More Portakabin.

Today, I've fixed in five of the six windows on the little Portakabin. I used Revell Contacta Clear for this; it dries clear and once set, any excess can be scraped carefully from glazing using a wooden cocktail stick or similar.

I also decided to fit a partition about ⅜ of the way along the building, from .040" Plastikard.

I'll try to glue the last bit of glazing in the morning, hopefully before it gets lost.

Progress...and About Time Too!

Back in whenever the last post was (March, apparently) I had installed the Ross-on-Wye backscene and put the layout in the box then...nothing happened, at least, not to this layout!

A side effect of having so many interests within the hobby is that one minute I can be making headway with a project, and the next I've practically forgotten that it exists; the APA box layout's been particularly prone to this.

Anyway, it's now late August, and I've actually got the box off its shelf and done a very small amount of modelling, but first I fitted the 6400K LED striplight, bought from the Light Fantastic DIY shop at Lydney, which is the perfect size for the layout. It comes with two small springy steel brackets and screws, which I quickly fitted to the top front rail of the APA box, clipped the light on, plugged it in (it's 230V, so no separate power supply and only one lead to lose) and...wow, the whole scene is flooded with light!

Something I've been struggling with is the building that sits to the left of the water tower; the space is very narrow and fronts directly onto the "main" line, so it wasn't really an option to use an unmodified kit for the building. I was also keen to include something that, to be honest, jars with the "timeless small town" vibe, so...a Portakabin it is.

Knightwing, bless them, sell a very nice injection moulded kit for one, but there was no way it would fit the space, so I cut sides, ends and roof down as far as possible and added a door in the left hand end, resulting in something that is (hopefully) plausible. 

And there, for several months, matters rested, as I couldn't decide what colour to paint the thing, until I went out on a bike ride and found this, between Ross-on-Wye Fire Station and the beginning of the walk/cycle trail that is on the course of the old Ross-Monmouth railway...

A few weeks later, I had a go at getting something like this effect (though not so faded), starting with Humbrol blue enamel, then going over it with a Games Workshop layer paint in a slightly different shade.

The window rubbers were then painted in Chris F's favourite Panzer Grey, and this is the result...

Next job will be to fit the windows and some internal partitions. I don't really want to add interior detail beyond representations of doors, but will see how it goes.

Next little job was to add some colour to the pair of N scale laser cut crossbucks that have been kicking around for a while; they're quite large in N, but ideal for 009 as small "home made" warning signs for a narrow road crossing an even narrower track. Etched letters are filled with Humbrol Scarlet, GW white for the fronts. I may leave the wooden uprights au naturel...