Montgreenan

[bulleidboy]

It's looking good Richard. Cutting the foam is a messy job - I invested in a cheap hot-wire foam cutter - a lot less mess, the foam granules seem to get everywhere. Barry

[Hound Dog]

Thanks Barry - yes I have one of these cheap hot foam cutters as well, but I find it easier to use a sharp knife - with the insulating foam there are no granules but just lots of thin slivers etc…….hopefully another few sessions should see the worst of it over and then I can progress to messy plaster bandages - LOL

[Hound Dog]

Hi Folks,

I thought I would share the latest update on my Tunnel and hill-side project ........progress has been pretty slow due to the weather and other priorities ( just back last week from a business trip to Japan and Singapore, which reminded me that I didn't miss long haul travel during the pandemic), but this week should finally see an end to the building and prep work, and a start to creating the detailed scenery ( the bit I enjoy the most).

In the interim I built a little Farmhouse ( a cottage from Petite Properties) and Dutch style barn.......I added my own modifications to each and in particular used Redutex coatings for the cottage roof and the corrugated roof / walls on the barn - very effective, but as Steve M said recently "ferociously expensive". I have roughly positioned these building on the large lift out section and plan to have a couple of crop fields and perhaps some sheep or cows grazing on the hillside.

The road has been generally smoothed using fine plaster and I intend to spray thick lining paper with Rustoleum paint before pasting in place ( can't remember the colour but used it before for my station yard on Steve's recommendation) ........I found this approach work really well previously and I can hide any edges in the grass verge etc.

The next night or two will be spent finishing my tunnel portals and retaining walls as they are at various stages of completion and need to be weathered before gluing in-situ.......after that is is painting the hill-side a base green colour and them onto static grass etc........Need to order some hedges and stone dykes, but will be making my own jaggy climbers from fine seaweed from my local beach and plan to try to make haybales using pampas grass from the garden.

Anyway enjoy the photo and I will try to post progress more regularly.........BTW - the Blue Class 25 is a recent addition as my fleet did not have a RAT and I picked up this mint condition model for a fair price from Clark Railworks last week.

Cheers - Richard

[Steve M]

Redutex is expensive but judging by your results on those buildings, worth every penny. Excellent work Richard.

[Bandit Mick]

Love the barn HD. Will try the seaweed trick as I live by the sea.

[bulleidboy]

Coming together nicely Richard - the barn roof looks very realistic - Redutex every time - blow the expense

[Hound Dog]

Love the barn HD. Will try the seaweed trick as I live by the sea.

Thanks - the seaweed is the very fine horse hair type usually found dried out at the top of the beach ……. Once spread out and coated with Woodland Scenic leaves it gives a pretty good representation of the jaggy climbers that are typically found on track side embankments etc…….. if I could collect enough of this I could start a little side line for retirement ( patent pending - LOL.

[Steve M]

I’ve looked up ‘jaggy climbers’ in the RHS yearbook.
The seaweed looks very effective. One question though, is there a danger it will rehydrate if the weather is humid? Rather like lichen has a tendency to do. I guess if enough glue/hairspray is used for the scatter it’s unlikely to be an issue though.

[Mountain Goat]

I have seen that seaweed type down here in South Wales. I have a piece somewhere (Or had a piece) and the lovely thing about it is even a couple of years later (I didn't use it. Just put it aside for "One day"), it still retains its structure.

[Hound Dog]

Now don't expect an update every evening, but having shared what looked like a "winter wonderland" yesterday, I thought it only fair to let you see the initial green painted hillsides...........Clearly the roads will not be white and the white patch of land beside the cottage is probably going to be cereal crop field, so will not be green + I ran out of paint !

Still trying to decide whether to use flat stones that I have collected over the weeks whilst walking the dog on the beach.......I was thinking of fixing them onto the slope adjacent to the tunnel on the curve ( R/H tunnel in the third image, grass slope to the left) and to this end I tried to pick up stones that when scaled would represent substantial boulders.......can't make my mind up if this will be a good effect or simply look like a a "home-made" pebble pattern - anybody have any experience of this approach ?

Anyway, the next few nights are committed to tunnel portal and retaining wall painting / weathering, so no pictures likely before the weekend......enjoy - Richard.

PS - Interesting how having the grass painted helps to better frame a number of areas that need further thought and preparation, eg fencing, trees, bushes etc etc