Perfect Timing!

Iwas gifted a couple of BCW's from a mate after he purchased some Eureka ones.  I didn't feel like spending the time on them to get them operational as I have a pack myself and there is no need for any more.  I decided to put one to use as lineside detail.... but I had no pictures or immedate thoughts.

After reading Rod's post on "What to do with those old wagons?" Some pictures were borrowed (hope that's OK Rob?) and the idea I was formed!  Because this will eventually end up on my layout I decided to deviate from the pictures on Rod's  Blog in regards to the scenery and chose my own path.

The donor wagon.

The Door removed and reglued in the open position.

At this stage it has also had a new coat of paint and the weathering applied.

Again prior to construction.

I had another plan in mind. Since I accidently glued down my show and tell plan for the Armidale convention, I decided to make a diaorama.  This way when the convention is over I can fit it in place on my layout where the scenery has not yet been started.

The Diaorama as of this evening.  I thought it might be best not to show you the completed project.

That way if you go to the convention it won't be as nice. 

View from a lower angle.



Last minute changes saw me add this small section of handlaid track.   I thought I should add some rails, it looks nice and adds to the scene.  Unfortunatly It will be pulled up when added to the layout.

The other problem now is that I am so happy with the handlaid track I now want it for my layout.....SHIT!  Perhaps one day??



A closer view of the track.

As I said it is not yet complete as I have a few more ideas I want to implement.

Take 3!

You may recall a few blogs back that I had built a Timber road overpass out of Styrene.  Well Mark 1 sold to a friend, Mark 2  went to eBay and Mark 3 made it to the layout.  Below are a few shots of the installation of the bridge, of course it is not completed, I haven't put up a post in 6 months so I thought I had better come up with something.....

After the bridge was painted, it was test fitted to ensure that once plastering had been completed it wouldn't require too much bastardization to get it to fit.

Looking along the single lane dirt road after the plastering had been completed.



The view from the North.

The first of the dirt has gone down to get an idea of how it will look.



Laying of the dirt and Ballast has been completed.



The view in the opposite direction.



A final close up.

Improvements.....

As I said in the last post I was a little unhappy with the colour of these structures. So I decided to give them a dry brush with some grey to tone them down a bit. Here is the end result.

I think the bridge looks a little more weathered in the timber now.

The yards now look no where near as dark as they were in the last post.

Something extra, these cattle grids were measured at "Bungulla" and made from styrene. This won't be their final location, it was just a good spot for a photo.

Painting things.

The sun was shining and time was on my side, so what better to do than paint some of the structures I had previously built.

This is a 10ft stock underpass? I saw this structure on the Tenterfield to Wallangarra line the other week when we went for a drive. I took a lot of pictures and some measurements to knock this one up from styrene, it's not too hard if you take lots of photos and have some timber measurements for reference.

The view of the other wing wall. You will notice that the one on the left has rail where the one on the right has timber poles. It seems that the bridge I saw may have had the timber poles fail and the rail was a repair job. The other difference on the real structure was that the timber was full lengths on the side with the poles, the side with the rail was reconstructured from used sleepers. I was a bit too lazy to copy this.

Opposite side of the bridge.

The stock ramp now with a coat of paint. You may remember the post I did on this one earlier in the year.

I think it may need a bit more of a grayish dry brush, it still looks a bit dark.

The First Bridge is in.

I might appear to be rushing ahead on the layout but, there has been a real need to get this part of the scenery complete. The trains have been unable to cross this section of the layout, without the bridge in place the rails split and the Locos drop through. I thought I may as well get it close to complete and also give myself some idea of how successful the scenery methods I will use turn out.

The gap prior to installation.

The bridge is in. Slight problem, the legs aren't long enough. When I built this bridge I was hoping to create a shallow creek crossing......guess I got carried away when creating this creek?

There is more than one way to skin a cat, I concreted in the piers!

The view from the other end. I never did a post on this bridge, it was made from styrene off a Greg Edwards plan of a 14ft opening. The airbrushed and dry brused in spots for timber weathering and grain.

A close up of the concrete footings.

Another angle. These were made by cutting moulds from plastic and pouring the plaster in while in situ. Whilst still wet i scratched it with a tooth pick for some effect. It was then that I washed it with a diluted grey to give the appearance of concrete.

Gettin' Plastered!

Any spare time available at the moment has been spent on the layout. I have been doing the scenery with shaped poly styrene, then coated with plaster cloth. Below is the current progress.

The view from the terminus. I have put in the completed structures to give an idea of the overall layout of the station and yard.

Looking up towards the station. Looks like Boggabilla station as it stands today, no roof!

The legs of the station need to be buried into the platform.

Looking back towards the coal road and turntable.

A creek crossing, approaching Milguy.

Milguy is in the distance. The scenery for this area has not yet been completed. I am still deciding on putting a hidden stage behind this area, at this stage it is looking very likely.

My big mountain. I always wanted to have a big mountain on my layout so here it is! You can make out the timber overpass in the background. This is still under construction.

A rail motor to give you some idea of the scale of the mountain.

Pitty the holidays are over?

Another productive morning produced a cattle ramp.

The model was constructed with styrene, balsa and the black components are code 70 rail.

The loading ramp will be placed in the grain loop between Boggabillan and Milguy, it will only be for very small loadings. The only problem is that I need to get some BCW's, perhaps a order to Ron might be on the cards?

The pieces on the top of the gates are my addition. I thought it might be cool to have operating gates. Gates open.....

......gates closed.

The only cattle wagons I have, at this stage......

Again, time for paint but unfortunately back to work tomorrow, so this may be on the back burner for some time?