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!

 

A floating shunter!

More progress with the scenic sub-bases and this time I am creating the retaining walls to go around the cut out in the landscape where the signal box will be. All I need is card cut to size and then cover it with brick paper - just like this.....

Once the glue is all dry and the brick paper trimmed to size it will fit into the cut out something like this.....

I still need to give the vegetation a hair cut on this sub-base but I wanted to wait until the walls were fitted before doing that.

Despite Mrs. Woody's list of jobs I have had time for a few bike rides and I was passing the local canal where much activity was in progress.

Regular readers will know that I blogged earlier this year about the canal drying up to a trickle and the abundant growth of vegetation that took place.

Well, much of that growth has gone as the canal workers take advantage of restored water levels to dredge the area. fascinating to see the process with various vessels used along with excavators. All the dredged material is put into the open boat which I think technically is known as a butty. That is then towed to the right hand bank where the other excavator digs it out and places it in the large trench that has been dug - presumably to dry out before something else happens to it.

I was quite taken by the small boat which from a distance looks like a floating diesel railway shunter from the Rocks By rail Museum. In effect it is a shunter as it shunts the butty from one side of he canal to the other. A close up also revealed its fitting canal like name of Heron.

Wonder what it would look like on rails?

Hair cut sir?

 Although Mrs. Woody will gently 'hint' when I need a hair cut, I am not in need at the moment or at least there have been no hints given! However, the scenic sub-bases do indeed need a hair cut. With the  hanging basket liner glued in place and glue now dry it was time for that hair cut. Now my hair cut method would not see me employed at a top salon, but for the liner it works well. Firstly, the top layer was gently ripped off leaving a mix of different length strands and colours much like the wild vegetation that I am trying to create. You can see what was removed in the picture below.

It was a little too wild though....

....so my hair cutting implements came out - scissors and instead of a hair dryer a vacuum cleaner!

 

The scissors trimmed whilst the vacuum cleaner pulled out the strands that did not fall off and I was left with a 'manicured' wilderness! Looks good though and just needs some additional shrubbery adding to add further realism and with my current vegetational butchery of the bone yard at the Rocks By Rail Museum I feel I have gained useful knowledge on such matters!

Now I wonder if anyone needs a hair cut whilst I have my implements out? Hair cut sir????

The hair bear bunch!

Well maybe not so much the hair bear bunch but definitely the hairy landscape bunch! To bring the impression of unkempt and wild vegetation, which is something I am getting very familiar with at the Rocks By rail Museum, I am using hanging basket liner on the scenic sub-bases. The liner is made up of recycled fibres presumably from old clothes which makes a great representation of wild vegetation. Simply glue the liner to the areas that need wilding and wait for the glue to dry after which the top layer can be pulled off leaving the vegetation!

PVA is applied to the surfaces and the liner is pressed into it.

Even without any other work, the landscape already looks more natural.

All three sub-bases have been done now so it is time to let the glue dry.

Real imitation rock!

Things move on as the scenic sub-bases get a coat of plaster sculptured to look like rock or as I like to call it, real imitation rock! My usual method was used, with plaster mixed with some PVA, brown paint and water to a semi sloppy mix and then applied with a stiff paint brush in a stippling motion.

That lot just needs to dry now which with the warmer weather hopefully will not take too long. And as we have relative warmth outside I also primed the 3D printed signal box so that is ready to be painted up.

From contour maps to landforms.

 With my latest capers in polystyrene ready to be carved to shape I set to in the Man Cave - too much mess to do inside the house and I think Mrs. Woody might have words to say! There was a scene like a snowstorm having finished shaping the two sub-bases but I cleared it up and was left with these.

Looking a little more like landforms then a contour map, the next step is the plaster impregnated bandage.

So far one is done and the other about a quarter done. Coming on though which is always a plus point! And whilst it may have been snowy inside the Man Cave at least its not snowing outside of it!

Polystyrene Capers - Take 2!

More polystyrene capers with the last of the scenic sub-bases being constructed for my Last Great Project Layout. Similar to the one I built last week, scrap polystyrene was cut to shape and glued into the mounting card 'box'. Some tooth pick nails and masking tape helped keep things in place whilst the glue dries.

Being somewhat brazen, this was taken into the warmth of house to speed the glue drying and is in the kitchen until Mrs. Woody tells me to move it!

Hmmmm! Soup! Now that's an idea for a wet and cold day. If only it wasn't needed to act as a weight!

The signal box finds its home!

I have managed to put together the mounting card 'box' for the last scenic sub-base that I need.

Built in my usual way but the floor does have a cut out in the form of that rectangular bit and that is where the 3D printed signal box will finds its home. A trial fit of the 'box' and placing the signal box in the cut out gives a reasonable idea of how things will look once finished,

As I hoped it looks 'right', well, to me anyway! The next stage is some more polystyrene capers to fill in the 'box' and then I will carve that and the other one I built a few days ago to shape ready for plaster bandage. I foresee much mess!

3D print signal box.

At the Lincolnshire Model Makers Show that I posted about earlier this week I did mention I made a few purchases. One of these was from my friends at 3D printing for charity who support the Lincolnshire Air Ambulance. Eddie told me that they have now raised £4000 which in effect pays for a flight of the helicopter which is great going. Anyway, a further purchase goes towards the next £4000 and it was this signal box.

I like the proportions and design which is probably why it appealed to me opening my wallet under the supervision of my Financial Advisor Mrs. Woody! I still find it amazing that things like this can be printed out and the level of detail as the printers evolve just gets better.

So where am I going to put this? Well, there is a spot on My Last Great Project layout  for it where the last of the scenic sub-bases needs to go and I think it will look just the job once the sub-base is built and the signal box painted and detailed but more about that hopefully tomorrow!

More polystyrene capers!

There are still two more scenic sub-bases to construct on my Last Great Project 00 gauge layout. Having now got some motivation to finish these I have started the second to last one. In my usual construction method, mounting card has been cut to shape to make a 'box' into which which the polystyrene can be glues and later shaped.

As can be seen it is a bit of a strange shape which tested the powers of my measuring skills hence the various pencil marks denoting my various attempts at getting it right!

However, it does fit its intended location!

With that done, it was time for the polystyrene capers to commence! Always a somewhat messy job, but an assortment of polystyrene packing kept in storage, much to Mrs. Woody's bemusement, found its way into the 'box' where it was roughly cut to size and glued with PVA. 

It certainly looks a bit strange at the moment but once carved to shape, with even more mess, and covered in plaster impregnated bandage, it will take on a landscape form! I just need to wait for the glue to dry. Now should I take it into the  warmth of the house to dry the glue and hide it away from Mrs. W??? She will never know - I hope!

Are you still messing about with that bit of polystyrene?

The words of Mrs. Woody the other day as she read my blog, "Are you still messing about with that bit of polystyrene?". Well. I am, but progress is made! It is now painted in an initial coat of dilute brown paint which highlights the rock strata.

Having got to this stage I thought that it would be best to see if it still fits onto the layout. It still needs some work such a s dome greenery on top but that will come later.

It does and is looking good! Now I have to construct the hills on the side of the tracks nearest the camera so that question from Mrs. W may still part of my life!

Other supermarket bags are available!

Gone is the polystyrene which is now all covered with plaster impregnated bandage. Now it is the turn of the bandage to be covered up as you can see from the photo below, it looks nothing like a rock face! In fact,, those of a certain age may see similarities to the punch cards that computer programmes were once written on!

Anyway, enough about punch cards and lets get on with the covering! I mixed some plaster up to a thickish consistency and added some brown paint and PVA glue. The paint was to tint the plaster so it was not a glaring white if chipped and the PVA to help it adhere to the plaster bandage. Then it was a case of stippling it into place to give a rock face finish.

The Iceland shopping bag was there to catch any spills but given that the Man cave was cold it did seem an apt choice - other supermarket bags are available! This job will keep me busy for a while now!

Cover up!

The scenic base for my Last Great Project layout is coming along with the patchwork of plaster impregnated bandage slowly covering up the polystyrene. Once it is all covered I will be adding some plaster to add texture to the rock surfaces which is usually a messy process! 

Back to the scenic base!

With my distractions of the Lima DMU and the 3Dtractor out of the way it is back to scenic sub-base construction for my Last Great Project layout. Having created a sub-base from mounting card formers and polystyrene it is time to put a layer of plaster impregnated bandage on top to create a hard shell. The WMD stores have recently had stocks of said plaster impregnated bandage replenished so there was now no excuse to delay!

It comes in a 3m long roll but rather then try to deal with such a length of what is to be a wetted and slimy item I do the sensible (me be sensible???) thing of  cutting it to short lengths. Much easier to handle and get into place.

I painted some PVA glue onto the polystyrene before starting to place the lengths of bandage in place. Once I had a first layer of several bits I simply painted on water with a paint brush. This is much easier and cleaner then dumping the bandage into a bowl of water and trying to then transfer it to the scenic sub-base and then mould it to shape. With an initial layer in place another two layers are added to give some thickness and strength to the shell of bandage.

A couple of hours of therapeutically pleasant work whilst listen to the radio saw progress although there is still a few more hours work. However as it was getting cold I thought that I would leave that for another day!

Now that should be a nice small, quick to do project whilst I wait for glues to dry!

The scenic sub base was carved to shape today - and it made a mess that hopefully Mrs. Woody wont find out about unless she reads this!

Starting off with the now solid glued jigsaw of polystyrene which Marty the cat seems to have an interest in....

...the bread knife soon carved into it. leaving the carnage of its work on the floor....

...which took some cleaning up as the beads of polystyrene become statically charged and sticks to everything ! Luckily Marty was out of the way so he is clear of any beads!

There are just a couple of small areas which need some additional polystyrene attaching so whilst I await the glue to dry that I used to fasten the additional bits, in true Woody style I have started another project! At the Narrow Gauge show that I took Mrs. W to a few weeks ago O did buy some 3D prints including a couple of wagons and also this small agricultural tractor.

Now that should be a nice small, quick to do project whilst I wait for glues to dry! Hmmmm! Famous last words and all that!

Tooth pick nails?

It was one of those, why didn't I remember that before, moments as I suddenly remembered the importance of tooth picks! Not that I needed a tooth pick for any tooth maintenance, rather that they can be used like nails to hold polystyrene together whilst the glue sets!

This rediscovery of something I have done before has sped up the scenic base build so that all the bits of polystyrene are now glued and 'nailed' together. I just need to wait for the glue to dry which may be hastened if I can sneak the thing into the house without Mrs. Woody spotting it and put it by a radiator.

It may look a a white mess of strange proportions at the moment but eventually it will be a thing of beauty just like Mrs. W! Hopefully that might get me out of trouble if she discovers it in the house! 

In the absence of Mrs. Woody!

With my rabbit hole project of the Lima DMU now finished it is back to layout building. I have moved onto scenic subbase construction for the far corner of the last baseboard I am building. I have already cut out mounting card formers to match the plywood profiles I mounted on the baseboard some time ago. To these I am mounting polystyrene from the WMD Stores which seemingly has stocks of most items I need!

As it is somewhat cold in the Man Cav I have only made a small start and I have, in the absence of Mrs. Woody today, brought the structure inside the house and in the warm to speed up the drying process. I just need to repatriate it to the Man Cave before Mrs. W gets back!

Not a great deal to report!

Not a great deal to report! The card top for the bridge/tunnel structure has been painted with rattle can primer to represent the tarmac of the road going over the structure....

...and the side profiles of the background hill have been roughly cut to shape out of card. This will form the base and support for the polystyrene that will form the shape of the hills.

Hopefully more to report in the next few days!

Inspired!

Having taken a break with DCC chipping the class 150 DMU it is back to the bridge/tunnel structure and I am inspired to get on with it!

Firstly I needed to deal with a bow in the back of the tunnel top

Constructing a card girder was the solution.

Once glued in place straightness was restored!

Hi

Moving onto the bridge part I added some wooden quadrant to act as a stiffener and support for the top.

One each side should do the job so I had to find some more quadrant! Next on the list is the top I think.