The North Circular - Austerity & Nostalgia.

[Phred]

Dad-1 wrote:
see if I need a second £30 kit of chemicals to finish off

Oof! Expensive water!

[Dad-1]

Well Phred, it was part of the plan.

After the last pour of resin on Sunday it's almost up to the final step.
There is no real need to have the depth & cost I've gone to, but I wanted
a shoal of fish to be 'deep' and though that's what I'd do. Here are two
small shoals of big trout, the nearest one deeper than the other side.
My friend Shirley gave me the grass seed a good 2 years ago and I never
lost it - painting on some silver was temper testing in extreme.



To overflow the next gradient step and start filling the stream bed I'll need
2.0 mm + of resin & not enough left in this pack. Then after that I have loads
of reeds to plant around the perimeter.



For such a compact exercise there is still quite a few additions to go on. One
is making a suitable timber stack against the cottage wall, the adding some
more evidence of human habitation, bit of useful junk & stuff like that.

Geoff T.

[Mountain]

I love the fish. The resin may not be cheap, but it is very effective.

[Phred]

The fish look brilliant - as does the underwater gravel/rocks around the edge.

[Dad-1]

Just ordered another 350 Ml of Solid Water from NRM shop to enable
me to finish this layout. It's almost finished and now I'm starting the
Ivor thingy I MUST finally finish this one off.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Another Thank You for NRM's Simon & Rebecca.
Ordered my 350 Ml of Solid Water at lunch time Thursday delivered
this morning. Darn it, no excuse for any more delays on getting this
finished !!

Geoff T

[Dad-1]

My last pour of resin done & dry.
There is now a stream running out of the pond. A perfect day in the mountains
cattle drinking, father & son fishing, sun shining.



I've had to 'repair' some of the river bank where resin reached my grass. While resin is quite thick
and there are limits to how far it can flow, but it has a strong capillary action and is all too easily
drawn up within the grass layer. It's because of this process that I've left adding waterside reeds
and vegetation on the marsh islands. I now can undertake those scenic elements towards what will
be the final part.

This was originally planned as a rapid build, but the water crisis set it back a VERY long time.

Geoff T.

[Mountain]

I found with small layouts that they also take longer than one thinks!

[Dad-1]

Mountain, they take longer as one tends to leave the last few jobs
"To later" and that can be a very long time in the future.
As rain stopped 'play' on Ivor today I was running on this while I
added some greenery to the small marsh islands. I couldn't resist
taking a photo.



Yesterday I ordered 3 more of these small wagon kits for use on
Ivor's layout. At £18 each, less wheels & couplers, they're not expensive
and with their dumb buffers have been the test rolling stock for my
silly tight bends on Ivor.

Geoff T

[Dad-1]

A video today.

https://youtu.be/TnQbprJZAS0

Not a lot left to do - thought it'll take me months !!

Geoff T.

[Phred]

Nice video.
That cutting really does the job of 'expanding' the layout in one's mind.

[Dad-1]

Still odd jobs to do before the January '26 outing at Beaminster.
Like how slow can you go ??
Progress for the last few weeks, the odd inch of reeds and this week
A swan's nest at the edge of the marsh.

With a magnifying glass in hand I need to add beak & forehead colour.




Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

Testing viewing angles.
May fix this mountain view to the side ?
Now booked for 2 exhibitions in 2026.



GeoffT

[Phred]

Dad-1 wrote:
May fix this mountain view to the side

Looks good. The rock faces on the mountains seem to be a very good match for the rock on the layout.

[Mountain]

Testing viewing angles.
May fix this mountain view to the side ?
Now booked for 2 exhibitions in 2026.



GeoffT

If one carefully sandwiches it in a towel, one can iron out the creases using an iron. (A clothes iron).

(My Mum once banned me from using her clothes iron as I was wondering if I could use it for soldering. She said "No!" So one has to be careful how to ask to borrow the clothes iron).