Nathanville Model Railway Village

A Model Railway Village in the Making
Welcomes Careful Train Drivers!

The Bristolian, part of a photo from `The West Somerset Railway On The Web' with the permission of the photographer Roger Bailey. Nathanville Model Railway Village - video This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit Here.

'NATHANVILLE MODEL RAILWAY VILLAGE'

Is a model railway village, named after Nathan of a fictitious self supporting village in a valley surrounded by hills; on one side a 'Military base, docks and airfield' and on the other side agricultural land earmarked for housing development. Below is the construction plan and further information on construction and layout.

CONSTRUCTION PLAN OF

The Site Plan above, not to scale, shows the general layout as it currently stands. You may notice there is a large area behind the main station (centre), and the agricultural fields on the hill to the right that are still under development. Some of the agricultural land (2ft x 3ft - 61cm x 91cm) is earmarked for residential development e.g. a row of semi-detached houses, and the waste ground behind the station for a depot. The green land next to the vicarage is ready residential development.

Military Base	Main Station, car park and valley	Underground	Church and Vicarage	Grave Stones	Military Docks

UNDERGROUND

The underground (subway) was made with a gap of 8" (20 cms) between the underneath of the top table and the top of the lower table to allow sufficient room for access when laying the track and for maintenance. The subway table has a hole in the middle (also for access) and although not as long as the main table (only 8ft (2.4 meters)) juts-out in front of the main table by about 6" (15 cms). The subway table is supported by the same legs supporting the main table top.

ROADS, FIELDS, OTHER SURFACES, BUILDINGS and ACCESSORIES

The scatter which comes in a wide variety of effects, and designed specifically for model railways, should be available from most modelling shops. Also, from any good modelling shop you have a wide variety of accessories to choose from for model railways and villages e.g. trees, hedges, people, buildings etc. In this model, not all props were were bought, as this can prove expensive. The trees and hedges for example are made from sponge. Most of the fences, gates, level crossings and some garden effects in the vicarage garden are purchased accessories. The greenhouse, garden shed and flower bed in the vicarage garden were made. The greenhouse was made from plastic sheeting cut to size and stuck onto a matchstick frame. The shed was made from small bits of wood, and the flower bed made from sponge ripped to shape and painted in a variety of colours. All the buildings in the village are made from plastic kits, and painted - You can use cardboard buildings (most model shops sell them), but plastic kits are more realistic.

TREES and HEDGES

Sponge, cut to size and shape, is ideal for making hedges - and once painted and stuck in place can look very authentic. There are many different ways to make trees - for Nathanville village, hard sponge (used for packaging) was used, but any sponge would do. Hard sponge was chosen because it was found to be easier to break bits off and achieve the desired shape and effect. Dowel was used for the trunks (painted brown and coated in dark brown scatter for bark effect) and then pushed into a hole drilled into a base.

HILLS, CLIFFS and VALLEY

The hills on either side of the layout (supporting the military airfield at one end, and agricultural land at the other) were made with 3mm plywood, supported by 1" x 1/2" (25 mm x 12 mm) softwood frame. The frame was glued and where suitable tacked to the main baseboard (using wood glue and 1" (25 mm) panel pins). Likewise the plywood was glued and tacked in place using wood glue and tacks. Use as few tacks as possible, as when the glue dries it gives a strong bond. The tunnels were cut in the plywood before gluing it to the wooden frames. Both ends of the hills have access panels to allow maintenance of tracks etc.

Once the glue was dry, the plywood was coated in a thin layer of sand and plaster (50% sand, 50% plaster mixed together with water to make a smooth paste). The plaster was applied using a putty knife to give a rough finish. For further effect, the rock face was spay-painted with a dark mat grey undercoat car spray paint. Before the paint dried scale model gravel was sprinkled down the surface of the rock face. The valley sides that extends from the main baseboard down to the underground level were made with 3 mm plywood in the same way the hillsides.

ACCESS TO HILL TOPS AND DOCKS - STEPS, LIFT and ROADS

External access to the military airfield is by steps and lift - The steps were made from 1/2" (12 mm) wood cut diagonally in half and stuck to 3 mm plywood using wood glue. The lift was made from 3 mm plywood stuck together with wood glue and a clear plastic front mounted using contact glue. The lift does actually work - using thin string rapped around a small metal bar (to make a handle at the top of the lift shaft). For the effect of metal, the lift sides were painted using aluminium air fix paint. The road leading to the agricultural land was made by cutting 3 mm plywood to shape, and finished by applying a very thin layer of sand/plaster mix to the sides and to fill (smooth) and gaps, especially at the ends.

BOMB CRATER

The recent bomb crater, where a police car was unfortunate to drive into just moments after an imaginary explosion, was made by making a hole in the 3 mm plywood, packing it with stiff card (shaped into a hollow) and coating the card and surrounding area with a thin layer of sand/plaster mix.

Click Nathanville's Model Railway Village on Squidoo for further construction and layout details.

Below - Video featuring Steam Train Railways in the Lake District, England