Filling the Gap (part I)

After finishing (mostly) the AG/GC complex, the last piece of unfinished terrain was the area between Aston station and Aston Growers.

The above picture shows the gap in the early stages.

Closing the gap was a five-part process. Five parts in what was less than a 2 foot square area!

1. Build a road disappearing into the backdrop (see the black strip) to link this area with the outside world and connect (out of sight) with the main road running along the backdrop.

2. Connect that road with the station road (to the left above), the road to the (unseen) truck loading area of AG - the upper right and a short stub to the modelled truck loading dock at AG (the lower right).

3. Build a small bluff (upper centre).

4. Finish "Station Hill" so that it descended down to the road.

5. Construct a small hillock beside the tracks to camouflage the intersection (middle of the photo).

The road to town

Easily the most challenging bit was to build a road those rose from ground level to disappear into the backdrop at an angle. I'm no geometry whiz. The road needed to blend into the big hill behind the station and the later constructed bluff while coming down at a reasonable angle. It also had to meet the backdrop at a angle. Finally, the right side of the road also needed a shoulder. This got complicated because the backdrop and later constructed bluff left little room. It was a puzzle. 

I used styrene as a base with 320 grit sandpaper on top. I left part of the styrene uncovered for rock ballast (shoulder) to be added later. To give the crest of the road some flex, I cut the supporting styrene and narrowed the end of the road going into the backdrop. Again, this creates the illusion of the road disappearing. I weathered the sandpaper and added my shoulder. I also added a wood "lip" at the bottom of the road to match the height of the road that would be added later. This gets tricky because I would be using plaster Smoothit and did not want to sully the sandpaper road with plaster.

But to blend the road in, I needed to finish the hill behind the station. 

Station Hill

I have really come to love pink insulation board as a scenery base. It is firm but easy to cut and counter. Once you add paint, it will absorb ground foam and it is soft but still a good base to plant trees in.

I did not entirely finish Station Hill the first time round. I knew I'd be finishing the hill later so I left room for more trees and roughage.

More SuperTrees, some Woodland Scenics bramble, Heki grass, and some puff balls added greenery:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the greenery options have come a long way in 25 years and the major challenge these days is not over doing it!

I have particularly fond memories of building the retaining wall on a cold December morning while I listened to a 1978 broadcast of a Kings/Canadiens hockey game. I wasn't able to match the colour of the previous wall but I can't say it is noticeable amidst all the bramble.

The other note about this part of the construction is the dead tree trunk you see in the above photo. I was at a train show a few years ago and spent about $10 on "Woodland Scenics Dead Wood". At first I thought this was the most ridiculous purchase - I was buying stuff I could get for free by crossing the street and going to High Park. But I really like how the trunks are weathered (you'll see more of them shortly), and what I was really spending $10 on was confidence - i.e. that they'd play their role well on the layout (as dead tree trunks).

At some point, construction got to the stage where I could install the road knowing it would blend into the hill once greenery was added. That was a huge moment of relief.

And the same for where Station Hill would eventually meet the flat road behind the station. I roughed in the scenery at the "meeting point" but left enough unfinished that blending could be done at a later date.

In part II, I'll discuss the bluff, the road network and the hillock.