Slowly it all turns from bare baseboard to living scene!

 The Dapol signal gantries are now all painted and weathered and ready for the layout.

That looks good!

And so does that!

Slowly it all turns from bare baseboard to living scene! Well hopefully!

More to do but these small details do take time!

Now, about those chopped up bits of plastic I blogged about a few days ago!

Well, they are now a cable duct! I could just have laid the uncut strip but that would have looked a bit too well kept and maintained. This way they look as though they have been in place for ages and as time has passed they have moved with ground conditions.

Add a bit more vegetation and the whole thing looks even more weathered! You may also have noted that the point motors have electrical cables feeding into them and literally those cables are just offcuts of layout wire!

Further on there is also more vegetation sprouting whi9ch adds to the realism! More to do but these small details do take time!

All this knowledge just because I model a scene where a dog has relieved itself against a lamp post!

 

Just adding a little realism (hopefully!) to the platform scene, we have a man with his daughter and his trusty canine companion Fido. Now Fido has done what many a canine does and that is leave a puddle against a lamp post as pointed to by the red arrow! Not a scene that you see very often on a model railway but a dab of gloss varnish created the puddle and Fido is from a  pack of Woodlands scenic dogs complete with fire hydrants (it is an American pack!). 

Now calling a canine Fido probably ages me but you do not hear dogs names like Fido, Rex, Duke, Rover, Shep, Spot, Skip, Butch., Bessie, Daisy, Dolly, Duchess, Flossie, Queenie or  Sadie and yes I did Google that lot! Apparently todays names (again using the delights of Goggle) are ones like Charlie, Max, Cooper, Milo, Teddy,  Luna, Bella, Daisy, Lucy and Coco. In fact when I just Googles Fido to see the origins of the name I found that Google throws up - 'FIDO stands for Fast Identity Online, an open set of technology standards created to replace traditional passwords with secure, passwordless login methods like biometrics and hardware keys.' In fact there is even a FIDO Alliance! Well, there you go - another school day! 

However I was persistent and found that the canine related Fido relates to an Italian dog and Wikipedia states ' Fido was an Italian dog that came to public attention in 1943 because of his demonstration of unwavering loyalty to his dead master. Fido was the subject of articles appearing in many Italian and international magazines and newspapers, was featured in newsreels throughout Italy, and was bestowed several honours, including a public statue erected in his honour

All this knowledge just because I model a scene where a dog has relieved itself against a lamp post!

Chopping up plastic!

Before getting some paint on the signal gantry that has featured in recent posts I needed to create something that would get painted at the same time saving on cleaning the airbrush twice!

Some plastic strip and card was sought from the WMD Stores...

..and glued together. It was then marked up into 6mm or so lengths.

Then it was chopped up"

Once attached to some masking tape the chopped bits were airbrushed along with the gantry. So, what are the chopped pieces for? Well, that will hopefully be revealed shortly!

Signal gantry progress.

Some more progress with the Dapol signal gantry. 

The maintenance platform now has its stanchions added and I have also attached some rod to make a guard rail. The signal heads have been backed with plastic card as well so it is now a case of getting some paint on the parts - a job for another day!

Much easier and working smarter as I get older!

Having altered the main parts of the Dapol signal gantry to fit the intended site it was time to start building the kit!

Having already built one I knew that I would want to add girder detail to the uprights as I did with the first kit. However, having learnt from the first one, I added the plastic strip before attaching anything to the uprights - much easier and working smarter as I get older!

Whilst waiting for the glue to set I remembered I needed to also shorten the maintenance platform and move the mount for the ladder! So some measurements were taken and the appropriate amount removed and the mount sliced off.

Those parts were glued together along with the main structure of the gantry. Looking good! Just need to add a few more parts and the construction will be finished - unless of course I have forgotten something!

That went well too! Must be mu luck day!

Having been inspired by the train running session I have actually been getting on with some mode making activities.

This Dapol signal gantry is the same as the one I have already built for the station area so I should know what I am doing with this kit!

There is one difference though! I need to make the gantry shorter in length to fit the location. Some careful measurements showed me that I could luckily do this by cutting one section of the girder structure out. I managed that with a razor saw and no disasters!

I also needed to locate the maintenance platform and ladder onto the other side of the structure so one of the mounts for a support had to be cut off the upright 

That went well too! Must be mu luck day!

With those two things done I can start to put this together!

Having got some trains running should inspire me to do some more model making!

Sometimes, I forget that the purpose of building the My Last Great Project layout is to actually have somewhere to run trains! So having spent many a day working on the station area I decided I would sit back with a can of Pepsi Max (other beverages are available from your preferred beverage retail supplier) and just watch some trains run!

The problem when working on a layout is that they become convenient places to put things down on and then forget about them. Note to self - clear the rubbish from the base of the viaduct!

As my layout has an operating well in the middle it means that you do not see the whole layout in one view. You need to follow a train around meaning that it appears to actually go somewhere rather than in a glorified circle that it actually does! So, if I am looking at the viaducts I do not see what is happening in the station.

Talking of the station, I do like this picture which captures the essence of what I have been doing over the past few weeks. The grime, the weeds, the leaning electrical cabinet and the brightness of the loco!

Anyway, having got some trains running should inspire me to do some more model making just as soon as I finish this can of drink!

A random stack!

One of those, unusually for me anyway, quickish jobs involving some bits from the scrap box of plastic parts!

A few sleepers were cut from a strip.

Looking clsoely at them they are quite detailed mouldings but my inspection was short lived as I glued them into a, what would hopefully look like, a random stack.

Once painted and weathered and placed on the layout they look rather like what you might find ion a real railway!

Out with the Olfa cutter!

I start with a piece of plastic card a a length of track on the bench!

There is an idea in my head! That is very unusual as Mrs. Woody would confirm!

Having used the track to take some measurements, a suitable strip was cut and marked out at 2mm wide strips.

Then those marked strips were scored with an Olfa cutter. The blade cuts a gouge out of the plastic sheet and you can see the plastic it has gouged out on the cutting mat.

Those strips represent the gaps between planks of wood. Using some more measurements from the track the large strip was cut into smaller parts and some plastic strip glued under the scored surface.

So, What are these Woody?

 With a bit of painting t=and glued in place these plastic strips become a track crossing, They look a bit stark in that brown so...

...a bit of weathering was applied and they look as though they have been in place for years just like me!

Finally installed!

As I explained in a previous post, the sleeper built buffer stop is a more substantial structure than the rail built stops. On the board with the two viaducts on my layout, there is a substantial drop at the end of a siding. I had a rail built buffer stop installed but decided that technically in real life it would not be deemed strong enough to stop an errant loco breaking through it.

Therefore I swapped that out with sleeper built stop that I had just finished painting and weathering.

With that swap, I now had five near matching rail built stops for the goods yard and fuel servicing sidings so they were installed and well...

...I'm impressed with that!

Super glued in place they add that little bit of extra!

 Of the five buffer stops that I am dealing with at the moment, one is a model of the sleeper type. Basically a more substantial structure built from old sleepers and filled with stone that should with stand a bigger impact than the usual bent rail type stop.

The model has a moulded stone insert to it which I could paint to try and make it look better but my solution was to actually overlay it with scale stone!

I just covered the moulded stone with PVA glue and then scattered some of the ballast that I had used in the goods yard on. Looks so much better!

With that done it was then onto cutting minute pieces of plastic strip and rod and gluing them together.

And the purpose of that Woody is what you may ask.

Well, the purpose is to be the lamp on the buffer stop that illuminates to drivers that there is a buffer stop there. Super glued in place they add that little bit of extra!

A few washes of dilute black paint and they take on a well worn weathered appearance just like me!

Well, if you stayed tuned from the last post you can make up your mind as to whether the buffer stops look more realistic  now they are painted fully.

However, there is some weathering to add!

A few washes of dilute black paint and they take on a well worn weathered appearance just like me!

There are still afew more things that can be done so stay tuned!

More buffer stops!

 With the base coat of paint on the buffer stops dry I sprayed a light coat of rust paint over the metal parts.

That paint did not really do much to represent rust but it will be added to!

I also found a different type of buffer stop in the WMD Stores which will come in handy so that has joined the painting squad! The wooden parts of the buffer stops have been given a coat of brown paint which will be weathered along with the rest of the parts.

I have also started to over paint the original rust colour with some different rust paint which should look better once it is weathered.

Will these buffer stops look more realistic by the time I finish painting and weathering them? Stay tuned!

Adding some earth, mud and weeds!

 Whilst the paint on the buffer stops is drying I got on with a bit more scenic work at the end of the goods yard and refuelling point on my Last Great Project layout.

The ballast has been treated to some greenery to represent weed growth whilst the areas not ballasted have had a dusting of kiln dried sand to represent earth and mud. 

It matches the adjacent station board in textures and colours so hopefully it will all look good! Just need to wait for the glue to dry.

Things are coming together and sometimes pictures say more than words!

 Things are coming together and sometimes pictures say more than words!

More to do but I like what I see!

Buffer stops!

 As the work on detailing parts for the station area continues it was time to get some buffer stops sorted for the end of the sidings. 

I had in stock four Hornby items which may not be the greatest buffer stop but with some work they can look better.

First job was to give them a base coat of light grey which actually revealed that they are more detailed than I expected. Once the paint dries I will start the detail painting.