The Asmara Light Railway hits the tracks, the top picture shows a peter pig 8th army infantryman for scale comparison, tried to achieve a well used dusty look to the rolling stock, added a tin foil tarpaulin to the tender. Next on the to do list is a small station and engine shed.
A great find in a cheap shop in the new street station shopping arcade in Birmingham (gizmo or something like that), only £3.49p, just the right size to go with 15mm figures. Has a very wild west look about it to me. But should be at home as a small colonial era type local rail set up. So the Asmara Light Railway is born. Quite a lot of raised detail in the models, so should paint up quite well with some dry brushing. I'll snip of the winding handle on the right hand side of the train. I'll have to have a think about the track that came with the train and see if it can be used. 
I have painted the factory in the same colours as the Fish market, I still need to add some flock to the base and some shrubs, I also need to come up with some sort of sign to go on the building.
My version of a total made up in my head idea of what a factory for producing smoked fish would look like, no research at all. To go with the fish market. The spark for this idea was a tube of lemon sherbet, which in my youth was closed at the top with a twist of paper. The modern version has a plastic cap. Which gave me the idea of using it for the body of the boiler at the back of the factory. Pipes going into the roof are plastic tubes from cotton buds. The rest of the building was made from a selection of different sorts of card stock.I've updated my settings on the blog this time, so all comments will be moderated in future.
The petrol station has finally got some paint on it, still need to tidy up some of the joints, just wipe some filler down them. I used some prints of pre war Italian motoring posters from the web to liven it up a bit. Still need to finish painting the petrol pumps, made from beads and plastic tubes with wire from a paper clip supper glued down the middle to keep it all in place. Worked out well in the end, not an identical copy of the original, but in the spirit of, as they say. Will finish of the painting about 80% there, just need to put a bit more detail in. Original post was back in December last year under plans for 2010, with a link to the real life version of this model. I just love it when a plan works.
The snowing up of terrain sample two, lots more bits and bobs on this test piece, burnt out house, small stream, shell holes, barbed wire, bunker and bridge. Barbed wire was made from wire pan scrubber, bedded into PVA glue. No white spray paint first on this one. Just strait into applying the snow gunk with a brush direct onto the terrain. The spray white flattened out the contrast in the colour of the terrain on the first test piece. Applying the snow direct onto the terrain keeps the contrast stronger. Works better for me. I may use the white spray paint on some trees in future, before they are positioned on the terrain. This second test confirms the original idea that the terrain will be produced as partially thawed, with areas of snow and areas of thawed ground. Rather than a totally white arctic type layout. 
A long story - cut short, plastic fish for fish sauce from a Sushi pre packed lunch. It was just crying out to be used in some type of terrain project. Then it come to me in a flash of inspiration, Mussolini's famous attempt at cornering the world pilchards market in the late 1920's with the building of a fleet of ocean going pilchard boats and the construction of a number of on shore facilities to support the fleet, located around the Italian empire, including Fish Markets, Smoking houses and freezing plants. However the wall St crash of 1929 resulted in the bottom falling out of the market, and the infrastructure fell into disrepair. 
