4mm Morfa - The race is run.

Steve Cook

Flying Squad
The advancement of sticky balls and material doesn't half make a difference Neil, certainly a better use for the Toga than wearing it - you didn't look too happy in the photo above :)

What material is / was the Toga made from, and have you bleached it or dyed it to get the colour to match so well?

Steve
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
It was a cream flannelette sheet Steve, and I dyed it with Dylon Olive Green. The blotchiness was unintentional, but sort of works. I think that I have enough material to do most of the trainset, but I may be faced with trying to get the same result to finish off as I'm not sure if what I've got will stretch all the way round.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
More of the same today, starting with preparing the groundwork in the area bounded by the triangle of tracks. First I covered the base of the Jones Motors module in cling film, before thumbing in Das air drying clay to the gap between it and the pink foam.

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The module pulled out to leave a snug fitting surround.

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Dropped in to check for fit. I used pink foam rather than sticky balls here as I need to rest my hand here when I lean over to clean the far tracks.

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More of the dyed sheet has been stuck and trimmed back.

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Simon

Flying Squad
Just great to see the whole scene being "pulled together" with ground forms and cover, and on such a magnificent canvass too.

Wonderful sense of sparseness already, more so than when in its chipboard form.

Looking forward to forthcoming installments.....

Simon
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Fantastic progress. I've watched with admiration all the little individual bits of detailing you've been doing but seeing all come together into one cohesive panorama is great - and so quickly it makes a difference.
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
More tailoring, more layout upholstery, more photos.

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Right, that's it for now. There's a limit to the amount of pictures and words on sticking green sheeting the market will stand and I think I'm quite close to it now. I'll be back when I've something different to show.

Hwyl fawr.
 

Simon

Flying Squad
That first shot especially is just quite sublime and the backscene has a lot of subtlety about it too.

A wonderful model railway.....

Simon
 

Neil

Western Thunderer
Something new to show, but first a decision.

Some time ago, for Morfa's earlier orientation in my playroom, I created a lock up shop. I like lock up shops, but couldn't thing of a suitable place to shoehorn it into the current plan until .....

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morfa comp 1.jpg

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Now I took these photos to help me make up my mind whether it was going to be sited opposite the garage or not. However I'm not sure that they helped in fact they could have hindered as I prefer without if I only consider the photos, but prefer it with the lock up when viewing the layout itself.

The lock up is staying.

I hope that you've clocked the black card, tree outline view block behind the lock up as today's progress centres round turning it from flat to almost 3-D in the space of a few minutes. Here are the makings part way through the process.

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Installation; staple gun and pva.

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How the scene fits together. This from the full extent of my 6'4" height; stumpier onlookers will not be able the gap in the backscene where trains disappear though I do have a cunning plan to hide this for those as stupidly lofty as myself.

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Here's the eye level view. There's a deal more work to do but I'm pleased with how it's all turning out.

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Neil

Western Thunderer
You know how nature left to its own devices is supposed to return to a balanced state; well I have an idea that model-making naturally seeks equilibrium. Here my endeavours with the scenery offset the efforts of those who work neatly and methodically in pseudo-laboratory conditions.

morfa 88.jpg
All this mess for a bit more tweaking of the view block copse. Hopefully the following pair of photos will show how I've 'disappeared' the hole through the hills with a similar layer of 2.5-D trees in and over the hole coupled with a bit of beefing up the front layer at it's near edge to make it look as though it has some depth.

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Simon

Flying Squad
I'd just like to say that whilst floating in a pool with Harry this evening, (situated next to Lake Garda - churrs Grandpa) looking up at the mountains surrounding us gave exactly the same set of "visual silhouettes" (not bad after 500ml house red eh?) that you have in your backscene.

Wonderful life imitating brilliant art?

Wish I was in Wales though, too blooming hot here:p

Simon
 

Alan

Western Thunderer
Having just come out of my model railway room yours looks particularly neat and tidy compared to mine.
 
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