Hanging Basket Liner Blues

Regular readers will know I've been an advocate of using hanging basket liner to represent grass for about 20 years now, resisting the more popular methods of grass application that have become available... until now. 

Having got the basic ground cover in place I was ready to start the application of hanging basket grass in my usual fashion by laying down neat PVA and applying the brushed hanging basket, letting it dry and pulling the backing off before manicuring it as desired. It failed, twice over. After several sessions I had a very patchy effect and several areas had no effective grass "growth".

I had used my usual PVA, twice. Some of the PVA was absorbed into the material and not bonding to the ground surface. This current PVA is a just post-Covid purchase and I'm not convinced it is as good as the old stuff. I then tried Gorilla PVA and had better results but not perfect, still ending up with some areas entirely not stuck down. I then tried a coat of Matt Medium on the next area to seal the surface first, but it made little difference. The photo above was the result - it may not look too bad in the photo but there should really be grass everywhere...

This is a closer view, PVA was applied across the whole area in front of the rocks!

I have put some of the issues down to the coldness of the workshop during the week I was laying down the grass, hovering a few degrees over freezing most of the time. I have had a few fails before but never to this level and frankly not to this level of disappointment. I have now stripped back a lot of the current grass, sealed the surface with Matt Medium and added a thin layer of ground foam to start again. At around the same time I fixed down the resin tree stump and blended in the ground surfacing around the base.

Whilst I am still a big proponent of this method of creating grass I decided that I could do without the hassle and I therefore bought myself an early Christmas present in the form of a small static grass applicator. Experimentation has begun...

Colin 

Twigging On

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of a twig pretending to be a tree as part of my sketching out of the scenery for 'odsock Corner. Shortly afterwards I started to rework the twig into a tree using some old Hornby wire foliage branches (from the Skale Scenics range 10-15 years ago), removing their lumpy foliage and supergluing them in place on the adapted truck.

At this point I did propose to use another twig to make something a little taller and narrower to better fit this location. It had only taken a couple of hours to get to this stage and I planned to store this  for future use elsewhere. However I then decided to make changes to the existing frame by pointing the branches upwards rather than outwards, and twisting in some extra smaller branches at the extremities. I then used modelling clay to smooth out the joins between the twig and the branches.

To further blend the wire branches to the trunk I mixed up some of my remaining scenic mix of paint/PVA and added in some tile grout to stiffen the mixture, I had hoped this would be a good basis for bark but it dried quite light.

Contrary to popular opinion, tree trunks are not brown, more a grey-brown-green mixture and to create this effect I started with grey primer and Humbrol brown spray paints, spraying uneven coats of them both to create a mottled effect. The brown can was splattering quite a bit and gave up shortly afterwards, another one to add to the shopping list!

To blend the colours together and add shadow into any recesses I gave the tree a wash of black-grey all over and when this was dry I dry-brushed grey-green over the lower trunk and branches, getting as far up as I could angling the brush between the branches. This gave a very pleasing effect and I had one of those "stop" moments before I went too far!

After all this work to the armature I feel that I have achieved a much better shape than I had initially created and a very satisfactory colour. It is now ready to add the foliage in due course before planting it in place on the layout alongside the modified Hornby tree (which requires a few further changes) and the recently purchased fir tree.

More soon...

Colin

'odsock Corner - Bits and Pieces

Where does time go? Work started on these items back in September and has proceeded embarrassingly slowly...

Over time the lamp and the wagon with the missing planks were joined by a few other pieces as ideas developed, the tree stump making an appearance during layout planning and is a Steve Bennett casting. All finally received a coat of primer and were painted over a few weeks and were matt varnished on the weekend just before the weather turned a lot colder. 

The fence is cobbled together from Slaters left-overs from a childhood project and would have been easier to start from scratch but I like to recycle... Also recycled is the bench, another S&D kit, one of a few bits assembled and painted by my Dad for Shifting Sands. It was later removed in favour of a Peco telephone box and I have restored the paintwork on the planking where a figure had been removed leaving the brass strip exposed. It has hidden itself rather well with just some careful colour matching and then dry brushing to match the shade of the lamp post.

Colin

Saturday Snapshot - The 422 Tops

 I realise that I have completed a project and that I have failed to take any pictures of it until this point... oops!

You may remember that I had purchased a spare 422 Modelmaking wagon chassis frame at Narrow Gauge North and used it for various bits of experimentation with axle boxes and the like. With the release of the Heywood-style 'Tops' wagon bodies I picked up a two-plank version at Narrow Gauge Now in October. The spare chassis was quickly fettled to suit and the two Araldited together, with the only other detail work being the addition of office staples at either end to form the lifting handles. Painted in Humbrol red-brown with black-grey ironwork I think the result is very pleasing.

I had originally painted the number plate in red with a brass surround but realising this looked a little gaudy I repainted in black with a white surround, the number '3' is a dry-print transfer from a GWR wagon sheet.

You may notice a small cut-out in the lower edge of the headstock, the final experiment with this chassis was to test the feasibility of fitting MicroTrains couplers. With Mathieson 7mm wheels in the Peco chassis around 0.5-0.75mm needed to be removed in a strip 5mm wide. The jury is out on whether these wagons will ever get that style of couplers but I thought it worth the try and not noticeable enough to reverse the adaptation.

Colin

One for the Road, Two for the Trees

Although I was happy enough with the roadway on 'odsock Corner I felt that it fell short of representing the rough surface of a obscure countryside trackway. The area that I was happiest with was the second crossing where I had a good basis for the areas worn away by traffic and time. I was convinced that I could get a better texture and colour...

Another mix of paint, PVA, tile grout powder and fine ballast was created, this time with more brown paint to warm the shade. This was laid over the original surface but not consistently, creating variation in tone and level. Whilst the mix was wet yet more fine ballast was sieved over and tamped into place to create further texture. 

I then let it dry overnight before the temptation to tinker set in. The following day further sanding of the surface took place, then some cunning setting of the resultant debris using matt medium. Another overnight to dry and weathering powders were used to add further colour variation to the various areas to represent those places where the dampness always seems to linger longer.

With plenty of mixture left over and knowing it would not keep, the area in front of the office building and around to the disconnected siding were treated, in front of the office I added both ballast and ground foam to the wet mixture to represent a rudimentary gravel path in the earth. As with the surplus of the first road surface mix, I also took the opportunity to coat the areas of ground formed from paper laid over polystyrene. Once everything was dry the grunged-up area of track had some shading added using weathering powders.

I do like the way the siding squeezes between the office and the tree... talking of trees, you may spot in the photos above that something curious might be going on... I had established early in the design process that I would use a Hornby Skale Scenics tree that I re-foliaged a couple of years ago, but I had a feeling that I may need a little more. Back in May I purchased some fir trees by 'Model Scene' (not the Peco brand) from CM3 Models with no real purpose in mind (other than joking about turning this layout into another Christmas scene!) but with the scenery now well under way I decided to try one in the gap next to the other tree. 

It has no trunk to speak of below the branches so is actually floating in fresh air at the moment. The flash of red through the leaves is a clip holding another idea in place. This twig was pruned from a bush in the garden last year along with a couple of others with their use as tree armatures in mind. A tree in this location was indicated on the mock-up but it is close to the edge of the board so will require some care and thought to create something that will not clash with the covering box.

Of course all of these trees are actually under-scale but at least they have enough height to not look too wrong in proportion to the small space of the layout. With plenty of smaller shrubs and bushes around I think the overall result will be effective.

Colin

Beyond the Kato 11-109 - the 11-108!

Back in February I completed number 6, a Simplex from FK3D styled on the Abbey Light Railway's 'Druid'. This ran on a Kato 11-109 as intended by the maker, although I had revealed a little more of it by removing the false 'skirt' under the underframe to make the end result more realistic. However, I always thought that it looked a little too 'perched' on the chassis, in particular too much clearance under the re-railing bars was a bit off-putting.

The inspiration for what follows was actually my yet to be built FK3D Lister locomotive, which takes advantage of a feature of the new-generation Kato chassis being built around a 'core' of weights holding the motor, flywheel, drivetrain etc to the point that the upper cover really only stops things falling out of place. I had also discovered the version of the Kato chassis (11-108) that had very little detail and was in fact noticeably narrower than the fake locomotive sideframes of the 11-109. My initial thoughts to somehow use a chassis without a cover and wondering how to fix it in place, turned to using a further-reduced 11-108 to lose 1mm in ride height.

The starting point, number 6 on a 11-109, with a frame height of 14.5mm and the 11-109 sideframes filling the space underneath.

The alterations required the the 11-108 chassis (stock Kato image used). The aim was the leave a raised area in the centre to match the opening in the body of the 3D print. In particular I will draw your attention to the cut at the right hand end of the top - do not cut to the right of the raised area as this will remove the clip that stops the motor moving backwards, I started this but soon realised my error! Cut along the opening about 1.5mm in from the edge instead and then file down the area to the right. All cuts were made with the top cover removed from the motorising unit.

The resultant conversion is seen with the original 11-109, we can see how much narrower it is and how the end platforms are lower than the 11-109 frame. The areas over the axleboxes were at about the same height as the 11-109 frame but I have chamfered them away to fit into the cut-away area under the body. I have painted the axleboxes matt black to better hide them and switched the baseplates over to give the new chassis the sprayed matt black one from the original chassis. 

In order to secure the new chassis in place I have used two screws which pass through the endplates into holes drilled in the underside of the body, centre at the rear and to one side at the front. As the motor protrudes out of the top of the cut-down chassis I had to remove an area under the bonnet of the print and reposition the weight that counterbalances the whitemetal driver figure. This view shows the slightly angled areas that will form the main interface between the new chassis and the body, inboard of the strips that sat on the 11-109.

The end result is a 13.5mm measurement to the top of the frame, bringing the rerailing bars closer to the rails and looking a lot less perched with the bonus of fresh air between the axleboxes and the ends of the loco.

So, was it worth it? I think so! Now you might be wondering why I didn't just cut away the old frame and carry out the same modifications, well I find the Kato plastic a little awkward to work and the less I had to remove the better, especially along the length. I also have memories of taking too much away from a 11-103 in the past and actually rendering it useless... but at least I have a spare motor for my older locos...

Colin

Carry on Again...

A midweek "extra", things must be moving along!

With the basic box assembled I added a few features to allow 'odsock corner to be securely stored within or displayed on top. A peculiarity of this build is that usually I would drill holes in the front and rear of the box as these are usually the longest elevations, but this one is square, and there is also the issue of the front of the layout being drop-framed and having less space underneath...

As well as drilling the holes for the bolts, on top of the box I added two plywood triangles which suffice to engage in the front corners of the baseboard to secure it when displayed. 

Although the bolt holes in the box are in the front and rear... the corresponding holes in the layout are in the sides of the board and a 90 degree turn is required on un-boxing, hardly arduous! Under the board captive bolts are held in place with small blocks of timber, drilled through and then opened out to hold the bolt. These were clamped and bolted into place whilst the PVA glue dried, with WD40 on the bolt threads to try and avoid any unwanted fixing.

After a mask up of the edges of the hardboard panels with low-tac decorators tape all the timberwork then had two coats of yacht varnish applied. Disaster then struck when the low-tac tape lifted the surface of the hardboard in places making a bit of a mess. Varnish also ended up where it wasn't really meant to leaving me to say this isn't my best work... The surface of the hardboard had some wax furniture polish applied which hides the worst of the damaged surface.

The layout board also had a coat of yacht varnish on the underside to protect the woodwork and then a couple of coats of grey primer on the outside edges, another coat of this may be the final colour in due course, applied after scenic work is completed. It is all looking very grey at this stage, the other day someone mentioned that they actually thought it was going to be a winter scene, but another season will soon roll around.

More soon...

Colin