This is a real mish-mash of a post. With the lockdown showing no signs of coming to an end, I have continued to work on a number of different projects with all of them making quite a bit of progress. I have a lot of weathering to do now but that’s for another day.
The yellow BG coach, an addition to my breakdown train has had more work done on it. At the end of the last post, the underframe had been painted and it was time toi add some windows.
The glazing pieces (see above), supplied with the kit had a part of the frame molded into the clear plastic and this needed to be painted yellow. I was anxious to have this with a good density of colour. So I carefully masked either side of the raised frame and underpainted the line with white acrylic paint. I then painted 2 coats of the Railmatch yellow which had been airbrushed on the coach body. Unfortunately a little bit of the white paint lifted clean away from the plastic when I removed the masking tapes. I think have managed to resolve the problem but it was a stressful moment!
I also painted the wheel tyres white – a feature of the entire breakdown train.
The windows were then installed in the coach. I used Windor and Newton glass varnish rather than a solvent glue or super glue and this avoided frosting of the plastic if the varnish got on the plastic.
At this stage, I knew I had to complete the most stressful part of the project for me – the waterslide transfer stripes down the side of the coach. I compared the stripe levels of the previous coaches I had done, referred to my reference picture and made a start. After a false start – waisting an entire piece, I cut the subsequent pieces in to smaller sections and this made the transfer easier to handle. I’m quite pleased with my final effort!
I do need to add the coach details and TOPS number to the coach. When I made the previous coaches, I used some waterslide transfer paper that i had purchased from the internet and made my own transfers. I shall do this again assuming I can find where I put the transfer paper!
I’ve had a box of trees for quite a while and when I’ve looked at my layout, I’ve often thought that a few trees would be a good idea, but I’ve never got around to planting a few specimens. I think I’ve always been a bit anxous about issues of scale. So with a little bit of anxiety I decided to plant a few trees where issues of scale might not be so obvious – away from buildings and other large structures.
The trees are wire armature made and covered with foilage mesh and other familiar material. Over time they had got a bit compressed, so I opened them out gave a few bits a hair cut and painted the wire branches various shades of green and brown where the wire was showing. I planted a few and the day after planting, I added a bit more paint to the hole which was made for each tree. I shall put some more detail around the bases of each tree.
And finally…
I maybe on the road to nowhere but I was pleased to get this little piece of roadway in place yesterday…
Made from hardboard, this roadway crossing the layout is the first stage of my road building project. I have already sourced some street lamps and I also have some etched brass drain cover parts which I also hope to use. Please don’t be alwarmed by the colour of the road. This was just to put some colour on it while I work . I was please to make a start on this as it’s beenone of the most underworked parts of the layout and it needed some attention.
I have lots more to share but I’ll keep it for another day.
Keep well and keep safe
Shaun
Princes Street Station 