Paint rodding.
Progress new cassettes.
Rectify scenery.
Geoff had finished the small area of outstanding rodding and started to paint it. To represent fairly new rodding, a galvanised finish was required i.e. a mid-grey. Meanwhile, Stephen infilled the areas around new rodding base plates with ballast, and left it to dry. Geoff moved onto painting the ground frame levers their required colours - black for point blades, light blue for locking mechanisms, white for unused and brown for the frame lock. Stephen moved onto painting the timber base plates, then all of the cranks and joints in black, then touched up the rodding. We were very pleased with the effect. Once fully dry, some embryonic rust and dirt will be applied.
Geoff moved on to an issue that we have needed to address ever since we accepted an offer to exhibit the layout - the backscene interface. John's hills are formed from fibreglass sheet, but the rear edge never followed the line of the wooden baseboards to which the backscene will be fixed. After discussing the pros-and-cons of some options, Geoff cut pieces of flexible 6mm plywood and used Gorilla glue to attach them to the underside of the fibreglass. Temporary screws held them in place. A second layer was added to allow the back edge to be shaped to remove the up-slope, making it easier to marry into the vertical backscene.
After shaping, the gap will be infilled with layered papier mache and plaster, then the whole area will be re-grassed and more shrubbery added.
Geoff had been investigating how best to house the bell and light switches adjacent the frame and had concluded that a backboard with a rain cover on a pole, with a light on top would be suitable. This could be against a handrail of tube or angle-iron, to the side of the working platform. A small diagram of the pointwork layout would also be included. Some ideas will be sketched up in due course.
