Back from a break

Excuse my absence from blogging for a couple of weeks, I have been otherwise occupied.

A distraction, My 1926 Ford Model T

With the purchase finalised, and the garage tidied up so that the car will have a place to live when it is delivered. I can set to and get back to work on the layout. There is after all, an exhibition to go to in less than a month.
Where have I got to on it then?

Trees

I have been working on some trees in autumnal hues using Woodland scenics armatures and fall tones  fine leaf foliage. If the trees were to stand alone I wouldn't be happy with them but as they will be grouped together I think they will create the correct feel once dulled down with a spray like Testors "Instant weathering". I'm not after the vivid colours of a bright sunny autumn day, but the subtle tones of a cloudy day. like the picture below. Admittedly, taken whilst it was raining but you get the idea.

My preferred autumnal hues.

Encouraged by the success of my brake van project. I decided to attempt scratch building some goods wagons. Starting with a pair of bulkhead flat cars, which is a style of wagon I like.
The donor wagons for this project were the peat wagons that came with the original set that I ordered.

Busch HOf Peat wagons, the start of the project

I carefully removed the body and quite simply added a new deck and ends from Evergreen embossed styrene sheet. With a bit of strategic strapping and bracing from angle and strip. They look the part most certainly.

A couple of Bulkhead flats, a simple project.

So now I have a British outline goods train, albeit a very short one yet. I'll pair them with the Heywood Tops and see how they run.
With all this stock, I will need a stockbox to take the trains to a show well protected. To that end I decided to take the plunge and see how my theory that a fishing tackle box as a stock box would work out.
There are multitudinous designs and styles out there and in the end I plumped for this one, the Plano "Lockjaw". A very tasteful name I'm sure you'll agree.

An unfortunate name for a useful box.

The top layer of the box could hold up to 24 pieces of stock. More than enough for me for the moment. Whilst the deeper tray underneath will take myriad of tools, and even the Busch battery controller.

Things do fit rather nicely.

To cushion the delicate items of stock, I cut the protective foam cradles that the rolling stock was packed in to fit the adjustable pockets of the top layer. As you can see they fit admirably well. With plenty of room for the scratch built projects and a couple of other items I'll come to in another couple of posts. I'm most definitely very pleased with the way this project turned out.
I would expect that such a box would accommodate 009 stock and N gauge. Maybe even 09 too. These boxes are ridiculously cheap. I paid $10 (Seven quid if you're in the UK) from Menards, (A DIY chain here in the US) and this was the expensive one. You could get a basic simple one for under $4. A sound investment.