Many paths to be followed.

As I have become accustomed too, another few days of distractions and projects taking me on different paths but hopefully they all end up at the same destination which is an overall finished project!

On the 009 gauge road bridge I have given the stone work several washes of a very dilute black acrylic paint. The picture below shows one half of an abutment has received this treatment showing just how simple it is - well it would have to be for it to work for me!

Painting one face at a time and letting gravity do its work means this process can take a long time especially as the temperatures outside fall and my man cave, AKA The Room of Gloom, is not as warm as it was in the summer meaning paint tends to take longer to dry. I did think about bringing it into the house but given my ability to spill paint and stain carpets and other soft furnishings with it, I thought that for harmonious relationships to continue with Mrs W it would be best to just wait! At the end of the various waits this is what the bridge looks like.

So what did I do with the time I had whilst waiting for the paint to dry? Well give me a few minutes spare in the Room of Gloom and I am easily distracted! It has been some time since I did anything with My Last Great Project - the 00 gauge layout that I am building. The 009 narrow gauge layout is at the present resting on the baseboard to the 00 gauge layout and it all looks untidy, unloved and most of all unprofessional to anyone stepping in to the room. There are various items that need to be sorted but unfortunately I am not a tidy builder of projects! I tend to need everything that I need out even though I contribute to the swear jar when I cannot find things but that is just the way I model. When I am cooking, completely different with things washed up and put away as soon as possible. No idea why the different approaches but it confuses Mrs W!

My decision in light of the above was to try to get the basic track laying done (it was just some lengths of track thrown together some months ago to allow me to run trains) on the 00 gauge layout so that I could then at least tidy all the track laying items away. It is a long process and it will take some time but at the moment I have the two outer circuits complete and the third inner one getting there. Next stage will be a few sidings. As the layout is still open to alteration the track is secured in a few places with double sided adhesive carpet tape which is strong enough to hold the track but weak enough to allow the track to be lifted washout making significant contributions to the swear jar.