And on it goes!

Today we brought the layout downstairs in the living room so my wife can do the scenery in a easier way because of our little granddaughter who is living with us. This way we can see her and still do some needed work on the layout.

This is starting point. We got one week to finish it so it can go to the OntraXS exhibition held on 8, 9 and 10th of March 2013:

A little hill is made from foam plate to hide the extra support for the background on the smaller module. We also set the hotel to see its precise place so we can sand it::

And the first layer of sand. This will be the base for the rest of the scenery:

It will work out!

Silence

Well, you might noticed it; the blog is a little silence. That is because I got spinal back surgery last friday and am now recovering. Work is proceeding, my wife is making trees and does the final landscaping. I myself have to lie down a lot but I started painting figures.

With some flowers I got from a few fellow modellers:

Later more!

Hotel almost ready

The Lacy hotel is almost finished. It got its colour and foundation. Just some small touch ups are needed:

+

Later!

4-4-0 conversion/rebuild

I did some work on the Bachmann 4-4-0.  Bought a cab kit from Mount Blue Model Co, it is a angled roof that fits the period better than the round roof that is on the Bachmann loco:

The kit is fairly easy, laser cut in very thin and fine fineer. All the parts are with it, also nut and bolt castings for the metal simulated plate in front of the cab and on top of the boiler.
Very well done kit and great fun to build. I also bought a funnel from Boulder Valley and a new longer pilot from grandt Line. I also refiited the front lamp so it sits further at the front. I also made new supports struts for the lamp platform:

And here painted. The cab doors are green here (as is the interior) but after taking this picture I redid that and painted them brown as of the rest of the cab:

And from the front:

I think it looks good, Later!

The Lacy hotel

Well, my wife is doing well with the Lacy hotel. She started painting it and tonight she glued the blends on.

Yesterday:

And today, we placed it on the layout to see how it turns oput. Well, it turns out quite well! The foundation stones are lossely placed under the building:

You can see that the building doesn't stand level, caused by the loose foundation. That will be fixed tomorrow:

Well, I'm proud of what she accomplished!

And some afterwork

Buil a set of 50 barrels after the other work that I done. One can do it in front of the tv-set, drinking what with your spouse and build something:

That was it for today, next thing tomorrow!

Ballast finished and other stuff

This morning I did the last piece of ballast on the right side:

Glued with the mix:

This afternoon I got parts from Grandt Line for my cars:

And a new pilot for the 4-4-0, I think it looks better with this one:

My wife is almost ready with the Lacy hotel, I did the fence around it:

My artillery point is coming to life now, the sandbags are painted and I made some underground seen on photos for the cannons and the personnel:

 Later more!

Starting the ballasting!

I do have a stash of sifted sand, I use that for ballast:

First I bring it on with a spoon, rub it down the ties and finish it with a brush:

Then I spray it with water with some drops of dish detergent. This will "relax" the water so the water-glue mix will penetrate the sand:

Then I drop it in with the mix, in this case I use flexibel glue from a Dutch manufacturer called Anita Decor (www.anitadecor.nl) in the mix 1 part glue to 5 parts water. I drop it in with a seringe:

At the turnouts the glue wanted to penetrate the switchtie. I had to fast-dry it with a hair dryer:

 The second part:

 And glued:

It dries now, tomorrow more fun! ;)