Not every commission is something new. It has been an honour over the years to be asked to restore or repair others work. This latest example is a step beyond though, a complete layout, the 16mm 'Gallstone Creek'...
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| Overview of the model showing restored track and greenery, respecting the original finish and design intention. |
The original build was by its creator, Ray Wyborn - now in the safe hands of a couple of 16mm stalwarts it had become a little tired with faded colours, damaged track and tired scenery. I was asked to tackle each of these concerns whilst recognising the creative intention of Ray when it was built. Each caption below discusses some elements of the work involved.
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| Examples of damaged scenery and poor track work. |
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| Restoring the scenery. Faded and of poor quality. Lightly resprayed a brighter, but not luminescent green. This allows the original brush marks to show through. Bottom, finished alongside the repaired and repainted track, with replacement bushes. |
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| Track repairs. Poorly repaired soldered joints onto copper clad sleepers were cleaned up and made good before repainting of sleepers and rails (bottom). |
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| The overal layout including replacement fascia with original signage saved and re-attached. |
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| The rabbit warrant style of the layout is visible in these shots. The track returns from he low level to the station by a steep gradient hidden inside the mountain. The layout is very light, built from old advertising signs and off cuts. |
Beyond the works shown I have repaired and restored the station building where interior detail had become damaged and dis-lodged, as well as repairing a number of the figures and re-fixing them to the layout. I hope that with these sympathetic changes I've been able to maintain Ray's vision for the model whilst ensuring it is able to give viewers a few more years of enjoyment in its future.
If you have a project, model or layout that is a little tired and could do with some help restoring it then do get in touch. Every commission is different but I pride myself on offering you a one stop, fixed price service. You can contact me via the form here in the menu, or by email through the link on my Facebook page (you don't need a Facebook account, the link is on the Modelmaking Commissions page here). This is nearly the last commission of 2024, but there will be one more to share next week. Until then, thank you and more soon...
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I loved that layout when i first saw it, many many years ago
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy to have been able to breathe some new life into Roy's creation. Hopefully you, and others, will get a chance to see it out on the circuit at some point.
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