Saturday, August 30, 2014

Puffing Billy

Na's 7 & 14 getting ready for the day ahead at Belgrave
 
I was in Melbourne last week for my work and so I decided to head down a couple of days earlier so I could visit Puffing Billy . For those who don't know, Puffing Billy is a tourist railway that operates one of the four Victorian Railways 2'6" narrow gauge lines. The railway operates from Belgrave to Gembrook in the Dandenong ranges east of Melbourne.
 
I have been wanting to visit for awhile to get some photos and general inspiration. I have lots of books & plans about the VR, but nothing beats visiting and the aroma of coal smoke to get motivated to do some modelling.

Emerald station
 
I rode the train from Belgrave to Emerald and back. I mentioned to my friend Bob Prewett who models the VR narrow gauge in On30 and is a conductor on Puffing Billy that I was visiting. He wasn't working the day I visited but he mentioned to his friends that I was visiting. I would especially like to thank Bob, Alan and Mel for making a great day even better.

7a crossing the Monbulk creek trestle bridge on the way back to Belgrave
 
 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The hills are alive


Just a quick update to show what a difference adding some vegetation can make. I spent a few enjoyable hours on Sunday adding trees to the layout. I am really happy with how this scene is coming together.

The trees are sedum flowers that have been soaked in a white glue/water mix and then given a dusting of ground foam. I then give them a light spray of green paint to add some variety to the colour. I am planning to continue the "forest" to cover the hill on the right of the photo.

I still have lots of other things to do to finish the scene, such as adding some understory beneath the trees and grassing the foreground. I am keenly waiting for a shipment of static grass to arrive. All that then will remain to do is build the stockyards and add some details.