The track for the first crossing loop Broadwater have now been laid. So it is time to start doing some scenery on the board. Luckily it will be completely flat, so no hills or mountains to make.
The Broadwater baseboard connects directly to the trestle baseboard, as a matter of fact as you come around the curve, the is a level crossing prior to the station.
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| Level crossing at Broadwater |
I have used thin cork sheeting to form the level crossing. Pollyfilla was inserted between the sleepers between the rails to form a solid base for the cork to rest on. A gap was then made for the flanges to run through. The crossing is at a slight angle, again using my theory of not having tracks parallel to the edges.
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| Level crossing coloured up |
The photo above shows the roller door for the garage. It has been painted the wall colour. There is a backboard on the right hand of the photo behind the trestle. I plan to have a backboard also on Broadwater but this will be a later addition. With so many jobs to be done, one has to prioritise all the jobs, this one can wait.
With the level crossing in place I started to fill in the space between the edge of the road and the trestle baseboard. The join between the baseboards can be seen at the bottom of the photo. The boards are wing nutted together with the option to be pulled apart at some later date. It will then need the rails to be cut and a saw through the scenery between the boards.
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| This shot shows how close the trestle is to Broadwater. |
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| The two baseboards are blended together |
Scenery work can be slow and frustrating. You look at your work and wonder if the end result will get better. I had wondered with the above shot if the two sections would blend okay together.
It is almost impossible to get instant results, it all takes effort but works out in the end. If what you do you don't like, rip it up and start again.
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| A blend happens |
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| The blend from another angle |
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In the above photo I have put in some fencing to border off the yard from the road area. The point is worked in a wire in the tube and a 44 gallon drum has been used as the 'handle' to operate the point.
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| A close up of the join area. (There is a join under there somewhere) |
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| Looking more complete. The siding will be for stock wagons |
Amongst some of the many jobs to be done in the shed is to clean it all up so it looks a lot better. The far end is still a mixture of left over HO layout still with some track there and a virtual dumping ground for anything that is not immediately required. Each time I go into the shed I think that I must get in and clean it up, but time is precious so I choose to do more work on the layout instead. It will eventually get done, but there are priorities.
As I am putting in as much time as I can to get the layout built, I have become time poor in arranging to assemble the many kits that this scale requires you to do. It is a fine balance in that even if I had the trains ready there is virtually no where to run to and from at the moment. I took the opportunity to ask of a really great modeller young Stephen Postma if he would assemble two NC brakevan kits for me. The results are fantastic as shown in the following two photos. Stephen represents the young blood of the future in the hobby and its great that he has taken on this uncommon hobby scale. (But I am glad he has)
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| Small goods with two new NC vans run over the trestle and onto Broadwater. |
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| Over Broadwater level crossing |
Another thing that is obvious from my photos is that I haven't dressed up the NA's with all the bits and pieces yet. I have all the Ian Lindsay parts ready to go, but putting them on is a job for another day!
