Norway layout by Mike Carter

[madharry]

On the left hand side there is not a lot of clearance at the back between the backscene and the track. After a lot of head scratching I decided a thin stone wall was required.This was made from foamboard covered in 3D stone paper with a capping made from card and then scribed. I made 6ft of walling for approx. $3.00 and more importantly it weighs hardly anything.
Mike

[madharry]

To the left of the harbour scene is an empty space. I decided a row of brightly coloured shops modelled on those at Alesund in Norway would look appropriate. Most of the buiildings in Alesund are germanic in character and I decided to use some kits from Polish manufacturer Stangel. I have bought four and I have made the first one. These kits are made from strong card and with the instructions being in german are not for the faint hearted IMHO.
Mike

[madharry]

Here is the Bryggen mounted on the layout. I have checked that the electronics work and spent sometime on making the layout wiring neat. Now I need to construct the harbour................
Mike

[madharry]

The harbour walls are very light and very cheap to make.

In the first picture the foamboard has had a light coat of DAS clay added. To aid adhesion I painted the foamboard with PVA first before applying the clay.

[madharry]

Once the walls are dry, it is an easy matter of scribing them with a 11 blade to form stone blocks. There is no time limit on this as the clay does not seem to harden over time. The one in the picture is at least a week old and still very pliable.

[madharry]

Here is picture of the four stages of manufacture. The bottom wall is just foamboard. The second one has had the DAS clay applied. The third board has been scribed and the fourth has had a base coat of primer grey applied. The next stage will be detailed painting of the stones and applying weathering and seaweed etc............
Mike

[PRR Modeler]

Excellent modeling Mike.

[madharry]

Thanks Curt.
The harbour walls can be scribed as hard as you like. This is what I am doing to make them look old. However sometimes you can go too hard. Where the point of the pencil is are three stones that literally came away. I used some PVA to reattach them. Ooops......

[madharry]

The stone walls were very easy to do and quite realistic IMHO.
Mike

[madharry]

Here are the harbour walls painted and weathered. They weigh less than 200g. On my Red Hook Bay layout I used cut down Woodland Scenics plaster walls. These added to the weight of the layout and I want to avoid excess weight on "Norge".
Mike

[Rail and Tie]

Nice work on the layout and those sea walls.  Great tip for some good looking light weight scenery.

[madharry]

Thanks Darryl it is much appreciated.........
Mike

[madharry]

Time to finish the harbour. I cut a piece of MDF for the L shaped harbour. I needed a couple of supports to keep this in place and used some spare wood that had been hanging around for 20 years or so. I knew it would come in useful in the end. This was glued and clamped to support the MDF waterscene. I then dug out my acrylic paints and Mod podge.................
Mike

[jerryrbeach]

Mike,

Just getting caught up with this thread.  I really like the retaining walls, they look great.  Thanks for sharing your technique for modeling them.

[madharry]

Thanks very much Jerry. The walls will need some adjustment with maybe cutting down by two courses to fit properly. They will also need a stone capping made from card.
Here are a few pics of the process of the harbour scene as it evolves.

Mike