Down on Beaverbrook: Terra forming...

I shared a photo in Friday’s update of progress on Beaverbrook, however enough has been happening to warrant a more detailed look at work around not TerraTransport but terra forming…

TerraTransport and terra forming in one photo…

Progress on my H0 scale shelf layout moves in fits and starts punctuated by locomotive builds or periods of operation! However, I’ve been itching to get the roads painted and to that end, it felt like the right time to begin the sequence of ground work to get me to that point.

Although basically flat, the layout undulates, deliberately, along its length. The trackbed is almost level but the road follows the contours of my wavy plywood baseboard, and evokes the feeling of the prototype. What this means practically is more work than you’d imagine! Although I’d love to rush in and paint it all now, I know form childhood experience that road surface needs to be towards the end of the messy scenery processes as otherwise it’s flat surface attracts pots of glue, tins of paint and their associated spills and drops, scuffs and dents. Common sense prevailed and I began by using fibre mould plaster and normal filler to build up and blend the road surface into the surrounding plain baseboard. The fibre mould plaster  isn’t cheap but dries hard and is nice and light, as well as I’m told being more resistant to cracking, time will tell.

The raw surfaces were painted in earth toned emulsion tester pots. Once dry I could start in the rails and sleepers, these were painted using a blend of Humbrol enamels, 72, 98 and 33 for the sleepers, in various mixes, varied as you go. Rails were 33 and 82 with a touch if 98 to vary the shade.

The same was completed at each end of the layout, I appear to have decided to work from the edges to the centre! Ballasting was next, using Woodland Scenics fine grey, applied with a dice shaker tapped gently on the raise and tamped into place carefully with an old paint brush before being sealed in position with Woodland Scenics scenic cement. Finally, I was in a position to try some road out…

Following the method pioneered on Mollington Road, based upon Gordon Gravett’s teachings Humbrol gloss 5 was apples to the surface and liberally dusted with talc, yes talc! Left to dry overnight the remains are brushed and vacuumed off leaving a Matt mottled gently textured surface, great for further work. I will slowly progress along the road being careful to blend any joints, but the results will transform the appearance of the layout. I’m now excited about adding greenery and vegetation, but that can wait a few weeks! Until next time, more soon…