Minffordd Update: Mock Ups & Mod-Roc

A start is being made on the scenery proper, now most of the track laying is complete and some basic wiring for testing purposes has been installed.

Creating the buildings from scratch will be one of my main contributions to the project and I'm going to start with those on the standard gauge Cambrian platform.

As the project has developed we've become a little more flexible about the time period for the layout.

To begin with I was being quite strict that 1967 would be the bottom end of the scale, but in that year the very nice station building had recently been torn down and replaced with a bus shelter-type structure, which is rather dull, to say the least.

So I think we're going to bend out time frame a little and include a dilapidated station building along with the signal box.

My first challenge has been to guesstimate the dimensions of the station. 

I have been kindly provided with some drawings for the Dutton signal boxes on the Cambrian, 

The one at Minffordd appears to be an enlarged version of the Number 4 design, and I've got enough to go on to be confident enough with that, but the main building is a another matter.

I haven't come across any drawings yet, or even a so much as a picture taken from a straight-on position, so I'm having to extrapolate from shots taken at three-quarters.

After some experimenting with alternative size structures I've knocked up a couple from a cardboard taken from a redundant shoe box and I think it'll do the job.

Over on the other corner Himself has begun forming the cuttings in traditional style using chicken wire covered in mod-roc.

It feels like another of those great leaps forward to start seeing the outline of a landscape appearing on the wooden framework.

Tried And Trusted

Our approach to scenery is reassuringly traditional and our favourite way of creating bumply and lumpy ground it's the tried and trusted method of chicken wire covered with Mod Roc and then plaster.

With the houses fixed in position Himself has moved on to creating the landscape behind them.

There is a big step in the land immediately behind the houses which is represented here by the pieces of wood you can see, which also act as the anchor point for the staples which fix the wire in position.

In the picture below, taken a couple of days later, you can see the area now with its coat of plaster brushed on.

The next stage will be plant it with very hairy long grass.

Cemetery Scenics

So, the basic structure of the layout is complete!

You can define that in lots of different ways, or course, but a milestone has certainly been reached in the last couple of days with Himself placing the last of the Mod-Roc in position on the cemetery crossing board - the last one at the Porthmadog end of the layout.

He's also made up the crossings for the road to the cemetery and the accommodation crossing just along from it.

He has also finished laying the track around the curve past the scenic break into the fiddle yard.

The actual fiddle yard, it must be said, is not even a doodle on a piece of paper yet, so we're still not quite at the stage where we can run a train all the way around Bron Hebog - not that we have the space to put the whole thing up anyway.

These, as I'm sure you'll agree, are just very minor inconveniences.....

The Final Bend

We've decided on a strategy of getting the trackbed and the scenic base of Bron Hebog finished first rather than doing each board in turn.

Hopefully this means we can guarantee we'll have a full run to show off at the exhibitions we're attending in the autumn.

It seems a long way away but once you take into account summer holidays and Himself's regular trips to volunteer on the FR it suddenly seems a lot sooner!

As a result Himself has been pressing on with the back right hand board where the track curves around into what will become the fiddle yard.

The first of today's pictures shows the plywood base of the fiddle yard being glued into place - that old iron chair coming in handy again.....

Quite what we'll do with the fiddle yard is still up for discussion. The track will enter at each end at different levels and so the question is whether to have two completely separate yards or to have a linking track - in the style of the Nantmor 'ski jump' - to connect them and enable continuous run operation?

This is not prototypical, of course, but it is quite practical when one considers that Himself and the Artistic Director are, quite frankly, a pair of old women and like nothing better than to spend a considerable amount of exhibition time gossipping with the punters. Consequently there can be long periods where there is nothing moving on the layout until I give them a metaphorical, and sometimes even a literal, jab in the ribs.

Our next picture shows all the chicken wire in place. This is a new batch and Himself tells me it is not as good as the old stuff because the wire is only twisted together as opposed to being soldered on the stuff he was using previously.

Once the wire was all in place Mod Roc was spread across. I guess you know how this works by now...

The flat square area in the foreground is where the farm house model will sit.

You may also notice, on the far right hand edge of the board, a small dip which is our representation of where the unused PB&SSR trackbed heads off, at a fearsome gradient, in a cutting towards Rhyd Ddu.

The next stage will be to brush on a coat of plaster followed by our 'interesting' shade of brown emulsion.

Working To A Deadline

Himself tells me we have a new incentive - or perhaps a threat, depending on how you see it - to get Bron Hebog finished.

Another exhibition invite has flooded in for April 2015. I won't say where, except that it is somewhere to the south of London, because it's not confirmed yet.

However the invite came with a rider that they are only interested in having the layout at the show if it is finished by then.

Of course, as every modeller knows, there is no such thing as a 'finished' layout but I am supposing the definition in this case is that at the very least the trackwork should be complete and all the scenery should be there and be green.

Himself has chosen to take this up as a challenge and is maintaining his impressive rate of progress.

The latest update I've received includes this snap of the most recent board with a coat of plaster having been brushed onto the Mod Roc.

Himself tells me this board is already starting to get 'rather heavy' and he hasn't added the rock lining to the cutting yet!

Sideways Look

The good news is that supplies of Mod Roc were sufficient to cover the whole of the latest board.

If you're wondering why it's up on its side allow me to explain.

In his usual belt and braces approach to all matters of construction Himself coats the underside of the Mod Roc with PVA to ensure it is bonded as firmly as it can be to the chicken wire.

You can get a better appreciation of the topography of this board from this view.

The two flat areas at the top will become the approach to a level crossing and the base for the ruined barn which is prominent between the tracks in the centre of the S bend.

White Out

There's been some dramatic progress in the last couple of days on the extension to the layout.

Himself has started laying the mod roc (plaster soaked bandages for those not familiar with the brand name) over the chicken wire which forms the landscape.

I've always found this to be one of the most fun parts of the process of building scenery. Lovely and messy and tactile giving a real childish sense of delight.

It also makes it appear that the project has taken a huge leap forward which is mostly an illusion.

Here you can see a close up of one of the culverts in a bit more context now...

And an eye level view around the big 180 degree bend - that's quite an embankment, eh?