Making Slates

I have used embossed styrene sheet tiles for all the roofs to date.

I have been very happy with the effect .... until now because  (a) all the roofs are beginning to look the same (b) the thickness of each tile looks overscale (which has never bothered me before but is starting to - a worrying sign - next I'll be worrying about loco running numbers and head codes) and (c) the pattern is repetitive (which is my fault because I should have built in the odd broken or dislodged slate).

However, on Lee's lnr model making blog he shows a very effective technique for home made tiles using slightly textured wallpaper.

Since my blog is in part to record the things I learn and in part to share with fellow new modellers those things (on the off chance any read this), I am unembarrassed to say that this is a revelation to me, although I am now reminded that I saw Geoff Taylor do something similar on his DVD.

Anyway, I think it's brilliant and I am going to try it for the chapel.

The Chapel Part 6

The stone work on the porch is finished!  Here it is in a sorry state covered in Milliput and requiring sanding. The domes are plastic beads from Hobby Craft. Unfortunately they are sold in bulk so I have 97 going spare. I'm looking forward to moving on now to the cornice/pediment (are they the right terms?).  OK, the ornamental top bit.

Realistic Water

This might be useful to anyone who, like me, is a relative newcomer to railway modelling.

I started this layout 3 years ago and this photograph shows my first attempt at scenic modelling.  It's supposed to be an estuary but you can see that it is simply a baseboard painted grey.

The photograph isn't great (and neither is the modelling - I think I could do better now with a bit more experience under my belt) but it's to illustrate a point.  I never got round to finishing it off.  I do that often - get bored with one thing and move to another. But every time I look at this part of the layout I feel a pang of guilt.  I must get round to the water.  But how?  That has troubled me and one of the better reasons I never completed the scene.

Then I came across this post in Iain Robinson's blog.  It has a photograph of Iain's Tetford canal scene. It is breathtaking.  Wonderfully evocative. I've read articles on how to create realistic water effects but this is the best I've seen.  I asked Iain the secret and he pointed me in the direction of the Allan Downes method which I googled and found on Chris Nevard's blog.

So there we are, that's how it done.  I hope that helps someone.  The question is, can I do it? 

The Chapel Part 5

Making progress on the ornamental stonework around the porch again using plasticard and strip.  I am beginning to wonder in hindsight if I should have tried carving DAS but I don't feel particularly confident about that.  That's an experiment for another day.

The Chapel Part 4

I worry about the effect this modelling lark is having.  This morning I excitedly ripped open a parcel of plasticard and PETG glazing sheet.  Genuine excitement. I am 57 for goodness sake.

The parcel was from Station Road Baseboards. Impressive service - next day delivery.  I found them quite by accident Googling for clear plastic sheet to try out the new (to me anyhow) window frame technique I'd read about on Iain Robinnson's blog.

Anyhow, progress on the chapel.  Using plasticard sheet, fiddly bits of plastic strip and Milliput filler I have just about completed the window surrounds. A bit of filing and sanding down tomorrow once everything is properly dry. It's a reasonably pleasing overall effect but close inspection shows up unevenness of some of the surrounds.  I now have a neck and headache.

Layout Plan (?)

This is the plan of my layout.  It's around 11 x 8 (feet) and very simple - a double track high level mainline and a low level branchline with a sort of fiddle yard.  This picture reflects the extent of my drawing skills. The tracks are not quite as linear. The original layout drawing was not dissimilar which gives you some idea of the lack of planning which goes into anything I build.  I have a picture in my head of what I want the thing to look like but struggle to put it on paper or work out much of the detail in advance.  I haven't the patience. I just bodge it when I hit a problem.  The original drawing did not depict me sleeping.  I didn't know I'd be doing so much of it.  Lack of forethought again.

I had thought about a layout with lots of points and interesting operational possibilities, but came to realise I really didn't want that.  I wanted an excuse to try scratch modelling and watch trains go round and round and in and out of the landscape.  And I wanted to run any train from any era whilst pretending it was 1960 and I was eating a boiled egg with my dad and brother on the railway embankment at Weedon.

Real train enthusiasts will hate this layout.

I read lots of books and articles about how the railway should fit the landscape and not vice versa.  I started out with good intentions but then got bored.  It was too restrictive - the idea of having everything pre-planned.  I wanted a town, a village, a bridge across an estuary, a viaduct and a canal and I was going to have them come what may.  And if it looked awful, I would rip it up and start again.  The result is beginning to look a bit patchwork. If and when I start another layout I will try to have a more unifying theme but for the time being, I don't really care.  I'm just enjoying the learning experience.

I may attempt a better drawing at some point. It's a chance to aimlessly while away time.

A brief intermission

I've not been able to get on with the chapel. Work keeps getting in the way, but I passed a pleasant couple of hours on the Virgin Voyager from London today reading the Iain Robinson and lnrmodels blogs. Not that VV's are at all pleasant - the seats are uncomfortable and the toilets smell - but the blogs were a satisfying distraction. The things you learn - techniques and materials that would never have occurred to me - scribed foamex for stonework or window frames from clear styrene and brasso for example.  I'm going to have hours of fun and frustration experimenting.