This is a Platform Alteration; Hopefully the last one.
After languishing under the lockdown and my fettling of carriages and other distractions I decided to turn my attention to the scenery once again. I was happy with the layout of the station and how I could run two trains at once into it with no issues being caused to the rolling stock. However, I had painted it in a cheap acrylic grey and it really was not looking the part. Scuffs were showing from when I had caught it and it was not looking as polished as I had hoped. That is to say, it did not evoke the scene that I was intending. Typical Welsh Narrow Gauge stations have large stones on the edge of the platform and a crushed stone surface.
To that end I took the chisel to the plaster platform again and began the process of cutting out a trench to place the 'stones' into. I know from practice with my wall building that I needed to be careful with the sizes of the slabs and make sure that I did not make them too large.
I did a test fit of each piece of mounting board with the use of my two widest locomotives, "Sir Anthony" and "Cefndryd", to make sure that they did not foul the edge of the platform when running past it.
I started to stick the edges to the platform and kept the two locomotives on hand to test the clearances.
Once I was happy with how the edges looking, I took more of the ballast that I used on the track and spread it evenly over the platform. Once I was happy with the spread, I applied a 50/50 mix of PVA and water to glue it to the surface. The stones were painted grey and the whole area was left overnight to dry. Here are a couple of photos showing the difference between the two platforms.
I have been in discussion with another modeller about weathering and the use of airbrushes and I am planning to wait until I can acquire an airbrush before I begin to weather things on the layout.
I am so impressed with how this has turned out for Platform 1. I am going to try and do something similar with Platform 2 but I need to acquire some more ballast to create the shingle effect. I was tempted to leave it as is as it is not often used for trains, but I am not one to leave a job unfinished. More to follow.
To that end I took the chisel to the plaster platform again and began the process of cutting out a trench to place the 'stones' into. I know from practice with my wall building that I needed to be careful with the sizes of the slabs and make sure that I did not make them too large.
I did a test fit of each piece of mounting board with the use of my two widest locomotives, "Sir Anthony" and "Cefndryd", to make sure that they did not foul the edge of the platform when running past it.
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| The extent of the gouge in the platform edge. |
I started to stick the edges to the platform and kept the two locomotives on hand to test the clearances.
Once I was happy with how the edges looking, I took more of the ballast that I used on the track and spread it evenly over the platform. Once I was happy with the spread, I applied a 50/50 mix of PVA and water to glue it to the surface. The stones were painted grey and the whole area was left overnight to dry. Here are a couple of photos showing the difference between the two platforms.
As a final touch, I added a makeshift ramp to the entrance to the station using some excess ballast to complete the effect.
I have been in discussion with another modeller about weathering and the use of airbrushes and I am planning to wait until I can acquire an airbrush before I begin to weather things on the layout.
I am so impressed with how this has turned out for Platform 1. I am going to try and do something similar with Platform 2 but I need to acquire some more ballast to create the shingle effect. I was tempted to leave it as is as it is not often used for trains, but I am not one to leave a job unfinished. More to follow.
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