real estate on Brett

Despite suffering the full effects of hay fever and a man-flu combined over the last few days, today I  was resolved to have a go at a couple of jobs on the layout.

Terrible pictures, I will have another go when there is better light. (And less shadow on the backdrop).

I have added some pipework to the elevator. The grain bin is a Rix kit, the rest of it is scratchbuilt from card, plastic sheeting and various 'bits'.. It had a basic grey undercoat, so today I picked out a bit of detail and gave it some rust, actually quite a lot of rust, using pictures from the internet as a guide. Need to 'plant' the buildings now, with weed growth around the base.

Still waiting some signage, is 'Smith and Hogg' Hardware Supplies. Made a point of not over-weathering this building, and also keeping the colours fairly neutral. Streetview is my friend and most lineside buildings I've seen in this area are grey or aluminum.

lumber loads and some weathering

Been doing various little jobs lately.. skipping between toy soldiers and the layout.. (you can see more toy soldierness over at Tabletop Mog)

First up.. We actually had a bit of nice weather last weekend. Perfect excuse to get the airbrush out and do some weathering.

Sadly, I rather rushed things in my enthusiasm.. not overly happy with the dirt shades on much of the stock I did..and was a bit heavy-handed overall.  The RS27 was the only loco to get attention. Over the last week or so, my initial disappointment has waned a little, and I reckon with a bit of work it'll end up being alright..

One of the other little 'jobs' I've done is to mock up a couple of loads for the bulkhead flats. It seems that there are lots of different ways of doing this. I like the look of some of the 'wrapped' loads that I've seen online so used Open Office to knock one up, bearing the name of the lumber company on the layout - 'Northwest Lumber'. These are just printed onto thin card and folded up as a test.

Lots more to do.. I ordered some clear decal sheets, so the Bachmann S2 is getting patched.. perhaps along with some rolling stock. 

I'd like to find some figures and perhaps a couple of vehicles next.. but HO stuff seems to be very expensive for some reason.. 

(and I don't want any of those weird 'sexy scenes'.. what the hell is that about?!)