My Lazy L is coming together

Looks like a nice start and I like the track plan.  Be sure you have enough clearance from the inside track to the rock wall by the tunnel.  Smart move with the casters, we have our 6 by 11ft layout on casters and it was a saving grace.  Looking forward to the landscaping.  Nick  

t8afao

Thanks for the reply and heads up.

We have over 2 inches of clearance at the bend in the turn for the rock wall.

We tested with our biggest diesel turner and never cam close to hitting with some temp rocks pinned on the Styrofoam. I am making all the rocks so I will make those in that area a little bit thinner on the curve. Tonite we set up a Mock Presentation with all our scenery we will use. NO City here.. Just a few pieces of freight yard stuff (1) Farm House and (1) Ranch House and of course My Hobo Villiage with all the fixins and the rest is ALL Mountains, Hills and Country Scenery. Trees Hill and Slopes is our plan.

Hey BTW.. You a CDL Driver ?

Thank You John.

Today I am working under the layout making a board for all the wiring to gather.
I am also making a small strong shelf to hold the 2 Z1000 Transformers.

Moving right along..

Glad to hear about the biggest diesel making the curve, Now what I ran into was a large premier auto carrier and Husky stack that ran into our wall.  It seams that the larger cars have a little more overhang then engines.  It was one of those Oh Oh moments when that happened.  Looking forward to seeing the photos of your landscaping.  Yes and no on the CDL.  I have my CDL but I drive a 105 aerial for the City of Lincoln Fire and Rescue.  Keep posting updates, its all ways fun to see a layout developing.  Nick

t8afao,

That's even better. I figured you were operating something.

Here are some more pictures of today's work.

I made the service panel, ran a electric feed to a switch and then to the Power Bar. I ran the rope lights and then finished the back 9 leg with a brace. I also made a Volt Meter, Toggle Switch Face Plate. That will go on an angle in front of the 2 controllers on the drop down shelf. That is what is sandwiched between all those clamps. Drying overnight with Glue Only.

Here are a few pictures.

Nice work, good idea on the rope lights.  You will like the Z1000s, that is what we use to run the 3rd line on our layout.  Nice work on the bench too.

Nice Work!!

I am missing something.  What is the purpose of the rope light?  Is it so you don't have to take a flashlight under the layout when working there, or is it for some kind of load resistance.

The only dumb question is the question not asked.

Mark,

Rope lights were suggested somewhere in one of these forums, so I tried them and they work really nice to light up the underside of the layout.

No flashlights.

I did have to use a small LED when I was wiring the Power Boards, but that is because I could not see anyway without extra light.

Brian,

Thank you.  It is a good idea.  As my eyes get older, I can't have enough light.  Now if I could trade in my tri-focals for zoom lens glasses, I would be able to see everything clearly no matter how close it is. 

Brian,

Its looking good!  I'm looking forward to when mine is that far!  

On a side note... I noticed all that die-cast on your shelves...  Can you guess where the 3 and the 88 came from in my "screen" name? 

Mike

Mike,

I just sent you a personal email.

Thanks for the good words.

I still have tons of work to do.

One day at a time.

Hey Mike that that happened to me too!

Yeah, I had that wallpaper up since 2001-2002. I will only take it down for the right buyer. $5K takes it all...

Cases and all..

Today I only put 2 - 1 1/2 straights in the layout to widen the curve near the mountain ledge. Oh I also put one screw in a track to hold it in place. I am definetly off the pace.

Hi John,

Yeah, I read it here somewhere that somebody else did that. I had 2 new sets here so I used them up. Its like a sky lit evening under the layout. My wife told me to take a nap under there the other day. The only place I needed a bit more light was right at the Power Central board I installed. One LED lite was great.

It works for me.

Today I am starting to mess with the big mountain in the far back corner.

Later !!

Fantastic progress Brian.  Looking very nice, can tell you're a handy guy and tooled for the next part of this project.  Looking forward to the tunnels.

Your explanations of a sky lit evening paints a good picture of the lighting.  Are they LED  rope lights?  We installed warm white, and another row of Red which allows me to control the mood of the room.  Your comment about the sky lit evening is making me want to try a roll of blue.  On our layout a 50' length (or a combined 30' and 20') fit the perimeter nicely, we nailed a 1x10 around the perimeter of the layout which creates an indirect view.  Under layout lighting am I crazy?  Maybe I'll try blue too, it could only heighten the glow, nonetheless, it's switchable so red/white/blue in various combinations could look cool.

litegide24

I have a ? for ya..

actually 2

Why did you paint your pop-outs Black under the layout ?

I am having a "curling issue" with 2 corners of my pop-out in 2 corners.

I used OSB and Homosote Glued to the OSB.
I am thinking of gluing a few firing strips to the bottom of the OSB or taking the whole thing out and making the Pop-out with some other material. Our plan is to put a farm on top of the pop out so it will be light and nothing will fall off when I lift it off the table for working on the layout in those hard corners.

I was thinking of maybe making the pop out with Styrofoam or something else.

Suggestions Please.

Brian, those are not pop outs they're caves    On our layout we have mountains and what you're seeing is the inner access openings.  These large large black openings allow for kids (even big ones) to stand up inside our mountain range and view the trains on both levels enter and exit.  I made plaster rock facade or blinds to keep out the daylight so it's it's pretty dark inside, the area has more or an undercoat like black finish to the entire inside of the mountains.  The inner mountains have always been a big highlight to our layout.  It's kinda neat because it's dark in there and seeing the lighted trains pass looks cool.

I don't know of a particular solution for the curling corners.  I imagine that the new plywood glued to the homosote with no surrounding support or screws may have exhibited some shrinkage.  I understand the "no screws through the homosote (into the plywood)".  Although, may not be such an issue with sound transfer on smaller area like your pop out.  At this point I might try to reconstruct the plywood and homosote and fasten the homosote and plywood with glue and screws.  You could leave the screws for as long as possible but eventually remove them and by that time hopefully the shrinkage isn't an issue.  Another thought would be to put some type of finish edge around the homosote and OSB, maybe hot glue a drywall finished corner or plastic channel... This may help the homosote keep its composure with any repetitive handling of the pop out.

Caves, That's pretty cool. Sought of like a ride in Disney..

Anyway, The Homosote is Glued and Screwed to the OSB in that area. The both of them are fast and like one. Just 2 corners sought of curled up just enough to notice it when the pop out is in place.. My wife says we can just put some Rocks or a Lil something on the board so when the pop out is in place you wont notice it. I am going to glue and screw a few furring strips under it tomorrow and put some real heavy weights on the corners to push them back down while the whole thing is drying and see what happens. Im gonna push one way and pull the other to re-stretch the wood..Maybe..Keep ya posted.

Brian, how's the tunnel progress?

It's starting to look good.

Tunnel is almost done.
Rock Ledge is almost done.

Mountain is next and then I will connect the rock ledge to the bottom of the mountain.

I have been messing with the electric stuff for the past 2 week.

These **** Relays are killing me. I am so Un-Educated with the Lingo and I just can not grasp how to hook these things up to turn lights off and on.

That's another story.

Pictures to follow of rock ledge.