Not Quite a White Christmas

Work on scenery for the Kingston Plains module continues and as the shape of the basic topography is now settled, the module has taken a distinctly blue hue as the absorbent towelling has been glued in place. As an aside, the inspirational photo taped to the back drop was taken from Ian Dunn's article, 'Moving the Golden Grain', in the April 2006 issue of AMRM. It shows a great view of the Merriwa branch line terminus in 1970.
 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Terraforming - aka making a mess , the next step will be to apply a slurry of the coloured tile grout mixed with of 50/50 PVA/water. Most modellers have their own favourite technique for this stage and I'm no different. My experience has been that the slurry, once cured, provides a robust pre-coloured base upon which to add other scenery elements. Over time, I have settled on a Davco tile grout product that I can source from my local Bunnings mixing a light brown (ten parts of item number 27 or 28) with a Red brown (one part of item number 38).[Update Jan 18 - a recent visit to Bunnings indicates that Davco have changed their coding and colour range. Some experimentation will be required but the mix of a light brown and red brown should work]
  

 The two flanking photos show the view from either end of the module. The wheat silo will be located where the glue bottle is standing and should be the dominant scenic feature for Kingston Plains.











It's a bit hard to believe that Christmas 2017 is rapidly approaching, but it is and consequently, this will be my final post for 2017. If I've been extra good enough this year, an elderly ALCO may find its way onto the Philip's Creek locomotive roster in 2018. Then again, even a lump of coal might be useful as it could be crushed and used to fill the coaling stage at Kingston Plains.

More importantly however at this time of the year, I would like to acknowledge  those individuals who have assisted me with comments, advice and information, all of which have enhanced my modelling activities in 2017.

And finally, to all readers, best wishes to you and your family for a very Merry Christmas and a very happy 2018.   

The Station at Kingston Plains

After getting distracted over the last few months, I had to have a strong talk with myself about focus and priorities. As a consequence of this motivational monologue, I have finally started the landscaping on what is probably the final module for Philip's Creek; that is a branch line terminus now referred to as the fictitious location of Kingston Plains. Work has progressed steadily on what will be a relatively flat landscape.

As an aside, there has been a slight change in the work flow from my past endeavours. Previously, I have shaped the landforms, applied basic ground covers  and then progressively added buildings as they they were constructed or purchased. The area around the new building was then resceniced if necessary.  However, as I had already been acquiring buildings for this module over several years, my approach now has changed. This time, I have 'planted' several of the major buildings into their final location once the basic 'terraforming' has been completed but before any ground cover has been added. There are risks to this approach as small items of detail could be damaged as the various ground covers are applied, so extra care will be required, but it allows me to adjust the ground cover as necessary to align with the adjacent structures,

The first building in the long running acquisition program was an A5 station building constructed from a LJ Models card kit. (Two articles in Branchline Modeller Number 2 provides additional information on the prototype and extra construction tips) The kit was originally assembled around 2006 with the intention of using it on the Mount Windeatt branch but it did not seem to fit in that location and was put aside for use elsewhere. As Kingston Plains is 'the end of the line', so to speak, it was now or never.The model was recovered from its temporary storage, dusted off and some additional detail such as water tanks and chimneys added.


It was then time to construct the platform. As always, external space constraints come into play and and with a scale platform length of only 40m, it is considerably  shorter that equivalent prototypes such as Merriwa. However, as the only passenger service for this line is a single CPH, hopefully, it probably won't look too out of place



The platform was cut from a suitable piece of styrofoam and shaped to suit the track alignment. I had contemplated purchasing commercial timber platform edging but decided instead to fabricate it using materials already to hand.





The wood planking was from a Wills Material Pack (OO instead of HO scale but difficult to pick the difference). The capping timber came from some scrap balsa wood.

Weathering was the usual mix of of white, grey and black acrylics supplemented with a few  pastels.

The gravel or decomposed granite platform surface is simulated using a paste, DecoArt Stonelike Textural Acrylics. It took two coats to get sufficient coverage.


The last two photos show the station now fixed in place. Other details such as lights, seating and signage will be added later.  Ballasting and other landscaping, when completed, will also hide a multitude of sins but I'm will have to be bloody careful of those finials!