Following two weekends visiting exhibitions the time has come to start on the scenery for the APA box layout.

I’d like the sidings to be surrounded by rock faces.

First, I made a paper template of the shape I wanted. Then I used this to cut some pieces of polystyrene.

I saw that Phil Parker used one of these hot wire cutters to shape polystyrene. It looked good, so I brought one and I wasn’t disappointed. The wire heats up in a couple of seconds and it cuts the polystyrene like a hot knife through butter. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist saying that!). Best of all it leaves no dust which is the big disadvantage of using a knife.

I cut some pieces to roughly the right shape.

Then it was just a matter of repeating the process to build up several layers, seven to be precise.

After a couple of cups of tea and a lot of fun I’d created an outline of the rock faces. I couldn’t resist placing the other parts on the layout.

It’s a rough cut and it needs finessing, but it’s a good start.