Back in Z Saddle

Back home and looking at the layout today, and I managed to complete some small and relatively insignificant things:

• Some undergrowth was planted under and around the trees on the southern side of the upper Meinreuss gorge. This is all from my box of 'green stuff' salvaged from many previous layouts over the years, and as this is deep in the trees towards the back of the layout, I tended to use darker/scungier stuff like that old rubberised lichen from what seems like a hundred years ago. 

• The base scenic layer was added to the lower Meinreuss cliff face behind the church. I'm using some quite coarse grey/brown Faller scatter material for this, which, for a while after I'd purchased it, I wondered what on earth I'd use it for, but it's become a favourite for this sort of base layer because it produces such a well-textured and colour-varied yet appropriate finish.

And a more notable item is the house beside the track on the upper level at the far end when viewed from the Command Post. As seen here in an amalgam of prototype pictures (both mine and found online).

I whacked this together rather randomly in a forced-perspective compression kinda frenzy out of some white plasticard and some 'brick' embossed brown stuff for the roof. The first cut looked too big when placed on the layout, so I cut down the width and some height off the bottom until it looked about right. I'd like it smaller of course, but too small and it might look a bit silly when trains pass.

It's not glued down yet, so it might be cut down to size further tomorrow... The windows were done in the same way as the church (plasticard strip blackened with a marker pen and with panes scratched into it placed behind). Shutters and other detail are just painted plastic strips.

The structure was painted a light grey to take some of the starkness (and 'noticeability') out of a pure white structure with an orangey 'tile' roof that will be toned down when the paint sets.

The compressed depth is quite visible from this angle, which also shows some of the scenicking in and around those trees on the near bank of the gorge.