Seeing as I'm no longer building a new layout, I've finally got around to modifying the last section of the old one, I started off by removing the existing river bridge, then diverted the course of the river, last of all I made changes to the scenery, in an attempt to open the whole area up.
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I filled in the old river bed, and built up the ground around it with layers of 5mm foamboard. This isn't the quality stuff such as 'Palight' or 'Foamtex', but a cheap imposter, which, is useless for structural modelling, but rather handy for jobs like this. Each layer of was glued together with 'No More Nails', the whole lot being carved to shape once everything had set. The new river bed and its banks were carved out of the MDF top surface, where the feedstore and Stokes cottage once stood.
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Once I was happy with the new groundwork it was covered with pieces of kitchen towel, and my usual PVA / plaster mix. The river bed was then coated in neat PVA, which was stippled to represent ripples. At the moment they look more like waves, but once the river bed has been painted, and given numerous coats of varnish they will look different again,....I hope!.
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Due to the change of plan, the bridge abutments that I had previously modelled needed reducing in height and length. The bridge is in three parts, the deck, and two abutments, so it was an easy job to cut the latter down using a razor saw and Stanley knife. In this view the final adjustments are being made to the right hand abutment, the actual deck is being held aloft with a short length of flexi track, whilst levels are checked, and the bridge aligned. I'm still playing around with the position of the trees, checking the various angles, as I attempt to find the best solution for screening the mousehole, leading to what will be the cassette deck. The trees you see here are only rough ones, which I use for planning purposes.
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Once the bridge abutments are in place the flexi track bases will be removed, individual chairs will be threaded onto the rail, and ply sleepers will be laid to receive them. I've modelled the scenery in an attempt to make it look as if the railway has been driven through the landscape.
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With the level of the bridge set, 1455 crosses the river whilst the head ganger checks her progress. Just a slight tweak to the 'top' is going to be needed at the rail joints nearest to the crossing gates. That will give me something to do tomorrow, in between tending to the garden, and completing the over bridge at the other end of the layout.
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On a different note, bringing the embankment back into play makes a huge difference to the layout, and opens up some interesting photo opportunities. A replacement backscene has been ordered, and although the scene is the same as the old one, the alignment of the hills in the background will be a little different. The reason for the slight change, is due to the backscene now wrapping around the Titley Junction cassette deck.
Well that's it for now, its a lovely day here so its back out into the garden to tend the vegetable plot.
There's certainly no rest for the wicked in this household :-)
I filled in the old river bed, and built up the ground around it with layers of 5mm foamboard. This isn't the quality stuff such as 'Palight' or 'Foamtex', but a cheap imposter, which, is useless for structural modelling, but rather handy for jobs like this. Each layer of was glued together with 'No More Nails', the whole lot being carved to shape once everything had set. The new river bed and its banks were carved out of the MDF top surface, where the feedstore and Stokes cottage once stood.
Once I was happy with the new groundwork it was covered with pieces of kitchen towel, and my usual PVA / plaster mix. The river bed was then coated in neat PVA, which was stippled to represent ripples. At the moment they look more like waves, but once the river bed has been painted, and given numerous coats of varnish they will look different again,....I hope!.
Due to the change of plan, the bridge abutments that I had previously modelled needed reducing in height and length. The bridge is in three parts, the deck, and two abutments, so it was an easy job to cut the latter down using a razor saw and Stanley knife. In this view the final adjustments are being made to the right hand abutment, the actual deck is being held aloft with a short length of flexi track, whilst levels are checked, and the bridge aligned. I'm still playing around with the position of the trees, checking the various angles, as I attempt to find the best solution for screening the mousehole, leading to what will be the cassette deck. The trees you see here are only rough ones, which I use for planning purposes.
Once the bridge abutments are in place the flexi track bases will be removed, individual chairs will be threaded onto the rail, and ply sleepers will be laid to receive them. I've modelled the scenery in an attempt to make it look as if the railway has been driven through the landscape.
With the level of the bridge set, 1455 crosses the river whilst the head ganger checks her progress. Just a slight tweak to the 'top' is going to be needed at the rail joints nearest to the crossing gates. That will give me something to do tomorrow, in between tending to the garden, and completing the over bridge at the other end of the layout.
On a different note, bringing the embankment back into play makes a huge difference to the layout, and opens up some interesting photo opportunities. A replacement backscene has been ordered, and although the scene is the same as the old one, the alignment of the hills in the background will be a little different. The reason for the slight change, is due to the backscene now wrapping around the Titley Junction cassette deck.
Well that's it for now, its a lovely day here so its back out into the garden to tend the vegetable plot.
There's certainly no rest for the wicked in this household :-)