Finishing Touches:

I wanted to have some cars in the “parking area” (the far left corner of the layout.) The Marklin 8158 Freight Train starter set that I bought on eBay was used. It contained some items, including 3 automobiles, that may or may not have been part of the original set. In any case, I wanted to use them in my circus layout. However, although the wheels were painted black, the cars themselves looked like plastic and I decided to repaint them.

I purchased a Testors Gloss Enamel paint kit because I thought the glossy colors would make the cars more realistic. I held onto the back end of each while I painted the front ends on a Monday evening, thinking that I could reverse things and finish painting the next morning. But the next morning the paint was still tacky. Even after two weeks the the cars still stuck to my finger! I e-mailed Testors via their “Help Desk” and “Contact Us” buttons at their web site to ask for help. They never replied. Either they don't care enough to reply or they have the same Help System that Woodland Scenics uses.

So I ordered a set of Marklin 8904 automobiles from Reynauld's. The set consists of three each of four different types of automobiles in six different colors (so I don't need to paint them.) The cars are a hard plastic, unlike those described above, and come in three pieces - body, windows, and undercarriage - that must
be glued together. I placed one of each type on the parking area at the back left of the layout, holding them in place with a small drop of Scenic Glue on each wheel.

Although the clowns and animals on the layout are “cheats”, I did order some Preiser Z scale people from Reynauld's. But they had to be backordered and after waiting for two months I purchased 100 Preiser figures from “the-case-depot” on eBay. I placed some of these in the parking lot, at the entrance (coming and going) of the Big Top, and scattered others here and there around the grounds. I tried to keep them away from the clowns so that the size discrepancy wouldn't be too obvious.

I have also purchased two sets of 1x1.5-inch “circus poster” decals from “ibd_seadog” on eBay. I removed the layout from the briefcase and painted in a “sky” on the white shelf paper that I'd used to line the case. Then, with a stiff brush, I “pounced” (as Donna Dewberry of the “One Stroke Painting” show on PBS would describe it) green paint below the sky to give a ragged green horizon. I then cut out horizontally oriented circus poster decals and placed them along the “north” and “west” sides of the layout.

Except for maybe putting in a few more figures if my backorder from Reynauld's comes, this pretty much wraps up my Circus Layout.

For those curious as to what all this costs, check the next page.