Just wish my wallet would recover as quick after one of Mrs. Woody's shopping sprees!

No time for model making activities at the moment but a bike ride was undertaken and as I was passing a diversion to on route to see how the canal was looking after the Summer of it just about drying out. Well, the recent rain has certainly changed things and it is now positively brimming to near the top of its banks!

I seem to recall being informed by those who know about such things that after the drought this Summer it would take months for the water levels to recover! Apparently not so!

Just wish my wallet would recover as quick after one of Mrs. Woody's shopping sprees!

Gailston - a little mentioned layout of mine!

I talk a lot about several model railway layouts of mine, My Last Great Project in 00 gauge, Chalkdon in 009 gauge and the USA Switching layout in H0 scale which ahs yet to be named. There are however other layouts which hardly or have never featured on this blog. One which has had mention but not a great deal, is Gailston, my 00 gauge terminus to fiddle yard layout. As with most of my projects, it is yet to be finished despite being started nearly 25 years ago but it does work and I do enjoy running passenger and freight trains in and out of the station with some shunting and run rounds being part of the process - very therapeutic especially when the Man Cave is cold!

It is 9 feet long which is the scenic part.

And another seven feet long at right angles to the scenic board and this is a five road fiddle yard.

I will come back to looking at Gailston in a bit more detail in future posts but here area few closer up images.

Its a cold one today!

Its a cold one today so time in the Man Cave is limited but I did paint the kerb stones on the pavement sections for the road over over the bridge/tunnel structure and once dry they will be glued in place.

 I also started 'wilding' the last of the three scenic sub-bases presently under construction. The various bushes and undergrowth just add to the texture. Hopefully that will be completed in the next day or so unless I become waylaid by the heating inside WMD HQ!

Probably the last day of this year that I will be at the Rocks By Rail Museum!

Probably the last day of this year that I will be at the Rocks By Rail Museum and I finished the year as I will no doubt be starting it in 2026 with more vegetational butchery in the bone yard! It may not be the most glamorous job but you never know what you may find and it is also starting to interest other volunteers who now come by to see what I have unearthed!

Todays junk treasure included this table frame....

,,,,thus ladder....

.....these point rodding parts.....

...and an assortment of metal parts that may well end up in the scrap bin!

Hopefully be March of next year just about all the bone yard will be cleared but there is much to do so the start of 2026 will be a busy one if the weather is kind!

Pavements take shape!

I decided to construct the road section over the bridge/tunnel that was in the photo in yesterdays post. I had already cut the main base to size and painted it with some rattle can grey primer which is a bit darker than my usual brand but it was half the price! What I needed to do was to cut the pavements out of mounting card for either side of the carriageway. As usual, the WMD Stores had card in stock so after some measurements, head scratching and more head scratching the pavements were cut to shape. I then scribed the kerb stones at the edges which will be painted later.

The two pieces of card were then painted using the same rattle can as the road. Given that the shade of grey was far too dark for worn and weathered tarmac I used some light grey paint and airbrushed it in random patterns to give the real life effect that you see on real roads.

Once the paint dries it will look less stark. I then need to paint the kerbs and glue the pavements in place. The dark grey areas will be 'grassed' in some form!

I have plenty to keep me occupied as I keep telling Mrs. Woody!

There is much more to do but I placed one of the scenic sub-bases in place just to see how things were going towards the final scene and I think it fits in well. I need to finish that bridge/tunnel section and paint the 3D printed signal box so I have plenty of things to keep me occupied as I keep telling Mrs. Woody when she adds more jobs to her list of things for me to do!

In the meantime, I have also treated the second of the three current sub-bases to some additional 'wild' vegetation which makes it look more realistic. 

Will I get most of all this scenic work done before Christmas? Who knows but it is a hobby to enjoy so it takes as long as it takes which i also tell Mrs. W!

A 300% increase in price over six years but is it still cheap?

 

I have been using a lot of PVA glue over the past few weeks. This has led to a need to restock the WMD Stores so I have been on the look out at my normal suppliers who all seem to be out of my usual cheap glue. I don't use expensive PVA. The stuff I need it to glue is not structural and it just needs to stick things down or together so the cheap stuff is good for me. I did find some in The Works which is a UK chain of shops that sells books and arts and crafts materials at cheapish prices. The problem is the glue is no longer cheap. Or, maybe not as cheap as it used to be. Before Covid, I could pick up the same size bottle as in the picture for 99pence. Two years ago when I last restocked it was £1.99. Today £3 which is about a 300% increase in six years which is a lot. Or is it? In my mind I am used to paying a very cheap price and a 300% increase over six years makes me feel as though the glue is now expensive. However, trying to get things into perspective, £3 for a large bottle of glue that has to be manufactured, distributed, stocked and sold is still a cheap price when compared to the cost of other model making materials which have all also gone up - a lot more than 300% in some cases. I guess we have to accept that there is a cost to things and these things have gone up in price over time but some, in comparison, are still cheap when you consider what you actually physically get for your money. 

All very philosophical today but there is a logic in all that which I will no doubt find out if it is an understandable logic once Mrs, Woody reads it!

Its all in the browns!

The before weathering the brickwork photo...

and the after photo....

Not  a missive change but enough to give that realism of the aging effects of time and weather and take away that pristine, built yesterday look that make a model look a little toy like. The weathering on the brickwork was just dilute brown paint airbrushed on in random patterns whilst the rock faces were just brush painted with dilute brown paint - all in the brown!. I'm pleased with the overall effect and even Mrs. woody who is hard to impress, made positive comments!

Adding some additional greenery.

Having added hanging basket liner to the scenic sub-base to simulate the wild undergrowth of an unkempt area, it was time to add some additional greenery to break up the scene and add some more realism. The WMD Stores have a good stock of various scenic products and theses were put to good use.

The intention is to introduce various different greens and other vegetational colours along with suitable textures. Whether I have achieved that is down to the viewer but from a distance I think it looks realistic.

Even getting in close their is realism - it certainly looks like the WMD garden! 

Next job is to weather the brickwork and paint the rock faces which will se a switch from greens to browns!

Time for some retaining walls!

Having constructed the retaining walls for the area where the signal box is going in the scenic sub-base I needed to make some corner and end piers which would both strengthen the joint and hide the join in the brick paper. Some mounting card was cut to shape and then covered in brick paper. At the same time I also cut some strips of brown card and marked it up to represent joints in coping stone that would go on top of the retaining walls.

With that done it was time to glue all the components into place on the sub-base.

Looks OK to me and when I posed the yet to be painted signal box in position it really began to show promise!