Model Railway Forum

Thanks Richard - I'll have a look at that site. I think the walling needs "dirtying" - luckily I can lift if all off of the layout to work on. Barry

Looking at your pictures and getting loads of idears from them.

sandy wrote: ↑Sat Feb 19, 2022 10:54 am Looking at your pictures and getting loads of idears from them.

More than happy for you to copy anything you see on my layout Sandy. I have spent a lot of time looking at other layouts in magazines and on YouTube, all of which helped me reach the stage I am at now.

Thinking about the retaining wall, which was discussed briefly the other day, I think that before placing creepers etc., it needs darkening. A wall with a steam shed etc., within close proximity would have become pretty dark and soot encrusted over the years. Card does not take paint to well, and I read, I think, that a quick spray of say matt varnish, would "waterproof" the card. If I were to do this, could I use a "thinned" enamel wash to colour the wall?
It did cross my mind about replacing it with Bachmann scenecraft retaining wall or even covering it with Redutex stone wall sheets, but as I have almost nine feet of walling, the cost ruled these options out.
I did spray a short length of surplus walling yesterday with Humbrol Matt Varnish - I did this in the garage where it was cold, and when dry, the wall was lighter than when I started - this may have been due to the temperature?

More than likely, Barry, aerosol sprays tend to ‘bloom’ in cold temps. Try warming the can and the parts to be sprayed with a fan heater or hair dryer first. Obviously turn them off when actually spraying.
I have to do this quite regularly in my paint shed.

The basing glue and layering spray has arrived from World War Scenics - so hopefully, after some practice, there should soon be some grass on the layout.

A recent addition to the "Wykeham Shed" is this Hornby Schools Class. A very cheap Ebay purchase, it is the R2898XS "sound" loco, but on arrival it became apparent that the sound decoder and speaker had been removed and replaced with a normal 8-pin decoder. I'm not too concerned as it runs very well and as I said it was cheap - it was shown on Ebay as the "sound loco" which it is, but from the other items the seller was selling, I'm not sure they new much about model railways. There was a similar loco being sold at the same time, but it was £100 more. The loco will be renamed and numbered soon. I may fit a new sound decoder and speaker.

IMG_1152 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

A very rare visitor to Wykeham - 4073 Caerphilly Castle - this is the first time this loco has been out of its box since purchase on the 1st April 2015

IMG_1163 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Very handsome Barry. Looks a bit lonely though

It's now back in its box Brian - and back in the cupboard

Never mind, worth another try.