Chuffnell Regis

[letterspider]

Platikote Suede Tan has often been mentioned here as producing a convincing colour for concrete

[Graham T]

I got a long-awaited fix of crack cocaine static grass this morning...

 

Here's the front of the cottages, which will actually be facing the backscene, so you won't be able to see this view normally.  So that seemed a good spot to get my eye back in with the grass applicator.  This is 2.5mm Noch grass fixed with hairspray.

 

 

The cottages are levitating a bit at the right hand end, but I think I can live with that as it won't be visible once planted on the layout.

 

Then I did some work on the other side, which will be in full view of course.  The coal bin got repainted with a mix of black, white, and flat flesh Vallejo paints (thanks for the recipe @MrWolf), and while I had some paint to hand I also weathered the doors a little, and put a dark wash over the septic tank covers.  Then the same static grass as at the front.  The odd bare patch was touched in after using War World Scenics basing glue, and then when I'd vacuumed up all the stray grass - which was rather a lot - everything got another fix with hairspray.  

 

The last bit I've added was the row of weeds you can see at the left of the picture, which will be along the base of the hedgerow on this side of the road.  These are something called "wild verge with weeds, summer", from Lars op t' Hof Scenery (yes, really) in the Netherlands.  They're rather nice, in my opinion, and I have a few more of their products, which I'll be using as a sort of mixture for the bases of the hedges around the road and the cottages, along with various different coloured scatters.  But rather than a hedge, I'm thinking about a wooden fence as the boundary dividing the two gardens; any thoughts out there?

 

Speaking of levitation, there's a bit of a gap under the coal bin which also needs filling...

 

[Graham T]

Just spotted another gap under the wooden extension at the back of the other cottage as well!

[Adrian Stevenson]

I think it is often the case that you notice details which require attention in a photo which you miss when looking at the item in real life.

[Graham T]

29 minutes ago, Adrian Stevenson said:

I think it is often the case that you notice details which require attention in a photo which you miss when looking at the item in real life.

 

Absolutely.  And I still nearly packed the glue and so on away without remembering to fix it!

[Graham T]

Right, those gaps have been filled - although I think I've now spotted another, that's visible from the normal viewing angle, so it will need fixing (the far left corner of the cottage in the pic below).  I think some carefully placed weeds might fix that.

 

I've added the hedge, normal method of horsehair and mixed flock, some more weeds around the bottom of said hedge, and a bit more coloured flock here and there just to break up all the green.  The tree is just plonked in for now; this one is from MBR, if I remember rightly.  I won't fix it in place until I've placed the cottages on the layout permanently.

 

 

[MrWolf]

I've just had that happen with the cab details on the loco I'm building.

 

Have a look at my thread Graham, I've been busy with vague grey beige concrete colours.

[Graham T]

I did pop by earlier to visit A on C, Mr W.  Nice gungey paint mixes on view!

[Graham T]

I added another length of hedgerow in front of the cottages, as you can just glimpse the end of it from the front of the layout.  And now I know it's there 🙂

 

 

And here it is in place (not yet fixed, but the moment is getting near...)  I think it will work okay as a view blocker for the road disappearing into the backscene?

 

[Andy Keane]

Looking really good.

I am intruiged by the mention of hairspray - I thought the normal process for fixing grass was dilute PVA. So you spray first from an aerosal can of hairspray (any particular variety?) and then while tacky you apply the grass? I am guessing it dries pretty fast compared to PVA so you have to crack on. Also not easy to undo if yoy get it wrong I suppose?

Andy

ps - just my eye, but would not the coal bin benefit from some weathering powder in a coal colour - it looks a bit clean perhaps?

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, Andy Keane said:

Looking really good.

I am intruiged by the mention of hairspray - I thought the normal process for fixing grass was dilute PVA. So you spray first from an aerosal can of hairspray (any particular variety?) and then while tacky you apply the grass? I am guessing it dries pretty fast compared to PVA so you have to crack on. Also not easy to undo if yoy get it wrong I suppose?

Andy

ps - just my eye, but would not the coal bin benefit from some weathering powder in a coal colour - it looks a bit clean perhaps?

 

Cheers Andy 🙂

 

Yes the hairspray works really well - just cheap stuff from the local supermarket.  The trick is to mask off areas you don't want grass on; I just use a piece of scrap card for that.  Spray on a good dollop, (technical term, that), then apply the static grass.  Carefully vacuum away any spillage; I don't know about others, but I get a lot of that!  Then another lighter spray over the grassed area to fix it.  I usually add longer grass in patches on top, and some flock, and weeds and so on, using the same technique, to build up layers.  It does dry fast, but not so much as to make it difficult to do.  And undoing it is actually pretty straightforward too.  I treat my groundwork (which is basically papier mache) with cheap acrylic paint first, and a blunt scraper takes any excess grass off that very easily.  That's how I did the paths along the river bank.

 

I think you're probably right about the coal bin!

Edited July 17, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Back to the more tedious business last night...

 

[5BarVT]

7 hours ago, Graham T said:

Back to the more tedious business last night...

I thought you meant work . . .

I’ll leave quietly.

Paul.

[Graham T]

That doesn't usually even get as good as tedious Paul!

[NHY 581]

On 17/07/2022 at 22:04, Graham T said:

 

Cheers Andy 🙂

 

Yes the hairspray works really well - just cheap stuff from the local supermarket.  The trick is to mask off areas you don't want grass on; I just use a piece of scrap card for that.  Spray on a good dollop, (technical term, that), then apply the static grass.  Carefully vacuum away any spillage; I don't know about others, but I get a lot of that!  Then another lighter spray over the grassed area to fix it.  I usually add longer grass in patches on top, and some flock, and weeds and so on, using the same technique, to build up layers.  It does dry fast, but not so much as to make it difficult to do.  And undoing it is actually pretty straightforward too.  I treat my groundwork (which is basically papier mache) with cheap acrylic paint first, and a blunt scraper takes any excess grass off that very easily.  That's how I did the paths along the river bank.

 

I think you're probably right about the coal bin!

 

 

Morning Graham, et al. 

 

I use layering spray glue to add 4mm onto my base layer of 2mm grass. After that it depends on what I'm adding. More 4mm is generally stuck to further sprays of layering spray. Flocks, flower heads and anyother 'texture' is added using max hold hairspray. Something cheap but nuclear strength will do. 

 

It works and has a nice pong apparently. 

 

Rob. 

 

 

[Gedward]

20 hours ago, Graham T said:

Back to the more tedious business last night...

 

 

Good view of the cottages blending so well with their surroundings.

 

[Graham T]

Cheers George 🍻

[Graham T]

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Morning Graham, et al. 

 

I use layering spray glue to add 4mm onto my base layer of 2mm grass. After that it depends on what I'm adding. More 4mm is generally stuck to further sprays of layering spray. Flocks, flower heads and anyother 'texture' is added using max hold hairspray. Something cheap but nuclear strength will do. 

 

It works and has a nice pong apparently. 

 

Rob. 

 

 

 

The sheep bloke's layouts show that this technique works rather well!

[Graham T]

Messrs Bodgeit and Scarper had a busy evening at Chuffnell R.  They finished laying the formers for the groundwork, and then got busy with half a jar of dilute PVA and a stack of paper towels (probably best not to ask...)

 

Hopefully this lot will be dry enough for a skim of polyfilla tomorrow.

 

 

 

[BWsTrains]

On 11/03/2022 at 20:34, Graham T said:

 

...

 

It's still bothering me that the trackwork just isn't good enough.  But to put it right now is a pretty mammoth task; to get it done properly I think I would have to start again from scratch - new baseboards and all.  That's tempting from the point of view of being able to build things properly, and I do think I have the ability to do that now, having learnt a lot over the last year.  However - the more of CR Mk 1 that gets done, the less I want to rip it up and start again.  Also, the cost would be a bit eye-watering, as I'd want to use baseboard kits, and new track throughout.  On the latter I'm not sure whether I would go with Peco bullhead, now that their points seem to be coming back onto the market, or for the excellent looking British Finescale items from @Wayne Kinney.

 

 

Hi Graham,

 

A very later arrival at your party, after some selective research (well with 141 pages it had to be!) I've now managed to get some sense of the issues you refer to above. 

 

From what I've done planning a layout of similar size and scope, I can say the big benefits of shifting to the BF turnout kits is that you can curve them within reason in both senses which brings huge flexibility when compared to using PECO streamline in bullhead.

 

In my case 10 out of 12 B7 turnouts are curved to varying degrees which was of great value given my terminus curls around following the line of the river. There's barely a straight bit of track anywhere beyond the traverser. Add to that the superior V crossing geometry of a B7 turnout compared to the standard exit angle of ~12degrees for PECO and you gain huge flexibility in design.  Only downside is you really need to use Templot for planning and this takes a bit of learning, however there are good videos around which saw me over that hurdle.

 

Will be interested to follow your progress,

 

Colin

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by BWsTrains
clarification

[Graham T]

4 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

 

Hi Graham,

 

A very later arrival at your party, after some selective research (well with 141 pages it had to be!) I've now managed to get some sense of the issues you refer to above. 

 

From what I've done planning a layout of similar size and scope, I can say the big benefits of shifting to the BF turnout kits is that you can curve them within reason in both senses which brings huge flexibility when compared to using PECO streamline in bullhead.

 

In my case 10 out of 12 B7 turnouts are curved to varying degrees which was of great value given my terminus curls around following the line of the river. There's barely a straight bit of track anywhere beyond the traverser. Add to that the superior V crossing geometry of a B7 turnout compared to the standard exit angle of ~12degrees for PECO and you gain huge flexibility in design.  Only downside is you really need to use Templot for planning and this takes a bit of learning, however there are good videos around which saw me over that hurdle.

 

Will be interested to follow your progress,

 

Colin

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the party Colin!  Although it's more like a mix of rambling, ranting, and inane questions than a party, to be honest...

 

I'm 99% certain that I'll be using Finetrax points on CR Mk II; what track are you using though?  There seem to be a few options...

[BWsTrains]

Hi Graham,

 

PECO Code 75 Bullhead SL-108F

 

Colin

[BWsTrains]

On 07/06/2022 at 18:47, aardvark said:

Agree. @KNP has some lovely back gardens on Little Muddle, or at least he did up until The Great Crash.

 

 

The data losses are indeed a giant hole in our resources. Fortunately I have a copy of one VF example from Little Muddle which I hope @KNP and site admin will not mind being added back to the fold now the issue has been raised above.

 

[Graham T]

Thanks - there's something to aim for!

[Graham T]

Work has prevented much play at Chuffnell R today, but I did manage to do a little more of the groundwork.  The area around the signal box and the pathway alongside the track leading into the bay have had a treatment of Das, applied onto PVA, and then a thin layer of chinchilla dust.  This was gently pressed into the Das whilst still wet; I'll vacuum off the excess later, fill in any major bald patches, and then paint it.