WEST ORTON

[Steve M]

The additional stone sheets arrived in less than 24 hours from Peters Spares.

The basic cladding of the front side is done to allow the glue to set properly overnight before I tackle the more fiddly bits around the bridge piers and the inner arches. (The memsahib has been informed that I may need to borrow her oven - I was on the receiving end of one of those ‘looks’).
The sides are held on by three screws which will eventually be covered by X shaped through rods often seen on old structures.

2021-06-11_01-51-55 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Brian]

You're an inspirational modeller, Steve.
I spend 8 hours thinking about what to do, then 1 hour doing it (usually wrong!). You seem to take 1 hour thinking and 8 hours doing!!! Well done sir.

[Walkingthedog]

I’m like Steve. It’s not the ideal way to do things. Better to take your time and make it last but once I start I get on with it and then have nothing to do.

Thank heavens there are always little things to add all the time.

[Steve M]

I do spend a fair amount of time thinking about the layout and it’s development - usually to the point that I know what I want something to look like when it’s finished and the main steps in achieving it.
Half the fun is problem solving along the way.

An example would be the shell for the inside of the arches - I had contemplated soaking and bending thin ply or putting in a shell of plasticard. Both would work and I have used both in the past. Then the other night my mind was wandering during a particularly lacklustre tv programme when the wooden slats idea came to me.

I went straight to the shed and started sticking slats to bandages so they would be dry the next day to see if the theory worked - they were and it did. The beauty is that they remain in place while still being flexible making the fit of the other side of the bridge very easy.

Brian (FB) I don’t spend that much time ‘doing’ - cutting and fitting the stone sheets took less than an hour this morning. It’s waiting for the glue to dry that holds things up.

[Steve M]

I filled the joints with white putty last night and sanded them down this morning. I have one more curved sheet to fix inside one arch before I start painting. I have also filled the piers with a small amount of expanding foam to aid rigidity.

2021-06-14_11-43-09 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Walkingthedog]

That looks terrific Steve.

[Steve M]

Thanks Brian, now for the various stages of painting.

First a coat of Halfords white acrylic primer.

2021-06-14_02-04-46 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Next a coat of Humbrol desert tan from a rattle can.

20210614_161254 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

And as I have run out of the paint I need to finish, the final touch for today is a few random diagonal lines of an orangey yellow paint that has been rubbed off with a cotton bud. Added some green at the base of the piers where the water line will be.

20210614_170639 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

This can dry thoroughly overnight ready for the final blue/grey wash - important for today’s acrylic paint to dry properly as the wash is an enamel.

[bulleidboy]

Brilliant job - it's going to look great on the layout.

[teedoubleudee]

Looks very good Steve

[Mr Bones]

Wow - Just Wow....