Getting side tracked (again)

With all this talk about pink foam on '4mm scale agonies' blog and using it for baseboard construction, it got me thinking about my proposed quarter scale model of Boscarne. I purchased some foamboard weeks ago just for this purpose but it has been languishing beneath my bench waiting for me to pluck up the courage to make a start ever since. I say courage but the will is probably more to the point. I've never really seen the need to build a scale model of a proposed project before. I know Mr. Rice and Mr. Norman advocate it as good practice but I've always thought I held a good picture in my head of what I wanted to achieve. With my Boscarne Junction layout I am/was having problems with deciding how to make a start on the baseboards, especially the Y shaped board at the junction end. This started to convince me that building a quarter scale model might be a good idea.

After wangling a day off in lieu, for some weekend work I did a few weeks ago, I decided to make a start. Should I have finished off the A7 point kit? That might be a good question and yes ought to be my answer but I felt in the right mood to attempt something new today. Also I have to build baseboards before I can install and use any points I construct. I also have to decide on how to construct the baseboards. So the point can wait a few more days.

This model is nowhere near finished but it is being a very useful exercise. It has already given me a better idea how to tackle the Y shape baseboard. It has also highlighting that I had not thought enough about the ground contours in Y of the junction. As you can see it is this area that I am still working on. It's very easy to draw contours on paper but to see them in 3D brings them to life.

I am not sure how far I will detail this model over the next few weeks. Adding trees of some description should help me decide how to break up the layout into frames to create views that the trains can pass though. Adding the few buildings is also a must just to check sizing and position. I am still not sure about adding the cottage/house that is behind the signal box at the real location. Need to give this some thought, but to be honest I've never been that confident about scratch-building buildings.

It's a shame there is not a building on the same side of the railway as the wharf side but on the opposite side of the road to act as a scenic break for the fiddle yard. If I do build the cottage/house it might fall foul of my fictitious history and be moved to this position ..... would probably balance this end of the layout better by being moved.

Sorry about the quality of the photos but I had to use my phone to take them as my camera is playing up.