OLD PARROCK
Going through the mill…
‘OO’ GAUGE LAYOUT
A human need for competition compelled Paul Rhodes to develop his skills and create this delicately modelled vision of East Sussex.
Words: Chris Gadsby
1
Photography: Chris Nevard
What makes this layout great?
“The framing draws you into the layout, and you have to get your face so close that your nose is almost touching the quaint station building. The world disappears around you, and you feel as though you’ve been pulled through a time portal to the English countryside, a century ago.”
2 Paul’s favourite part of the layout is the overall
design setting. A lot of thought went into the lighting, and he spent a long time making it convey the ambience of a summer’s day.
Artwork: Andrew Mackintosh
There’s something about human beings that means we love competing against one another. No matter what it is, the 100m sprint or who can fit the most marshmallows in their mouth while still saying ‘chubby bunny’, there is an instinctive desire to want to be the best. Model railways are no exception, and we have seen plenty of model railway competitions in the past. If modelling competitively is your thing then these contests are great, but even if you aren’t interested in winning, they can still inspire you to model in a different way to how you do usually, or model a completely different area. Paul Rhodes was one such modeller, who was excited that a hard deadline would give him the impetus to see a layout through from start to finish.