to be seen here are the tarmac surface, road markings, cattle grid, gate and fencing.

For a moment I thought he'd scratch built the cattle grid but I'm told that it's a laser cut wood kit.

He's also altered the course of the footpath from the cattle grid alongside the line, along with the gate gap in the wall, because he wasn't happy with the old alignment.

The rail webs have also been weathered which makes a huge difference. There's a lot of track to do on this layout so it'll be a while yet before that job is completed.

And on the logistical front a new lot of clips for the end transport plates have arrived and have all been fitted.

He's also fixed Velcro all the way around the front edge of the layout to make it easier to hang the curtain at exhibitions and save making a lot of drawing pin holes in the wood.

Backscene Boosting

Himself has decided he made an error a while ago and the 'hill' on the Cemetery Crossing board is not going to be high enough, so before he goes too much further on this last board he's taking action to increase the height of the scenic former at the back.

In this series of pictures you can see how he has marked out the shape of the existing plywood and marked it out on a fresh sheet.

You can see in these two shots below that he has done such a neat job it's hard to tell where the join is.

The last bit of progress to report just now is the cork track bed has been cut out and glued in place around the curve into the lower fiddle yard. Once again you'll notice the scenic break is placed at an angle.