Coming to a halt

Events have caught up with the  recent reinvigoration of Morfa. A vague notion that we might at some future time decide to downsize from the rambling chapel which is our and Morfa's home has galloped very quickly into view with the result that estate agents have been instructed and work on Morfa has come to a halt. For the moment I'm continuing to enjoy running trains through the broad brush roughed out landscape. Further construction has stopped, and Morfa will develop no further. Here are a few photos of how it looks at the moment.

The stone embankment was created by spreading Heritage non clumping cat litter along the slope between the tracks and the lower ground and water levels. Once I was happy with how it looked I dropped on a pva and water mix with a pipette which set hard after a few days.

Mojo Risin'

It looks like my strategy of putting the layout blogs in suspended animation has worked, at least as far as Morfa is concerned. Also added into the mix was a dredged up memory of covering the basic landmass with dyed flannelette sheeting. This combined with the sticky balls has led to rapid progress, which has buoyed up my enthusiasm to the point where progress has been close to full tilt. Have a few photos.

The kiss of death

I don't know why it is but each time I've started a layout specific blog the project seems to splutter to an undignified halt. I've sort of made up my mind to try a new approach, and to post progress here rather than there. Of course it will somewhat spoil any continuity, but with luck at least there'll be something to read with some regularity in one place. So while I won't be taking down, Morfa, The Ganllwyd Tram and En Vacances, I also won't be adding to them.

By way of recompense here is one of the latest views on Morfa, showing the current scenic progress on the Abertafol curve. By choosing a careful angle I've managed to give an impression that matters are more advanced than they really are, but never mind it does hint at how things might be.

My resin casting blog/website Rushby's Resins bucks this trend and will be updated as and when new products emerge. Hopefully this month I'll have news of the latest resin kit as a start has been made on masters and moulds.

Not taking things seriously

Lately most of my model making has been focussed on the narrow gauge world. It's been skewed this way partly due to uncertainty about the long term future of Morfa, my big EM gauge trainset and partly because of the momentum that my resin casting business 'Rushby's Resins' has gained. I'm only now beginning to redress the balance by indulging in a bit of HO standard gauge modelling. Currently on my workbench is a representation of a Czechoslovakian diesel shunter, taking shape from the butchered remains of a cheap Piko train set loco. 

Here's what it looked like before I started.

Here's what it looks like now.

It's a way of being finished, but I'm already very happy with how it's shaping up. The whole point of this tale isn't about how well I've done, but what liberties I'm taking with the model. Comparing what I've done with what the real thing looks like reveals differences, which in the normal scheme of things there would be an expectation that I would address. The narrow gauge world is to a large extent very tolerant of models that look like a particular loco, wagon or carriage, but which aren't slavish copies. It's intrigued me why this should be so, and if it would be possible to apply similar practises to standard gauge models. If pressed to justify this methodology I point at paintings where much is left out or simplified, yet the essence of the subject is there, clear as day. It's difficult to judge whether this non-finescale approach will work, but if I look at my narrow gauge models then I believe that it can and should.