8’ X 5’ Fastrack Double Spiral Update

It finished up nicely! Are those Dan's Drumheads in the tunnel portals? Nice touch!

That's right Moonman I've become a big Fan of Dan's Drumheads. He provided the drumhead and red LED on the rear of the observation car and the four Standard gauge drumheads embedded in the keystone of tunnel portals.

Another illumination feature I found at Home Depot are the projecting kaleidoscope spotlights placed down at the bottom of the table to create the northern lights effect reflecting off the mountain snow.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lig...ight-88579/205080892

I kept looking at the right side mountain and couldn't determine the source of effect. Very creative and it looks great.

All I can say is WOW!  What a great job, that's impressive!

Matthew,

Thank you for the tip on the light at HD. I picked one up Thursday. I have one space where my layout can't touch the wall because of an obstruction a little further along.

I put the spike in a piece of stray foam and placed it on the floor shining on to the wall just below the table. The top part of the lighting effect shines up on the wall shimmering or waving like the Aurora Borealis. It looks great!

That's great Moonman, I'm glad it worked out for you. Since I was pointing them straight up, I just cut a hole in the bottom of the table and dropped the lights right in without the bracket. They're LEDs and don't produce any heat so there isn't any risk of meltdown or fire.

I found at close range the kaleidoscope effect is too dense. At a longer distance, they become more of a shimmering line. I guess because it was designed to light up the house.

I almost got just a green, as many times, the lights appear that color in Alaska.

Still, it's a nice light at a decent price for effects no matter how you use it.

CARIBOU!

Here you go, little man just woke up, so we're running trains. Here's the lights.

Thanks for the tip about these lights.  I think the all blue or all white one could be used to mimic snow falling too.  It would be fun to play around with draping the light with something translucent to maybe tame it down a bit for more subtle effects.  I may have to get some of these.  Thanks.

nice job with he helix layout. looks like fun and a noce fit with your Christmas Tree

This layout is awesome, an inspiration for those of us who might want to build something fantastic some day!  Great job!

It's a very cool idea, extremely well executed.  The more I think about it the more I realize how intricate it is to arrange so it works well.  Nice photos.  Thanks.

Matt, your creativity and enthusiasm is what makes O-Gauge railroading very special. It is really nice to get to know you through your posts and photos.

Forgot to finish up this thread with the completed display as it was enjoyed by the family. Plus a couple videos demonstrating the versatility of the setup

At the end of the Season decided to test the pulling power of the Polar Express. Was able to pull 12 coaches around the display without any issues. Had to add about 6.6 oz of weight to teach of the first two coaches to prevent string lining.

LionChief + NYC Hudson pulling 8 Polar Express coaches & RailKing Imperial, Hiawatha controlled with Remote Commander. Power from a Z1000 brick. They do play well together.

matthew,

That's looks cool. Really busy. 3 trains at once.

Thanks Carl. Unfortunately the night before we took down the Christmas Trees one of our Projection Kaleidoscope spotlights went kaput. Which was even more disappointing when we discovered the effect it had unfiltered shining directly onto the Polar Express

That is a really cool layout. Now for the $64 question. Where does this go until next Christmas?

Gilly

That's a good question Gilly. Traditionally our Christmas display is converted into the year round display and moved to the foot of my bed upstairs. That wasn't the intention this year. We were just going to pack the Christmas display away and use it again next year, as I wasn't quite finished enjoying last year's. I figured I could still add three more loops to last years display.

I've got a week before I have to make a decision. I'm thinking about knocking the top two tiers off the current year round display and putting the double spiral on top of it. There would still be just enough space to  allow the Beacon Towers to sit at the top of the display.

Metthew,

Beautiful work! I just came across this thread, and watched the videos you posted October 21 several times.

Thank you for sharing!

Alex

What Alex said.  Beautiful, creative, well-executed.

Excellent plan and very good execution.

Amazing, intriguing and wonderful!