John T. posted:As of today, the mural for the layout is DONE! I had applied the last item to the painting: a hot air balloon with an OCSMR banner flying in the wind.
Below is a video clip of the entire mural from beginning to end.
John, I hope you don't mind me saying, but I see your art skills sharpening as the mural progresses. Great job.
Mark Boyce posted:Ah, superb, John! You did an excellent job blending in those columns so they won’t be noticed! The whole project is excellent!!
Thank you very much, Mark. It was a big project, but it was well worth it. Now, I just have to put the cherry on top (aka the military tower top) and it's done.
Thank you for watching.
Pingman posted:John, wonderful craftsmanship on those excellent modifications.
Suggestion: Perhaps you can ask the Moderator to edit the thread's title to include the date of an update; this alerts folks like me who find it easier to click a serial thread when we know there is new info or photos. I suggest the moderator only because you are not the thread's starter and only that person can, as far as I know, edit a thread's title.
Again, thanks for the photographic update and explanation.
Thanks and you're welcome, Pingman.
And, needless to say, the Moderator has spoken.
PSU1980 posted:Awesome job John.
Thank you, buddy!
Will posted:John T. posted:As of today, the mural for the layout is DONE! I had applied the last item to the painting: a hot air balloon with an OCSMR banner flying in the wind.
Below is a video clip of the entire mural from beginning to end.
John, I hope you don't mind me saying, but I see your art skills sharpening as the mural progresses. Great job.
Thank you kindly, Will. I appreciate your observation.
Hi Guys,
The military base now has the final touch.
The top to the lookout tower is now installed over the electric outlet above the base. This box can be removed and put back easily in case any O Scale crew member needs to access the outlet for plugging in appliances or resetting the AC.
Also, as an extra update, I have added to my last post regarding the other 3 touch-ups with photos of what they were before.
Anyway, thanks for watching!
Scenery work continued. Greenery appeared in the area near the transformers. Ted had the easy job of climbing on the layout. Additional details were added in other areas too.
Started cutting and fitting plywood to build up the road surface to the level of the EZ-Streets in the northwest corner of the layout. Scenery on the inside area of the tracks will be mostly streets and pavement since it's an "urban" area.
I added a bunch of ducks lined up like they usually float in the water, put a fisherman on tne inside of the bridge dropping his fishing line into water and added 2 more boats to the water below the Atlas double line bridge. The bridge is in the background behind where I was scenicking. More pictures to follow.
The lift up hatch in the center of our American Flyer area to be attached real soon with scenery work to take place on the southern end of the layout. Bud is currently working on the elevated area on the south end and wiring of those accessories will be done soon.
Ted, Excellent job!. It sounds like you added a lot of very interesting details. My knees ache just looking at the photographs. Of course, I just had one replaced before Thanksgiving.
The city street area is taking shape nicely!
Bud, I'll look forward to seeing the area you are working on!!
Ducks in a row swimming under the bridge in our man-made lake.
Man fishing off the bridge.
More photos will be coming as we worked some more on the layout today.
Isn't that ducky! Bad joke, I know.
The water scene looks great with all the activity.
Ted and Jim added some buildings to the once barren area by the transformers.
Added trim to the edge of the elevated area on the northwest of the layout.
The Jersey Central getting ready for Valentine's day.
Everything looks great!
Well done!
Peter
If you look closely, you will see the fisherman in the front of the Atlas bridge in the 2nd or 3rd picture that Bud posted recently. It may not be a fisherman but... "could it be Bud himself jumping off the bridge cause he cut a piece of wood incorrectly after 20 attempts"? Lol!
Moving along as the lift up hatch in the center of the S gauge loop was installed. We will be moving scenery operations to the south end of the layout and we will be constructing the corner pop up in the far left corner and placing the Menards power and light building there.
Oh no!! There is someone on the bridge!! Bud!! Don't do it!!
SPLASH......glub….glub...glu……..OoOoOo
Some pix from our Open House on Saturday.
Pix from Sunday.
Looks like you had a nice number in attendance; adults and children of all ages! Thank you for posting!
A shot similar to a wider angle shot of the coaling station area that appears on our Facebook page taken bytour HO superintendent Chris. That shot prompted Steve Ross to contact us to let us know that a piece of center rail was missing from one of our Ross switches. Anyway...
Don't let your cars sit out in the rain. They shrink to HO size.
The hatch on the upper level.
Tom framed out the access hatch for the southwest corner. No pix cause of obstructed view. The power station will be located in that area.
Ted soldering extension wires to power the EZ Streets roadway after receiving instructions on "How to Solder Two Wires Together in One Thousand Words or Less."
The EZ Streets controller located and installed.
Taking EZ Streets car for a test drive.
Applied first coat of paint (needs at least 2 coats) to the plywood used to widen the roadway next to the EZ Streets. The unpainted area will have a second layer of plywood added and painted for sidewalk.
Bud instructed me how to solder 2 wires together in his 1000 words or less manual( really is 999 words, the scaled-down version). 3 wires, then you need to get the expanded Bud encyclopedia book!
The triangular pop up in the corner was built yesterday by our in house carpenter, Tom. Then Doug and I cut the double wide green foam and glued that onto thin wood board. Letting the glue dry and will pop it in and place the Menards power/ light building there in the corner.
Good job following instructions! The EZ streets and power house will look great!
Ted installed the access cover for the southwest corner of the layout and placed the power station for a trial fit.
A trial fit for the road extension on the northwest corner before gluing down.
Waitin' for the glue to set.
It's all looking great!
Scenery work to start up again this week in the area where the Power/Light building is located, then moving towards the S gauge area and to the front. Still have wiring of those buildings there to do.
Then, finally running power feeds to all the terminal strips under the layout from the transformers we have set up on a cart below the layout. I've tested each building lights so tnry do work.
More work done today. Wired up the Kline billboard, need to find a person that goes up and down, wired the Lionel kiddie swings and the Kline smoking caboose with the campfire.
Take note of the prehistoric dinosaurs surrounding the kids on the swings. Guess they want to use the swings.
Menards power light building was installed on the rear pop up with scenery and a few trees. Need to add transformer plug for the Led lighting in it.
Also added a ballfield directly on top of the hinged pop down which is in the middle of the S gauge loop. The wooden stand, 2 dugouts and the 2 refreshment stands have been liquid-nailed to the surface so when the pop down is opened downward, nothing will fall off. Still have to add the actual ballfield with players.
Moving along till next time...
Well folks, it's going to be a few months until you see any new work done of our layout. With the club closing due to the pandemic, we are waiting for the town to have a professional cleaning company come in to sanitize the entire building.
Only project on the board is a showcase being built by a member to house the American Flyer collection that is on loan to us from the Ocean County Historical Museum. The collection was donated to them by the widow of John Bartlett who passed away a few years ago and was the lead Ocean County Freeholder. They wanted it fully displayed someplace and contacted me. We can use it if we choose to do so. The collection will be on display at our club and will show whose collection this was. A very nice American Flyer collection.
That's all for now...
The final running of trains on our layout last Friday after we got the word that the Museum would be closed was Tom's train which was left out in the rain too long.
Hello folks,
It has been almost 2 months since we closed temporarily and one of my club members built this wooden showcase with 3 glass shelves so we can store and show off the American Flyer collection we received. If you read my previous post, it tells you all about this nice collection. We delivered it today and we really wanted to fire up the layout but we are not allowed to stay there for a length of time. Getting antsy to get back there to work on the layout and do some additional scenery and wiring.
Since there are no train shows happening and our club is closed, I loaded about 15 old and new YouTube videos of our club from about 10 years ago to one or two from our present location.
Check them out on our website. I created a separate page/tab for these videos.
Nothing else to report on the club.
The cabinet housing our power supplies and storage for command had to be removed due to water damage and mold due to a leak in the basement from recent torrential rains. Replaced with two carts.
The cart with the transformer will serve as power for all the lighting and accessories we have wired and will have when wired. Need to paint that cart a brown color.
There is room for a second S-Gauge loop.
Any idea when you folks will be able to open back up?
We are still waiting for the town to reopen the various public buildings.
Just want to let everyone know that our club still exists and patiently waiting for the township to reopen the public buildings and our building is in the rural area of Lakewood away from the mini-city it has become.
2020 has been a rough year for us besides having to shut down on March 19th, we lost 4 club members who passed away as well. We look forward to getting back there to continue our work on the HO and O gauge layouts with the hope we can reopen and meet as a club in April 2021. I really miss the camaderie that our club has with the 40 members we have.
For now, everyone who has followed our progress over the years since we moved 6 years ago, thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Ted Bertiger
Ted, It sure is frustrating that you can't even access the building just to work on the layouts. I am certainly sorry four members have passed on this year. My condolences to the families and club. I'll be here watching for any updates.
Thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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