buildings and structures

Garratt simmers outside County Gate station. The 'Tin Tabernacle' tearoom can be seen behind. We claim our gents loo (right hand end of station building) as the smelliest in the 009 society!

We decided to make the buildings required early on so they could be integrated with the trackwork and baseboard. We have used Ratio and Wills building materials and kit bashed where possible.

Each major building is constructed on foam card sandwich which is then glued to the baseboard. This has the advantage of being able to detail around the buildings, which I find difficult to do once they are mounted on the main baseboard. We weather structures more than many modellers. The painting of these models is the key to realism. We have made great use of weathering powders to obtain that 'lived in' look.

troubles with cats

Whinge the Egyptian Mau (spotty one) and his constant companion Lenny the Foreign self colour (scale 12"/1ft) during a quieter moment.

Much of the time, modelling leaves me with hands covered with half dried sticky materials. This is exactly when Whinge requires attention. Now we all know that dogs have owners while cats have staff, but I must say that Whinge, realising that his humans are almost entirely devoid of fur, is remarkably generous with his. This leaves us with a constant problem of trying to keep Whinge fur and the railway separate! All our locomotives have had to be dismantled to remove cat hair from all the moving parts! Whinge also hates so much attention being devoted to the model, rather than himself. To this end, he has on occasion jumped onto the baseboard. That is until he sat on the signal cabin which has long sharp finials. One detached and embedded itself in his nether regions....a stressful moment for us all. We thank Expo Tools for the pointed tweezers and Ratio for free replacement finials!

His best friend Lenny, a self colour caramel oriental has to be locked out when we run the trains due to his inability to differentiate between trains and mice (we think its his inbreeding)! see Lenny

see also organic method for making grass

We have asked our cats not to jump up on the railway but always get the same reaction  check this out

shut him up 

For further reading:

'Narrow Gauge Cats'  Ian Allen
'History of cats in 009'  009 Society
National Cats and Railway Modellers Helpline' 0203456789