There was a time when I wouldn't have given the range of Peco platform parts a second glance. However, with the building of Hopwood I was honour-bound to use as much of the Peco/Ratio/Wills range as possible and aim it at the novice, so they seemed logical. I wouldn't say that this was a a road to Damascus moment, but I became aware that the rather old fashioned clip-together and paper overlay construction had a certain amount of merit and was quite adaptable. There were a lot of scraps left over and I topped this up with a further pack from a well known North-West retailer.
The biggest physical change is to reduce the height slightly. I'm guessing that these come from the era where a strip of foam underlay was considered almost compulsory under the track, so they are slightly on the lofty side to allow for this. There are inward protrusions designed to retain the crossmembers and these were used as a guide to rest a razor saw against giving a consistent reduction of about 3mm. This brings the overall height down to a more logical buffer level.
The packs are supplied with paper overlays which I used on Hopwood here. In this case I wanted a more modern concrete facing and also a dumb end without a ramp which would have been quite rock and roll in 1980. This represents a new platform built purely for multiple units, so barrow ramps are superfluous. I'll add a set of steps and a fence/gate. I have a problem with concrete and usually end up mixing pale greys and sand to get a close colour. Here though there is quite a bit to do so Games Workshop Screaming Skull has been used. The top is still in its natural state and will be coated with a lighter grey.
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