Worton Court: Thursday 5th May

Worklist:
Yard and road finishes
Platform and surrounding area finishes

Laurence was on nautical duties so just two.

Geoff continued with the yard by fettling the cut joints between panels of plastic setts. First, a tool was made with a double-edged blade, like a scraper-board pen. This enabled the raised edges (which were clearly annoying Geoff) to be removed. In the end, a centre punch proved much more useful.

Pre-cleaning panels - the gaps had to go!

Foam inserts and then paper mache were applied to the edge of the road.

Stephen applied a layer of Smooth-It to the platform. It is quite sloppy, as recommended, which makes levelling interesting.

The van body chosen to provide a a secure/dry store on the platform was cleaned up and the base repaired. Dropped on after the plaster had dried, it looks the part.

Stephen then looked at the test panel of chinchilla dust Laurence had applied the previous week. None of the gloss cream paint was visible and the surface looked very good albeit a little too regular. Random sanding worked well, to make the surface more realistic.

Chinchilla dust, as applied

Chinchilla dust given a light, random sanding

Here, it's used to fill the areas next to the track ballast.

Following a discussion the previous week, Stephen had brought down a Corgi Bedford OB coach he'd bought over 20 years ago. It's 1:50, but this works well in the small space. It's not Geoff's favourite coach on the basis that it wasn't the most common model, but it works well. It's for the excursions that are starting to run to the embryonic preserved railway.