Paxton Road 2: First structure in N (N part 20)…

Another milestone this week on the N scale adventure. Something I have been putting off for weeks, in fact something I have worked about in this smaller scale since the start, structure building...

I have my methods and approaches and to be honest, I'm sometimes a little 'stuck in my ways'. I'm happy to experiment, but if it isn't broke etc etc, and I'm not always the neatest in my structure modelling, being happy in 1/76 and 1/87 with representative rather than accurate modelling. This approach is based upon the assumption that if proportion and colours are right, then fine detail isn't as important, in fact could potentially be distracting - these things need to 'support' the actors on stage, rather than be front and centre themselves.

My fear, if I can describe it as such, was that in N that slightly sloppy approach would just look crude and that I would not be able to rely upon the same techniques - that whilst the same theory would stand in terms of overall detail, neatness would need to be much higher. So a quiet weekend afternoon with some 30thou black styrene, a Peco truss and some Slaters N scale rough stone I set about testing some of this out with a fairly low risk entry into N scale structure building.

The basic structure was build up in the black styrene with liquid poly before I cut out sections of Slaters embossed material and superglued this over the top. I made sure to line up courses of stone, and to treat the corners in particular with respect, recognising this is things would show up if I wasn't careful. Capping stones were added in more black styrene carved to shape and glued in place with more liquid poly. A coat of paint (a mix of 33/62/53 for the girder, 72 for the walls and 64 for the cap stones) brought it all together and was left to harden up. Once throughout dry I applied 98 thinned slightly to the stone walls and wiped this down vertically leaving a residue around the relief and in the cracks. I then used some 28 to add lime weeping, again brushed downwards with a finger. The result, in the top photo, shows real promise. The balance of just enough texture and detail, combined with a consistent colour palette to other 'foreground' elements of the scene shows this i'm on the right track. This has given me the confidence to move forwards to the first real challenge - building the cement silo. Watch this space, I've got a cunning plan. Until next time, more soon...

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