For the first time I have taken the airbrush to the layout. I have blended all the track area with sleeper grime, black and a little gloss varnish in places. After the airbrushing, the track was cleaned with thinners and then with a track rubber, the whole area was then vacuumed to pick up all the debris. I am not a fan of this type of cleaner as it leaves residue, but for this job it is essential. I use liquid track cleaners from this point.

I weathered the sides of the platform as well, the top will be done later. Most of the Platform fencing is now glued on, this will also be lightly weathered at the same time as the top.

I also gave a dusting to the road, the level crossing and the goods yard buildings.

I had Ian T down to see me today, we went through the layout so far. We decided to move the various small buildings around a bit, we also decided where the trees were going to go and holes were drilled for the lineside fencing, although nothing in glued down yet. After Ian left I decided the next job was ballast picking on all the track, this is to ensure that we don’t have stray pieces of ballast in places they should not be – a good check now is better than poor running later, After I was happy with the track I started painting the track sides with ‘sleeper grime’ cleaning the tops of the rail with white spirit as I went along. I guess about 50% is now finished – I will add various stains latter. You can really see how much better it looks compared to the unpainted track.

Another very busy day – Backscene painted Blue, then I have painted hills, trees and bushes. The buffer stops have been painted and further areas of textured paint added.

I also had time to prepare the station fencing etc., but it is not glued down yet. I have painted and weathered the coal depot.

Today has been a big step forward in the layout development.

A lot done today, Grassing and ballasting finished, pond and stream varnished, road painted and goods shed area painted with textured paint.

I have also weathered about 9″ of track to see how it could look, the last photo shows this. I brushed on sleeper grime although I will air brush in the main.

I ordered a Yard Crane today, this completes the goods yard.

Tomorrow is backscene painting day.

Another day working on Bowford, platform tops painted, more ballast glued, more grassing and an alternative Goods Shed measured up and placed in position. I think about 60% of ballasting is complete and glued in place, with about 75% of the grassing complete, another day should see these completed.

Over the weekend I hope to paint on the road and then the first coat of light blue on the backscene.

I have started to grass the part of the layout where the ballast glue is dry and also blending some pre-made resin buildings with static grass. The light earth down the sides and in the middle of the ballast is mainly for texture and will be partly recoloured later.

About 50% of the track is ballasted but only about half of that is glued down. No weathering has taken place yet. The river (stream) needs to be gloss varnished and then reeds added.

I have now painted the embankments and undulations with a slightly diluted coat of earth coloured Emulsion paint, I use this paint as it accepts PVA well and there is no reaction with Enamel paint.

I then painted the Pond and the River with a dark green enamel -BR Green in fact!

I have started to ballast some straight track using a dispenser designed for the purpose – the points I will do by hand. I am using Noch N Gauge Granite Ballast. Next step will be wetting an area and then with a dropper add 50-50 PVA and water, plus a drop of washing up liquid.

I have carried on with the scenics today and have applied a filler to shape the pond, river and embankments. I have sanded everything for a smooth finish. I could add another layer and repeat the process but all the points need to be easily accessible as they are manual operation so will likely remain at the current height.

I have positioned the cut down station building and the ‘cut off’ rear portion on the station for further deliberation.

Next Jobs are ballasting, backscene painting, embankments and river/pond painting.

I have spent the last two days starting the scenics. I have made a pond and a river, as well as starting on some small embankments – I emphasise this is just the first layer, to be built up with other layers and then filler to form the small to medium embankments.

I have also made the Station Building fit the platform, I removed an inch off the back, making into a 3/4 relief. I also reduced the canopy so that all Locos and coaches can pass the full length of the platform – this was a resin casting and took a lot of sawing and filing.

All the electrics have been done on the layout and the tops of the platforms have been added. The whole layout has been electrically tested and declared working as required. All clearances on the platforms and buildings have also been checked. I still need to sort out the Station building, it needs to have the razor saw taken to it to reduce the width.