Favourite Photos...

Favourite Photos...
Reading Lines GP35 #3647

Middletown, Pa

Friday 4 April 2014

Finishing up the fascia edges...

Over the last week I have been finishing up the fascia edges and completing the ground dirt.  This has been a process of filling in the gaps with old newspaper and then filling this with ground goo, this is a mixture of Portland Cement, Plaster of Paris & Fine Vermiculite.

This substance when mixed with water sets up like concrete (thanks to the Portland Cement) and is great for forming the ground.  You have about 15 - 20 minutes to work the mixture into its rough form, then you just have to spray it with water to smooth out the top surface to the required terrain.

After this has completely dried (usually a day or two) its time to add the zip texturing which is the final dirt like layer.  This is just a mixture of Plaster of Paris (finely sieved) and tempera powdered paint to the required dirt colour.

Again a light spray of water on the dried ground goop, and then using a fine sieve you cover (lightly) the ground goop with the zip texturing, then another light spray of water to set up the layers.



I also added some more static grass to some of the completed fascia areas, added some more bushes, and also finished off the raised ground area on the JL&T module.



I've also added the Tortoise Switch Machines to the staging area entrance so that I can finish off the fascia's in the L&T area.



Cheers,

Jas...

4 comments:

  1. Jas,

    That whole area has really come together nicely! It looks like it would be a real blast to take on a switching job in this area. I can't recall if you've mentioned anything about painting the fascia and the valance. Any plans along those lines?

    Tom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Tom sorry for the late reply, I only just realised I didn't respond to your question (over 12 months, me bad!) yes the fascia will be getting painted along with the upper valance. It will be a darker colour nearer to black but not black... Jas.

      Delete
  2. I have to say your trackwork is some of the finest I have ever seen in any scale. It looks like you take a lot of time to make sure there is no stray ballast around the rails. Excellent work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks James appreciate the comments, it is one of those jobs that takes awhile and can be frustrating at times. But when you get those close up photos right, the effort pays off. It's not to bad now, practice and some homemade tools make it fairly straight forward to do.

    ReplyDelete