'1943, Somewhere in England', N scale Monster Layout


I spent this morning tidying up the workshop then got back to the railway this afternoon. The first thing was to join the yard to the station section so that the track could be lined up, trimmed and fixed in place. The ends of the rails were soldered to screws to hold them in place. Once the rails were in place, the track was ballasted.

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The road was given a first coat of grey paint and the level crossing check rails added. I then started to add greenery. Much of the clumpy foliage was pulled apart into small pieces and mixed with slightly diluted PVA glue. The pieces were scooped up on the end of a stiff brush and stippled into place. Over the top I added a light sprinkle of grass powder.

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Ironic that you mention the '43 Ford GPW. I am rebuilding a motor for a '43 GPW right now. I just went yesterday and picked up a '45 GPW, a chassis and tub (junk, but had to take as part of a mercy %$#@ deal) and a bunch of parts and pieces, including a bunch of combat rims and 4 more engine blocks. (This was all for a friend, not for me, he sells this stuff). We basically convoy'd three trucks and trailers about 85 miles back to home with all of this stuff. The chassis and tub we even gave to another jeep collector friend of ours that will use the chassis (great news for us!), and I am still shopping for a '42 or '43 Ford for myself. Found a BEAUTIFUL one in Nevada for $2750 on Ebay last week, but one of my clients is screwing around on my invoice payment, so I had to sadly let that one go. For the price, it was a steal too, too bad. But the '43 sitting at my best friends house (his) I am learning a lot on especially with the restoration we did last Winter and the motor rebuild currently under way. Lots of fun those old Jeeps. MUCH better than racecars and more relaxed than EMD 567 engines! Any chance if your customer backs out of the layout that you can use parts of it for your own layout?
 
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I'm still in the early stages of stripping down the Jeep. Most of the fittings are removed from the tub, and one fender and grill are off the front. I just missed out on another Jeep for £6500 which is pretty cheap for over here. That was complete but would have made another good restoration project.

The parts of the layout built to date are all paid for, so sooner or later they will make their way to the customer! Besides, it's too big for the space I have. I do have a design for a layout of my own, which would have a US theme, still set in WW2, but that is probably a few years away yet.
 
The road was painted again, and had an overspray speckle to break up the surface. This road was also blended into the road on the other section, and the hedge extended. The clay works were also fitted, and blended in with sand around the base.

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A pill box was added watching over the level crossing, and the base for the level crossing keepers house was painted.

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Another pill box was added near the station, watching over the approach road. The platforms in the background have also been painted, and just need their edging painted.

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The bushes and hedges applied yesterday have fully dried out and have returned to their correct colour.

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Here's a general view of the yard section leading into the country station section.

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The Sherman tanks were also added in the little "Kelly's Heroes" tribute.

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The level crossing keepers house was glued down and a hedge added around the property.

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The platform edges were masked off and the edging stones painted. Once dry, the whole platform needs a speckle to break up the even finish of the grey.

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A general view of the clay works end of this section.

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Last thing yesterday, the three platform sections were glued and weighted down to fully cure. Today's progress was mainly adding small details; figures, vehicles amd buildings. The clay works has a few people active around the building and some home guard troops are in exercises around the pill box.

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An old coal wagon has been added as a coal bunker, and a few people working around the area, and a busy station scene with the station masters house in the foreground.

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More troops are training around the upper pillbox. On the goods platform, there are now cattle pens, one of which contains sheep, and a fence separates the goods platform from the passenger area.

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The three sections of the railway are going on holiday for a while later today. I need the workshop space for the strip down of the engine from the Jeep, and with the railway there, there just isn't the room to do both. The three sections have been screwed down to the floor of my trailer and will live in my dad's garage until the engine rebuild is done, and the engine is back in the chassis. Once that is done, the station section can come home briefly in order to build and link up the next section which is the first part of the airfield. Once the benchwork and track is aligned, the station will have to go away again to give me working space.

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The layout made it safely to my dad's garage, but before it was packed away, I took these few pictures of the whole lot so far. I'm starting to get the idea of how big this will be! Another eight feet to add to the left of the station, and another four feet to the right for the mine, before the layout turns a corner!

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