Well it was a time to tidy up loose ends so today I got to the point where it is now just a matter of scenery. I want it ready to go by tomorrow night so I have a chance to finalise any things I have forgotten before we put it to use on Saturday.

Today I finished the Tomix Mini-Platform set. The transfers were a real pain. Nice transfers, just that each one had to be carefully cut out by me. I could hardly see the end of the knife and I was cutting them out! Scary!

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When they were all done I took the module out to the shed to fit the 3mm craftwood bases for the platforms. Here you can see that I have fitted the craftwood then nailed the platform bases in place. All the while checking with the KATO Loading Gauge to be sure that I would not be infringing in the space the trains needed. We will find out Saturday if anybody has a wider/taller than standard vehicle ;)

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Here are two close-up views of these nice little platforms.

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I am tinkering with the idea of using a hunk of expanded foam as the background for the depot. The scenario for this is that land is always in short supply in Japan so the Depot has been placed close to a hilly area which has tiers cut out for growing crops.

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I mixed up some acrylic paints to get to a nice brown then painted the whiole module  around the operational area. While still very wet I sprinkled sand over the painted parts. I really don't know how this is going to turn out. In the morning I will use the air comnprssor to blow off the unstuck sand then see what the result is. It might not show up clearly but behind the passing loop I have nstalled a short piece of un-connected track to simulate team track to store all the vehicles and little diesels of the Depot.

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With the left over brown I have painted the foam backdrop. Tomorrow once it is dry I will try to 'green' it up and also see how I can fix it down to the baseboard. I had to trim it to allow room for the extra Team track that I have installed.

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