Getting a bit plastered!

Having done some more testing on the track, I was happy to start the plaster work over the aluminium flywire to form the hills and landscape. The basic system used here starts with strips of Balsawood (12mm square section cut from sheets) glued just under the edge of the profiled fascia boards. Flywire is then stapled to the Balsawood and the baseboards along the track edges.  Scrunched up newspaper then supports the flywire and also keeps drips of plaster from landing on any hidden track. Plastering is done using Cornice Cement, a much better product than any other plasters due to it having greater adhesive quality and is much harder than the average plaster. Due to its hardness, there is only one layer needed over the flywire instead of two, saving time! When all is dry, the newspaper is removed from underneath.

Plastered module with the branch line cutting formed,
the viaduct being directly to the right of this view.

The profile boards then get their first coat of acrylic paint which will be the final colour for presentation of the layout. The paint is brought up over the edge where it meets the plaster. This does two things; it helps harden the edges further, reducing the chance of chipping and if in future any grass scatter gets accidentally rubbed off the edge, it won’t be obvious.

Penwith Junction with the Porthminster branch off to the upper left.
The profile fascias are given their first coat of paint 

The back board behind the viaduct has been applied with a photographic backscene of” Llanberis”, a welsh mountain scene printed on a premium paper which has a waterproof plastic backing. Applied using spray contact adhesive, it went on beautifully and am pleased with the result. The plaster work will then meet the bottom edge of the photograph.

Brunel Viaduct with rear back scene installed and
flywire stapled in ready for plastering.

Till next time, Merry Christmas!