READY FOR PLANTING

 Shabby station building nearly ready to open its doors...

There has been little in the way of practical modelling going on in the Dent Workshop since Christmas, with far more in the way of editorial and review tasks to get through. However, I have managed to finish painting and distressing the station building for my latest layout project. Using a Wills plastic kit, the small booking office and waiting room now looks suitably dishevelled, with peeling paint and exposed timber here and there. All that's missing is the doors and windows at the moment, while I toy with the idea of whether or not to detail the interior (I'm not sure any of it will be visible). The toilet block is also in a poor state of repair, with algae growing in the urinal. Urrgh!

Other jobs taken care of include a new corrugated roof for the goods shed in the background. This Hornby Skaledale model had the corrugations running horizontally on the sides and, while I figured I could live with it to begin with, it really began to irritate me. So, with a pile of DAS clay and some relaxing music, I set about creating a new roof. It has been given a rough 'rusty' undercoat for now, but will be painted and weathered properly soon.

Another job has been to arrange the small number of other buildings on the baseboard, with their location being important in hiding the entry/exit points of the trains and to give an exaggerated sense of depth to the scene. Being only 4ft and a bit long, this is a very small baseboard, but the landscape is fairly open. Once trees have been planted strategically, the overall effect should (hopefully) be heightened.

As for the scenery, the roads are finished, the pond complete and the muddy lane through the field rendered with Tamiya textured paints. That means I'm now ready to get going with the Noch Grassmaster, which should be fun....!