Scenic work has started in abundance. Recent purchases of Sea Moss along with various materials from Woodland Scenics, has enabled the team to push ahead. I would like to express my thanks to Peter Warwick for allowing us to raid his box full of scatter and foliage material wh
ich has kept us going.
We have concentrated on the fiddle yard (Radley end) of the layout as there is very little work that can be done at the station end until the main station building and the cottages are constructed. All of these are about 12 months away, regrettably.
The Sea Moss is sprayed with matt varnish and then covered in scatter material. Then it is re-sprayed to hold it all in position. Some modellers use this for trees but I prefer just to make bushes out of it. Small holes are then drilled into the baseboard; a selection of the Sea Moss is broken off the main stalk and glued into position. It then receives another spraying with matt varnish and sprinkled with scatter. The excess is removed, later when the glues are dried, in the old fashion way of stocking over the end of the hoover.
What I have found really useful to use in bulking out the scenery is the waste from the foliage when making trees. The foliage matting produced by Woodland Scenics sheds loads of bits and pieces while working with it. This is saved and put into a bag of its own and then used as a “building up” material in conjunction with the scatters powders.
The photographs show progress around the engine shed, pump house and platelayers hut. The gap around the base of the coaling stage will need attention but as it is not, at present, permanently secured in position, this will be completed at a later date.
