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7/8ths Micro (ish)

by Steph H

Well I never.... some modeling for the first time for nearly 2 years! And its a just in time. Almost 2 years ago I was persuaded by Steve Warrington to produce a 7/8ths "micro" based on the Gn15 layout concept of Steve Bennett "Simplicity Sidings", for the Telford exhibition this year...... we are very close now and work has not been going on that long!

The concept was a smallish layout with a couple of tracks and a sector plate so you can shuffle a couple of wagons around. Not riveting but enough to show its possible.

Layout Construction

First up track plan.....

The original concept changed several times, but ended up being a farm siding somewhere in the fens of eastern England.

The baseboards are the usual board and 2x1 framing.... what I know from years ago in small scale modeling so I went with that given the time frame. The track is all hand laid Peco code 250 spiked down wit hBack2Bay6 "One Inch Wonders" 1/12th scale track pins onto strip wood sleepers that were all distressed and stained first.



The basic landscape was then built up using card formers and Car body filler. This is great as its very tough and light, but smells foul and I had to work outside (so does this make it a "garden railway" then?). This was then sprayed earthy tones and covered with finely ground real soil. The ballast was very fine sand and gravel etc as I wanted that laid in soil look.



The basic grass was then laid. I used Hanging Basket liner stuck down with PVA and lifted up when dry. This leaves a lot of stuck down fibers, which I then plucked and trimmed to get a less "fluffy" look... A hairbrush is handy too.

I want that over grown look so using Hemp string fibers I create little clumps of fine grass and set them in holes drilled in the car filler base. I need courser ones to and am looking for a suitable fiber to use.... maybe a paint brush?





The track around the sheds was made using OO and O gauge ballast (I knew it would come in handy after keeping it for 30 years!).

Buildings are made with MDF or Plywood shells covered in either Dolls House planking that I have worked on to make it more "real" or brickwork using a dollshouse technique using a brick "paste" and a Stencil....






Not got a really good photo' yet of the buildings.... need a fine day outside to do it as the layout is in a rather dark corner. Sadly this technique wont work outside as its not waterproof and a bit fragile!



Few More pic's of progress so far......




Finally I got chance for an overall shot of the scenic portion of the layout...

After 2 exhibitions I have decided that we need a longer fiddle yard/sector plate! I'll keep the short one for home and build a longer one for days out at some point!
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