A layout nameboard & loco shed foundation
Before we get onto the nameboard, I thought it wise to finish off the loco shed (well, for the most part anyway; there's still details to add etc.). I recently mentioned that I wasn't happy with how the brick foundation looked on this layout; whilst it would be fine for Old AGWI Rd., for Sandy Shores it didn't look quite right. I therefore decided to make a new one; one made from cement blocks. Despite the plethora of plastic sheets I have stored away, I haven't got any cement block sheets left, but I did have a sheet of cement render.
Therefore, to make it look like blockwork, it was time to do a whole lot of scoring; not the musical kind, mind!
And yes, as you'd imagine, it was obviously pretty time consuming and labour-intensive. I do want to touch upon the method used to scribe the tiny vertical mortar courses. The photo below shows (apart from the fact that I'm left-handed!) that I actually place the knuckle of my left index finger onto the cutting mat, and use it as leverage to keep everything steady. You'll note my left thumb is actually being used to drag the craft knife slowly backwards. Doing it this way means I have absolute control; and seems to minimise the risk of the blade slipping.
Anyway, with all those lines scored, I then cut the pieces to length. To match the thickness of the original brick foundation, a middle section of plasticard was also needed. The various components were then glued, and upon curing, each piece was mitred using a little hacksaw.
Once all was checked up against the loco shed floor, I could then paint the whole assembly. The same paint I mixed up for the base coat of the lighthouse was used again as a base coat here. And yet again, you'll note I painted it in much the same way I paint cobbles; picking out individual blocks in slight variations of the base coat, then a final light wash of sand coloured paint.
Once the foundation was dry, I could then glue it in place with PVA. A recent suggestion of sand piling up against the blockwork was carried out (Thanks for the idea, Colin!). The end result? A vast improvement I hope you'll agree!
If there's one principle I'm quite keen on upholding for layouts intending to be exhibitable; it's good presentation. I'll be the first to admit that I perhaps take presentation more seriously than I should do; given that other important aspects sometimes fall behind somewhat. In any case, I thought it was about time that Sandy Shores had a visible form of identity!
So, to that end, a spare length of tongue and groove board was commandeered from the off-cut pile, and had its tongue & groove sawn off. Being a carpenter, naturally this job fell to my dad! Once I knew the approximate length needed, he also cut it to length, which left me to employ a little bit of maths to get all the lettering correctly spaced.
Being a tatty, sunbleached seaside railway, I decided that the most apt form of nameboard for Sandy Shores would be a bit of driftwood with letters formed via pyrography. As you do!
With a rough shape drawn out, it was again over to my dad for it to be cut out; this time using a scroll saw. The scroll saw is not as powerful as we would've liked, but my dad was still able to carefully cut out the shape. From there on out, I was on my own again; and the first step (as seen in the bottom of the photo montage above) was to burn the required letting onto the wood. This took quite a while, perhaps as much as two hours, but I think it suits the layout really well.
With the pyrography finished, I set about sanding all the edges. I could've spent hours with various grades of sandpaper, however, I fancied my chances with a sanding drum on the Dremel instead!
I've produced a quick timelapse video of part of the pyrography (sped up by 1000%!) and a little bit showing the penultimate stage; distressing the wood with a wire brush attachment on the Dremel:
Which left the final stage (for now) of the nameboard; final weathering. This was incredibly simple; just a wash of white paint to give that sunbleached look. Whilst I probably could've used a wide brush and painted over the entire lot, I decided a finer approach to avoid getting paint on the lettering would be wise.
All that it's missing now is a way to attach it. None of the layout fascias are straight enough to attach it directly, so my plan is to use two screw eyelets and some string to hang it somewhere on the front fascia instead!
Well, this post took a long time to put together, but I hope it has been an enjoyable post despite its length.
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