Roads

Using Woodland Scenics products to work out N Scale road widths, I started to draw the roads, roundabout and slabs (for toilet block, station parking etc)

Next using the Woodland Scenics road tape and ‘smooth it’ I make the roads. 

Two parts smooth it to one part water. More smooth it if making rises or level crossings. 

I have found it to be alright to use, but I got lots of air bubble resulting in little holes everywhere in my road, not 100% smooth even with sanding. 

I have been using 1mm balsa wood on extra sections I have missed with wood filler to fill joins and that seems to work very well. 

Probably won't recommend this next time, but worth trying.

Cutting 1mm or finer balsa wood would be perfect for roads without the mess and easy to fix being timber. 

Australian Static Grass

This has got to be the best Australian static grass I have found for my N Scale layout

https://www.groundupscenery.com.au

Road marking pen

Officeworks has the perfect paint pen for road marking. A Uni Posca .7mm white paint pen. ​

Track Diagram - Electronics

Using Adobe Illustrator I drew up a track diagram including key features and sizes. 
I will soon add an extra layer to this drawing to include the wiring configuration and turnout numbers (electric points) 

This will be used to create a control panel in the future. 

I have tried to keep to the Australian T Trak standard when it came to laying out the Kato Unitrack. This allows other modules in the future to connect to Culcairn. 

Note Culcairn obviously doesn't have a balloon loop at one end and a fiddle yard at the other. These were added to make the layout ready for exhibitions.
 

Road and Dirt - Paint

I’ve used two paints (acrylics) from Bunnings to use on my N Scale layout.

Ground Base: Vogel  

Country NSW Roads: Grey Moggy 

iPhone picture. 

Blue modelling foam

Well I want blue modelling foam... but instead I got green! 

A place in Melbourne has heaps of it, however they aren't very friendly, there is also a $50 minimum order (which sucks) same day pick up was the bonus for me, but they came in 2.5m long lengths. I only needed one sheet and walked out with 4.   

Details of the place can be seen in the below photo. 

Kato Track Screws

Finding the correct screws to go into the Kato N Scale track was tricky, local hobby shops don't stock them and Bunnings just laughed at me.  

Micro Fasteners in Melbourne have these tiny screws which work perfectly!  

See the photo below.  

Project Culcairn

I have been wanting to use the T-Trak system to make a layout for a while now. Its very simple when it comes to joining modules and wiring, so it was an easy choice. 

I wanted to base the layout on something that was current, not back in the 1950's, just because I wanted to be able to run NR's and the XPT plus other modern Australian locomotives and rolling stock.  

Culcairn is not far up the road from me, being based in North East, Victoria. Most Victorian stations don't have a yard left. The main ones like Benalla and Wangaratta have been done in HO scale. Albury is too big and Seymour very complicated. 

Culcairn was a good fit, station, silos, some yard and the town centre is very close to the tracks. Making for good modelling potential. 

The picture shows three modules, the 4th will have a level crossing and bridge (Albury end/closest to camera).