Artsy cobblestone platforms

Some people might think I'm strange for taking this approach, (friends included). But this post becomes the point where I stray from my past railway modelling approach and instead introduce some artistic elements into this little project. Starting with the railway station platform, which was hand-carved from a series of balsa wood strips and painted in a mosaic-like pattern to bring some warmth into what will eventually become a whimsical winter scene.

The idea is to break up the bleak grey of the rocky Welsh landscape and slate retaining walls. Although it would be more prototypically accurate to apply the same all-over base grey paint and later weather some warm highlights onto the surface, I won't. I guess an approach like this is subjective to a lot of different interpretations and therefore also open to criticism.

So just to clarify, from here on the project becomes a piece of working art, rather than a traditional model railway layout. But for those still reading along at home, here is another photo dump of November progress leading up to the start of work on the railway station precinct.

After hand-carving the balsa wood strips, the cobblestone joins were highlighted with dark black.

The same applied to the adjoining stone fences lining the railway track.

Then out came the MIG airbrush paints, only this time I hand painted each individual cobblestone.

And the feedback at this point was that it looked like a mosaic mural and was just wrong.

However, once I weathered the platforms with chalks the bold colours of the mosaic cobblestones were still there. Which was important given that the next step is to add the frosty winter snow base.

Next up, the bare plywood areas need to be backfilled with some scenery prior to the forecast snow that is projected to arrive in time for Christmas. Which is strange given that I live in Australia and we're stepping into summer!

Until next time...

Compare this low-level platform with my original Australian raised platform