Gardners' World

Another little job that's been completed is landscaping around the first of the houses we built for the Oberon Wood scene.

As you can see the landscape gardeners have been at work..

At the front of the houses the very obtrusive tree has appeared.

I suppose it must have seemed a good idea when it was planted......

Moving House

Having survived the journey south through the mail system in its cardboard cocoon number 23 has been given a trial fit on Bron Hebog.

In order to line up with the houses next to it it has had to have 9mm sliced off the foundations which is a little frustrating after all the effort I went to to ensure that it matched up precisely with number 22, which it shares a common wall with. Now that will have to be reduced in height too.

We're less than halfway through building the Oberon Wood scene but I think it's beginning to look quite convincing.

After the exhibition this weekend number 23 will be returned to me to finish off the remaining details such as the guttering and downpipes.

Number 22 Takes Shape

So, tomorrow (Saturday) is the big day! The first exhibition appearance of Bron Hebog in 2015 at the Crawley show..

We very much hope to see you there. Click on the Exhibition Diary page for details of the show.

I won't be able to make it along but Himself and the Artistic Director will be there to take charge.

Instead I've been concentrating on getting more done on the latest Oberon Wood house (22).

The 'south wing' is now attached and the basic shape of the full house can be appreciated for the first time.

This is the view from the front - the public viewing side.

And from the rear, which will very rarely be seen as it backs straight onto the cutting leading into Goat Tunnel.

And this final view shows how it sits in relation to its neighbour - they are joined at the garage but there is a small gap between the outer walls of the main bodies of the houses.

This is the sixth house I've built for the Oberon Wood scene - by my reckoning there could be as many as ten more to make....

River Tree Planting

Eventually there are going to be a lot of trees on Bron Hebog, but for the moment Himself is concentrating on populating small areas such as the banks of the Afon Cwm Cloch which flows from back of the back of the layout to the front.

At the moment only the north bank has been treated. In time there will be trees on the right hand side of the lane as well creating a sort of green tunnel.

Even at this stage I think this lane scene is beginning to look very effective. It would be great to hear what readers who know the area well make of it.

Himself has also been experimenting with some white paint effects on the river water to give it more of a sense of movement.

This is the view from the rear of the layout as the operators will see it.

I hope if you manage to come along to the exhibition in Crawley this weekend you'll be able to give the team some feedback on how Bron Hebog is coming along. You can leave comments here on the blog or on our Facebook page and Twitter feed - just search for Bron Hebog.

The South Wing

Work continues on the latest Oberon Wood house and I've cut and prepared the walls for the southern half of the building - the bit nearest the tunnel.

Put like that it sounds rather straightforward but once again marking and cutting the angles of the pitched roof melted my brain and it took a whole evening to get those two bits marked and cut.

There was also the added complication of shaping the bottom of the outside wall to match the ground profile which means that it won't stand flat and has had to be propped up for the purposes of the photo.

Down On The Farm

Himself has sent me some snaps of the latest scenic additions around the farm area on Bron Hebog.

The yard has acquired some gates, and livestock...

And on the old bridge over the river he has added some very nicely distressed guard rails.

There will be a great many small details like this to add to the layout which although basically complete in terms of track and basic scenery is very far from finished.

Linked Detached

I've been building this new house to a deadline of the Crawley exhibition later this month.

Not to get number 22 finished but to send the next door property, number 23, down to Himself so it can be temporarily located in its place on Bron Hebog for the show.

The difficulty is that the two houses are linked by a short section of garage wall which must locate in exactly the right position.

To do this I really need to have both models to hand which means I can't put number 23 in the post until I've cut, scribed and glued this wall into place.

As you can see it's only a short section of wall and it only took a couple of hours to carve all the stonework.

The other vital job if it was to be placed in position correctly was to add the foundations to the new house to ensure they are both sitting at the same height.

Now this is in place I'll be able to carry on building number 22 on its own and 23 can be sent on its way, although I'll have to have it back to finish it off with the gutters and downpipes before it can be fixed in place permanently on the layout.