Its been far too pleasant to be stuck indoors lately, so apart from applying another fifteen coats of varnish to the river, little else had been done on the layout, that's unless a little ballasting counts. However, over the weekend the heavens opened, and summer, for now, has come to an abrupt end. So with no gardening, and other chores to take up my time, I spent a few pleasant hours down by the river....
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Half a tin of 'Rustins', gloss yacht varnish later, I'm happy with the depth of the river, those rather coarse PVA ripples, having all but disappeared. Once again I've settled for a murky brown colouring, which is typical for rivers, and streams that pass through agricultural land. Erosion of river banks, which I've modelled, close to the bridge abutment, being a common problem, especially in areas that suffer from heavy rainfall. The river banks are a mix of different Silflor grass mats, and static fibres, most being salvaged from the old layout. Over the coming weeks, a few more tufts of coarse grass will be planted along the banks, together with some lighter straw coloured static grass fibres on the higher ground, and then the job will be complete.
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I've also started to reinstate the hedgerow along the lane, and rework the allotment area. The road surface, has since been repaired where it merges into the front profile board. But before I can develop the area any further, the first section of backscene will need fitting in place.
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A view looking down into the murky depth's, the river bed is a mix of stippled and shredded, dried plaster, small stones, fine sand, and other weird and wonderful waste, which was added between coats of varnish. The first section of new track had just been ballasted when this photo was taken, it will be a different colour once the ballast has dried out, and been weathered. It will also be much neater once the excess ballast has been vacuumed up . The sleepers had already been stained with thinned 'Humbrol Gunmetal Metacote' enamel, leaving the rails, and chairs to be painted a rust colour. But the rest of the track needs to be ballasted before I get around to doing that.
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Half a tin of 'Rustins', gloss yacht varnish later, I'm happy with the depth of the river, those rather coarse PVA ripples, having all but disappeared. Once again I've settled for a murky brown colouring, which is typical for rivers, and streams that pass through agricultural land. Erosion of river banks, which I've modelled, close to the bridge abutment, being a common problem, especially in areas that suffer from heavy rainfall. The river banks are a mix of different Silflor grass mats, and static fibres, most being salvaged from the old layout. Over the coming weeks, a few more tufts of coarse grass will be planted along the banks, together with some lighter straw coloured static grass fibres on the higher ground, and then the job will be complete.
I've also started to reinstate the hedgerow along the lane, and rework the allotment area. The road surface, has since been repaired where it merges into the front profile board. But before I can develop the area any further, the first section of backscene will need fitting in place.
A view looking down into the murky depth's, the river bed is a mix of stippled and shredded, dried plaster, small stones, fine sand, and other weird and wonderful waste, which was added between coats of varnish. The first section of new track had just been ballasted when this photo was taken, it will be a different colour once the ballast has dried out, and been weathered. It will also be much neater once the excess ballast has been vacuumed up . The sleepers had already been stained with thinned 'Humbrol Gunmetal Metacote' enamel, leaving the rails, and chairs to be painted a rust colour. But the rest of the track needs to be ballasted before I get around to doing that.
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