Rail200 - a few extra details

It didn't take long for me to add to Whittingly Hospital. I was tidying the workbench putting away left over materials and wondered if I had any ducks left over from previous projects. I didn't, but I did have a pair of swans - and what's more, they had been painted already! As I thought, they do add a little interest to the front of the layout.

 In the same box I found a couple of other details I could use. Both are in this photo...

The letterbox adds a splash of colour in the foreground too. My thinking is the guard collects the post a couple of times a day, transferring it to Royal Mail at the junction. This small letterbox on a post was also already painted, recovered from a past layout, it seemed more suitable than a full size pillar box. 

The other detail is this pinch bar, used for moving wagons by hand, it's been left leaning against a wall. Subtle, but just helps to break up an otherwise bland corner.

I wouldn't be surprised if other details get added in time!

Rail200 - Whittingly Hospital

My Rail200 challenge entry is finally finished, and the entry submitted with a whole 6 days to spare!

It has a name too - Whittingly Hospital. Since it's inspired by Whittingham and Hellingly Hospitals (amongst others) it's not the most original name, but it seems an appropriate reference to the inspiration.

The composition of the buildings has worked out well, and I'm pleased with how the covered platform has come out. The cinder yard is a little darker than I'd intended, but the buried track is a nice contrast to the ballast.

There's limited scope for details, in photos the prototypes' yards seem to be kept tidy and it wouldn't be a place busy with people, so the few figures are placed with apparent purpose. We see the vicar returning from a visit (perhaps a service?) talking to a nurse heading home, and a groundsman taking a break from mowing the extensive parklands...

A sneaky look out from under the canopy works surprisingly well too, revealing figures that aren't easy to see from the front. 

The engine shed provides interest at the opposite end of the scene. Look into the gloom inside the shed and a fitter can be seen.

The pond provides visual interest in the foreground, and was surprisingly easy to do. Perhaps it could do with a duck or two?

Another figure waits in the shadows of the boiler house. 

Another view that can't be seen from the front of the layout. It's unfortunate that the platform couldn't be arranged to face the front, but that's compromise of a micro layout. 

Rail200 - trees and people

A day off on Friday and some time free over the weekend has enabled me to catch up where I'd wanted to be with the Rail200 project. The first job was to finish the trees. I'd got most of a pack of Woodland Scenic armatures left over from Loctern Quay, but the larger sizes were too tall for the height limit of the challenge and only the shorter trees could be used. My friend Tim mentioned he had a pack of smaller Woodland Scenics trees but had found them a little short. We did a swap so he got some of the taller trees and I got some of the smaller ones.

As usual, I cleaned up any moulding lines and marks, and drilled the bottom of the truck to superglue in a length of paperclip wire. They were then dunked in hot water and twisted to spread the branches, and tweaked into a 3-dimensional shape.

The trunks look a bit plasticky. In the past I've brush painted them, but this time I thought I'd airbrush them while the airbrush was out to weather the buildings. This seemed to work well.

And so, this week was foliage time. I'd picked up some Busch foliage at a show, but first impressions was it didn't tease out and fell apart if stretched too much, so the trees looked a bit lumpy. I couldn't find any left over foliage from previous trees (there must be some somewhere), so ordered some Woodland Scenics foliage which I know works well, and some WS polyfibre too. The foliage can be teased out until it is light and fluffy, then glued onto the branches (I use Matt Modge Podge). The polyfibre can be teased out even more, but needs foliage adding in the form of finely ground foam scatter stuck on a liberal coat of hairspray. 

The polyfibre tree (left) is fuller and more dense, but still lets light through. This will be a view-blocker for the front of the layout. The WS foliage (third, fifth, sixth trees) looks better than the Busch stuff, but together there is a variety of shades and density of foliage. 

The trees are planted in place on the layout by punching a hole through the (kitchen towel) surface, and poking the wire in covered in matt modge podge. The trees on lower ground needed a hole drilling in the ply surface below. The two tallest trees (second left and far right) are 135mm tall, so needed the trunks recessing into the polystyrene below the surface so they fit within the 140mm height limit!

The other job this weekend was to paint the details that had already been prepared and primed, and a few figures too. There are a couple of Monty's Models figures, the rest are Dapol/Airfix/Kitmaster - they still look good! Painting is using acrylics. The plastic figures were drilled up their legs for a 0.5mm wire to help locate them securely, the whitemetal figures already have a rod below a foot.

I've started gluing the details and people in place, and a few last jobs are in progress, so the finish line is in sight!

Rail200 - green fingers

The last couple of weeks have been manic at work with no time for modelling in the evenings, so I'm falling behind where I'd like to be with the deadline for the Rail200 challenge at the end of the month. However, I have managed to progress the scenic work over a couple of free Saturdays, and I've a day off later this week, so I'm confident I can catch up. 

You may have noticed in the last post that the water crane has found a home. There were a variety of opinions on this, but some good arguments that by the shed was logical and helped justify the extent of retaining wall. I was worried it would look too crowded, but realised I could trim the rear corner off its base to clear the wall so it could fit further left, It's surprising how much difference that made. 

Greenery started with traditional scatters over slightly diluted PVA. This provides a base layer for static grass, avoiding bare patches. For more rough ground, I add some ground foam type scatter too. 

The static grasses came next, using the Peco applicator and basing glue. I've used a mix of shorter, greener fibres and longer yellower ones, vacuuming up as soon as applied (with a jay cloth over the nozzle to collect and reuse fibres) then going back for a second and third application before the glue sets. I still find most of the grass lies down though! Shades and lengths of the grasses are varied depending on the type of ground. 

Finally, shrubs, bushes, and undergrowth are added using a variety of materials, Rubberised horsehair, lichen, and some carpet underlay I dyed green years ago in a failed attempt to make long grass but teased out makes a great foliage base. These get a liberal spray of hairspray and sprinkled with (or even dipped in) one of a selection of scatters - usually the fine ground foam type, sometimes a coarse foam or even just a plain fine scatter. Clumped foliage is also used, though I find that a bit dense and too crumbly. I use shades that are not muted and don't differ too much for a cohesive look. Matt Modge Podge is used to stick things in place, scissors to trim them, and tweezers to hold them during the messy gluing and place them.

For weeds in the grass, I brush a little slightly dilute matt modge podge over the top of the static grass and sprinkle on some of the ground foam, using a couple of similar shades for variety. 

I'd been thinking about a fence along the back, in the end it was a bit of a spontaneous decision. It's Dapol/Kitmaster fencing as I had some in and it looked right, painted shades of brown. Somehow it could fit a contour line with a little bending. The hill behind the engine shed was another matter, so I tried a foam hedge but that looked far to neat. I had some Busch foliage which I found didn't tease out well enough for trees. I cut a strip, folded it lengthways stuck with matt modge podge, then stuck it in place. I picked some chunks out with tweezers, and applied some different colour foam scatter over parts of it to make it look like a line of bushes rather than a foam sausage. There's a lot of undergrowth in the space between the hedge and the engine shed. 

The great thing about scenery on a model of this size is that progress is rapid and it makes a big difference to making it look more complete. Next, it needs some trees, which I'd made a start on but made no progress recently...

Rail200 - ballast, gravel, and water

Time for an update of progress over the last week, which has been focused on the ground cover around the tracks. I wanted a mixture of ballasted track and areas buried in gravel/ash, so for the latter areas I started with a layer of DAS clay. 

A simple jig allows the clay to be rolled out to a consistent depth. 

This was laid between the tracks on a coat of PVA, trimmed around buildings, and smaller pieces or offcuts used to fill the gaps between the sleepers, so bringing the ground up to sleeper height (or slightly below).

Ballasting was surprisingly tedious. I didn't want dilute glue finding its way down between the wooden base of the "modular" track and the surrounding foamboard as I'll need to remove that later. So, I applied neat PVA alongside that track and sprinkled the ballast on. 

Neat PVA was also applied around the moving parts of points and ballast applied, acting as a dam to keep the dilute PVA from getting where it shouldn't. After that ballasting took my usual route - applied dry, misted with water with about 20% IPA added from a spray bottle, then diluted PVA dripped on using a pipette. Then ages spent picking ballast from where it shouldn't be...

The ballast is a bag of granite chippings I've had for years and there must be the best part of a kilo left, so it will do a good few more small layouts. This time, the ballast had a slight greenish tinge when the glue dried, I've heard of others having this problem but I've never seen it - perhaps because this was cheap PVA rather than Resin W?

For the gravel/ash surface I applied fine sand (rescued some years ago when the kids grew out of the sandpit) over a layer of dilute PVA. The sand is applied through a tea strainer which helps give an even covering. The cocktail sticks (halved) hopefully protect the holes for the canopy supports.

I'm looking for a better solution as the sand needs painting! I applied a couple of coats of a dirty grey, changing the shade slightly for variation. 

When dry I applied a wash of dirty brown in a slightly patchy fashion, followed by an even more patchy application of smoke grey weathering powder over the still damp surface. 

The result is intentionally uneven and varied, although perhaps a little darker than I was aiming for as ash surfaces look surprisingly light from a distance. The shape of the sleepers just showing through the surface works quite well, the area providing easy access by foot although with the rails proud. I'd like the change from fine gravel/ash to ballast to be more blended, but I can't figure out how to do it. 

The ballast also had the dirty brown wash, which has removed most of the greenish tinge as well as toning it down. While the paints were out I painted the pond surface a muddy green colour, and blended it to a muddy brown colour near the edge, using acrylic paints applied very wet. This had previously had several coats of dark brown with a rub back in between to smooth the ply. Once dry, the water was added using Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic, a thin layer first, then a thicker (~2mm) later which was left to dry for a couple of days. I'd dammed the front with masking tape, the Aqua Magic is thick enough not to leak through it, but thin enough to self-level, and I did have to use a scalpel to remove the masking tape! The result is pretty much what I was aiming for - a still pond. 

Planning some details

With time to complete the Rail200 challenge running short, I've thought about the details needed to finish it. This pack of benches and luggage trolleys from Shire Scenes will add some interest to the station. They're assembled with superglue, a little fiddly (especially the wheels) but not difficult.

The point levers are also Shire Scenes etched brass, I've had plastic ones before which are vulnerable and easily break so I'm hoping these are a bit more robust. I've made up sleeper extensions and planks to fit them to the ends of the point timbers too. 

I'd found a Knightwing water crane in my stash, it's white-metal and easy to assemble, and has now been painted. I'm not quite sure where to put it...

Option 1 is alongside the engine shed, by what will be the loop track. It's the most logical place as locos can water while running around or during shunting, but a bit close to the hole in the sky, and doesn't stand out well. 

Option 2 is in front of the shed, it's convenient for the sidings and probably the run-round loop as werll as the shed siding. It's a bit tight for space, and up against the open door.

Option 3 is next to the coaling stage, if that is pushed up against the shed doors. It does mean a loco needs to move "on shed" to water. 

Option 4 is next to the weighbridge, at the entrance point to the engine shed. 

Option 5 is at the end of the platform, between the "main" line and the pond. Locos can water while backing onto their train.

Rail200 - buildings finished

The buildings have finally been completed, painted with Vallejo acrylics. The brickwork was painted with my usual technique of picking out a few bricks in different shades to the base red primer, then a coat of mortar colour which is then wiped off in a diagonal direction. I painted the arches, lintel and capping bricks in something approaching "engineering blue" bricks though I'm not sure I got the shade right, the result looks effective though. 

The stores building platform paving has had a few washes over the grey primer, while the "lead" roof is left in primer grey because I couldn't think of a better finish! The doors are closed - actually on double-sided tape so they could be opened up later if needed - and black paper behind the windows hides the lack of depth. The airbrush was used to put smoke stains over the entrance as though locos have lingered there. 

On the boiler house my plan for fixing the doors has actually worked, although they can't be closed because they overlap! I think I'd narrowed the doorway slightly to make the building fit the space and the door to be central to the track, though the doors will never be closed anyway. The metal chimney has come out well with a hint of rust speckles and smoke staining with the airbrush. 

The engine shed roof used the Vallejo "rust and chipping effects" I first tried earlier this year, but this time I airbrushed rather than brush-painted the chipping medium which has given a more effective patchy effect, and "chipped" off the black layer about an hour after applying it. I'm very happy with the result, still not convinced by the vent flues but they look better for being rusty!

Inside, I fitted a yellow LED under the centre brace, and the wiring for that and the front wall lamp runs down inside the far wall. The dirty whitewashed Slater's brick inner false wall works well when viewed through the open doors, while the windows have been smoked with the airbrush. Oh, and look - the doors actually close!

The canopy was airbrushed green for a neat finish then given a dirty wash to emphasise the planking, while the top was finished in a dark grey-brown. However, as can be seen, the top didn't fit snugly into the frame as it has taken on a more acute angle. I couldn't see a way to glue this down, the contact patches are far to small. 

I fitted pairs of plastic fillet plates into the underside of the ridge, spaced to sit either side of two of the roof trusses. A 1mm hole through the plates allows a pin (paperclip wire) to pass through. 

With the top of the roof in place the wire pins pass under the peak of the trusses forming a strong mechanical fixing.

As you can see, this pulls the top into place neatly. In fact, no further fixing seems necessary, but I'll fix the pins with a blob of glue. 

I'm very pleased with how the station has come out, it has just the right blend of a grand facility of humble construction. It's well kept, but since locos run through it the ends and inside of the canopy and the roof glazing are smoke stained. 

Like the engine shed, a thin inner wall tidies up the back of the windows in case of a look under the canopy. The finials are rather vulnerable, one has been knocked off and refixed twice already!