Dunham Studios new entry level 4X8 LionChief layout for York

I look forward to seeing it at the meet!

-Greg

Can't wait to see this at York.

Okay. So let's see where we end this week. Let me show you Delia building a mountain...or rather framing it up. What she's doing is setting up a skeleton around which she'll build her mountain. The photos are pretty much self-explanatory. Delia, I should note, has created a number of very realistic (geologically speaking) mountains on Dunham Studios layouts. She builds, carves and paints terrain, designs and builds historically accurate buildings and has become adept at using the 3-D printer so this 'toy look' scenery is a real change of pace for Delia...and for all of us. While Delia's building her mountain, John and Clarke are dealing with laying track on the figure eight trackboard, which you'll notice has been raised. That way, even on a 4X8 layout there can be 2 levels of trains for twice the fun. Speaking of trains Mike's set up a circle of track on a table to test the LionelScout for speed settings.

Barb

Clarke and Barbara, your crack team of artisans and craftsmen are putting us mere mortals to shame!!!     And to think they're working on more than one layout at a time.    Fabulous!!!  Looking forward to seeing you at York in a couple of weeks.

David

Us "Mere Mortals" are busy as hell right now with four projects in the shop now and more waiting in line.  Which is why we are so late getting to the two new layout projects for the April York Show.  The one you see now is our new "Entry Level" two-train Lionel LionChief-powered layout.  The one you don't see (yet) is our new "Entry Level" Angela Trotta Thomas three-train LionChief-powered Layout.  It just came off the CNC Router bed and out of the Carpentry Shop late yesterday.  Our very good friends at Gargraves and Ross Custom have also been invaluable in getting us the goods ontime for this and many of our other current  and future projects.  The new Angela Trotta Thomas LionChief Layout will be the same basic design as the upscale "Angela Layout" that we featured last year (and will be at York again this April).  However, while it will feature many of the same Angela "3D Printed" buildings us the "Upscale Angela" layout did, it will use many two-dimensional Angela buildings, as well as simplified scenic effects.  I suspect that when you look at the new layout, you will have a hard time telling which is which at first glance.   However, when you look at the price tag, the difference will be quite clear.  These are meant to be accessible entry-level layouts, but built by professionals, and they are meant to make it possible for the beginner to have something beautiful to start their model railroading lives with.  Of course, it's also available to all toy train lovers as well.  So, ALL ABOARD!!

Clarke

Clarke and Barbara designed my first layout and I believe I still have the drawing - had to be 15 + years ago when Clarke advised me the best way to finish the basement which lead to a great design. I was also fortunate to visit the shop they are currently building all these layouts in. 

Can wait to see them.

Kevin 

River Vale, NJ 

Just an April 4th sidelight.Snow. Snow. Snow. Here's the front of the barn, the back Dunham Studios entrance, and Mike Burke working inside on the figure 8 track for the LionScout Layout. No slackers here!

Progress. Delia assembles and then removes her mountain frame. Then she and Roy set up the figure eight track after attaching its supports. Meanwhile John is laying the lower layer of track.

Chugging along. (Only a week till York!) Here's the mountain developing nicely. (Foam to come.) Mike Burke (you'll see him at York) readying the trains. And Ray measuring the layout facing. Yesterday I sanded the base pieces so now they're ready to paint. (I didn't take a photo of that...how boring need I be?)

More of the making of the mountain. Unlike the usual Dunham Studios mountain construction where we (probably Delia) build a base of sheet foam, spray insulation foam over that and then carve into the foam to get the correct geology for the area being portrayed, this layout will have a 'toy' look. So the approach Delia took was different. She actually built up the complete mountain out of sheet foam and then carved it with a power saw. Here we'll take you pictorially through the process from where we left off above. After the mountain is carved and put back into place, Delia will attach it and finish the terrain. In case you want to see more photographs of what's going on at the studio, please take a look at Dunham Studios facebook where I try to keep up to date. Meanwhile, more tomorrow. (Remember time is getting short for finishing before York!)

Forget McDonalds, I'm loving this!  

Very cool to see the progress photos!

I'm loving the way this one is shaping up ... and I'm not even into 4.8's!

Boy, this is wonderful to watch and learn from

Thank you one more time

The mountain construction is particularly fun to watch

This is professional grade and your presentation is also great

j

Growing a mountain! Delia, using colored mastic seals the surface of the mountain. Note the foamed seam where a piece had to be added. That seam was then trimmed and mastic-ed over. Meanwhile Clarke is figuring out building placement on the layout, which you'll notice is without the mountain for the moment. And a look at the control area, And no smarties commenting on the incorrect controller on the right. This is a only a photo-op demonstration.

 While this has been going on, Roy has painted the base and Mike, who you sort of see under the layout, is wiring away.

Barb

controller in pk

Progress! As of last evening. Take a look. Now it's out to the barn where, aside from taking photos, I need to be planting trees, putting in people and vehicles...a bit of this and that while Delia scenics the mountain which she attached yesterday afternoon and the trains get a chance to run.

I do not know if you would be willing to try it, but would you consider a couple of days seminar on construction techniques 

Instead of golf school you would have train school

I bet there would be a good number of people who would love to attend

Just a thought

j

You bet we would!  We've been discussing "how to do it?" for a couple of years.  It looks to me as if the OGR Forum may be the way to go.  It would need to be at least a couple of days to achieve any lasting good, but that would be no problem here.  We've put up entire Museum Staffs during construction visits here.  The local Motels are very simple (but very reasonable) and very happy to oblige.  I'll ask the OGR Guys if this is of interest to them.  Could be a great experience for all, including us!  

Add another vote for an on-site Dunham Studios "mini-university."  Just the visit to the facility would be worth the cost .

Hey Clarke, I want to examine the EXIF info on these photos to make sure you guys didn't really do all this work a month ago!!!    Seriously though, it's amazing how fast your team has taken this layout from bench work to scenic wonder in recent days, and watching it come to life here is truly amazing.  Simply fabulous!

Looking forward to seeing it in person at York, as I'm sure we can all learn something from it.  Thanks for sharing the progress pics here.

David

Thanks for sharing the pictures of the build with us.

For me, the most interesing part is the making of the one piece figure eight.  Looks like it was routed and then had the inner and outer edges cut.  Was this done of the same machine that did the routing or was it done by a jig saw?

I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the finished layout.

Jim

Almost finished. Delia wants to get the trees on her mountain. Today I did my 'thing', creating little scenes on the layout and 'planting' trees. The buildings we've used to give this layout its 'toy' look come with signage and some details. I've added people and 'planted' trees. You'll notice that the trees have an almost out-of-the-box simplicity and I've 'planted' them with bases. Both are usually a big no-no on our layouts but then again, most of our layouts tend to be realistic and realistic is not what we're aiming for on this LionScout Layout. Tomorrow, Delia will finish 'planting' on her mountain, I'll add three billboards and a few more trees, Roy will paint the fascia, Bob and Ray will assemble the base (which looks great!) and John will make sure that the trains run. ('Trains'? Did somebody say 'trains'?) 

Barb.

One of the most enjoyable threads recently

Thank you

Have you ever thought of:

1.  Having pre-built LCCA modules?

2.  Work on a 4x8 during a major show.  Bring the platform.  But build the rest of it on site!

In answer to J-D's question: The (still-magical to me) CNC Router does that all in one program pass.  Actually, when we get into actual production on this layout, the CNC will rout the ties (where there are none on the traditional Lionel O-27 Sectional track) into the Medex board, creating the same effect as the time-consuming bending of Gargraves track to O-27 dimensions (which was a definite one-time-only adventure!)  So it looks like the idea of an Entry-Level 4X8 LionChief Layout will work!  We'll need a minimum of ten sales to go into production.  We'll know the price by Thursday at York, both for this layout and the Three-Train Entry-Level LionChief 4x8.  Yes, there are actually two 4x8s in the works for York, plus the Angela Trotta Thomas 4x8!  But it's only Monday!  Stay tuned! 

VERY MUCH looking forward to seeing all this at York next week!

Hi Clarke and Team Dunham,

I am curious about what you used to create the remote holders. It looks like some type of channel or gutter.

This application has a few variants of the design by those that have public displays. Most keep the remotes attached to the layout and one even limits the throttle rotation. I understand for a private layout that may not be wanted, but the holder foundation seems lie a time saver.

Thanks.

It's even simpler than all that.  The Remote Holders are on sale at Trainworld and many other train stores.  I got these from Trainworld.  I find that, without these holders, controllers are the easiest things to mislay or lose.

C.D.

Delia planted her trees on the mountain. I put in my billboards. Bob and Ray finished the last piece of the fascia (before going on to finishing the base) and Roy painted the fascia. We'll call it FINISHED!!! Done is beautiful, but this is really a charming layout, lots of action, and simply fun to look at.

Now for the SURPRISE. During the couple of weeks we built the LionChief layout we went from the planning stage to the finish stage (well we'll finish tomorrow) on a SECOND 4X8 O gauge layout. And it's wonderful looking, if I must say so myself. I've just come in from the barn and washed my brushes and I haven't made dinner yet, so I'm not up to giving you more than a teaser of a look. You can see both at York. When we get back, I'll do you a thread as I did with LionChief, so you can see it in progress...sort of a backward way of doing it but that's how it is sometimes.There's lots more to share and if I have any energy and time tomorrow, I'll give you a few more teasers. Otherwise, see you in York.

Barb

Barb

I put this photo of the mountain after Delia 'treed' it in the wrong folder. So, better late than never, here it is.

That is some amazing artistry!!! 

Clarke, I have an elevated figure-8 as part of my new layout, and seeing the scenic treatment that Delia did here is very inspirational -- lots of good ideas in this simple layout than can be incorporated into larger layouts.

I'll have a more detailed track diagram at York, so we can chat a bit more about those backdrop possibilities!

David

Here's the Lionel LionChief Layout on its base, finished except for the graphics that go on the fascia. (They're on and they look good, but the crew whisked the layouts out to the truck before I could snap a pic.)

In terms of the second layout that we created in tandem with LionChief, go to Dunham Studios facebook where I've posted a series of photos of it. When we get back, I'll try and post a start-to-finish thread on it as well as show you the finished-finished photo of the LionChief. For those of you heading for York, safe traveling and we'll see you there. We're in the Orange Hall next to Angela Trotta Thomas.

Barb

Wow. That's a lot of action in 4x8 layout. What brand of track is being used?

Breezinup, thanks for your interest.

We use GarGraves track and Ross custom switches  which we have found over the years to be very reliable. If a client requests some other system, of course we'll oblige. If you get a chance to look back over my postings on Dunham Studios facebook, you'll see a holiday layout we made for a client last Christmas using  Fastrack which is what she wanted.

Barb

Clarke & Barb,  absolutely superb craftsmanship !!!!!

Looking forward to seeing the layout in person

Thanks, Alex

Simply stunning craftsmanship!

I'm really impressed with how you made the mountain and am going to try the same method with my next layout.  It seems much less work and mess than the traditional mountain building process.

It's really interesting to see the whole process documented.  Thank-you for sharing.

-Greg

Yes, the layout is very impressive.  Excellent craftsmanship!  Thank you for posting the photos and construction descriptions here!  Have a great York show.

Really cool!! Love the look of the base with the arches.