Philden makes the cover

There was a pleasant surprise waiting in my mailbox when I returned home from my week long adventure across outback New South Wales. Just over three years since cutting the first piece of timber for my small HO scale layout, Philden has appeared on August's cover of Australian Model Railway Magazine. I guess it speaks volumes against three decades of telling myself that I simply didn't have the room to switch to modelling Australian trains convincingly. It turns out I was wrong.

Having your layout appear on the cover of a model railway magazine I keep reminding my friends, is the model train enthusiast's equivalent of making the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, minus the leather pants clad band members and spiked hair. Seeing my layout on the cover was a reminder that the basics of what I had set out to do had worked, and worked to the point of being noticed by Australian Model Railway Magazine's editor James McInerney at last year's Brisbane Model Train Show. I was quite pleased with being able to write the article myself, and only hope it provides a train load of inspiration for other modellers, who like me, are stuck for space when it comes to building a layout. You can see more of what's waiting inside the August issue, buy the copy, or better still, support this great hobby and subscribe for just $60 Australian for 6 issues per year by clicking on the link here. Otherwise, the issue is available to purchase at most newsagents now.

Fresh from a week's break from work to travel south from Queensland to Victoria to visit family, I covered 3,882 km by car in the past week to 'detour' via some forgotten railway lines I have been wanting to photograph. If the Sunshine Coast via Warwick, Goondiwindi, Moree, Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Dubbo, Narromine, Parkes, Narranderra, Tocumwal, Corowa and Yarrawonga to reach the town of Numurkah just over the Murray River sounds like a long drive, then try to imagine coming back via Echuca, Deniliquin, Hay, Goolgowi, Rankins Springs, West Wyalong, Parkes, Dubbo, Gilgandra, Coonamble, Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Dirranbandi, St George, Dalby, Yarraman and Kilcoy to get home! At last count I'd taken over 1,500 photos. About 24 were of family and some places we visited, while the rest were all railway stations, bridges or trains!

Before I go through all the photographs however, I have a few busy weekends ahead of me getting ready for both the Stafford Baptist Church and Redlands Model Train Shows in August, starting with re-laying the tracks for the new extension. But after that, the trip has given me a thousand great ideas for small projects to do next on the layout. It just goes to show, a layout is never finished, even when it makes the cover of a magazine.

Small repairs, big ideas

Fresh back from taking my layout to its fifth model railway exhibition, I had the dreaded task of moving house during the past week. Having built this layout to travel, you'd think that moving it from one apartment to another apartment on the other side of town wouldn't pose a problem. Maybe you could put it down to tiredness or fatigue, but despite leaving the layout to last, when it came to re-assembling the layout in its new location, I damaged the connecting track between the two sections.

The yet to be ballasted track on the new extension was only held in place with a few 9 mm fixing nails, and while reassembling the layout, it somehow twisted and ripped the nails through the plastic sleepers (ties). Being careful to separate the two sections to assess how to fix it then resulted in one of the rails prying free of the moulded sleeper plates and also damaging the concrete retainer wall on the mouse hole overpass. One of the signature gum trees then cracked a branch after I forgot to remove the perspex panel when lying the layout on its side to attach the leg panels. I can put this down to tiredness on my part. And finally, I noticed a lamp post beside the goods shed isn't working. Not wanting to waste time, I simply cut the track back to the soldered power feeds (as can be seen above), and reassembled the layout to be a problem for another day.

The removed damage section of track soon got me thinking how I could open up the new extension.

With the last box now unpacked, and the new apartment already feeling like home, it was time to assess the damage. Photos can be deceiving. Not only do they hide the scratches and gouges to the balsa retaining walls from my mini track disaster, but they also make the above photo of the 3 tracks appear wide and inviting. Truth is, it isn't. I had a lot of trouble operating within such a confined shadow box at both the Brisbane and Toowoomba Model Train Shows, even with something as simple as switching wagons from one track to the other. There just isn't enough room for hands to work beneath the layout lid in a section that measures only 800 x 300 x 300 mm. So before making some small repairs, I stopped to make a list of what I wanted to achieve, not only with the new extension, but with the layout as a whole.

Number One - The current mainline causes a pinch point as it passes through the mouse hole. Not only does the bend create a tight fit for my 2 car Xplorer to pass through, but on a quiet day I can actually hear the flanges squeal on the rails. Its not the sort of sound effects I was aiming for on my layout. By removing the L/H medium point, I can realign the mainline to a more gentle alignment where the middle track currently stands. This would allow me to build a more substantial overpass to disguise the opening on the new section, and provide a 100 mm wide x 650mm long space to construct a proper station building rather than resort to a 3D photo backdrop like my original plans. The cement plant road would then follow the alignment along the waterfront to my fake port authority lead track, ridding me of a clumsy 2 car siding while still being able to use a toggle switch to isolate the passenger or freight train. Operationally, its not much of a loss. Scenically, it sounds like a big win. I'm already thinking, do I take my time and try scratch-building a modern Countrylink station building such as the one at Coffs Harbour? Or can I kit-bash the Walker Models NSWGR A6 railway station building to fit into this space?

Though not clearly visible, this gum tree now has a large, but fixable, crack through the thick upper trunk.

Number Two - The poor gum tree by the signal box suffered a lightning strike when the perspex panel dislodged while setting the layout up again. Fixable? Yes. But the Walker Models Australian Terrace House kit I have waiting to be constructed was going to go between the signal box and where the gum tree stands anyway. Maybe I should just get a wiggle on and build it now the big move is over, and relocate the repaired gum tree complete with a new 'bees nest' to the backyard, along with Craig Mackie's scratchbuilt Hills Hoist clothesline of course!

The lamp post to the right of the goods shed stopped working. I have spare replacements on hand, but...

...wouldn't it look better to do something more with the siding beside the goods shed?

Number Three - The lonely lamp post beside the goods shed stopped working by the end of the Toowoomba Show, and is noticeably on a bit of a lean. I could pop a new one in its place, but do you see all that prime layout space between the working wire fence and the goods shed? Wouldn't it just look so much better if I could model some sort of industry there that wouldn't impede the view from this side of the layout yet offer some more operational interest?

This photo shows the angle of the new mainline alignment and the space I have alongside the left hand siding.

Number Four - See all that space alongside the siding against the blue sky? I've been wanting to do something with this siding since the beginning. Only its way too narrow to add a grain silo for my XGAY hoppers. Perhaps all it needs is the right backdrop to add a sense of depth.

So long as I can pull myself away from our new view that is...

The new waterfront view from our apartment balcony.

Swapping a high rise apartment at the top of Caloundra for a quieter waterfront location in nearby Golden Beach was an exhausting process. But with less stairs, and in my opinion a better view, I can now sit back and enjoy the view.

Protected from the morning sunlight, the layout gets prime viewing of the Pumicestone Passage.

The layout once more gains prime position in our apartment. Only this time with water views looking back towards Caloundra and across the Pumicestone Passage. I really hope that nice days aren't going to prove too much of a distraction for getting work done on my layout! I've never had the chance to live in such a nice location, and the water is literally only 25 metres from our front door. There's a 2 person kayak in our garage, fishing rods and folding chairs for if I can't seem to get anything done on the layout. So it will be interesting to see how slow I progress with my above four to-do's.

And with more room to move, the layout is already looking right at home.

Which brings me to the final item on my list...

Number Five - Me. To be perfectly honest, I feel stuffed. Moving house with a sore back and troublesome knees and shoulders, on top of running a small business that is keeping both Denise and I exhausted, has managed to push me beyond exhausted. I need a break!

Readers of my author blog over at phillipoverton.blogspot.com may have been surprised by my last post in May this year on ending a career positively. But when it comes to writing, that is exactly what I have decided to do. I've burnt the candle at both ends since setting out to establish myself as a full-time writer back in 2005. It's now 2018, and I'm certainly no closer to doing so then when my first novel was released in 2007. In that time I've released 15 books, with another one almost ready for release, and financially speaking its become obvious that this isn't going to be the answer for me to transition gently into retirement.

In three weeks I'm heading off through south west Queensland, across western New South Wales and down into Victoria for a weeks break, along the way visiting all the railway stations I've always wanted to photograph. It's a chance for me to get away from it all, to feel small against the wide open spaces of Australia that I've modelled Philden after, and recharge my batteries. Naturally it will provide me with enough material to finish a long-time project I have been working on, but beyond that readers can probably expect one final book from me sometime next year. Its sad in a way, but read my blog post here and you'll appreciate where the sentiment comes from.

Then it's on to planning next year's exhibitions. Do I take Philden to just one model train show and make it a good one like this year's Rosehill Show in Sydney? Or will that just be a waste of time given that there were so many great NSW layouts already on display? Do I take it to Toowoomba again in 2019? Or the Brisbane Model Train Show in the new venue? Bundaberg or the Pine Rivers Model Train Show that I enjoyed so much in 2017 and is only a short trip down the Bruce Highway for me? They're all good questions, and for once it will be nice if these are the only problems I have to sort out.

Finally, there's the new release model locomotive conundrum. When does the point come where you say this will probably be the last locomotive I purchase ever? Probably never! Beyond adding the 442 class, I'm keen to hear what Auscision Models have planned next.

Well, I really should get to fixing the track before Philden's next outing at the Stafford Heights Baptist Church Model Train & Hobby Show on August 10 & 11, but its such a lovely day outside, so I think I'll take a walk.

See also; The Port becomes operational

The sea was angry

To quote the character George Costanza off one of my all-time favourite TV shows, Seinfeld; "the sea was angry that day my friend!" Or at least I was. After my last post Rocks and rolling waves, had been posted, and another project had been ticked off my list of things to do, I'd accidentally bumped the clear silicone caulk I had used for the water scene, and discovered it had failed to set properly beneath the surface.

The reason it looked so wet after a week of my finishing it, was because it was still wet beneath the spongy skin of the surface. Not only that, the rolling heavy sets of waves approaching the shoreline had sagged-out, and my interesting school of jellyfish (the air bubbles that for once I was prepared to say were not worth worrying about), had noticeably grown in size to the proportion of giant squid! To once-more quote a line from that famous episode of Seinfeld, someone shouted out from the shoreline; "quick, does anyone know a marine-biologist?" And with that, out came the scalpel and on went the rubber gloves. This was going to get messy.

The scene with the non-hardened clear silicone caulk removed, after being careful not to damage the painted base.

I soon worked out where the problem area began, and used a new sharp tipped hobby knife to cut through the surface of the silicone skin from the 3rd wave back from the shoreline to about 5 mm in from the rock edges and concrete harbour wall. Fortunately I didn't have to disturb any other scenery, and I made a clean slice along the front perspex channel. Then using a narrow flat tipped screwdriver, I began working in opposite lines to the direction of the waves to remove the non-hardened caulk using a method of long, shallow scoops so as not to disturb the painted base. It came away in big, goopy blobs, leaving only the clear silicone that you can see in the above photo that had already bonded to the painted timber base.

Second time around, and this time I applied single beads for each wave before shaping them individually.

For the second time around, I once more consulted my copy of the July 1996 Model Railroader Magazine to see where I'd gone wrong. Ken Patterson's method for modelling surf and sand showed him applying long beads of clear silicone that he then smeared back to represent the trailing wake of broken waves, and you guessed it, he'd applied it nowhere-near as thick as I had.

With the tacky residue of non-hardened clear silicone still damp on my painted surface, I brushed a smear of mineral turpentine over the surface to be re-worked, before applying thin beads of the Selleys all-clear in the shape of the wave lines I wanted to create, working on one wave at a time. Being sure to feather the waves out at varying points, I dipped a flat brush into some mineral turpentine, and just as I did last time, brushed the waves up into crests at the front and down into trailing wakes of whitewater at the back. This time I made sure there were no areas where the silicone was sitting up any higher than a bead of sealant you would find around any shower screen.

The Selleys all-clear joined invisibly with the cut lines I had made to remove the original section.

Fixing the scene from this point on was a breeze, and if anything, the gouge-marks from removing the non-hardened silicone with the screwdriver only enhanced the scene greatly. It gave each wave a distinctive series of ripples running in the opposite direction to the wave, much like a strong rip or undertow forming behind it. Best of all, applying a much thinner coat of the Selleys all-clear meant that the product dried quicker, and each wave set and stayed in its upright position.

Late afternoon light makes the re-surfaced water area appear softer and more realistic.

By afternoon, the product had skinned and I was able to paint the crests of the waves in the exact same manner as my last post. And as the sun set, I opened the blinds to let the last rays of sunlight hit the water for the photo above. Just like real water, the sunlight effects the surface colour. At night under artificial lighting, the water appears dark and cold. With natural afternoon light coming through the window, the water looks softer and more inviting.

Before: The original water surface showing the blobbed-out, saggy effect that developed over 7 days.

After: the less-thicker approach yielded waves that actually sat up higher and didn't sag or bubble.

Finally by midday Sunday, the above scene was dry to touch and looking a lot more angry than my first attempt. While it only takes up a small corner of the new extension, it was important to get this right as it will be the most dominant feature on this end of my layout. I'm happy with it, real happy with it, as the rough sea also appears to have swept all the jellyfish out to sea. As Kramer said after hearing George's story in that episode of Seinfeld; "well how about that? A hole in one!"

Well, less than a week out from the 2018 Brisbane Model Train Show, its hard to stop work and prepare to pack the layout for an exhibition weekend. Starting out with one idea in mind and seeing the project steer itself in a new direction at each turn can be one of the more rewarding points of building a freelanced layout, but also the reason why I don't model prototype settings. Thoughts now turn to the 3D backdrop that will be necessary on account of the narrow space between the rear line and the blue sky. How otherwise do you fit a station scene into a space that tapers down to just 6 mm wide? I have a great photo that I've taken that is sized just right, angled correctly and well lit, but there is an element within it that is going to send this extension in yet another new direction.

With two full weekends between the Brisbane and Toowoomba model train shows, if I can get the backdrop scene finished and the overpass completed, the beach extension may even be ready to reveal at Toowoomba on June 2nd & 3rd. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; Rocks and rolling waves

Rocks and rolling waves

Work continues to progress on the beach extension, despite it only being two weeks out from my layout's next public appearance at the Brisbane Model Train Show. Though the layout will be exhibited from the other side with the incomplete extension hidden from view of the public, its nice to know that the hardest part of building the scenery for my beach-side extension is now behind me. Phills Harbour now has rocks and rolling waves.

After adding the harbour walls in my last update, I next shaped the rocky cliffs.

Starting with the rocks that fall down to the shoreline, I followed the same process I did when using polystyrene foam to model the rocks around the mouse-hole exit from the main layout, and finished the rock surface with the same goop recipe I concocted when detailing the highway overpass. After wrestling with the idea of surfers crossing the railway tracks to get to the beach down by the harbour, and realising I didn't have room to include stairs for an overhead walkway, I came up with the solution of adding a pedestrian subway that leads beneath the railway line. In reality, its only about 5 cm deep and leads to a painted black dead-end, but it seems to do the job.

The subway was my solution to provide beach access, while the sand came locally from Caloundra.

I then filled the channel that will eventually hold the perspex panel with paper towel wadding, and completed the beach scene by painting the rocks with a paint mixture of burnt sienna and white acrylics. I added darker shades to the cracks and crevices, before dry brushing lighter shades and highlights on the raised tips. The white rocks at the base of the cliff are tallus rock, and for scenery detail I used Woodlands Scenics clump foliage that I had left over from their TR1113 pine tree pack. Finally, I completed the shoreline using a handful of sand sourced locally from Happy Valley, one of the places I most enjoyed surfing here in Caloundra before my shoulder dictated that I could no longer paddle out on my board. I saturated the beach area in a 50/50 mixture of water and PVA, and waited for it to dry.

I used tea leaves to simulate seaweed and barnacles along the waterline.

A fellow modeller here in Caloundra by the name of Michael Parker, shared a tip with me on how he adds seaweed and barnacles to the side of his water scenes by using tea leaves. While he never specified which variety, I used Twinings Irish Breakfast, painted a strip of PVA glue along the edge of the rocks and harbour walls at water level, and after cutting open the tea bag, gently blew a teaspoon full of dry leaves directly onto the wet glue. It does make a mess, so have a vacuum cleaner close by to clean up once the glue has set. I then glued in the painted concrete spans for the short Port Authority rail bridge. I will come back to that later to add more details.

The water base is a 50/50 mix of blue and black.

After the seaweed and barnacles had dried, I next painted the base of the harbour using a 50/50 mix of black and pthalo blue artists acrylic. I applied 4 coats to ensure that no timber grain would be visible, and took extra time to ensure that the blue worked its way into any gaps at the base of the glued tea-leaves.

Lighter blues and whites were brushed into the darker blue base while still wet.

While the paint was still wet, I added a large blob of white to my artists palette, and worked it into different areas of black/blue paint to get an array of different shades of lighter, foamy blue colours. I used this only along the shoreline, working away from the edge of the sand in strokes that feathered out to nothing. While the end result above looks effective, I would only recommend the next step to those who are either; a/. confident, b/. prepared to risk stuffing up a scene totally or c/.both, as there is no-way you can remove this stuff once you put it down.

The water is actually clear silicone caulk, applied very carefully to the modelled area.

I first got this idea from Model Railroader magazine, in an article on modelling surf and sand by Ken Patterson in the July 1996 issue. Ken used a single thick bead of clear silicone caulk for each wave, and then teased it backwards with his finger creating a thin smear of silicone over the painted water surface. It looked effective and would have proven far more simple than what I did.

For my scene, I used half of a 260 gram tube of Selleys All Clear waterproof silicone to fill my 130 mm x 500 mm area to a depth of 6 mm, and teased the surface using a flat tipped brush dipped in mineral turpentine until it resembled rolling waves. The instructions on the tube mentioned the mineral turpentine idea, and it worked a treat, as at first it looked as though the silicone was going to dry into a series of long, lumpy lines. A no. 12 flat brush dipped in turps however, allows you to work the beads together and simultaneously tease random areas into peaks if you work a small 100 mm x 100 mm (4 inch square) area at a time. I started with the edges first, being careful not to spread the silicone higher than the PVA glued tea leaf line I had already added. I don't know what this silicone would do to polystyrene foam, but the PVA glue worked at providing a protective barrier between the polystyrene rocks and the cardboard harbour walls. Finally, for the shoreline waves, I teased the waves into a breaking crest over the area that I had painted with lighter base colours.

Finally, I painted the crests of each approaching wave in varying shades of white and foaming bluish-white.

The silicone is able to be painted with acrylics once the surface skin has dried. I used the same colour concoction I mixed for the lighter blue base at the shoreline, and singled out the crests of each breaking wave for some foamy-white highlights. Applying it thickly to just the right areas gives the clear silicone water some real body. From my days spent surfing, I know that the waves closer to the shoreline are smaller and messier after they have broken, while further out the back they are thicker, more rolling and less likely to have any whitewater highlights. If I was still riding my surfboard, then I'd be wanting to get to my feet on the fourth wave back from the shoreline right about now. Finally, I highlighted some other random peaks around the harbour for some whitewater highlights of smaller waves lapping against the rocks or concrete harbour walls.

It may just be a small representation of a beach, but you can still imagine the harbour trailing away into the watery deep beyond the edge of the layout. Overall, I'm very pleased with how my beach scene has turned out. If there is one thing I wasn't 100% pleased with, it was the air bubbles that formed after the silicone began drying out, I'm guessing it was from me teasing the silicone too much with the brush. Provided they don't get any bigger, I'm happy just to leave it be as I think they look like a school of jellyfish.

The raised track sits at just about the right height above the rolling waves below.

While I have a lot more shoreline detailing to come back and add-to, at least the hardest part is now out of the way and the trains are once more running from the port area, through the mouse-hole and into Philden. So for now, any further work on the beach extension will have to wait until after the layout returns from the Toowoomba Model Train Show in early June. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; The Port becomes operational and Detailing a highway overpass

The Port becomes operational

The Easter Weekend gave me a chance to get the track laid on the short extension that has replaced the even shorter 2 track fiddle yard that once stood on my HO scale bookshelf layout. Although I was careful when planning the track angles that centred around the solitary PECO medium radius switch on this scene, the bend on the inside mainline did present clearance issues for my longest piece of rollingstock (the 2 car Xplorer passenger train) as it emerged from the other side of the mouse-hole. Thankfully all issues have been resolved, and the track is now wired up with trains running into my beach-side Port Authority Yard.

While not a problem, the bend in the mainline creates a tight clearance for my longest piece of rollingstock.

And its likewise on the No. 2 track with the angled overhang of the long hood of my largest locomotive.

The solution was to fan the wall abutments on the mouse-hole opening.

Though not completely hidden, my 2 car Xplorer now appears to be stopped just around the bend beyond the overpass.

The aerial view. Try to remember that this was once just a plain 2 track fiddle yard.

Once I was happy with the rail joins and the flow of the 3 tracks emerging from the mouse-hole entrance, I then soldered the feeder wires, checked that everything ran smoothly and spiked down the code 100 flextrack into position. With this layout built for simple analogue DC control, I used 2 on/off micro toggle switches to control the power flow to a), the concrete sleeper mainline, and b), the other 2 Port Authority tracks with the black flextrack. I left them visible because I think I can make them look like track side ground throws when I finish detailing the scene. Plus it keeps them handy when operating. I built the concrete slab loading yard from 3 mm balsa wood and painted it using the same technique I showed in my post Building an Abandoned Siding. The finished balsa strips were then glued to the plywood base with openings for the toggle switches to pop-up from beneath and be screwed down with the washer nuts they are supplied with.

I copied my own Building an Abandoned Siding post to create the concrete for the Port Authority Yard.

The two micro toggle switches remain visible and control the power to the mainline and the 2 Port Authority tracks.

The No. 2 track would make an ideal location for a locomotive provisioning point...

...while there is room for the loco to be shut down and still have 2 wagons occupying each track.

With the toggle switches in place, the track work is effectively finished, save for detailing and hand painting the individual sleepers as I like to do. While I can now resume running some trains for the first time in almost 2 months, I also turned my attention to getting the seawalls of the Pier finished. For this I used Busch HO scale printed card stressed concrete. Glued to 5 mm balsa wood which is then glued to the timber bench work, it was rather simple and gives me a starting point to scratch-build the short bridge section that will span the gap along the edge of the ocean.

I used Busch printed cardboard sheets for the concrete pier walls.

Glued onto 5mm balsa wood, I fitted them hard against the channel for the perspex sheet that will soon follow.

Trains are now operational on the new extension, while the first signs of the Port begin to take shape.

So the trains are running again. I can now rest easy knowing that I will have the layout ready for its third exhibition in a little over a month's time, given that it will be exhibited from the other side and the above scene will merely double as the hidden fiddle yard until it is completed and ready to be debuted to the public.

I suddenly have a 3D view of what constraints I have to work within, unlike the life-sized paper plan I drew up that first convinced me this would work. While the layout isn't grand in terms of size, I have to admit I am thrilled with the bones of what you see above. Just last year you would have been looking at a simple 2 track staging shelf against a painted black background where trains escaped from the visible layout through the mouse-hole opening. Now I have provision for a short bridge and some scenery that will fall away towards the waterline at the front of the layout. From this point on, it isn't going to take me long to finish the scene. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; When paint doesn't match... and By The Beach Extension

By The Beach Extension

It's March, the Australian summer is now over, and the layout extension that I first talked about building just before Christmas is now in place after a rather inglorious past few months of set-backs and near misses. So much so, that for a bloke who isn't short of words, I don't really want to talk much about it. Believe me when I say there were more than a few times when I just wanted to palm the layout off to someone else, and start over. Or walk away from the hobby altogether.

Thankfully, the rebuild is now behind me. I can get to work laying some new track and having the layout ready to operate in time for Philden's next exhibition. So without going into too much detail, I'll let the following photos show you how I almost butchered a perfectly good layout, and how I somehow managed to bring it back from the brink of disaster to now have a great opportunity to build something that will be better than the original.

Remember the antique signal box plaques from my post Making Awful Look Awesome?

They not only disintegrated when trying to remove them, but gouged out my timber panelling....

....so I cut a new panel using 3 mm fibreboard lined with the same self-adhesive steel checker-plate film I used here.

Remember the exhibitor plaques from my past layouts that once guarded the mouse-hole door?

The panel is 3 mm MDF board with blue sky backdrop on the other side. Removing them almost tore through the backdrop.

It called for another cut-out panel to be glued in place over the top and a strip of film to cover the removed gold trim.

So after months of problems with matching the paint to the original layout's timber stain, almost butchering the sky backdrop at the mouse-hole end of the layout and destroying once valuable railway artefacts that were glued a little-too-well to the layout, I could finally remove the door that once covered the mouse-hole exit, and join the new section to the existing layout.

To do so required a flush-fit between the two sections, so I had to remove the gold timber trim that runs around the bottom perimeter of the fascia from the mouse-hole end of the current layout. This not only destroyed the paintwork, but also gouged holes from the timber fascia, calling for ample amounts of wood putty. Already aware that I was unable to match the timber stain on this original section, I simply cut a strip of self-adhesive checker-plate contact film and hid the mess. The two sections will bolt together flush, and no-one will ever see it anyway.

The former exhibitor's plaques from my past layouts now have a new home on the bottom of each end panel.

The re-painted leg panels bolted back into the same places. There are now only 3 instead of 4.

As for the vintage metal railway poster plaques featuring the retro poster girls I wrote about on my post replacing legs with panels, they bent completely out of shape when I removed them. At around $7 Australian plus postage on eBay, they are cheap enough to replace. I have another 4 on their way from the UK, so there will be another 2 to fit between the Blackpool girl and the gold trim above the exhibitor plaques, and likewise on the other end panel.

Before: the layout with a short 700 mm two track staging shelf and bulky lid that was clumsy to move.

After: the layout with a new 800 mm extension to be filled with scenery, and a new lightweight lid.

Most people might argue that for a small layout, this seems like a whole lotta' work for nothing. And I'd be inclined to agree with you. Once more having to work off a concrete garage floor in the heat of an Australian summer, and having everything go wrong, has resulted in my adding just an extra 100 mm of length to my layout. Hardly worth the effort involved you might say. What it has rid the layout of however, is the bulky and clumsy lid and staging shelf set-up that was an aftermath of my failed attempt to originally build this as a double-layered layout back in late 2016. The old staging shelf was a waste of space. I now have an extra 800 mm long section of 300 mm wide blank layout space to work with to complete a new scene. From "Somewhere in New South Wales, at a railway station far, far, away....." to "By The Beach", my small layout will soon have two very different destinations.

The new beach extension bolts flush to the layout and shares the middle leg panel.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I could have built this layout a whole lot simpler. Even an oversight with my measurements for the mouse-hole exits between the two sections called for some last minute cutting, filing and gnashing of the teeth. But perhaps the biggest disappointment I faced was not being able to match the original timber stain to any of the staging shelves, leg panels and finally this new extension. That in itself almost led me to walk away from this project and start over with a new layout.

While the gloss Indian Red spray paint is by no means a perfect match, with the extension bolted in place to the layout, I'm prepared to call it good enough and get on with working on the layout. The next step is to get the 3 mm clear acrylic perspex panels measured and cut to fit the new extension to the right in the below picture.

Let the IKEA fit-out below begin! Starting with the 700 mm x 800 mm EKET storage display.

Perhaps the greatest benefit from adding the new beach extension is that I built it to accommodate plans to replace my desk and hide the growing corner of model train clutter that just seems to accumulate. I needed the gap between the two above leg panels to be wide enough to accommodate the 700 mm wide x 800 mm high EKET storage display unit I'd had my eyes on at IKEA. Another of these will soon stand at the other end of the layout with a new, narrower desk to stand between the two, while the tall white stool that is visible in one of the above photos is my new operators seat and will accompany me to the next few model train exhibitions.

Not only has the first EKET halved the amount of clutter from the floor, but the few accessories I also picked up from IKEA help keep the area looking neat and tidy. After all, my small layout does occupy prime living room space in our small apartment. And you've gotta' love the sound of all those Swedish names they give their products. My model railway and train magazines are now all safely tucked away in the TJENA magazine holders. My modelling bits and bobs are hidden from view in the grey FJALLA storage box. The photo of my wife Denise and I enjoying the sunset at Margaret River in Western Australia on our recent 25th Wedding Anniversary is mounted in the RIBBA frame, while a scented candle and small artificial plant Denise helped me pick out are resting in white metal VACKERT baskets. And there's even room for my signed Marcos Ambrose model NASCAR (not from IKEA, obviously).

Next up, I'm going to dismantle the desk, sort through even more clutter then head back to IKEA to complete the make-over below the layout. By the time I'm finished, it won't just be a new desk, it will be a new creative work space environment, whatever that is called. But as usual, I'll let that be a story for another day.

See also; When paint doesn't match and Almost ready to re-fit