This weekend has been quite productive. Ballasting is complete and the initial colours for the track laid down. These are washes of Tamiya acrylic over Woodland Scenics fine ballast. All track is Peco and will be wired for live frog operation. Just running the 08’s up and down has validated the track alignment and the two MDV’s run equally well.

Four points are powered by MP1 point motors, the first time I’ve used them. Initial thoughts are very positive, they’re compact in all dimensions, and these have been fixed with double sided tape. The centring springs have been removed from the Peco tie bar, as the MP1 stalls at end of movement.

The only downside to the MP1 is cutting the actuator pin, it’s a formidable strength pin, don’t blunt your xuron cutter on them…

I’ve also tried out some mixes of vegetation and static grass, I tend not to use them too much, but as this is such a small layout I’ll try them as the primary ground cover. One element that I don’t like with static grasses are those that have reds in the colour mix, they are too visible in some of the packs I’ve seen. Maximum length of strands is going to be 4mm, with the bulk of them 2mm and mixed with different brands of scatter material.

The small patch here has worked and bodes well for getting the overgrown and rarely used look I’m going to be trying to capture.

So that is the bank holiday weekend done, point switches to source and then wire a very simple loom in place. I think the control panel may be a challenge. I want a simple, tidy and functional panel, a deep picture frame from one of the ‘lifestyle’ shops is in my mind as a good starting point.

I’m pleased with how this is ticking over, and it generates interest for me in returning to Shelfie 3 which is still treading water….