Shrubbery

Things of a leafy nature are on the job list at the moment. I've sprayed some roots from one of my unsuccessful plantings in a couple of tones of grey and a bit of brown. A while back I purchased some gear from 'Treemendus' in the UK ( on my suppliers list) just to give them a go. I particularly like a product that they supply that is actually used in wig making. They suggest it as useful for fine branches, bushes and the like. So I gave it a go.

 Please excuse the poor photography, I was in a bit of a rush, you know squeezing  the modelling between other events of the day. The photo below shows my new hair... well maybe a lighter shade would be better. All I did was spray the roots with a matt adhesive spray then I cut off a piece of wig about 25mm long and teased it out. I put it on the roots, then gave it another spray then on with some ground foams.

 I don't mind how they came up, as some scrubby overgrown stuff they seem ok. I do need to trim them up and tease them out a little. I'll leave them to dry tonight and then give them a touch up tomorrow. I like the wig, might have to try some on some trees next!

Happy Easter, Oorroo!

Geoff.

Just a couple of weeks to Moree!

A while back I mentioned that there was a show being presented by the New England Model Railway Club in Moree. The Show will be held over the weekend of  the 21st & 22nd of April, yep just twenty days to go.
Darren and I were at the last show held by the NEMRC at Inverell, with Darren's layout 'More'. We had a great time, everyone mixed so well, and we were well taken care of. The layouts were excellent, a top weekend. 
So with the Moree show arriving so quickly I suppose I'm getting a little excited and inquisitive. Just what layouts will be there? What shops? Will many make the trip? Will I be able to park the trailer? You know all the important questions.
If you're planning on going, let me know and we'll look out for you. Darren, Brendan and myself will be there...can't wait.

Mock up of Water Tank placement

Now that the ground work is nearly dry I placed the stand and its tank in place to see how they work. I've finished the cross bracing on the tank stand and added the bolt detail. Depending on how it settles into the ground area it might get a little more dirtying up, so we'll see how it goes once the 'snow' has been covered. 

The tank is one of the Casula ones, cut down and with some basic bracing put in place. The inside is still to be painted and 'water' added, and weathering/rusting of the exterior as well. The bracing does not go to the floor as it will be covered by the water.

 The next shot is just the ground without the stand to show you the finish up of the previous post showing the plastic removed.

 

Next it's out with the paint and dirt stuff, the fun part I think. There's also the piping and access ladder to put in place, but nearly there!

Oorroo!

Geoff. 

Evans Gap Water Tank Stand

The water tank stand has almost reached the stage of locating it on the layout. I used basswood for the stand, 'jarrah' wood stain and some G/W dark flesh paint to colour it up. I was trying to get the 'red oxide' look about it as was used everywhere in NSW.

The first photo shows the basswood before the dark flesh paint was applied. The jarrah woodstain is used so that not so much paint needs to be applied. See the fantastic 'jig' I've used in this shot, think I should patent it!  

The second photo has the stand located on the layout. It also is a little redder as well with the extra paint now applied. You can probably see the cling wrap underneath it. I put down some sculptamold first shaped roughly to the shape required. Then I covered it with the cling wrap,  placed the stand on top pressing it down into the sculptamold so that it was shaped around the base of the stand. 

Off with the plastic and now it's time to wait for it to cure. Once it is I'll do the same in the centre, but removing the two horizontal feet that I put on to site the tank on a flat surface.


Just a quick post this week, 
Oorroo! Geoff.

Goods shed surrounds

I've enjoyed the scenery work of late. So thought it about time to locate the Goods Shed base in its location. I've built the shed in two parts, sort of. What I mean is that the base is separate from the walls so that the interior can be modelled as well and especially to ease the pain of painting.


So armed with the base of the shed I mixed up some sculptamold to form the base around the shed. I slopped on the mix making sure not to get it in the area of the four corner posts. I built the shed with four posts in the corners exactly the same size, and the rest were 2mm shorter. I did this to take into account my poor cutting skills. I thought  it alot easier to site a building on four posts and mask the shorter posts with groundwork, rather than sanding a bit off this one, then that one...you get the idea.


I marked the location of the four corner posts and then formed the base around them. I pressed the base into the damp sculptamold leaving an impression in it of where all the posts would be located. 


After it had cured it was out with the paint as a base coat, then gravel for the area of unloading, and access road along the side of the line. I used more of the Chucks QLD river sand for this, it has a nice even tone about it and the grains are fairly fine. I normally put down the watered down PVA first then sprinkle the 'gravel over it so that it soaks up the glue. Then if I need to add more gravel then I can put more glue on top of what is already laid and it soaks through just fine.


All this work on gravel had me looking at the ballast on the front module. Time to make some progress here. The gravel is a mix of chucks N scale, ash (that's been ground down in my handy dandy Target $15 mortar and pestle, a little too coarse in its purchased state), and some pale coloured soil that I grabbed from a roadworks site some years ago now. I don't do anything too complex, just add a bit of this and that, however I do normally add a 50/50 mix of ballast and the soil mixed together rather than ballast on its own.  So down with the gravel/soil/ash and flatten it out and move it about with a 1/2 inch paint brush. Wet the lot down with a spray of 'wet' water then glue it down with white glue mix. 


I want to add a bit more into this scene so there is a side story going on at the same time as the scenery, that being detail bits. I don't know about you but I think there would be a fair number of you that have been collecting things 'for that spot on the layout'. You know the old drums, crates, timber, milk cans, brooms, bicycles, vehicles, carts, the list goes on. Anyway I pulled out a fair number the other day and got some undercoat on them so that they were one step closer to being on the layout also. 


That's about it, have a good week, 
Oorroo! Geoff.