Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Thanks Gloria,
Yes I agree that extensions can break off at times, however in this case I simply just did not like the look of it for some reason.??......so there we are....job done..
Gormo

 

Thanks robmog,
I guess on the layout, it becomes part of a bigger story and hopefully blends in reasonably well.
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Some installation of buildings done this afternoon as well as bollards.




These three buildings are now glued in place, however much more work is required to finish the scene.





Murray`s Railway Hotel is next. It`s position is already determined, I just need to drill a hole and feed the wiring through to underneath.




Home made bollards..........little blighters to fix down..........but it`s done now.




More as it happens

Gormo

 

Well folks,
It`s raining here in good old Sydney, which is a good excuse for Gormo to get out into the shed once more and do some more modelling.
The rain tends to keep the temperature a little warmer due to the cloud cover, plus where I`m working will have me on my feet and moving about which helps as well.
I fear we may have a lot more time for modelling here in Oz. The corona virus has flared up in Victoria and it seems to be trying to head north into NSW. The authorities are working their butts off to contain it but it`s an epic job to keep it under control.
We also have our fair share of stupid people here in Oz, just like the rest of the world, and their actions can ruin things for everybody.
We have people who think Corona Virus is fake news. We have Back Packers who get off buses at the border checks and then walk across the border and then get on another bus. How come we didn`t see that coming.????...We have our multi cultural people who still have to shake hands and kiss each other and we also have an element of citizens who just don`t seem to think the rules apply to them.
At this point in time, I`m not allowed to criticize these poor unfortunate, numb nut, dipstick, idiot, waste of space, utterly stupid, unintelligent morons......so I won`t.
I don`t want top upset anybody.....
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Well I`ve exhausted my crop of buildings that are ready for installation and I`ve planted what I`ve got.

I have some pics showing progress so far, but keep in mind there is still a lot of work required on this section.
So here we have the removable section back in place and connected to the power feed as detailed a bit further back in this thread.



The scene at (simulated ) night. I use a multi colour set of overhead LED`s set on blue and dimmed to achieve the night time look. It still allows enough light in the room to move about safely without tripping over empty beer bottles, fag packets, old tap washers, vagrants, Uncle Tom Cobbly and all.




The local authorities upgraded the lighting in the library after many complaints from the locals who were having difficulty reading in the old gas lit sections of the library.




Murray`s Railway Hotel is in full swing tonight, as the local Guild members stop in for a pint or two prior to their monthly meeting in the market hall next door.




So here we will see another example of lighting the room where below we have the room fully lit.




And then we black out the room.......no Led`s except for what is in the buildings.
It`s a pretty dark old night tonight in Great Chesterford. The locals will be happy to see the arrival of street lights next week. You don`t know who or what may be lurking in the shadows near the buildings............ Apparently some locals have seen some little bloke in a 'Saturday Night Fever" disco suit hovering about in the shadows near the pub, muttering something in an obscure dialect.......and then he vanishes into thin air.....





A view of the library




More as it happens.
Gormo

 

Thanks Gary......
Gormo

 

G`day Chatty,
It`s got me tossed too mate......I reckon they just pull a figure out of the air and try it and see what the market will tolerate....
Gormo

 

I`m not sure Toto.....
All I know is that the little blighter has turned up in one of my photos that I had set aside and only looked at tonight.
I have heard of this happening before, where people take photographs and when developed they find ghostly figures that apparently were not there when the photograph was taken..???? ....very strange..???



I now believe that the reports may be true ,even though Fergus McTavish and Angus Finglebottom were supposedly a bit under the weather when they left Murray`s on that particular evening when the apparition was seen.
As for the strange dialect......well those two blokes do struggle with the Queens English, so their reports of a strange dialect and also a disco suit may have been influenced by the drink.?....it doesn`t look like a disco suit to me....but then again...I`m sober at the moment...???
I scoffed at first when I read the Great Chesterford Mail report on Sunday that " reliable " witnesses McTavish and Finglebottom....Hah!!....had reported seeing a ghostly figure just outside the pub on Saturday night, but there you are folks......the little blighter is floating about the Market Square in my picture.
Anybody know how to get rid of spooks.???
Gormo

 

Thanks Jimmy
All the best
Gormo

 

The lift out section was removed again today so that I could fit a couple of trees. They were just made by the usual process I`ve been using for a while.





And I`ve cut out some polystyrene strips that will become dry stone walls, plus some more roadway in front of Murray`s Railway Hotel is under weights whilst glue is drying.








That`s about it at the moment.......it`s slow and tedious but all these little steps moves the railway further forward.

Gormo

 

Pushing forward,
This afternoon saw me out in the shed fitting stone walls........I think I`ve done about four feet ( 1200mm ).??
It`s the usual method with the polystyrene painted and glued in.
The improvement in the look of it I think, comes when you soften it with foliage growing up and over it.





A small section here forced into the bank and lining the edge of the road.




And now the green stuff has been added to soften the scene




As you go through the shaping process, occasionally you will knock a piece of the polystyrene out of the top edge of the wall. I go with the flow here, as I think this would be normal over the life of the wall to lose some bits. I`ve seen a dry stone wall in West Yorkshire where the locals have removed about half the height by about two feet wide in a section of the wall so that they can hop over into the field more easily.......don`t know how that works for the livestock...





I was going to carry on with stone walls to the right of this one and over in front of the library, but I think I may do a long hedge instead with a garden strip along the town side of it.




More as it happens.

Gormo

 

Nah !!!........I`m OK Richard....
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
I`m a man on a mission this week.
The health suggestions here in NSW, advise only going out if you have to, so non essential travel and pleasant weather ( temperature ), keeps me locked up in the shed.......
Today I made a longish hedge to place on the right hand side of the section I`ve been working on. I did not want to over do it with stone walls, so it`s a purely artistic decision.
This railway gives an impression of an English landscape rather than a prototypical model.
I cut a strip of foam rubber to the approximate size that I thought would look OK.....not very scientific....just done by eye. I then added some black acrylic paint to some PVA to make a coloured glue.
The coloured glue acts as a base colour to hide the cream coloured foam rubber and sticks the flocking on at the same time. To get it to work effectively you have to give the foam rubber a liberal coat of the glue, a small section at a time, otherwise the glue soaks into the foam rubber leaving the flocking to fend for itself.
A dark flocking under cover was placed on first, and much later, a light coloured flocking was randomly added over the dark colour. I feel a multi coloured hedge looks better than an all the same colour version.
While it was still wet, it was then tacked into place with hot glue and then PVA was added in between the hot glue tacks as well. It should take two to three days to dry out properly and then it will become fairly rigid.





Here is a view of it from Murray`s Railway Hotel parking bay.





And a view from the Gormo Engineering Company helicopter......we haven`t moved into Drones yet.!!!




You may have noticed from the other pics that flowers have been added to the field as well. They were created using ground up shell grit which was then coloured with acrylic paint in a coffee grinder. PVA droplets were then added to the tops of the grass by passing a glue laden brush horizontally across them. The coloured shell grit is then sprinkled sparingly over the top of the glued area. The excess is vacuumed up, which leaves the coloured pieces that stuck to the grass.




I had some stone wall left over so I`ve added that in between the signal box and the road bridge. Flocking was added to soften it and the excess is yet to be removed with the vacuum cleaner.
So we`ll see what happens.?









Looking the other way





And some undergrowth was also added along the post and rail fence done some time back




So there `s still a considerable amount left to do to on my lift out section, but the health advisories and reasonable weather may see me out in the shed a bit more.
Mind you if the weather turns cold, I am set up in the house for building kits. I still have quite a few to get through.....so no excuses really...
More as it happens.
Gormo

 

Back in position

 

G`day Folks,
Not much to report on at the moment.
I have been making some more flocking over the last couple of days, as my supplies were running quite low. I still have plenty of carpet underlay left to manufacture the stuff, so I won`t run out permanently for a good while yet.
I`ve also created some flower heads using the flocking method ( borrowed from Luke Towan ) as I want to make some flower beds for the railway platforms. I have not quite worked out yet, just how I`m going to create the beds, but something will come along eventually.
The coloured flocking can be purchased by the bag from the commercial suppliers, however once you`ve made some yourself, you realize that the mark up on this product is extortionate......it must be almost pure profit..........Oh well....that`s how these things go....
Gormo