Coalbridge Street: This is the story…

Yesterday we saw the left hand side of the Coalbridge Street layout begin to take shape. Over the holidays this has been a comfortable and enjoyable muse. Today let’s take a look at how far things have come in just three weeks…

I am really enjoying myself here - the model railroaders squint, a critical assessment of the scene and reflection on how close to the story I am telling is the result of many hours of craft. Simple, sometimes repetitive tasks that here, through an artistic hand, bring a scene to life not just for me, but you too…

Coalbridge Street is firmly sat in the 1970s, depicting a New England autumn into early winter. The back scene shows not only bare silvery trunks but also branches in brownish shades. I have found that by combining two different (but both natural) products sold for making trees I’ve been able to match the feel in 3D. At their base a combination of foliage, micro fibre and static grass combine to give that dense brush that you find in these young woodlands.

That unkempt, lightweight branch line track, so evocative of the genre was going to be a challenge. I love making my ballast neat, here was the antithesis, rough, muddy, grassy… wonderful. Copious amounts of tile grout were applied, tamped, misted with water and then treated to scenic cement in pursuit of the dream. Later, small blobs of PVA and 2 mm static grass brought a touch of nature and help disguise the transition from code 55 to code 75 track.

The road surface itself could now be applied, and this uses my by now ‘standard’ approach of talc dusted over Humbrol gloss 5. In my haste to see the finished results, I began brushing this off before it had completely cured and as a result there are some places where the original card is showing through, but these can be incorporated into blemishes in the prototypes tarmac, or patch repairs.

Let us finish by studying this photo, above. The 44 tonner is a repainted Rapido model that needs weathering, the Volvo still needs painting, but just look at the colours, the texture, the composition. 

This is the story!

We’re on the right track, excuse the pun. Until next time, more soon…

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