Friday Update: Thirty-one Three Twenty-three…

It has been a busy week outside of work with various school commitments and Janey with college assignments, so I’ve been enjoying burying myself in Shades of Mountain Ash…

This photo, above was taken mid week, and shows how much progress had been made from the previous week, already. Terrible weather has also allowed pretty solid focus on this project and it’s nearing scenic completion (see the photo at the bottom). I have really really enjoyed myself playing with textures and the colour palette, and can’t wait to get some photos on it soon. Next week will see fiddle stick construction for both this and Bishopsbourne, and then some shakedown testing to ensure they’re both working reliably as planned.

In yesterday’s video I mentioned Paxton Road 3, showing this structure - well here it is close up. It’s a bit of a test bed for some ideas around representing constructional elements in styrene. The brick lintels above the doors were a labour of love, scribed with a compass in thin styrene, and are effective I think, certainly the only way I could fathom matching the physical texture of the brick and stone sheets. The window coping and lintels are filler, applied over a mask. This is less effective, but I hope once painted will look the part. I’m taking my time building up the walls, one section at a time. Inspired by Danygraig shed at Swansea, in its Gower Chemicals days, Paxton Road 3 channels a bit of this location amongst others, but still location agnostic, hopefully! My ‘Speedlink’ time period won’t change though.

A Wednesday morning off work and a trip to see my good friend George, below, who showed me some of his latest 009 models. George is the co-conspirator for the Cambrian N gauge project, hence the Class 97s! Traditionally a Talyllyn modeller, focusing entirely in 5.5mm to the foot scale, the 009 and N are new and exciting developments. Cake, coffee and layout planning, a good few hours.

 

Back home and in the evenings Lochdubh has gained it’s own lighting -  now the stage is set for scenic development. I’m pretty certain of the composition and excited to see it develop. I think my first step will be the station building, whilst building that mull over the track wiring and turnout operation. These need consideration as I’ve not tackled hand made turnouts in any scale before, and in a box cameo there’s not space for a turnout motor and polarity switch. I’ve a few basic ideas that could work, but it’s working out how to do it with a flat base that is the challenge. I’ll share the journey here.

So wrapping this week up, this is Shades if Mountain Ash last night, with a lovely contrast between BR and NCB lines, textures and shades in the greenery and tones in the paint work on the structures. It’s been a real delight bringing both these projects to life, if you’d like some support developing a scheme my layout design process starts from just £160, and can be taken as far as you wish. Bishopsbourne is complete but a canvas for further detailing, Shades of Mountain Ash takes it’s a step further and will be fully realised ready for enjoyment. 

I hope you enjoy the rest of the day and the weekend ahead. Personally I’m going to try and spend some time in my own projects over the next few days, because it will be busy with the Easter holidays too, and I’d like to keep some sanity whilst the kids are off school! Until next time, more soon…

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