Author

David Coasby

Date

4th May 2020

Reading Time

2 minutes

I am in the middle of constructing a small shunting yard, based on the outskirts of Brighton during in the late 1950s to early 1960s period.

Because the whole scenic area is just 8ft x 2ft most buildings on the layout have to be of the low-relief type. At the far end of the layout the track disappears into a wide over bridge. In theory the line continues on, but in fact the track is just long enough under the bridge to hold my class 33 diesel. On the bridge I am building a typical urban road, with pavement and shops etc forming the backscene, but only pavement on the other side.

So far I have only got two shops ready to place on the layout. The first is a corner shop, purchased from Bachmann and is part of their O scale Scenecraft Range. I haven’t done much work on this except change the proprietors name and add some coloured paper curtains.

The other shop was made up from a laser-cut kit from Petite Properties. Although it is quite a basic MDF kit of parts (and only costing around £15) it has clear instructions and goes together very easily with all the parts fitting well, using quick-set PVA. Some detailing pieces are supplied, but it’s mostly left to the modeller to paint the pieces and add whatever they fancy to customise it to their taste.

On my model I have added embossed brickpaper; Slaters roof tiles (note the slipped slate and lead flashing around the chimney); coloured paper curtains; guttering with downpipe; computer print-outs for the street name and miniature pictures of men with ‘nice haircuts’ that barbers tended to have in their windows, together with a couple of miniature posters for Brylcreem (not seen in the photo). I also made up a tiny red and white barbers pole from bits and pieces from my scrap box. A little weathering here and there finishes off a model I am very pleased with.

Dave

 

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