Canal Basin

This was a small module, (300mm x 600) made to fit on the end of our Sawmill module when we have a layout set up at home, and made to fit in the space between the door and the end of the layout.

The excellent canal boats are from Scalescenes and are part of their print and make range of kits. Despite looking very complicated, their excellent instructions made them very easy to construct.

Having made the barges as a bit of a challange, it seemed a shame not to have somewhere to display them.........

9mm ply cut and ready to make up the baseboard. The dimentions of the board are 300mm x 900mm

The 4cm deep 9mm ply sides are glued up and attached to the deck of the baseboard.

I always try and use birch ply - sourced from a local timber yard rather than the stuff you find in the DIY stores. It is far better quality and much more likely to resist bending and warping - especially when being transported around.

They are clamped in place - making sure they are at 90 degrees to the deck and held with small screw drilled, countersunk and screwed from the iop of the baseboard.

A couple of bracing pieces of 9mm x 40mm ply are glued and screwed across the underside of the board to keep it rigid.

Another 9mm layer is added to the top of the board using ply and hardboard to give the depth for the canal.

Another section had been cut out to form the canal basin.

The track has been added and droppers have been connected to the board connector

On the top of the board, the barge and a truck have been added to check that everything looks right!

Another view of the board. As this is a 'terminus - there is only one connector at the edge of the board.

Work has commenced on the top of the board using layers of 5mm blue foam to build up the contours. This is then carved to smooth it out and a mixture of PVA and plaster filler is smeared over to form undulations and banks.

Scribed foamboard sides have been made up and added to form the sides of the basin. They have been grey primed before being stuck on using a hot glue gun.

Here, a backscene has been temporarily added to give a feel to the scene and buildings and general stuff has been mocked up to get an idea of what will (or won't) work in the finished scene. This stage usually takes quite a few days as stuff is added, changed, moved around and rejected!

A bit more progress with the cobbled quay, made from Daz modelling clay and hand inbossed (I'm never going to try that again!!!!) has been finished and a few buildings are starting to appear. The base colour for the water has also been painted on.

We have water and the vegetation has started to take over

Another view of the stub end of the canal with a barge waiting to be loaded.

A couple of blokes chat on the quay - prehaps they are discussing the damage to the roof in the resent storm..........

A general view across the yard to the towpath and bank behind.

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