Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

G`day Folks,
Well I`m still adding and gluing.

When I add a new layer of polystyrene, apart from using weights to clamp the piece whilst the glue sets, I also pin the pieces with toothpicks at an angle. The angle stops the pieces from separating. The toothpicks stay in and eventually are covered over with plaster. You can see the ends of them in the pic below.

Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Today my lift off section received it`s plaster skin and then was coloured up to give a good base for further scenic treatment

Here we are with the paint .......drying overnight hopefully????

The area beside the tunnel top has been filled although it looks a bit ordinary at the moment.

The areas each side of the sidings have been treated as well

and hopefully they will blend in satisfactorily with the lift off section

These brown areas will be transformed with static grass, trees and various other greenery.
I still have not yet settled on an appropriate background for the wall area here, but the raised / higher section of the large lift off section will be covered with a lot of trees. That`s the area starting at the top of the tunnel and working back away from it towards the lower flat area which is going to be the low relief airfield.
So whilst I`m settling on which background to use, I can start knocking up a few more trees. The trees, effectively, will create a scenic break between the factory area on the bridge in the doorway, and the airfield / branchline Little Bardfield.

Gormo

 

Thanks Kevin & Timbersurf,
Yes it does look a bit grim as it is but I have been down this road before.
I feel earth colour below static grass is the way to go. This allows you to leave patches un-grassed or with a thin covering of grass and of course when you can see through the grass, the brown / earth colouring gives the correct look I feel.
There is still a lot of vegetation to be added to these areas and it will take some time to come around to a convincing looking scene, but hopefully we`ll get there.
I seem to get more done by not dwelling on it for too long. I reckon we can over think these things in the quest for reality and a consequence of too much planning is too little result.
In my case, just starting with a rough idea of how it should be, seems to lead to more ideas as it develops in front of me. So that`s my plan for what it`s worth.??
Gormo

 

And crack on I will Sir........but maybe tonight.........it`s like an oven outside with high humidity.........no thanks...
Gormo

 

Yes I guess so Gary.......I`ll wing it and see how it looks.
Once the grass starts going on it makes more sense to me and I think I will come back afterwards with some lighter colours ....off white light grey etc.....to do some highlights on the rocks etc.
I use the very watered down acrylic method for the earth colours and dribble it on and let it run and see what happens. You can then spread it with a paint brush to take more control but you get a random effect, much like the real thing.
This landscape was done with two washes........a brown and a brown with a heap of black in it......the two will blend when wet.
Gormo

 

Well folks, this is what it looks like in the raw.

You can see where the joins are now but they will be disguised with grass and foliage etc.

I have devised a simple method to lift the main section to remove it because you don`t want to be grabbing a tree or a building on a section this size to lift it.
The method consists of a straight bit of rod with a wall plug pressure fitted to form a handle. The rod passes up through the baseboard and rests just under the right hand end of the lift off section

To remove the section, you simply slide it about 5mm`s to the left

Then you push the rod up from underneath the board, which raises the section enough so that you can get a grip on it with your other hand. Once you`ve got hold of the section, you simply release the rod, and gravity drops it back to it`s starting position. Then you can lift the section safely and remove it completely.

Wall plugs again, stop the rod from dropping out through the bottom of the board.

Gormo

 

Thanks Ed
Cheers
Gormo

 

Thanks Pete
Gormo

 

Well I think time and weather may hold me back a little while on the railway.
The time element in fact is determined by the weather. Sydney is in the grip of a heatwave for the next few days......plus 40`s predicted for where I live.
I have had to start doing my morning walks at 6:00 am to beat the heat and humidity, but today even that probably wasn`t early enough.??
The humidity has been at 79 to 80% some mornings and even at 21 degrees it makes you sweat if you`re walking briskly.
The health warnings are out for everybody but particularly, the elderly and the very young and those with serious health complaints. The warnings are to stay inside with aircon, drink plenty of water and don`t exert yourself......not so easy for those who have to work outside.
I tick a couple of boxes in the at risk category and reluctantly follow the advice........I`d rather be out in the shed, but after a while out there, the heat and the humidity combined make it quite oppressive. I have aircon in the shed but only in the train room and most of what I need to do requires moving between the workshop and the train room so in the end you think why bother.???
So we will just have to ride it out.!!!
Gormo

 

Thanks Toto,
It`s pretty bad tonight.........I think we`ll leave the aircon going all night....it`s 9.45pm and it`s still 32 degrees outside. It`s like opening the oven door when you open the back door of the house.
Most of Sydney will be running aircon tonight......I hope the electricity supply can cope because we`re over 5 million now in Sydney and that`s a lot of aircons.
Oh well .....off to bed.......it`s been a big day........goodnight all
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I found a few moments tonight to make up some trees for the new scenic section recently prepared.
There are still quite a few more to be done of various sizes, but the big ones will have to wait a wee while.
For the moment I`ve knocked up some saplings from some dried grape stalks.....yes grape stalks folks........they make a reasonable frame work for saplings and I feel I haven`t tested their full potential yet......anyway they are coming up OK. Good enough to be closely grouped and suggest a lower / younger level of trees.
So this is what we start with. This stalk can still be manipulated to straighten it out a bit. If you do it gently and not push your luck too far, it will settle into the shape you want.

And then of course the usual method, spray adhesive on the stalk and then add flocking. I usually do the tree upside down first and add darker flocking first. This clings to the underneath of the branches and gives a more natural look when you add a lighter colour to the top of the branches.
The problem with adding spray adhesive to these items is that if you hold them with your fingers, you will get glue all over your hand.
To overcome this, I have crimped an umbrella strut...( Yes folks I`m using umbrella struts again..) into an Alligator clip. You clamp the trunk of the tree into the clip and hold the opposite end of the strut, which keeps your hands glue free.

And here are some examples with a little man to give them some scale.

I also still have some cheap Chinese trees left over. Unfortunately, because they are cheap, they arrive in a much too uniform shape and in a mono colour. But they make a good base for some modification. I have taken to these ones with a small pair of pliers and snipped out some bits of branch here and there at random to give a less regular shape. After that we add some new flocking over the original to give some variation in the greens.

This is just the start of the tree making, but I`m pleased with the grape stalk method. It was my daughter that suggested the idea quite some time ago and I`ve only just got around to it.
So folks ....the cost......well you need a bunch of grapes, but then again, you eat the grapes and the stalks are usually thrown away.......so cost really for the stalks is zero. The flocking was made at home using the Coffee Grinder method and Carpet underlay..........cost....???????......let`s be pessimistic....5 cents...?????
So at the end of the day, like any DIY project, terrific savings can be made if you are prepared to put in the effort.
I would suggest that the grape stalks could be well suited to N Gauge, if somebody needs to make a little forest of trees.
Anyway folks......that`s your lot for Saturday Jan 19th......and don`t forget to strip out those umbrella struts before you throw the old umbrella in the bin.......

Gormo