Aye, it's been a while....!
Don't know where the time has gone - well yes I do, grandchildren, garden, exhibiting and you guessed it, false starts. Not necessarily in that order either.
On the assumption that you don't want pictures of exhibitions, grandchildren (lovely though they are) or the garden, here are the false starts; I did promise last time to tell the tale of the backscene. I bought myself a Gaugemaster 108" sky backscene from my local vendor thinking this is the way to produce a wide open space at the rear of the very un deep baseboard. How do I apply it? Well I chose (wisely it seems) to use wallpaper paste but first I thought - what if it needs to come off? Good thinking Simpson, seal the thin ply backscene first with PVA and then you be able to remove it just like we do wallpaper - remember wall paper? Wey thez nee waalpaipa in wor hoose noo tha knaas, cos shee dizn't lykit
(we don't use wallpaper in our home, my good lady wife keeps things simple so we paint walls).
I sealed the plywood and because the Gaugemaster product comes in three pieces I decided to use two of the lengths, cut and pasted (that has nothing to do with computers mind...!) with the 'join' appearing at the right hand end behind some trees. Everything went extremely well, I was sure I had matched the shades of sky correctly....................... hmmmm
Oh no I hadn't, I matched the colours when one was wet and the other was drying and when they dried out completely the difference in shade could be seen from the other side of the room . However my fallback was to do a bit of wallpaper stripping and go back for another backscene. The supplier of backscenes only stocks one of each different type "I can order one for you....." (three days before the Glasgow show? - Nope) I picked another one with countryside well down in the picture. At this point I decided to put the thing on in three pieces - the centre and two roughly equal sides. It's gone OK I think but as ever when you've done something there's always a better way which you only discover afterwards. It's that exact science 'hindsight'. If I was to re-paper (and I might) I would put on the first main piece then leave till completely dry before adding the outer ones. This way I think the likelihood of there being even the slightest gap at the join due to shrinkage while drying would be greatly reduced.
In the first picture below, the very fine white line in the backscene can just be discerned - look above right side of the front girder on the closest bridge. (girders not yet glued in place)
The bogie bolster is a very old 'N' kit that I carved up and spent a very long time making true to 2mm scale because when bought it was almost 'TT' scale. The palisade fencing is something I asked Bob Jones to do for me and is a really good representation of this modern security fencing. He still has lots of it for anyone interested. I had arranged the fencing differently but whan carrying the layout using the handle my index finger had a habit of going into the scenic section to steady while I was holding it and - well, you know what I'm going to say, I flattened the fence - not what you want. The grass in the foreground is laid on automotive masking tape as a temporary measure because having moved the fence to avoid damage I created an opportunity to install some allotments, which is not too far from the truth because there are stories of drivers on the Callerton 'trip' cadging vegetables when returning to Tyne Yard....! The representation of bramble bushes on the abandoned self acting incline and atop the grassed area are the results of some experimentation with postiche, luks arlreet lyk...! (is pleasing to view)
Below is a shot with some stock, just to prove I have some. The 40 is Graham Farish's latest sound fitted offering and is a cracking model. The number has been changed prior to getting a good weathering. Other vehicles in shot are, a VGA for the explosives, HEA as a barrier vehicle and on the 'main line' in the background an air piped brake van, an essential part of the consist that was 6P03.
Below is a view you probably will never see in a model magazine and maybe one of the drawbacks of a very small project. The LED lighting needs to be diffused. I have seen the results of the efforts of others using nothing more technical than tracing paper. You can see here I haven't quite made up my mind what the exact detail of the right hand side will be. There is going to be a PTE bus repair facility though and I'm looking forward to carving up a couple of Atlanteans to represent them at varying stages of repair. I'm also busy with some Laurie Adams' point rodding and a two lever ground frame. The trees are 'forest in a box' and because I'm wanting to portray a winter/early spring scene I think I have to say the jury's out on those..! The 08 is the 2mm Scale Association Locomotive Kit No 1 and on the extreme left of the picture a sound fitted Metro-Cammell 101. The original build had the fencing just t'other side of the VW camper so you can perhaps see the proximity to the carrying handle and ever present danger.
There is a bit of a tale about the ballast, its fixing and painting - another false start. Maybe next time.
Mick S.