What number am I thinking of? by Will Vale, on Flickr

"Sixty-nine, dudes!"

These are the profile boards for the ends of the layout. Over an hour's sweaty work to measure and cut out with a Stanley knife, no new scratches on the kitchen table though! The cut-outs are hand-holds for lifting rather than tunnel access - it's easier to reach in from behind the layout since the openings are bigger. The sticky-out top bits are a possible lighting pelmet mounting strategy, if it doesn't work out I can always cut them off.

When I came to attach these (after levelliing the ends mildy with a surform) I got a bit of a surprise. I know how long the layout is, but I didn't really appreciate that length until I had to stand on a chair to apply glue to the top surface!

It's setting up now, slowly since it's been damp out.

Other progress over the past few days - the road has pavements, which were a lot of work to cut from styrene, and a retaining wall from Heki foam. This is a bit fragile and frankly could be better, but I don't see another solution for now. I'll add a capping strip later and repaint it.

I've also done a lot of carving on the Hirschsprung, which is starting to look more like the real one. I'll try and take some better pictures when the board's horizontal again!