Scenery in the Ravine Part 1

The last time I posted about the ravine scenery the rocks were all still plain white plaster. I painted these using the woodland scenic 'leopard spot' technique. Except, I just use cheap acrylic earth tone paints instead of the Woodland Scenics colours. I make up thin washes of each colour and spot them around, making sure to leave sufficient patches of plain plaster. Then this is all tied together with a wash of the colour that you want to use as your dominant colour. For this I used a black wash, yielding a dark grey colour. If any colours appear too intense I hit it with some wet water from a spray bottle.

These photos show the rock faces while they are still a bit damp. Once they are completely dry I'll dry brush the faces to bring out the highlights and help blend the different colours together. 

Stockyard fences part 2

With the fences repainted I installed these on the layout. The stockyard sits at the edge of the layout, allowing the viewer to look out of the yards to the loading of the stockcars. I drilled an appropriate-sized hole for the posts and simply inserted the fences into the ground. Later on, static grass will help blend the fences into the surrounding scenery.  The loading ramps are also salvaged from the previous layout. They were 3d printed by another New Zealand-based modeller. 

Stockyard fences

I'm still working on the roundhouse project but here's another small project that is on the go. 

One of the new modules needs a stockyard. I aim to have one at each end of the railroad. Most of the stockyard fences I salvaged from the old layout are fences made by Peco. They are flexible, and for some reason, possibly this same flexibility meant that the previous paint job was flaking. I gave them another undercoat of white and then brushed on a black wash. This gives a mottled grey, mimicking weathered wood. 

The next step will be to add this to the layout, which I'll post about later. 

Stone Roundhouse Scratchbuild Part 3

 After sorting out the jig and wall template for the front and far side of the roundhouse, I added the layer of clay and started carving. This went faster than I expected. I could have benefited from a smaller pick, as the one I had was quite long (from my workshop) making it a little harder to use with finesse. 

As it dried, I test-fitted some doors from my two-stall engine house from the old layout, which I used as a template for the engine doors. I would like to be able to have some of the doors be able to open and shut, but I'm not sure yet how I would make a resilient hinge that is also discrete. I will keep researching this and may initially just glue them open.

The prototype roundhouse has supporting columns in between each stall and on the edges of the roundhouse. At this stage I don't think I'll add these. Because they will be thin they will be more difficult to carve and additionally, it would likely draw more attention to my uneven stall spacing. 

Stone Roundhouse Scratchbuild Part 2

 

After building the side wall, I made a cardboard wall template for the front and far wall of the Roundhouse. Test fitting the template on the layout was important and I snapped a few photos below. Even the bare walls give a good impression of how the structure is going to change this whole scene. 

To make sure the clay dried at the correct angles for the front of the roundhouse I created a jig from plywood. I laid out a sheet of paper, took a rubbing with the pencil of the location of all the roundhouse tracks and then plotted the front wall of the roundhouse on the paper. The paper was then placed on some scrap plywood and cut out with a jigsaw. I cut two bits of plywood and spaced them out with scrap wood. Finally, I used Mod Podge to glue the cardboard wall template to the jig so that when the clay dries it will not pull the cardboard away from the jig. 

I'm looking forward to seeing this scene come to life as the project progresses.

The cardboard wall glued to the plywood jig

Stone Roundhouse Scratchbuild Part 1

While most of the buildings from the old layout are being reused for the modular layout, I was excited to have space in my design for a roundhouse. Early on I decided I would like to base the building on the Denver, South Park and Southern's stone roundhouse at Como, Colorado. This structure, which survives today and has been preserved, was built in 1881. In its current configuration, the engine doors have been squared off. I read somewhere when this occurred, but I can't recall what the year was. But it was sometime after the turn of the 19th century. I will be modelling the doors as full length, with the arch. 

There is a kit available for this building, but I wanted to scratch-build something to suit my space. I also knew that my track geometry coming off the turntable was not perfectly spaced, due to the way my yard tracks lined up with the turntable pit. 

The most attractive feature that I want to model is the rough-cut stonework. I had read several articles about modelling European stone buildings using air-dry modelling clay. After figuring out the measuments, I decided to start with the wall closest to the layout's edge. 

I created a wall template from thick cardboard. This allowed me to cut out window and door spaces and would give the clay some support. I brushed on a thick layer of Mod Podge and then rolled out the clay on top, trimming it to fit, using the cardboard template as a guide. 

Then using a pick, I started carving the grooves for the stonework. My blocks are larger than the prototype, and the grooves are likely out of scale too. However, I'm pleased with the look that I achieved. 

While carving there is a lot of clay 'flash' that makes the carving look terrible. In my first attempts I tried to remove this and ended up making a mess. Then I read an article where they they said the secret is to leave all the clay 'flash' in place and brush it off when its dry. This worked really well and as the clay dried over the next day or so I felt it kept looking better and better. 

Finally, I test fitted some engine house windows, which I was pleased to find fitted perfectly. I'll paint the window frames and doors a similar shade of red to the prototype. 

Knights of the Sky & Dangerous Skies Exhibitions

 Recently we took a family holiday to Blenheim, which is near the top of New Zealand's South Island. A little-known fact is that Blenheim is home to two stunning exhibitions of World War I and II aircraft. The World War I exhibition is owned by Sir Peter Jackon of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy fame. Not only does it include incredibly rare aircraft (including some which are airworthy), it does so in giant dioramas that tell important stories about the aircraft and the people who flew them.

After the success of the World War I exhibition, the local group whom Jackson contracted to maintain the exhibition added a World War II exhibition. Both are of impeccable quality and offer an incredibly immersive experience. More information can be found on their website.

I personally love the exhibition from a modelling perspective. It offers a glimpse of modelling on a 1:1 scale rarely seen and is a wonderful inspiration for our smaller-scale modelling.