Public Order

The first of the physical buildings for the challenge layout has reached a stage of 'almost' complete. The obligatory English pub:

You'll have to forgive the black censor bars. As mentioned before, there's a bit of a joke with the theme for this layout, and name for the pub is probably the biggest part of the punchline.

This is at its core a simple bash (Read as 'butting up against each other') of two Petite Properties kits, in this case No.12 Station Road & Crimple Cottage. I'd wanted to have a try at these kits since seeing Michael Campbell use them to great effect on his Loctern Quay layout. Both have been clad in 'garden wall' embossed plastic sheet from Expo Tools, and the roofs have been replaced with Wills slate sheet. Wanting something slightly older than the supplied shop frontage, a replacement was sourced from Scale Model Scenery, with only the minimal amount of bodging required to open out the window aperture on the body of the building.

An 'in progress' image perhaps gives a better idea of how this hodgepodge of parts went together:

It's as I'm writing this that it's suddenly dawned on me that there's only two and a half months to go till the deadline. To slightly misquote the tagline for Starlight Expresss: Better get my skates on!

Farewell Corri-Llyn

I knew this day was coming. I knew even more I'd just been looking at excuses to put it off for another time.

Corri-Llyn is no more.

Truthfully, I'd fallen out of love with it. It'd spent the best part of a year sat wrapped up in a bag in storage since its last appearance. 

"Why not sell it on?"

It'd be nice, but I'm one of those modellers who freely uses 6" curves, and this layout is no exception. I just know that if I did sell it on, no matter how much I emphasised that the track work was incredibly sharp, I'd probably get a very not so politely worded message a few days later demanding a refund and stating that it's 'not fit for purpose' as the new owner can't get their Heljan Manning Wardle round the bends...

It's just not worth the trouble.

On the bright side though, it's been a great learning experience. The initial design allowed me to draw heavily on inspiration from the work of James Hilton and using structures as view blocks. I had my first proper attempt at a road surface (And in the process proved that a Bachmann Skarloey CAN get round a 6" bend with level crossing infill!) The station proved a great exercise in using the restrictions of the space to make a unique building. It was even my first time building a baseboard totally from MDF, and whilst I can see some of the disadvantages when it comes to putting in the extra time prepping the board for say ballasting, that is far outweighed by the easiness of which it is to cut and shape by tenon saw!

The structures on the layout are all salvaged, and for now are sitting safely in a box alongside the other Chris Ford inspired buildings...

Perchance the Welsh narrow gauge layout is not dead, but sleepeth.