Lighthouse Lantern Room, Finishing Off The Grounded Van, & Buffer Stops
Thankfully, the lighthouse is tangibly close to completion at long last! As I mentioned on NGRM, the lantern room has been completed (with exception of the light itself), and is now looking way better than the original one!
In order to make the vents in the lantern room base, I used my trusty Dremel with a high-speed cutter (which is probably not meant to be used for the purposes I always use it for!) to form a bowl shape. The vent hole itself was then formed with a pushpin; I don't have a chuck small enough to fit my smallest drill bits, and the plastic was very thin by this point so it took very little effort. Something perhaps hard to notice is a new thin edge strip at the top, just visible to the right of the pushpin:
The 5 windows were also fabricated using the same method as I used on the grounded carriage. Unfortunately, fitting them has proved problematic; so I'll come back to this another day!
Keen not to lose interest, the rest of the lantern room was assembled; complete with other bits of detailing such as an internal door, and a set of foghorns on the roof; these have been made from bits found in my spares box. Oh, and of course there's the railings. They are a bit wonky, but I'm happy enough with it for now. The bigger problem is that I'm one stanchion sort - very frustrating! Having finally found what kit it's from (Ratio 144 Double Rail Stanchions Kit) I'll try and source another pack if I can't find the missing piece. If not, I'll just model the railing as damaged, and have the wires bent out of place where the missing stanchion is.
So with progress on the lighthouse stalled, and keen to get on with something else, I turned my attention to my lengthy to-do list. First up was to sort out the grounded van body. I had filled the bottom up with filler a while back, so the first step was to give it a coat of paint. PVA was then applied with a paint brush, and then sand sprinkled on top. I also took this opportunity to make a rotten floor; made and painted in the same way the rest of the wooden structures have been on this layout.
It was also about time I replaced the oversized metal straps around the doors; a job I've been putting off for a year at least! Whilst I was at it, I decided to fashion a curved wooden rafter. As always, my trusty bag of lollipop sticks has some in handy. The basic shape was cut out using a craft knife; with the rest being done with a sanding attachment on the Dremel. There were two but I lost one in the vacuum cleaner (I like to do any messy work with the vacuum on; and I payed the ultimate price!). In the end, I didn't feel like making another, and actually I think it's better having one missing. Anyway, with a few tufts planted between the missing floorboards, and around the perimeter, all it's missing are a few bits of detritus to add on the inside.
With that scene more or less complete, I turned my attention to the next job on the list; buffer stops. This is another job that's been long overdue - and given I have an exhibition in a month, I don't want any runaways hitting the floor! After some consideration, I decided to opt for a different type of buffer for each of the 3 tracks.
First up was the front siding, and for this one I decided a concrete block would be apt for this location. Whilst I'm still unsure of what will surround this siding, my original idea was a considerable amount of rock armour either side of the track. The block itself was originally an anti-tank block I made for the original Calshot (some 10 years ago I would imagine). Two notches were cut using the Dremel so it could sit over the rails, and it was then painted; first with a base layer of concrete, then a dabbled layer of a slightly darker grey colour to suggest mottling. Finally, the buffer beam was made from a lollipop stick (cut to sleeper size), and two track pins inserted to represent bolt heads. These were all painted my usual way. Some grass tufts finish off the scene.
With that buffer done, I then tackled the loco shed headshunt. For this design I went for a classic simple wooden buffer; two uprights and the crossbar. And yep, made using my usual method! Things were going well until I started drilling the holes; the drill jumped and ripped the buried retaining wall partially out. Thankfully there wasn't too much damage, so the holes were finished off, the buffer glued in place, and the retaining wall put back. Any holes were then filled with either sand or grass tufts!
Finally for today, the last buffer could be tackled. I didn't want anything too obstructive here, so the simplest buffer possible was built and installed; simply a wooden sleeper bolted across the track!
And there we have it; a few more jobs crossed off my list!
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