Start in ‘O’ gauge – Part 2

Last month, Chris Nevard began by laying the track and installing the scenery on his new micro layout. Here, he explains how he created the lifelike buildings and added the final touches to his first 7mm scale project.

Chris Nevard explains how he made the lifelike buildings on his ‘O’ gauge layout.

After finishing work on the track, scenery and canal basin, it was time to look at adding a few buildings. The overall aim was to depict an almost forgotten, canal-side fuelling depot, somewhere in the south of England. The fact that the layout was built to fit within an existing museum-style display case meant that there were severe space limitations, particularly in terms of height. This isn’t ideal for ‘O’ gauge but, with a little creativity and some scratchbuilt low-relief buildings, the finished scene looks pretty convincing.

Would I build another ‘O’ gauge layout? That’s a firm ‘yes’. I’m not generally into operating model railways, but powering up an ‘O’ gauge locomotive, even the small shunting types used on this layout, provides a different feeling to smaller model trains. They have quite a presence, as well as beautifully assured running. I might be converted…