The Beck Bridge - Terraform

After assembling the new diorama structure I filled a few gaps with filler and gave everything a coat of oil-based gloss varnish as a sealer. Once this was dry the side pieces were flatted back and then given two coats of matt black paint (this time water based). A third coat will be added right at the end of the build to make sure everything looks fresh.

Once the paint was dry the cat food box section was permanently glued in place and some flexible filler added around some of the edges where there was a bigger than expected gap. At the 'flat' end I then made every effort for it to be far from flat, infilling with a layer of 5,5mm foam core board, then balsa wood for the trackbed and more cat food box cardboard as the basis of the landscaping, carefully overlapping into the polystyrene of the original area..

Once the glue was dry on the cardboard I added DAS modelling clay to blend together the pieces and smooth the changes in levels. This included reworking over the polystyrene at the left hand end to ensure that there was an edge to ballast up against at a later stage.

Track at this point is being tried for size, it is Peco 009 'crazy' track but with almost all the sleepers separated, ends straightened and re-spaced. Further detailing will be applied at the next stage before final fitting.

Colin