4mm Orchard Hill - a narrow gauge indulgence.

[jonte]

A further minor advance with this indulgence of mine. A name has been plucked from the ether and the little layout will be known as Orchard Hill. This will enable me to at last use a bulk(ish) purchase made some time back of modestly reasonable trees which had travelled all the way from Viet-Nam to the UK retailer! However, they are reasonable and relatively uniform so should , I hope, make a reasonable orchard - the actual crop has yet to be decided, . Attendant structures will, I am happy to think, be minimal.

Trackwork and wiring having been completed, including a minor modification to the 'yard' which has seen one siding lengthened and the other one removed. Test-running has been undertaken and a couple of wrinkles in the system ironed out, so now the locos and stock have been put in to storage whilst I start the scenery. The first job is the assembly of some buildings so that the siting of them can be done to enable the rising contours to be evolved, As this side of the hobby must rank as my favourite part, I hope further progress will soon be available for another report. So until then.........

Roger.

Good to hear, Roger, and glad you’re over the frustrating bits of the hobby which can affect impetus and thus progress

Atmospheric choice of name too, ‘Orchard Hill’. Puts me in mind of Somerset, and the orchards/artisan’s gardens that once limed the minor roads of the County, before it became Yuppies retreat.

I suppose that would also provide the solution as to the question of the type of crop: lemons!

Only kidding, Roger. Is Scrumpy the local term for Zomerzet Zider?

Enjoy your scenicking, Roger, which hopefully can be accomplished indoors during the pending inclement season, and I look forward to seeing pictures of developments as and when.

Jon

 

[Roger Pound]

A further progress report on this small diorama type layout. The layout is now officially christened as Orchard Hill, as implied in the new title of this thread. The basic completion of buildings mentioned in the post #20 has been carried out. These consist of a pair of cottages and a station halt building provided as 'freebies' by a well known magazine. They now await a bit of detailing and general fiddling about after which placement can be done. The refitting of uncoupling units remains undone - I am still in two minds as to their value on this layout, whereas I can possible find more appropriate use for them on my 2025 project of a mini-Stutzendorf - more to follow on that!

The state of play at present is that the small hill upon which the token representation of the orchard will stand has been installed and the first layers of material are currently gently drying out. Being very old school, the method I have used is expanded polystyrene carved to shape, and glued to the board cork surface with a thick mixture of wallpaper paste. This is then covered with layers of scrap paper glued on with the said paste, to ease out any angles and obtain the required basic shape - it is all rather like a poor man's papier mashe but I've been using it for years and it works - so if it ain't broke.......... When the basic shape has dried out over twenty-four hours it will be generously coated with s slightly thinner mix of wall-paper paste and then covered with a mix of surface dressings and this allowed to dry out once again. The final move will be the planting of the trees and the adding of details using coarse turf and similar dressings. I have not yet mastered the new methods of creating certain scenic effects by use of the natural static effect to my own satisfaction, but have used and do appreciate some of the ready made scenic items now available. However, with Orchard Hill economy is the watchword, and my old methods still allow me the pleasure and satisfaction of completing the work in hand. Vacuuming off the loose surplus and that final tidying concluded by washing one's hands to remove the paste and anything else that me have stuck to them is, for me, most satisfying.

Having said that -it's usually when you come back from the wash-basin you see the bit that you've missed .............!

I feel that the sight of a rather soggy hill base is not worthy of a photograph, but I do hope that Orchard Hill will be more photogenic next time. Until then......

Roger .