Silver Sidelines

Some weeks have elapsed since I first wrote about using sieved sand from the garden for ‘scatter’.   I can now report on what happens when you add coal dust. In the view above the area of ‘ground’ at the end of the platform is a mixture of my original sieved sand and paste mix with the addition of 25% coal dust (three teaspoons of sand and one teaspoon of coal dust).   This Station is a busy junction and the dark colouring seemed perfect.   However to differentiate between more rural and less heavily trafficked areas I decided to reduce the coal content further. In the view above the area labelled ‘A’ is my original mix of sieved sand and paste.   The material labelled ‘B’ is this original mix with 12.5% coal dust added (seven teaspoons of sand and one teaspoonful of coal dust).   The area labelled ‘C’ is a mixture of the two and was an attempt to grade the colour of the material on the right so that it matched the material on the left.   I...

Time has been spent these last few weeks covering up the bare baseboard and the shiny screws: The aims were to find a series of scatter materials that could be easily replicated and were cheap – better still ‘free’.   In our case the answer lies in the garden.   We had a quantity of gravel left over from some construction work. Waste Gravel straight from the garden First the material needs washing – you should be on good terms with the lady of the house as you will need the stainless steel wire mesh sieve from the kitchen to pass the fine material through.   Wet sieving with a flow of water is far superior to dry sieving. Wet Sieving The residue should look something like this.   If there is a lot of clay / dust present this will be carried over in the washing water and in my case was allowed to flow away. The Fine Residue - wet The fine residue is then oven dried - I also separately dried the large...

I feel this entry might be slightly disjointed.   It is potentially a huge subject and it is a case of not knowing where best to start.   I did think of using the title “What’s black and white and read all over?” Hornby Scenics Medium Black and Medium Light Grey gravels mixed + Maroon (not Red) Morris Minor Traveller Ballasting all the visible trackwork with Blue Poppy Seeds is becoming just a distant memory and it is time to stop making excuses and get on with some more scenery. Hornby Scenics Fine Grey gravel with a sprinkling of Gaugemaster Coal I did make a start with the coal yard and found that I could make an acceptable surfacing by mixing Scenics fine gravel with wall paper paste spread using a stainless steel spatula. I used the same technique for the road over bridge The hardboard lift out section of road was surfaced with mix of Scenics fine grey gravel mixed into a paste with wall paper adhesive and trowelled into...