Ripples getting there

I'm pretty pleased with the ripples so far but will go over again.  What it needs is a thicker or less viscous PVA than the usual craft/woodworking stuff so it holds up higher before setting or maybe I'll wait for the unusually high October temperatures to subside, let my loft get cold and that will do the trick.

Looking better - almost there

Finalising river water surface

On Harry Brunk's famed UC&N his rivers looked decidedly wrong to me with their green/blue colouring.  I should have trusted the eye of the artist.  When we got to Colorado and stood at the side of the Animas river, there it was coloured with copper oxides.  I wanted to feature this colouring while keeping the rock bottom of the river just visible.  Several coats of Magic Water were poured over the river base with some brown stain added to the last layer in places where the water runs deep.

I had put in a coat of straight brushed gloss medium along the river to represent flow then covered it with Future polish/varnish etc for shine but this didn't look right. So I brushed over some neat PVA white glue and stippled it with a 1/2" wide brush from bank to bank on a test patch.  This was more like it so I went ahead and treated the whole river surface. I may need to gloss it up a bit when finished but time will tell once it's dried.

Original straight brush strokes

Test ripples

Top river with PVA coat

Pool before PVA coat

Pool with PVA coat

Details - evolution of an old white metal toy van body

Building the beast
 As a standalone model
On the layout

An old toy van body recycled

Built for a modelling friend in the USA

A little across the tracks, backstreet bar for my friend Neal's extensive modern day operations focused railroad in America.  It might leave his office shelf one day and find a home on the layout if he ever gets the miles of wiring and electronic gizmos sorted.  Built from bits and bobs and objets de scrap, it was great fun to build. I'd intended to give it to him when we met up in London but was unable to get there so had to post it to him. I added a couple of modern down and outs but didn't photograph them before it left my hands.

Cattlemen's and Miner's Association Hall and a RR section house made mainly from MDC Roundhouse kit parts

Miscellaneous stuff

Reeds

Atlas signal cabin

Hobo Heaven

Any room pal? I got whisky...

Old Jock Scrymgeour's cabin

A vignette

Al Judy's, Desport's Diner and the last passenger to leave Pritchard's tour bus. And yes the roof on Judy's is on crooked. Doh!

Black Bear Construction through truss bridge

A tricky (for me!) but well engineered craftsman kit.

Woodlands Scenics Diamond T truck kit

Speedy Andrew's bashed

An old, cheap plastic kit carved up into a homestead.

T Ellison Feed Supplies

Named for a great friend and a lovely lady, this was my first bash at a laser kit.