Cold spell...

Jeff Bissonnette and others have described themselves as having 'hot and cold' spells of modelling enthusiasm, where lots gets done during the 'hot' times, while during the 'cold' periods time is spent on other things.

I have to admit that this is very much how I am with modelling, I will go a long time without doing any, then have a prolonged spell of it and a flurry of things is produced.  At present I'm experiencing a cold period, and cannot seem to summon up the enthusiasm to do any modelling at the moment.  This often happens during the summer for me, my modelling is very much a winter hobby, but the odd bit does get done during the summer.

This summer I'd like to get the loft organised and the space made for Port na Cailliche to be assembled up there, then make a start on the baseboards.  Other than that I think I'll struggle to find the motivation to get much done.  Dunbracken is off to EXPOng at Swanley in October, and I'll be doing some preparation work for that.  Once that's out of the way I expect I'll be well under way with PnC.

Hopefully normal service will resume soon, and I'll post here when it does.  I do have some stock to construct, so I expect I'll post about this soon(ish).

What's in a name?

I've finally worked out a justifiable reason for the name of the layout, although i've been settled on a name for quite some time now i've not come up with a reason for the name to go into the history that will accompany the layout...

Cailliche (or Cailleach in Irish pronunciation) is associated with a mythical goddess who is rumoured to have traversed Ireland and Scotland and dropped rocks from her apron.  These rocks allegedly formed mountains such as Beinn na Caillieach on the Isle of Skye, or the rock that forms the end of the tombolo at Port na Cailliche which is now the site of boat builders yard.

Scenery finalised.

One of the main things I wanted to create with this layout was a feeling of space and open countryside around the line, whilst having good operational potential... somewhat contradicting requirements!

However, i think i've come up with some minor alterations to the scenic side whilst leaving the track plan pretty much alone.  The only areas that will really change are the tidal inlet board, where the road is likely to run around the inlet then next to the line at the front, and follow the back of the yard.  Behind this there will be a road junction with another road climbing away up to the backscene.

The backscene has also been a subject of thought recently, the intention was to replicate a town which had developed on a ledge between the sea and some mountains.  To try and achieve this I will plan to have the rear of the baseboards climbing slightly to give the impression of the ground climbing towards the base of the mountains.  At the extreme rear of the layout there will be a band of trees hiding the joint between the scenery and the backscene, then above it will emerge a scene like this (section above treeline) to give the impression of the mountains...

Source: www.ashaig.co.uk

That scene is the opposite side of the bay to Plockton, so fits in the area that the rest of the layout is based on.  That in conjunction with the alterations to the end of the layout should give a good feeling of space and help create the impression of the town being sat of a ledge at the edge of the land.

I'm going to spend a whole day in Plockton in June taking plenty of pictures so there should be plenty of opportunity to make a panorama for the backscene.

I'll doodle my revised plan soon now that i've got it all sorted out.