Landscaping and Roadscaping

Recently I started ballasting the track, starting from the front left and working around the back of the layout. So far it's proved much easier than applying the ground-cover flock, which just seems to want to clump together.

Today I mixed up some more patching compund and applied another layer to the road, smoothing out the areas that needed it. I've also finished adding crossing boards to the level crossings. I didn't have any curved pieces so for here and the other road crossing I cut pieces of thick card and glued them down. Later I'll paint and surface them to match the road.

Also finally got around to improving the rear part of the layout, and adding a level platform for the switching tower, which you can see temporarily perched up on the hill. After this coat is dry, next steps are sanding and painting, then continuing with the ballast along the section of track pictured above.