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


Thanks. With most of the track work hidden on this section, it needed something else to maintain interest. So in addition to the lighting and the Catalina moving in and out of the hangar, it is planned that one of the B-17's will have engines starting and stopping with sound effects, plus the crash landed Lancaster will have a smoke system.
 
Steve, is the layout dc or dcc
Also im glad your back from your hiatus, the jeep, I am currently fixing a 150 year old farmhouse and will resume the Big Shed Layout soon I hope.
Watching your project progress keeps the savage beast at bay
Keep the updates coming

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If it were my layout, it would probably be just DC, as it is far more simple and far less costly. Since it is for a customer, he wanted DCC, with control panels that indicate point direction, and automatic route selection, so there's far more wiring than there would be on a DC layout.
 
Yesterday, all the LED's were masked off and the concrete areas painted with grey cellulose primer. After a couple of coats, it was left to harden off for a while, then flatted back with a 600 grit automotive flatting pad ( used in car body resprays ).

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Today, a number of concrete sections were masked off to be sprayed a darker grey. This would help to simulate the mottled effect of the concrete slabs. I'm guessing that the colour variation was due to different batches of concrete with slightly different mixes or hardcore in them.

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The masking tape was then removed to reveal the lighter primer shade.

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Once all the masking was removed, the whole area was sprayed over with the darker grey, dulling down and mottling the light grey primer, as well as the previously masked areas.

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Once that was dry, the hangar door runners were masked and sprayed dark grey, and some general random dirtying was done to the slabs, especially where aircraft would park and drip oil.

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The hangar and Nissen huts were replaced to get an overall feeling for the colours.

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Next for a bit of 3D landscape, the Firing Butts. On every airfield, there was a large earth mound, built around the end of one of the dispersals. This was used for the test firing of the bombers machine guns. Sometimes it was the guns themselves that needed testing, while on other occasions, the flexible ammunition feeds for the guns could jam, and so the gun would need testing to make sure the rounds would move through the belt freely.

An MDF end and cardboard core formed the basic shape.

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Card strips were then glued onto the mound to fill in the shape and give more support for the next layer.

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A layer of plaster bandage came next, and on top of that, a thin painted layer of plaster.

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The other near by areas where the ground height changed were also coated in plaster. The MDF board was painted with PVA glue first, and a little PVA mixed into the plaster to get a good bond.

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One dispersal was also drilled for the metal pins on the B-17's landing gear, to allow the aircraft to sit on the dispersal at ground level. The pins extending down from each leg give a far more secure fixing than just gluing the aircraft to the ground.

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The scene is beginning to come to life with a bit of colour. It should look great once the grass and a bit of mud is applied, then the vehicles and figures.

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The blast shelters have been glued on and sand sprinkled over the ground. As with previous sections, it was wetted out with water and detergent sprayed on, and then dilute PVA glue dripped on to glue it in place.

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I continued until the last of my kiln dried fine sand was gone, getting me to the edge of the dispersal.

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I did have some sandpit sand, which was damp. This was dried in the oven on baking trays, and further ground down by crushing it with the end of a brick. The sand was then sieved to get the finest grains.

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Most of the board was covered before a pause for a model shop trip to buy some other railway supplies.

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This is the start of the signal square; a visual aid to landing for aircraft with damaged radio equipment or no radios at all.

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In the large grass area of the airfield, where the Lancaster crash site will be, I drilled several holes. These will allow smoke from a smoke system below the base, to filter up through the board and up past the aircraft.

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Here, the grass ( sand ) on the airfield has been laid and glued.

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At the other end of the board, the firing butt was grassed on top, but the side that would be fired into was left a rough texture.

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To start May, I started the kit for the pump house. This will go on the siding on the branch line, shortly after it emerges from the tunnel under the airfield.

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The kit was built pretty much out of the box, except for adding a base of styrene and bricking up a number of windows since the incorrect set were included in the box. I did find some from another kit that suited a couple of windows. Fortunately the four along the back aren't seen anywhere.

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When buying the pump house kit, I also picked up the first two packets of figures. These have been painted as US Army Air Force officers, ground and air crew.

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Yesterday saw the start of colour being added to the ground.

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The sand was painted with a mix of two greens and brown.

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The first brushed coat complete. A sprayed coat will come next to even out the tones a bit.

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Grass powder was mixed with dilute PVA and painted onto the sides of the blast shelters.

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The hangar queen and other airframe wreckage was attached today, and in the background, a number of trees were added. Trees and hedge lines were left intact as much as possible during airfield construction, to aid the camouflage of the airfield and buildings. Particularly so around the bomb dump, hospital and technical site.

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The blast shelters still need the internal walls painting, and the trees have had some additional foliage added, which is still wet in this shot.

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