Forecourt gates & the Abbey Woods
I outlined the construction of the forecourt gates in a previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-18977-signs-gates/ , these have now been installed on the layout. 5 minute epoxy resin was used to fix the posts into position and then various scatters and fibres from the Green scene range were used to blend them into the landscape.
Forecourt gates in position on layout
I'd always planned that the exit of the private siding from the layout would be masked by it passing through a gate and then running through woodland at the right hand baseboard end. I started by installing the private siding gate in position and then built a fence from square section Evergreen strip and E Z line elastic thread http://www.modelsrgo.co.uk/ez-line.html
Some tall trees were constructed using a wire armature as described in this blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1131/entry-17699-trees/ and then planted against the backscene using PVA.
Wire armatures were then made in progressively decreasing heights to simulate the smaller trees and saplings that grow around the edges of woodland. These were once again "planted" into the landscape using PVA.
Small tree and sapling armatures
Polyfibre was then used to simulate fine branches by teasing it out into a fine mesh and then spraying with matt brown aerosol acrylic paint.
Foliage was then added using scatters from the Greenscene range held in position using aerosol clear, matt, acrylic varnish.
I like the idea of some buildings appearing above the hedgerow at the right hand end of the layout to suggest that the town of Sherton Abbas lies about half a mile away from the station site. Sherton Abbas is inspired by Thomas Hardy's re imagining of Sherboure and has a rather magnificent abbey which dominates its skyline, so a representation of this would help to give a sense of place and a reason for the layout's name. I trawled the internet to find a suitable image that I could use to judge the size and perspective of the building in relation to the the layout. Most images that I found are taken from the abbey grounds and so the perspective is from a low view point with the abbey looming above the viewer which unfortunately doesn't look right on the layout. I found one picture however taken from a distance and an elevated viewpoint that in my opinion seemed to fit the bill so I printed it off a copy to place against the layout's backscene.
I used scissors to roughly cut the building away from its background and tucked it behind the hedge at the end of the layout to see how it fitted in with the rest of the modelling. I quite like the effect, but would appreciate any thoughts about the size, height, position of the building and whether or not it adds to the scene! :-) The next couple of images are of the cutout building in situ.
Cut out of Sherbourne Abbey in situ on the layout.
Looking forward to reading your views.
Best wishes
Dave
- 17
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