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Creating a Miniature Harbour Scene in 'OO' Gauge

By Klaire, 27th January 2023 | How To Guides

Introduction

This blog will be covering how to create a miniature harbour scene in OO gauge. Join Klaire as she goes through her step-by-step guide creating a “Realistically Better” harbour using products you can find on our website.

Today we are going to build a miniature quayside scene and detail it using a variety of weathering techniques to create a lovely rust effect. Go and grab your sou'wester because we're off the harbour!

Building your wall and steps
Creating the sea floor
Adding textures
Rust
Weathering

INGREDIENTS:

OPTIONAL EXTRAS:

Winsor & Newton Sand Texture Gel
Acrylic paints
PVA Glue
A couple of old paintbrushes

METHOD:

The first step is to build your wall and steps. I have glued together some offcuts which I cut to the right size to make the wall approximately 3cm high which is about 7'6" in real life. I've topped the wall with a row of LX018-OO Paving Slabs, making sure that I left a slight overhang. I used just the steps from the LX291-OO kit to create my steps, but you can use scraps of 3mm card or MDF sheet if you have any lying around; I stacked them up so they were 7 high and glued them together with Super ‘Phatic! glue.

Once dry, I placed the wall and staircase on my base and drew around them so I knew where to apply the stone powder. You can miss this step but it will mean that when you glue everything down at the end you will be trying to attach to an uneven, powdery surface so it’s worth doing.

Put down a layer of SP001 Stone Powder, making it deeper at the top nearest the wall (that's also where you will find the stones and rocks) and sloping down towards the shore. Apply some Ballast Bond, letting it soak into the stone powder and leave to dry overnight. It should set rock hard! This will ensure it has settled properly before you put down any further layers. If you have any issues with the surface tension when you apply the ballast bond, you can give the stone powder a quick spray with some isopropyl alcohol first if you have any. The next layer will be the BL012 Urban Ballast and BR004 Shoreline Blend.

If the glue is dry on your wall and steps you can get to work glueing on the texture papers which you've already cut to size using TX223-OO Dark Weathered Ashlars for the vertical surfaces and TX270-OO Weathered Architectural Stone for the horizontal ones.

Release a section of LX285-OO Quayside Railings from the sheet and cut to your desired length. I have sprayed mine with matt black auto paint but a coat of acrylic paint would do just as well. Set aside to dry.

Now we're going to get our fingers dirty because we're having a go with some acrylic paint and weathering powders to make everything look rusty. Anything which is in its ‘raw’ state gets a first coat of black acrylic paint, and what you want to achieve is a thin, irregular coat so I would apply it with a small, scruffy paintbrush using a stippling action. I cut down a paintbrush for this so that the bristles are blunt rather than pointed.

(For the anchor I mixed some sand texture gel with the paint as the first layer, which has given the surface a rough, uneven texture.) When the first coat is dry, do the same with a brown acrylic but before it dries dab on Humbrol Weathering Powders in Dark Earth, Dark Rust, Iron Oxide and Light Rust, going from dark to light. Apply the powder with a small dry brush. I find that a flat brush works best. On the railings, I put the weathering only around the joints and on the uprights.

You can be quite liberal with the brown paint on the chain as it sticks the links together, which is how you would find the chain if it's been in the water for some time.

I painted the AX138-OO Lobster Pot Buoy with orange and white acrylic paint; when that was dry I roughly brushed on some green acrylic paint and while it was still wet I dabbed on some Black and then Chrome Oxide Green weathering powders. You don't need much of the Weathering Powder at all to achieve a realistic effect.

Use a little bit of Sandstone Powder to mound up at the base of the wall and steps, and around the feet of the ladder. Stick down with a little bit of Ballast Bond. I've also sprinkled some Sandstone Powder up the steps and on the top of the wall to show how the wind and tide have left sand there.

I hope you have fun building your own miniature scene, and if you're going to the ice cream van, I'll have mine with a flake!