Canal Street Wharf: ground texture...

Well the good thing about Christmas projects is that they tend to progress quickly, and that suits a micro layout. The downside is waiting for things to dry...

So I wanted to represent the quayside as a dirty crushed cinder/ash ballast around the rails. The problem was, how to get a matt, mottled finish that was too scale and still had some texture. The answer came in a 1990 issue of Model Railway Journal, talking about the seminal Inkerman Street. The solution, a mix of Humbrol enamels painted over the clay, and then seived fire ash over the top (see above) tamped down and left to dry. Well of course I was a little impatient, and perhaps didn't leave it quite long enough, anyhow, I brushed and vacuumed off the excess and success, a lovely textured finish.

Just what I had hoped to achieve. As well as the surface, you can see I've added a wall to the canal side from a few materials, all Slaters embossed sheets. The longest section is 7mm corrugated iron, looks like the sort of stuff I see along canals these days. Then a short brick section, where a drainage pipe will come out from the brook the other side, then a section of 4mm corrugated and finally a short section of 7mm planking.

The yard looks great, I'm pondering whether to seal it with dull-cote, as I don't want it to change colour really and I think Dull-cote might darken it.

Finally, I've started adding some ground cover, the base of which is 20 year old packets of Woodland Scenics, coarse turf (yellow) and fine earth blend over the top, secured with some Peco basing glue, and then sprayed over with their layering spray. Once there is a little more done I'll add some static grass, but I must get on with the structures, I need to build a brick wall, decide if I'm going to add an office or a corrugated iron hut, and paint the buildings. More soon...