Stephen Fay’s O gauge layouts and dioramas, Commission builds, personal builds and magazine articles

Ear plugs in and carve away! Horrible sound cutting polystyrene. This is the Holloway tunnel end of Devonshire bank.
I’ll get some 9mm ply next week and start framing up the first board and the polystyrene can be stuck down and sealed and covered where needed with Thistle backing plaster to create the famous Devon Red sand stone, just in front of the right rock outcrop there will be a retaining wall with a culvert at the bottom so we can have a stream running, the board will drop off with a steep embankment giving a very 3 Dimensional feel. No flat boards or straight track on this one.

 

Skytrex culvert painted up, this will be surrounded by lots of growth, I’ll build up the water level and using Liquitex make a “running” stream

 

A little more sculpting today, the area marked out in the front will be cut and lowered 10” or so

 

Back in Bristol working on Westbourne Bridge, first layer of sand down and a few washes on the goods shed. Guttering supplies on order from Modelu. Rob Haskins hard at work on the track.

 

Sand and talc today

 

Framed up the first board for Devonshire bank, The Holloway tunnel end. The first few sheets of stone wall from 422 model making arrived and I’ve given one a clean and a base coat of Bauxite, looks good so far so I’ll order a few more extras to do the retaining wall

 

Framed up the second board for Devonshire Bank this morning

 

A little more done today, not really exciting but all important, I’ve added some 6mm ply along the rear and it’s been lots of no nails spread out to fill any gaps and smooth over between the polystyrene sheets, I’ve given the plaster a coat of thinned down terracotta ( B&Q tester pot ) and the same with red emulsion.
The tunnel has been secured in and some additional plaster added in. I’ve carved out the farm track ( Teignton lane ) but will finalise once the Intentio GWR bridge arrives.

 

A tentative start on the greenery around Holloway Tunnel.

 

Playing around with a few trees whilst I await a scenics order

 

They are from multiple sources the large ones are home Made, the pines are from GMODELSCENICS and the best ones are from MBR

 

Here’s the big home made trees, I’m awaiting an order from Polák scenics for broader leaves to finish these off.
the stream is taking shape, I’m using Liquitex gel for this. Takes a time to dry so it’s added in layers.

 

First pass of scenics, I’ve laid a base layer of Noch summer 2mm fibres and then adddd some Heki light green foliage as I want this to look white mossy. I’ve also added some flowering tufts and bits of flowering grasses. I do this now and then build up the static grasses over the top as it creates shadow pockets around the taller grasses and bushes. It also tones down the colours. Now I’m not afraid of using colours after all nature is colourful but I’m mindful about how well colours Scale and can be over powering.
some of my large home made trees using real branches with sea foam drilled and glued in place, these have had various fine green flocks added but now are awaiting some broad leads to finish them off, these are on order from Polak models which are coming from the Czech Republic as the usual UK supplier was out of stock.

 

Static grass, I’ve blended two from Mininatur and one from Noch ( straw ) and gone over the base layer, in front of the brown line ( fence ) I’ve added some woodlands scenics summer blend over the top.
This three blend will be used in the fields beyond the railway boundary where as in the boundary I’ll add some more straw grass

 

Holloway Tunnel end looking nice and summer green

 

I made a few temporary legs to elevate the layout so I could cut in the polystyrene for the front end, this section is removable so we can get closer for track laying. Carving the polystyrene to form the path of the stream and placed the Skytrex outlet in place, I will have a few trees down here, their final placement is yet to be decided.

 

Back on Westbourne Bridge today and it’s guttering which is quite apt as it’s raining heavily! Some buildings being firmly fixed in place and enamel advertising signs going up.

 

Today I’ve done a little on the ground where the “man” planted forest will be, building up in layers of static grasses and other flock scenic materials. The first hedge row is in on the opposite side. I’ve got to be careful how much I add this side as we have to lean over to lay the track. Once the trees are planted and I can see where the sunlight penetrates the canopy I’ll add some ferns here and there.
There’s something quite therapeutic about going out and viewing nature and then coming home and replicating your own little world.