Stonewalled

Well, I have managed to get another couple of hours in, on my layout, now tentatively named the Redmire Valley and I am making progress which is more noticeable every time.

Today, I fitted the stone retaining walls, gave them a good sooting, and likewise weathered the tunnel mouths.

A little tip to those of you who may be thinking of using plaster walls. Don't use sandpaper to thin or clean the surface. Use a good quality steel ruler, the edge of which will give a smooth and clean finish which is far superior to sandpaper.

My walls were about 12-14mm thick and in a few minutes I knocked them down by about 4mm.

Once I had the walls in place, I then added a frame of gorse bushes on the edges. From here I will expand the gorse out onto the hillside in small and large clumps, but by starting with a fairly angular and defined 'frame', it allows me to blend in the new features and provides a focal point for the addition of future foliage.

I had to remove the original mounting board wall in the yard to get a bit of clearance for stock, but as the hillside above was Modroc and Celotex board, it was a simple job with a scalpel.

Next, I will add some turf at the point where the walls meet the ground, to break up and soften the angles.

It's my hope to one day be skilful enough to produce a scenic layout, good enough to exhibit, but until then, I'm enjoying myself immensely.

TTFN