Sunday afternoon

After putting it off for a week, it was time to glue down the ballast. I soaked the ballast with water laced with detergent, then applied thinned down PVA to set everything. What I had not thought of was the glue heading some other places. I also turned the heater on to keep everything warm so that it wouldn't set white

At the other end of the layout there was a hillside that needed some additions. I had purchased some Woodland scenics foliage chunk stuff last weekend. Move over Johnny Appleseed, its time for Edward Bracken and Harvey Gorse.
Well, its not really like that, its just gluing chunks of dark green foam onto the hillside on a random fashion.

The straight line is the join between sheets of scenic texture. It will also do very well for a fence line.
I'm still pondering on what to do about the road and the edge, so I have not brought the foliage right down to the base of the hill.

And that where we are up to at the moment. The whole hillside will get a spray of a dust colour to fade and tie it together a bit better, and then add some trees (possibly of the cabbage variety).

Saturday morning

Well, its been a while since a post here.
Its been one of those things that I've had some good ideas at work, but they have then been forgotten as I wonder how to push my current 'behind schedual' project along.

So, trying to dredge some of my thoughts out of my memories (what did I have for breakfast yesterday?)

I've been interested to see some discussion in the last week on the location of the Brass Ka locos that were made 25 odd years ago. This was going to be a 'first of many locos and came along just after the 30' guards van. These models still command premium prices on trade me, though whether its a sound investment like Mighty river (which I thought I already owned part of...) I don't know. This then sort of leads into brass locos for NZ 120. I think that we are probably doomed on this point as none of use have hugely deep pockets, and I have no idea about how one would go about this. Its the same with RTR from china. it seems like a huge punt, and I have no idea how one would go about these things. You would have to have a swag of money up front to do it, and a very solid hand on quality control.
And which protiotype would you pick. An Ab, or a De? Maybe a Dsc or a Ja or even a Ka. who knows?

Ok, so that's out of the way, what about some  loco kits (for kettles ). Again I'm not sure how they would sell, and like any kit, would they get built? I believe that the uptake of Kiwitrains models has been solid (but not spectacular) and so whether or not others would be willing to dive further into their shallow pocket to buy a fine scale model is an unknown. Its easy at the front end where people say 'oh if you made one I would buy one'. Its when the kit actually is available suddenly you get the 'oh sorry, not today'. The same goes for the 'If you made X then it would sell'. J sheep wagons anyone?

Finally, the fliers are out for the model railway convention in Hamilton next Easter. Now Hamilton is a place that has never inspired me to visit again, as downtown on a Friday night feels like Palmy on a wet Tuesday night. having said that, I will probably go, and its just a question of what I take with me. I'm not sure about any competition entries as they do suck modeling time away from projects that would be larger volume wise. Layout wise I'm still not sure about taking Paekakariki. maybe its time to get people behind a project like a modular layout. is 10 months enough time for everyone to build something to display?

I've also been allowed to expand the DCC control system (birthdays are good things) and so we may add another handset. I've also put the geeks on looking at adding throttles using a PC to Loconet adaptor and wifi, so that smart phones can be used as mobile hand helds. Again, its not something I've seen on shore in this country. However given that there is not solid on line presence for other scales we don't have any idea what people are doing, do we. The same goes for modelers of other prototypes in this country. Does there need to be a central New Zealand railway modelers forum so that we can get ideas from other scales, and vice versa.

The peanut galley open!

More blasting

A small amount of work this weekend sees me teasing the ballast out a bit more. I'm now onto the smallest brush I could find. Even so, it does take a while to do.

I'm sort of happy with it. It's just the fact that once its glued thats it, there's no going back.
I'll have to check the overnight temperatures this week so that my glue doesn't dry milky.

Jobs I hate

Ballasting.

Its not done yet but its a complete PITA. I stiil have to do the sculpting and then glue it. Next time I'll do it in smaller areas.

Sunday night

Further work tonight assembling all the bits from yesterday. It was a bit dark and wet. armed with the correct screws this time things just flew together, which was nice as its not overly comfortable working on a hard concrete floor.

Getting everything into place and setting up the locating hinges.It was a bit of a strain, but I'm not planning to move it very often.

 I now need some more 3mm MDF to surface the module prior to putting the turntable on.

Looking at this tonight I am now pondering if I need a scenic divider between the fiddle yard and the layout. In reality its just a big flat area with no tree lines or large collections of buildings. I may just ballast and scenic the fiddle yard and use it as a model display area. I'm hoping that getting this finished will allow me somewhere to put all the rolling stock that currently is all over the Man-sion.

In a related question, does anyone have any photos of the main line at Paekakarikiarround the loco depot?

The ends

It has been a long time since I have cut out the bits for a module(here and here). Today my wood working skills were again disinterred from their grave and dragged into the cold light of day.
While my collection of tools is sadly lacking, I do have friend and her collection of power tools is amazingly good. So this morning I purchased a sheet of plywood and headed out to get it cut up into bits. It only cost me a pumpkin. I then brought everything home and started assembling.

Progress was terminally halted late in the day by a terminal lack of long screws. Another visit to Mr Mitre 10 is in order.
'No appendages were removed during the cutting of this plywood.'

Monotonous boring jobs

Sleepers are not a fun job. Its a long repetitive job, which never looks quite right after you have done it. Once I'm into the rhythm it goes quite quickly though. I had left the sleepers I cut last week soaking in dilute black paint for 4 days, then took them out to dry last night. Spending an hour I managed to do an entire 4' length.

Spacing is done by the mk1 eyeball and the sleepers are lined up on one side with a ruler edge. No skill just plodding on.
The other line I have managed to save for tomorrow night. Can't have too much excitement can I.
Update 2/5/2013
And the second track is done.

Tonights work brought to you by Palmerston pale ale