The Green, Green Grass....

I have finally started to add some colour and texture to the landscape of my 009 project. At this stage the process is very much the same as I would do in 7mm scale so I thought I would share some images here. When I first started the project I always had it in mind to start on the cutting side, so it was about time that I made a start...

Progress has been made using the following methods and materials:

• Ground mix around the edges of the track made from Woodlands Scenics fine turf, a little (very) fine sand and dried tea leaves. This is laid over a PVA bed and then has matt medium dropped on the top to secure material in places such as where it lays over the ballast and darken the mix nicely.
• Other ground areas get the Woodlands Scenics fine turf over PVA as a base for the grass.
• Grass starts with hanging basket liner. I had a few bad patches on the first attempt at this and I nearly threw in the towel in favour of ground foam. I persisted and got better results once back in the swing of it.
• In places where the hanging basket liner left bald patches I used pieces of Green Scene 'meadow grass' teased out and stuck down with PVA. This gives nice variety in texture and colour.

As an experiment I used some material from Javis (I think this is it) which is gummed and just needs wetting. to be honest it looked awful at first but with hanging basket and Green Scene materials around it it blends in quite well. There isn't really any visible in the picture above but a patch is just visible in the one below.

I've annotated the next couple of pictures to illustrate the variety of materials used. Here the light green oval is the Green Scene 'meadow grass', the dark green is a similar material in a lighter shade:

Here the Javis material can just be spotted as a yellow patch in the grass:

Having got to the next area of land I concluded that it needed to be more than just a patch of grass and that ideally I wanted something growing there. The hunt was on for a tree or two and whilst I have supplies of sea foam ('Forest in a box') I wanted something a bit more substantial in this location. A visit to a local model shop found a pack of two Hornby Skale Scenics 'eco' trees that with a little extra work will do the job quite well:

Ironically using these trees sits nicely in my aim to be able to use materials on this project that are available to 4mm scale modellers that I might miss out on working in 7mm scale. At least that is what I tell myself...

Colin

An Inspirational Estate

A recent trip to the National Trust's Belton House in Lincolnshire has found a few little inspirational thought for modelling projects, especially for anyone planning on modelling an estate railway in O9.

Whilst many visit these locations to admire the grandeur of the stately home and it's immediate surroundings, I often find that it is in the odd corners of a property that the really useful scenes can be found. Take this corrugated barn, a listed structure, that would make an interesting prototype for a model:

This was apparently once open-sided and it is thought the side panels were re-use of materials left on the estate by the army in war time.

Close by is this garage structure. Not only would it make a great miniature railway shed, but it also appears to be a full size kit-bash of the Wills 4mm scale garage kit!

This gateway caught my eye, not least because it was freshly restored, but also the layout of the hinges and just how useful it and the wall either side would be on a layout:

Those with the space for an estate railway may wish to include a folly of some sort (by the way I am aware of a 1/24th scale layout on just these lines):

I must admit that on previous visits to Belton as a child I cannot remember the folly being there. This may be due to it's proximity to the entrance to something that would be a big distraction, the adventure play area and miniature railway. In what must be one of my first miniature railway photos, here is the Mardyke 'Deltic' in the early 1980s:

Happily both play area and railway are still going strong, both having seen much investment in recent years. In fact, the miniature railway has gone through complete renewal over the years, new locomotives, followed by new coaching stock and trackwork. The old shuttle out and back layout has been replaced with a new station mid-way along the line and balloon loops either end. Sadly the charming original station area is now grassed over with little to hint at the past. The new station, incorporating the stock shed, is impressive in itself and quite model-able:

I'm not about to model an estate railway but one very useful piece of inspiration I did get was about ground surfacing. This acted as both confirmation that the work I have completed so far on my 009 project is right, and a reminder that in some areas brown scatter is just not enough, there are factors such as leaf litter to consider. On which point I have now dried out and opened up some tea bags...

Colin