Hostage to a Sleeper Cell

Just a brief update. I have been laying sleepers like a fiend. The benefits of having smaller modules (1.2m x 0.6m) is that they can be easily dragged out and worked on as individual sections. Therefore, I typically drag out a section to the lounge room every ‘other’ evening and lay some sleepers. In this way, I never miss my favourite TV shows (obviously an important aspect of every modeller’s life), nor a minute with my wife (she told me to write this).

The sleepers (Kappler and Micro Engineering sugar pine from the USA) are affixed using PVA glue. After a light sand to get them all the same height, everything is given a white undercoat (heavily thinned), and then a base colour is added of Tamiya FX-1 (Flat Black) and FX-52 (Flat Earth) (thanks Darren http://gunnedahandbeyond.blogspot.com/). This is done in a relatively ‘patchy’ way, so as to replicate the prototype. They will receive another filter of red-brown, followed by some random dry brushing of white to gain the ‘grey effect’, so often observed in aged wood. Until then, I have plenty of more sleepers to lay. One at a time...

Jules