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


The last picture shows the half depth trees against the 2D woodland on the back scene. I am planning on filling in some of the gaps with slightly darker foliage glued to the backscene, showing trees a little further away from the immediate foreground.

These pictures bring us up to date, and I'm now working on the control panel for this section.

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Stephen,

Firstly, your backdrops are truly amazing. I had to look long and (very) hard to see where your layout stopped and your back ground began. I STILL can't see or find a seam between the two!

Anytime you feel the need to have more work to do, let me know - I'd pay you to do a back ground for me any day.
 
The start of the airfield control panel. The panel was primed, tracks masked and then sprayed black.

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Masking removed.

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Back to programming! Fortunately, there must have been a software upgrade since last time, and it is now working on my Win7 laptop without problems. Last time, I had to switch to an old Win XP laptop before it would run.

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Hooked up to the PR3 for programming of the DTM30 control panel circuit.

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Labels attached for the airfield animated features.

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Starting to connect the control panel to the layout.

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B-17 engine test and perimeter track lights wired up.

[video=youtube;BqQHOeo3h9o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqQHOeo3h9o[/video]
 
There are a number of power supplies under this section, both for the DCC operation and the various animated features.

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This is the voltage regulator that drops the voltage to run the Catalina movement.

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The smoke unit under the Lancaster needed to be removable easily, so that it could be refilled when needed. The unit sits in the plastic chimney allowing fresh air up past the smoke generator which improves performance. As a result, the smoke unit has to be inserted from below the tube first. A swinging support slides in under the smoke unit to then hold it in place.

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By the start of September, I started adding some details and figures. The first area was the non-running B-17. A GMC 6x6 truck is parked behind the B-17, and the crew have just jumped out. They are gathered beside the rear entry door having a final briefing before a local familiarization flight.

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To the front of the B-17, a 6x6 Dodge and some ground crew making final preparations, including one Tech Sgt polishing the bombardiers nose glass.

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Here's another view of the crew preparing for flight.

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Near the hangar, several ground crew are salvaging parts from the "Hangar Queen". A GMC truck waits near by to carry the parts to the aircraft in need.

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The "Follow Me" Jeep is leading a visiting P-38 fighter to an available dispersal.

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Clear plastic discs were cut for the P-38 props, with segments cut out to leave the blurred area showing the movement of the propeller. They were sprayed a thin dusting of black, and then yellow tips added ( though not painted at the time of this picture ).

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Two figures were painted in PVA glue to bulk them up to represent fire proof suits. They were painted white with a silver vision panel in the helmet. One was given some copper wire to hold to represent the canvas fire hose.

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They were glued down along with the fire truck, but there would be further work to complete the scene.

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Several vehicles are parked around the crash and would have rescue crews added.

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The Control Tower and fire truck shed.

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