Ballasting
Gateway
Foot crossing
Stonework paint
Just two this week as Laurence has a ballroom competition in Torquay.
Geoff and Stephen hunted high and low for the remains of the ballast used so far. Just as they were planning a shopping trip, the Woodland Scenics Buff Coarse ballast was found and duly applied to several bare and in-need-of-repair areas.
While that dried, Geoff continued to work on the gateway, mainly distressing the timbers and finishing the brickwork fettling.
Stephen tackled a task that had been on the back-burner far too long - a foot crossing for the platform. We have discussed access to the platform several times and can't decide where the principal point should be, so there will be one at each end. The most obvious one will be at the yard end, but crossing pointwork onto the yard road (not ideal for lord & lady whatever). The other crossing just goes off the edge of the board, but can be construed as being much 'safer' and leads to the main road from the house. The timbers are left over from the retaining wall and will need to be sanded and repainted/stained, once the glue has set.
Stephen decided to paint the mine tunnel and, pondering an anonymous wash, asked Geoff what he had available for a base colour. A tub of soft sheen, water-based kitchen/bathroom paint in a creamy yellow appeared. Albeit years old, (and it's original purpose long forgotten) it mixed-up nicely and some was decanted into a pot. Some dark brown poster paint was added and then a gloopy drop of Tamiya black acrylic. When fully mixed, it looked so good that instead of the tunnel, the main bridge wall face was painted, then the rest of the bridge, then the main stone edifice and the outcrop. It's just a base coat at this stage, but we were very pleased with the effect.
One of those pleasing and unexpectedly productive days!
