Beginning Anew with Shady Hollow

PLCPROF, I have a background in biology. Taught anatomy and physiology, zoology, oceanography, biology, along with chemistry and some algebra classes for 31 years. I have zero artistic talent!!! :-)  I painted the walls an azure blue, making the walls towards the ceiling a deeper blue and then mixing the blue with white paint to lighten it up as it nears my horizon. It really helps to add the effect of a sky. I then used stencils made by New London Industries and spray painted the clouds on the wall. I did use some free lancing and also added dark gray to the clouds to try my best to give them a more natural look. I went ahead and did the whole basement that way. When I pass on out of this world, I am sure that someone who buys this house will get a shock walking into the basement. In my previous layout I used darkening window shade material that I could buy off the roll from JoAnn Fabrics. I waited to get a half off coupon. It worked great as backdrop material. There was just too much to do for this layout. 

Rick

Rick,

Your layout is looking good!  I too like the clouds and start of scenery.  I'll be starting a new layout too, and agree I don't want to crawl under much now that I'm 60.  

How high is the layout that you have to duck under to get to access?  Looks like most of it is along the walls with not to far to reach the back, which I like

Mark, I have 6 years on you and I am feeling every one of those 66 years. Finally got the diagnosis that the right hip and the right shoulder are bone to bone....a result of throwing and hitting way too many baseballs during my years of playing and coaching baseball....and it does make it difficult to get up and down. The table top is 38 1/2 inches high. You can see my access holes as there are plenty of places that I still need to crawl under to get to. Those will become drop downs rather than lift outs as I would have no one to lift them to. 

Rick

PLCPROF, a quick check on-line looks like several hobby stores carry them. Once I got them, I secured them to a long thin piece of wood. It was easier to hold them up straight across while I was spray painting. You can alter the appearance in many ways. You can use only the stencil as the top of the cloud, or the bottom, or both. You can extend the wisp of a cloud by short bursts of paint attached to the stenciled cloud. My mountains are only going to be backdrop distance once I build the 3-D mountains. I use foam for the basic outline, then cardboard strips, then plaster cloth, and then finally Structo-lite or Gypsolite over that. I am not even sure that most of the backdrop mountains will show. What I did like is that I shot a quick burst of white over some of the mountains that were the highest looking as if a wisp of a cloud was passing in front of it. 

Rick

Rick,

Bone on bone.  Sounds like my wife's knees.  Well only one now, she got the other replaced this year.  I just have arthritis.

The drop down access sounds like a winner, I agree you have to be able to do it yourself.  I have seen different approaches of lift ups that lock into place above the builder's head, but if you are like me, they are great, but more complex than my abilities or desire.  38 1/2 sounds good, but will you have grandchildren visiting?  That is one concern of mine, though we don't have any grandchildren yet.

Your mountain building descriptions sound good to me.  I built my first layout when I was 12, and have built a few, but I want this next one to be the last.

Mark, I was a late bloomer in that I did not have my first son until I was 35. He will almost be 31 when he has his first, making me a grandpa for the first time with a due date of Dec 31. I figured that gives me some time to get the layout almost completed in a couple of years and also time to build some steps so that he (and hopefully others) can get a better view.

Rick

Layout looks like it is coming along nicely and I also like some of the scenery going in as you go so to speak. Also it looks like an interesting track plan and is of good size. I like the raised sections of track, I think it adds a lot to the overall looks of things. I need to add some of that to my layout. Please keep us posted on your progress and keep the pictures coming.

I share your health issues and was having a lot of trouble getting under the layout and then almost not being able to get up again. I got a small mechanic's stool at Harbor Freight and that has made getting under the layout a lot easier for me. Maybe something like that or a mechanic's creeper would help you in making the under layout tasks a little easier and more comfortable?

RTR12, thank you for the mechanic's stool suggestion. I will look into it. The layout plan is definitely different. I wanted the ability to have a reverse loop, so I put in two reverse loops with the crossover. It gives me a lot of flexibility running trains. I added two switches toward the back that gives me the ability to go from the the outside loop with the raised sections to the inside loop. I then added a lift out that you can see in the one picture. It has a Lionel O-72 switch on it that I plan on having lead to another table (hopefully movable on rollers) that has a turntable and roundhouse on it to house the extra engines. I figured it has to be on rollers since if permanent, it would be right in front of the breaker box which I would tend to believe is illegal. I can roll it up when I need to or keep it back. Lots of engineering yet to go, in all senses of the word!

Rick

Looks pretty good!

The scenery is superb! 

thank you for sharing! 

Andre, thank you. I am not sure I have space to rebuild a grain mill like I did for Raccoon Creek. Your working block and tackle truly brought that building to life. It was one of the things I hated leaving the most! 

Rick

Great work Rick!  It looks like a really fun layout.  Thank you for sharing and have fun with it!

Well done, Rick.......I can really sympathize with you......at 63, just don't bounce up and down like I did on former layouts 30, 20, & even 10 years ago.......keep up the great work.....I love studying the pictures......the detail is super!

Peter

Ranger Rick posted:

Mark, I was a late bloomer in that I did not have my first son until I was 35. He will almost be 31 when he has his first, making me a grandpa for the first time with a due date of Dec 31. I figured that gives me some time to get the layout almost completed in a couple of years and also time to build some steps so that he (and hopefully others) can get a better view.

 

Rick

LOL. I was 35 when our first child was born too!  So she is 25 and the her sister is 23.  Both got married within the last two years.  

I have seen layouts that have lower sections for the little guys, also long steps, step stools, bar stools, and someone recently suggested the long steps that you can flip out of the way when not in use.  Simple will be what I end up with.  Yes you have time to figure out what will work in your situation.

Ranger Rick posted:

Andre, thank you. I am not sure I have space to rebuild a grain mill like I did for Raccoon Creek. Your working block and tackle truly brought that building to life. It was one of the things I hated leaving the most! 

 

Rick

Make something similar the hoist on me!!

Andre.

From the work already completed, it appears that you have been building the layout for some time. What are the rough dimensions? I am curious about the figure 8 or double reversing loop in one photo? Nice scenic spots. Let's see more soon.

Pennsynut, I actually started the build at the end of last spring. I had procrastinated because the basement was still full of my parent's things, a ping pong table, and many of my things that I had to get moved which required help. I grew up in this house and actually lived in the basement for awhile in high school when my grandfather came to live with us. I also am still coaching. I am the head baseball coach at the high school and so spring is a busy time. But I finally started building the table and then fiddling with a track plan. I love all of you that can sit at the computer and plan out your layout....it definitely looks great on paper. I tried, I failed. I knew sort of what I wanted, so I had to play around with track, cut some pieces, use some flex track, etc. I definitely wanted a reverse loop and so decided to use a double reverse loop as you inquired about. It gives me a feature of some real operating problems and time schedules. I just started the small amount of scenicing a few days ago. It is what got me excited to post a few pictures. Here is a picture of the table dimensions.

Good luck with the stool. The lower the seat height the better. I have to remember to duck under the cross beams, but sometimes forget. Fortunately, I have a hard head, but it still leaves an occasional lump.  

I would definitely do something so you have quick access to your breaker panel and I think you are correct about having it accessible by code. Around here, on commercial construction projects they require 36" of free space in front of electrical panels, unless something has changed since I retired in 2012. Looks like a nice large area you have, should make for a really nice and enjoyable layout. 

Here is the layout I left in Atlanta. I had plenty of experience crawling under that table. That was before the hip and real shoulder problems. Even shaking out some ballast on the track now the shoulder grinds audibly. And I will engineer something that gives me ready access to the electrical panel.

Rick