Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger by Ivan Lodyzhensky



Cliffhanger is a 4mm 009 model railway layout. Uniquely, it represents an entire cliff-face from floor-level to above the viewer where the railway is practically invisible, on a small shelf on the rockface. Features working funicular railway and waterfall

Following the completion of the cliffs and forest on the Waterfall board, it took a fair bit of willpower to begin all over again on the lido section. I dare not even imagine how many trees have been made and the entire process became so monotonous that I could not stop doing the job in my head even when in bed (unless, of course, Emily Proctor of CSI Miami was on)! Everything took on a greenish tinge and like the foam offcuts before it, bits of scatter gradually worked their way into the house, bath, car and even the ginger cat was somewhat 'arboreal'. There are many more trees close to the cliff bottom on his board and they had to be all made individually. After a solid week of work I was gratified to be able to focus on the construction of the lido. Little did I know the games I was to play!







The foreshore
This area of the North Devon/Somerset cliffs is unique in the UK as having sessile oak trees growing right down to the shoreline. This phenomenon is caused by the shadow of Countisbury Head that shields the coast East of it from the prevailing Westerly winds. Most of the shoreline is rocky and covered in seaweed and this was next to be modelled. The rocks were a mixture of talus purchased from a show and 'rock' made by breaking up half-cured Polyfilla. The rock was soaked in acrylic paint and when dry, attached to the shore with PVA. Brown chopped foam was then worked into the shore to represent bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus). The result was then sprayed with Modelmates 'Mud brown'. This dye takes differently to the rock and seaweed and a nice subtle difference in colour is left. A thin line of green algae, (Ulva) was attached at the high water line. The whole lot was then flooded with gloss varnish so it really began to look wet and smelly!

The waves were then modelled in Polyfilla and painted. A straight batten was fastened to the edge of the baseboards to ensure levels were maintained. West epoxy resin was then poured onto the shoreline.
So the time had come to create realistic surf. There are lots of ways of doing this but this is how I do the job these days. Firstly, the breaking waves are modelled using artists' gloss gel with a little white acrylic paint added. I laid a line of this stuff along the leading edge of the waves and 'rotovated' it with a dental pick. With a little practice, lovely breaking waves can be created in this way as well as splashes as the waves hit rocks. I also brushed on clear artist gel onto the 'sea' leaving lines as shown in the photograph. The lines will later disappear once the sea is varnished but a dynamic effect is the result. We then have to model the foam behind the wave. This in many ways is the most tedious. Using clear five-minute epoxy glue, quickly add a little white paint and lay it on top of the breaking wave. There is a moment as the glue begins to cure when one can pull it back with a finger to create an excellent effect.

Further foam is then added using white tinted gloss artists' gel. This is a very slow process to get it right. One also has to model the 'pull back' from the previous wave.






Finishing off
The final modelling job was to populate and detail the lido and station platform with people, deckchairs and the like.
The layout stands on four modified Ikea coffee tables. They were shortened to 12' high and boxed on three sides with plywood. Apart from being very strong, they also serve as boxes to carry the junk one needs to have at exhibitions. In front of these boxes are two pelmets which fasten with Velcro.



The funicular
It was time to turn our attention to the completion of the funicular. Like the swimming pool, this turned out to be far more difficult than we expected and we are eternally grateful to Andy and Fiona Forty of DCC Supplies for solving the problems. The difficulties were compounded by the fact that we wished the cars to stop at the station half way up to connect with the trains. Switches to slow and and stop the cars were too inaccurate and a small error in stopping the top car resulted in it being driven into the back wall of the station, the cord breaking and the car crashing down to the sea!

Two stepped motors were used. These count 200 accurate positions for each revolution. One revolution represents one millimetre of movement of the cars on the track. Clever Andy and Fiona developed hardware and software to count the steps and thanks to his device, the cars stop in a perfect position every time. They have to be accurately positioned at the centre station to begin with, as the electronics assume that this is where the cars start. In the event of a power failure, this could spell trouble. The railway is fitted with a mains emergency battery pack if the power fails so we shall have the time to switch off the funicular and start it again from the correct position.

Another issue was to get the cable, by now, fine unstretchable beading thread, to lay properly into the pulleys. What was happening was that the thread would build up on one side of a pulley and then slide off. This would jolt the car and off the rails it would fall. The solution was wobbly pulleys which lay the thread beautifully.

I can attest to the fact that it now goes up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, wonderfully well. The cars wait at each station for 20 seconds, which feels about right in this scale.





The waterfall
[color=rgb(102,102,102)][font=Tahoma][size=3][size=4][font=arial]As the waterfall was planted along its borders, I did a bit more detail work using clear bathroom sealant until I felt happy with the result. I had visualised that I would use something like dry ice to obtain a mist. In the end, I had a much better idea and bought a couple of garden ultrasonic misters. These are the things they put in garden pools and a surface mist is created to make them look