Cleveland Mills N gauge layout

For the covering I actually didn't use plaster of paris I used a small tub of grout that I had lying around. I've found that for the first 24 hours you can play with it which I have found is a real lifesaver as plaster of paris sets after a short time leaving you with very little time to mess with it before it dries.

Once it has semi gone off I then go over it with the desired colour as it comes out white although I am aware you can get grout in many different colours but seeing as I had some going spare from the re-decorating of the kitchen. The only thing is that you either have to have a small basin with water in next to you or wash your hands inbetween touching other things as if it gets onto your hands it is a pain to remove until you wash them. Needless to say I have had 1 or 2 occassions where swmbo has had a go as I've come into the house over the last few days covered in the stuff.

I will post some pictures in the next few days once I've had a chance to get it sanded down and smooth enough to be able to coat it with a coat of paint or covering of some kind.

Seeing as I'm on nightshift tomorrow night I thought it would be a good idea to stay up a little while and make myself tired so I'm kind of in the right sleep pattern for nights so off back into the shed I went to listen to the radio and do a little more on the layout whilst the family are in bed. I smoothed off some of the hills a bit and filled in some areas I had missed the first time the only problem is that with all the little bits that came off whilst sanding down I couldn't hoover them up seeing as it was 2am and I didn't think my neighbours would be at all pleased with me so I cleaned up as best I could with a brush I had lying around and I will get into the nooks and cranny's sometime tomorrow before work so as to not have them lying around on the layout.

Also whilst in there as you can see from the previous pictures I've decided to put one of the buildings in place and I'm very happy with it to be honest. I have used it so the archway of the building goes over the track where the scrapline leads to but seeing as I didn't have any of the scrapline locos to hand I illustrated the idea using a maroon coach I had lying around. I've also started in a small space to start some of the scenics around the building with a little path leading from the building going off the layout with a grassed area using some gaugemaster scenic scatter either side of it. I will of course once the first layer has dried be going over it again, well at least the grassed area to give it some definition with some other kinds of scatter/scenic material. Even though it's just a small part of the layout it makes the layout look as if it's finally coming together.

Judge for yourself and let me know what you think so far.

Hi Kain
a bit of greenery certainly made a difference

The landscape possibly looks a little to uniform in shape
maybe add a little more size to base of the hill to the left side to give the appearance that the terrain is sloping up , from right to left.

while the track is level the surrounding terrain need not be - the more irregular the appearance the more realistic it would look

Think back to school geography and contour maps - gradual increase in height with the railway cutting through the scene

Hope this helps

Regards Zmil

QUOTE (harkins77 @ 23 Sep 2008, 17:30) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Well seeing as the stag do is coming up I decided to do some painting of the layouts backboards to save some money.

I used the same technique that my father used for the last layout and it's not bad for a first crack at oil painting but I wish I had paid more attention to that show on Discovery realtime with Bob Ross.

Let me know what you think of the results.

View attachment 792

For the 2nd shot I used where I have got so far on the left handside of the layout and I know the building isn't perfect and that there is still some work to do on it but so far not bad me thinks.

View attachment 793

Dont bother about details on the buildings Kain at the minute main thing is your getting on with it the structure of the layout, the second shot looks good for a first attempt using oils though taking longer to dry gives you the chance to merge the colours think it looks fine now with the bridge painted and possibly weathered you've got one area settled

Oh using a sponge after water on plaster works a treat to smooth it up ready for paint ............ got a washing type with the scotch pad on the back past its best for the kitchen today on the layout.

QUOTE (Robert Stokes @ 24 Sep 2008, 11:36) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>First let me say that I am no artist, but....

I think that the second backscene is better than the first one. The blue on the first one either needs to be lighter or more grey to represent a dull cloudy day. I don't think that the sky is ever dark blue except in late evening. It is usually light blue or darker but greyer.

The first picture was taken just at the door of the shed and so the lighting is that good in there but in the 2nd shot I was closer to the track as I was trying to get the picture framed right. The acutal main board which is placed behind where I stand was just painted to give the impression of sky and it does look better than it does in the overall picture due to the lighting in the shed(i.e. not very much natural light). The far side of the backboard is basically the same as on the left hand side as well.with the cloud painting being of better quality.

I did say however that this was my first attempt at doing the backscene and of course it will need some more fettling as well so yeah I take on board what you are saying about it being totally blue but it's a good base as to work from. I did actually tone down the blue from standard and lightened it up quite a bit from the light blue as it came out of the tube.

I just need to get up early on a morning and see how the professionals do the clouds in real time instead of just looking at pictures of someone doing it.

I shall be painting my backscenes this winter. I intend to use an overall very light blue wash with some white mixed in here and there. I've got this idea that a pure white background would not be too bad. I think a strong colour would dominate too much.