Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #20 (Reality Quest)

This is the view under the model bridge; pretty much as it was in the first half of the 1960s including, sleepers laid against the wall, the single rail buried in the grass, the fences, the trees on the far side of the embankment and the tree line in the backscene.

The field fence was particularly troublesome to install, mainly due to the bridge and embankment hindering access.

The fence is an unusual design. Unusual because I could not find any other examples of the post on the web. The post comprises T section metal posts with sloping sides supporting five wire runs. Wire stays fit between the posts.

The posts were installed first and then bare electrical copper wires fed through them followed by fitting of the stays. The fifth wire at the base was not installed as it would have been buried in the long grass! I roughly painted  the parts a rust colour. 

All, except the wires, were resin 3D printed by myself. They are small, thin and with the holes make them fragile. Several broke during installation but, thankfully, I had just enough spares to replace the damaged ones. 

My CAD design is shown below. 

To Part 1.

A Card Kit for October

 Platelayer Huts

View the Card Kits Here.

Project 24 - Battledown Flyover #19 (Visual Trickery)

I thought that the north west embankment in the early 1960s was just grass, turning into shrubs and trees just beyond the wooden hut.

Take a look at this photo at flickr. I had missed the fact that trees are evident between the bridge and signal.

This is fortuitous because they will help block views of the non-prototypical fiddle yard sidings behind the embankment on the model railway. However, not by much because it is only the tops of the trees that are visible from this viewpoint.

My preferred method of making trees is to use natural flora, specifically the wild herb yarrow or sedum autumn joy. These plants, when died back to brown in winter, retain remnants of their flower heads that look like model tree canopies. They are both domed shape so a model tree has to be made by cutting and joining sprigs together.

The normal viewing angle on the model railway is much higher than in the photo above. The trees I made showed too much of their lower parts, including trunk. To remedy this I used a technique that I applied to my Swanage Loco Yard layout. Namely, lay individual sprigs down rather than fabricating a whole tree.

If we look behind the embankment the trick is revealed. This viewpoint is impossible to see in practice without a camera or mirror. 

The sprigs are not even glued down. Just arranged to give the desired effect when viewed from the other side of the embankment.

Next, I needed a solution to hide the non-prototypical tunnel mouth that is employed as a scenic break.

Even though on the prototype there are no trees this side of the embankment, I used 'modellers license' to judiciously place a tree that blocks the tunnel mouth from the normal viewing angle. I also added some dried moss to make it look a bit shrubby. None of it is stuck down.

To Part 1.

To Part 20.