The Parish Church

One of the features I fancied modelling on the new layout is a townscape with a church rising up behind the station.  A bit like Barmouth but on a much smaller scale.  Right at the top and set beneath the cliffs of Barmouth is a very imposing church.  It's surprisingly big considering the size of the town.  Looking around for something more modest I came across this pretty church, St John the Baptist at Pentrobin.

The Vicar very kindly agreed to me taking photographs and measurements.  I've taken a few so as to start thinking about how to model it but will need to return to take a lot more.

I thought about embossed sheets for the stonework but there is nothing suitable on the market so produced a very, very roughly cut and executed sample of three possible alternatives - DAS and scribed styrene, all DAS or all scribed styrene.

I've settled on the left hand one - DAS and scribed styrene.  I would have gone for all DAS but just do not feel confident enough to model the whole church that way.  Cowardly I know but I'm far more confident using styrene strip to model any ornamentation.  Looking forward to this project.

The Old Workshop

In between moving to the new work area (which is bathed in natural light and much more pleasant) I have been tinkering with the Old Workshop I started a few weeks ago.

I still need to join the two buildings with a corrugated roofed shelter, build a staircase and tile the roofs but have started painting.  I noticed some helpful tips on Lee's excellent blog on the use of talc or weathering powders after painting to blend the colours together.  It's not something I've tried before but it does give a much better effect (and the talc smells great).  I fear I may have overdone the dirty windows but a bit of a clean will fix that. 

Starting Over

A bit quiet of late but I've been moving the "workshop" to a better spec - one with natural light, which is wonderful.

Unfortunately it has meant leaving the original layout behind and starting afresh but I don't mind at all as I never want to actually finish a layout or I'd have nothing to do. Some of the buildings I will relocate from the old layout but others I will happily leave behind and pretend I never built them.

The new layout involves very little planning apart from a round and round bit for the grandchildren to play with.  I will just build around that.

I have concluded that I am incapable of planning too far in advance (although I would love to be able to create something like the wonderful Rails to Llangunllo) but I know what will happen. I'll have something in mind now I want to have a go at but then see another building or something on another blog I want to make instead.  Blog-reading, I have decided, is antithetical to planning!