‘OO’ GAUGE LAYOUT RE-UNITED BISCUITS
Taking the biscuit
Looking to have a break from his loft layout, Mike Baish decided to have a bit of fun and build a gritty industrial layout on a theme of… biscuits.
Words: Chris Gadsby
Photography: Chris Nevard Artwork: Andrew Mackintosh
What makes this layout great?
“Not knowing where to look adds a level of excitement and mystery to ‘Re-United Biscuits’. Rather than staring at one entrance to the scenic section, waiting for the next train to come through, any one of eight entrances can be used here, so your eyes are constantly flicking around the layout and taking in new parts of it.”
As the television advert says ‘Have a break, have a KitKat’ (other chocolate bar brands are available), but has your break time snack ever arrived by model train? Mike Baish’s has, although his sweet treat has been on the layout for so long that we advise you probably not to tuck in as it arrives. We can’t imagine the glue tastes very nice. Mike’s ‘OO’ gauge layout ‘Re-United Biscuits’ may sound like the conclusion to a Davina McCall-hosted ITV show, but it’s actually a multilayered modelling marvel over several layers, mixing the art of top-quality model making with the humour required to bring the viewers coming back for more. Not bad for a layout which was only meant to be a stop-gap.
“There’s a much larger layout in my loft but I was at a bit of an impasse with that, not entirely sure how to proceed. To avoid the modeller’s equivalent of writer’s block I decided to put my time into something else, and came up with the idea that I should try to build an exhibition-quality layout for less than £80. Suffice to say it’s cost a bit more than that now! The layout is based very loosely in Manchester, and I can remember the exact moment that this scene stuck with me. Cooped up in the back of my parent’s car on the way to Morecambe for a holiday in 1962, we drove through Manchester and I was overwhelmed by the canals, factories and derelict mills that littered the landscape. The elevation wasn’t as extreme as I’ve created, but I don’t do flat layouts.”