Don't believe what it says on the label...

For more years than I care to remember now, I have had this Noch Brickpaper in my bag of styrene sheets.  I like the look of the relief in the mortar courses and it's also quite photo-realistic. I thought I could make a use for it. Though so much time has passed since I bought it, that I can't remember what I use I had in mind for it. But I kept the product anyway, like you do...

A very nice looking product from Noch

The label says that it is for HO and TT scale. Though there's no way that it is for those scales. The bricks are even too big for O scale and G scale. Take a look at the close up below. You can also see how nice the product actually is.

Approximately 12mm x 3.5mm in size. Too big for G scale even

I naturally wondered how the size of the brick fared up in 16mm scale. Many modellers know that pre-1965 and also pre-metric system bricks could vary in size by manufacturer. So I felt that if this brick sheet was even close to any one size they would do. I was about to set to on some brick size research and I suddenly remembered that there was a drawing of some scale sized brick course in Roy C. Link's Crowsnest Tramway book. The easiest thing to do was measure that. What do you know? It was an exact match for size.

A building shell covered with the brick paper. The effect is good.

Spurred on by this, I immediately made up a building shell to fit the planned area. It's semi relief, so does not have the full depth of a building, then again, neither does the building next to it. But I think it'll be enough, and the overall effect is great. I'm out of stock of this brick paper now. So, I'll have see if I can find some more. It's been such a long time since I bought it I don't know if my local hobby shop still stocks it.

Clearly it does pay to keep hold of things even if you can't remember why you bought it.

Land Rover as a view block? Why not!

I love a Land Rover

A week or so ago now, my 1:18 scale Landrover arrived. A grand little model. OK, little is something of a misnomer in 1:18 scale. It's close to six inches (150mm) in length. But the series 1 Landy was a small vehicle. By todays standards anyway. 

However, it does eat up a fair bit of real estate on my micro as I found out when I put it where I wanted to, while testing things out on another blocking in session. If I were to put it where planned, it would eat up the space I had in mind for the workshop scene. It would block the view of the layout too much.

Testing out a rock face and the Land Rover

I was a little disappointed. I really wanted the Landy in the layout, and the workshop too, for that matter...

Wait a minute...

Did I just say the Landy was blocking the view?

Then why don't I use it as an intentional view block?

I've been struggling with how to hide the exit to the sector plate for a long time, ever since I started the project. Walls, fences, and now rock faces, have been considered. So why not a Land Rover? I put it in place. Not quite knowing what to expect. 

This is about as natural a looking scene as you can get.

Huddy is small and is easily hidden by the Land Rover

Seriously? Now doesn't that look the part? It only protrudes into the scene by about three inches (75mm) so doesn't eat up a lot of room. Huddy really squeezes by. The fact that the Landy is parked uphill adds another dimension to my mind. 

I'm not entirely sure about the rock face, I think it obstructs the rear building and the forced perspective it creates too much. and may try a fence again. Perhaps it's the unpainted colour of the foam. a duller, dirty rock face might just do it. 

But what the heck, that's for another day.

Today it's Land Rover for the win!