Tuesday, September 8, 2015

September update

Progress has been slow on the layout recently. I had an accident with an impact injury to my eye about 18 months ago which has given me some ongoing issues. It was finally decided that the best option was surgery which I underwent in August. It has all gone very well but during the  recovery time I am having issues with blurriness. This is really driving me nuts as I am unable to do detailed modelling.
 
What I have been doing is some tasks that don't need me to see fine detail such as planting grass,
 

 
The paddocks on the farm have now got a nice green tinge to them, which I am sure the cows will like...
 
For my grass I like to use a minimum of 3 colours and 2 lengths of static grass fibres. I mix them in a blender with the portions slightly varied each mix to get some natural variation. For the pasture in the paddock I used 1 part 4mm MiniNatur Early autumn, 1 part 2mm late autumn, and 2 parts 2mm summer. That is shorter than mix that I usually use to represent the grazing of the paddocks. I will use mostly 4mm & 6mm for the grass on the outside of the fences.
 

 
I have also been painting the facia black which has helped frame the layout. On the topic of lighting I was very interested in Dan Pickard's post on his blog Somewhere on the workbench Dan is using standard LED globes and I liked the fact that they are a light that is easily available and should be in the foreseeable future. I bought a couple daylight globes from Bunning's to try and as very impressed. I ended up lighting the whole of the interchange town with them. They are lightweight, don't generate heat and use considerably less energy than the fluorescents. Thanks Dan for trying them out first! I am planning to convert the whole of the layout to LED's as time and funds allow.
 
Cheers
 
Murray 

6 comments:

  1. G'day Murray,
    Always good to read the updates. The view down the hill and across the farm is looking brilliant. Some beautiful flowing lines as the railway drifts around the corner. Glad you found the lighting comments useful...they're a lot easier to get even lighting, especially when trying to get even spread around corners on the layout. Fluoro tubes don't bend that easy!

    Hope the eye eventually comes good for you. Were you heading to Melbourne for the Prototype Modellers Meet at all later in November?

    Cheers,
    Dan

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dan,

      really pleased with the lights and I hadn't considered them until I saw your blog post. I really like that I can light the layout over time and know that I can buy the same light into the future.

      I doubt I will make the Prototype modellers meet as it is usually a really busy time on the farm unfortunately as it is a meet I would like to get to.

      Cheers Murray

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  2. It's looking great, Murray - thanks for the update. I think scenery is one of the new frontiers of the hobby - we're finally doing it justice. And your layout is an example of that.
    Thanks also for the note about the LED globes and the link to Dan's blog. I'll have to check that out.
    Good luck with the recovery from the eye surgery.
    Cheers!
    - Trevor (Port Rowan in 1:64)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Trevor,

      I think you are doing a very good job of pushing the frontier of scenery modelling with your layout as is Dan. I think you will enjoy his blog.

      Cheers Murray

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  3. Murray
    Looking nice even if you can only see it through a blur. I have a similar issue, since I had Shingles in early 2013 I have had to use Prednisone eye drops to deal with the left over Shingle infection in the eye and now I will be having a cataract operation on 21 September caused by the Prednisone, go figure!

    Ray P

    P.S. Did you see the sheep?
    http://bylong.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/a-paddock-full-of-sheep.html

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ray,
      isn't having a dodgy eye a pain in the @#$^ hope your surgery goes well. I did see your sheep and they look great, especially the loads.

      Cheers Murray

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