Looking a bit better.

I'm not too chuffed about the paint job from yesterday. However, I reckon that most of the ugly spots could be covered over with rocks and weeds. 

I painted the base of the water this evening. I chose a green for of couple of reasons. It matches the algae on the Scalescenes Dock Edge and I already had it. I have used this colour a couple of times before. It's sort of the colour of the water around Circular Quay. I have used it on a couple of dockside layouts before. It might be the last as it is about to run out. I don't think that you can get these test pots anymore. The results are not too bad at all. 

The next step is to print out the dock surfaces and glue them on to the top so that it will give me the proper height for my dock walls. 

Until next time. 

I'm sure it worked last time.

I'm sure that last time I tried this I had better results. Firstly, I painted the plaster with raw sienna I then sprayed burnt sienna. This didn't look so good so I added some black. 

Hopefully with a few rocks and weeds it should look better. If not - I try it all again. 

It might look better in the cold light of day tomorrow. 

The Final Plan?

Let's face it this could still change but here is the final idea.

Last time I build a harbour style layout I used the Scalescenes Dock Edge. I reckon that I'll use the same this time. It's easy to use. Print it off, spray it with matte varnish (I use Micador), cut it glue it and attach it to the dock wall. I used wood for the pylons instead of the paper ones which come with the kit. The dock edge also comes with cobblestone or concrete top for your dock surface. I'm a sucker for cobblestone.

A couple of nights ago I inserted some polystyrene foam around the marina area and where the ferry pontoon will be. I covered this with some polyfilla that I had. It probably isn't ideal but it would have gone off before I used it again. The next step,which hopefully will be this weekend, will be to spray the plaster with acrylic wash and when that has dried paint in the water colour. I'm planning a green to match the algae on the bottom of the dock edge.

Hopefully it will all go well.

Minor Adjustments

I'm always miffed that when you plan a layout something happens and changes your plans. However, with this layout I worked out soon after building the board that I was going to be making things up as I go along. 

As this is a shunting layout I am after some interesting industries that I could put in a semi rural setting.  An obvious choice would be a fish co-op for my small fishing fleet to unload their catch and send on trains to Sydney. Back in the dark ages of the twentieth century I had something similar on a layout and every operating session four TRCs would be dropped off and picked up from a harbour siding and sent to the state's capital at the end of the day. 

This was meant to be next to the station but when I took a photo I realised that the fishing boats would be obscured by the fish co-op building. Now it is on the other side of the layout. 

Another consideration is the nine inch radius. To be fair the curve is not a constant curve. There are a couple of spots where it it tighter. Laying a nine inch curve is a little tricky as the track is springy. 

I have a couple of milk tanks so that means a dairy. Boats need petrol and I have an Ampol tank that fits the bill. It was designed for heavy oil but the blue tank is now in the business of delivering diesel to the harbour. 

One industry which I wasn't sure of has just been filled. One little siding which was originally planned for the dairy which has moved is now planned as a bakery. This is due to discovering that the Trainorama BCH will negotiate the curve. This means that a Powerline BWH will as well. They are almost identical. But did they convey flour? This will need a bit of research. However it would produce stock variety. 

Until next time.