Sky's the limit

"God called the expanse sky. And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered in one place and let dry ground appear". And it was so.

Whilst it was the second day that God created the sky it has taken me a couple of months to finally get the sky backdrop completed and attaching to the benchwork for all planned scenic areas.

My main accomplishment was being able to bend the backdrops around the corner benchwork as I had seen this done on other layouts. This was more easily done than I had thought as the backdrop was made from 3mm MDF white melamine from Bunnings which was thin enough to bend.
My only regret is painting the first two boards onto the white melamine side as the paint did not stick and required a couple of coats of paint. The colour used was Accent Brand - Iris Waters blue. I bought 1 litre of paint and it covered most of the layout backdrop.


Above: This is longest part of the layout 2 1/2 meters that will be where the planned "Petersham"station will be placed.


The second accomplishment is that by having the benchwork in place I have been able to recycle part of the old Bilby beach layout for a play area for my son. I have been able to babysit him whilst I do work on the layout. He has been happy to sniff around my unpacked boxes of model cars, buildings and trains and get them out and play with them on the benchwork.


Above: My son's play are whilst I continue work on the layout.

 

 

My third and final accomplishment is being able to recycle and use part of my old Bilby beach layout and I have begun to incorporating it into my new layout. The dimensions are 1m x 50omm compared to the original size of 1m x 1m making it more suitable to fit the size of the room. However,  I will have to make some modifications to the track plan and the scenery than the original.  


 

Above: View of old Bilby beach that will be incorporate to the new layout via a single track bridge.

In future, I hope to make a lighting valence for one part of the layout that does not get sufficient lighting. So far my research has not provided me with enough confidence to attempt this project.

Thanks for all those who are visiting my blog. Comments and ideas are welcome!

Winter time modelling

The winter months has made it too cold to do any work at night in the train room as the room has no insulation or heating. I have used the time in the last month or so few to finish off some very long overdue vehicles that were purchased some years ago during our home visit from Switzerland and were partially built in Switzerland.

This will add at least one more to the fleet of period buses as well as adding more period trucks to the layout.

Boxed white metal kits no longer produced by Weico and Peter Young

Instead of building the kits straight from the box I have kit bashed the Ampol Petrol Tanker and used the Ford Thames Trader Cabin instead. I then intend to use the Dodge cabin as the basis for the Australian Military tipper truck.



Work in progress



I have added detailed parts - side mirror and headlights from Herpa and windscreen wipers from another German maker Automobilia. The taxi is awaiting a home made decal to be printed. 

 

The truck is loosely based on the prototype shown in the link below

 

Ampol Ford Thames Trader Prototype

 

 

Ampol Petrol Tanker Truck ready for service with Weico Holden FX sedan taxi painted in RSL taxi livery colours

 

The Weico AEC Double Decker bus took a couple of goes to do. The body parts did not fit tightly and required some putty to cover the gaps and required finding substitute headlights and bumper bar which were not supplied in the kit. The two Chevrolet Blitz tow trucks were given to me by a friend. Although Sydney PTC did not have these brand trucks in their fleet I thought it would be appropriate to paint and customise these models into Sydney green and cream to suit the 1950s era and match the buses.   

 

Weico AEC Double decker bus with double doors & two Chevrolet Blitz tow trucks

Now to get started on modelling some Sydney Trams.


Mid Week Field Trip

Building a layout is not properly researched without at least visiting some railway in real life. Since my layout is based in the inner west line in Sydney, I could visit the railway area that I wanted to model quite easily..
I thought I could do this during a weekend, however with a young family and competing needs i.e. going to the Eveleigh farmers market taking a priority the visit never happened.

However, I thought I could make a quick visit and use my MyMulti 2 weekly and last week during lunch time I visited the line.

Pictured below is the original heritage station which was built in 1885 but was no longer used in the 1920s due to the addition tracks I hope to have this pictured in the background somehow.

 

Below: The current station building and platform will be the focus of the layout given that it will be set in the 1950s considering it was built in 1920s.

Below is the disused NSWR signal box near the station near the Petersham training centre that use to be the goods yard area before it was no longer used. I hope to incorporate this in the layout.

With only 20 minutes until the inward train back to St James I only had time to take photos around the station and a quick walk up the heritage footbridge.