The "Encourage Others Challenge": Post a picture of your layout...how many will post???

Ok, I'm back... after another OS died. 

This is 20"x 29" mini I needed to finish,and came close in only two nights(4 total?). Its, bent with a homade bender. The caboose is the closest thing to a high dollar item; all junk stock & garbage. Id say about $35 total investment....more or less, including the coverless 1044 with a volume knob on the throttle, excluding tools . The track was laid on an old light table for drafting/graphics. Its light box is now a "pit mine" or construction site, or the pit cover is able to be flipped to a meadow, or a tunnel.....(see attachments below) I'll finish the pit later, everything stores in the pit too.   Suzukovich, to answer from 9/7(ish)

No, not mine. Futuropolis was a San Diego(or San Francisco?) Fairplex display by a G SCALE modeler & mini sculpture guy Cris Walace(spelling?) He was a big influence on my War Bonnet rocket. Before that, the head end was a harlequin painted dockside , run cab forward, with my eye out for a Lionel Phantom. Thats just a taste of the guys work.

Did some tree work recently...

Adriatic posted:

Ok, I'm back... after another OS died. 

This is 20"x 29" mini I needed to finish,and came close in only two nights(4 total?). Its, bent with a homade bender. The caboose is the closest thing to a high dollar item; all junk stock & garbage. Id say about $35 total investment....more or less, including the coverless 1044 with a volume knob on the throttle, excluding tools . The track was laid on an old light table for drafting/graphics. Its light box is now a "pit mine" or construction site, or the pit cover is able to be flipped to a meadow, or a tunnel.....(see attachments below) I'll finish the pit later, everything stores in the pit too.   Suzukovich, to answer from 9/7(ish)

No, not mine. Futuropolis was a San Diego(or San Francisco?) Fairplex display by a G SCALE modeler & mini sculpture guy Cris Walace(spelling?) He was a big influence on my War Bonnet rocket. Before that, the head end was a harlequin painted dockside , run cab forward, with my eye out for a Lionel Phantom. Thats just a taste of the guys work.

Adriatic,

Glad you are back!  I just had to replace my ancient PC and can't believe the difference!!

Very innovative use of what you had on hand!!

good morning Gents..

I have been trying my hand at backdrops.. 1st, had to make the buildings and then well, set the back drop on the masonite.. then the building.. I think it came out well. 

Dan

p51 posted:

Did some tree work recently...

Beautiful - all of it, as exemplified by this shot. You sure know what you are doing. Obviously, you have high powers of observation and much enjoy the world around you.

You make us thirsty for more!

FrankM

WP posted:

Previously, I posted some photos of the logging area on my layout.  Here are a couple of pictures of the small station stop on the layout. This section is still a work in progress.

I especially like and appreciate your road surface, visible here. It really does look and "feels"  like old, worn, narrow asphalt, rural roadways I've seen and walked along.

FrankM.

Adriatic posted:

Ok, I'm back... after another OS died. 

This is 20"x 29" mini I needed to finish,and came close in only two nights(4 total?). Its, bent with a homade bender. The caboose is the closest thing to a high dollar item; all junk stock & garbage. Id say about $35 total investment....more or less, including the coverless 1044 with a volume knob on the throttle, excluding tools . The track was laid on an old light table for drafting/graphics. Its light box is now a "pit mine" or construction site, or the pit cover is able to be flipped to a meadow, or a tunnel.....(see attachments below) I'll finish the pit later, everything stores in the pit too.   Suzukovich, to answer from 9/7(ish)

No, not mine. Futuropolis was a San Diego(or San Francisco?) Fairplex display by a G SCALE modeler & mini sculpture guy Cris Walace(spelling?) He was a big influence on my War Bonnet rocket. Before that, the head end was a harlequin painted dockside , run cab forward, with my eye out for a Lionel Phantom. Thats just a taste of the guys work.

This wins the prize for compact - economical - expedient construction!  

Like them water towers. And it has room to add more stuff. Great starter layout for a kid on a budget.

Moonson posted:

WP posted:

Previously, I posted some photos of the logging area on my layout.  Here are a couple of pictures of the small station stop on the layout. This section is still a work in progress.

I especially like and appreciate your road surface, visible here. It really does look and "feels"  like old, worn, narrow asphalt, rural roadways I've seen and walked along.

FrankM.

Thank you Frank!

And thanks to everyone for the "likes." This gives us encouragement. And I get lots of ideas and enjoyment from seeing all the work and ideas that everyone shares here. 

Bridgeboss Jim posted:

leavingtracks posted:

Keep em coming guys!  You all are making this a thread to remember!  Here are a couple of shots of the train shed as it was being built...first picture was taken in June of 2009 and the second shot was in November of that same year...

Alan

Allan.

Wow I did not realize it was long ago, and you added the 4th unit when?

Show us the present view.

 

jim r

Thanks Jim....actually I don't remember exactly when I added the 4th section....I think it was a few months later.  I will take a look at my pictures to see when it was...

Alan

Ace, you get some infuence credit on "thinking small". More commin

Hmm I have to learn another way to embed video from photobucket. But this link below might get you there. I'll shuffle more of this into the album link soon. Here's some anyhow. 

The dials are a timer from a toaster oven on the left and the right one is "sunlight" or "moonlight" if dimmed. Just, a small microwave oven bulb shining down from behind the screen masking at 1 o'clock. The tunnel is open backed for railing stock and the mahogany cabinet is on its original casters, so moves smooth, as this was a high end piece from the early days of TV. An Admiral.

 I made a video to show a pal my "Small Upsetter" (a Clutch song title he knows well. ) So to see it work. Edit : new link

http://s1322.photobucket.com/u...y/layouts/Television

Adriatic, wow, Nostslgic! I wonder if this is in your home? The old TV, with the Real neat Scene.....either way, the Older Trains are so Cool.  Thanks for posting..

Rixter, the Conrail crossing the Bridge over troubled Water?? Just kidding, is so beautiful. Neat Scene...Your Snow Village is a wonderful way to inhabit your Village People....Artisticly Wonderful to view...Thank you....

Larry, The stuff posted here is in my home. Some things are from my childhood. The stuff not mine I would mention as such mostly, and that Futuropolis above was in a photo bucket album for reference sake and because the site was offline, possibly hacked, I used a simple backdoor menue trick to retrieve some in case it wasn't recovered (it was, after weeks....but I'm not 100% on saftey there). I didn't reference the site for various reasons of good intent. I did scan the photos for issues too.

Two layouts to go, a bit larger, but nothing as grand as you posted Larry  

Not mine, but here: There is an abandoned 18x30 foot benchwork in the basement that may live again one day, but stairs and bigger power tools ,other than a small drill and short bursts with a jigsaw, havent been my buddies for a few years. I cant chuck a bit tight somedays and need to be creative there too. My hobby tests my injury limits. This is bar is changing some. In an encouraging direction  

Adriatic posted: 

 I made a video to show a pal my "Small Upsetter" (a Clutch song title he knows well. ) So to see it work. Edit : new link

http://s1322.photobucket.com/u...y/layouts/Television

Man, that is a tight curve. You must bend your own. What is that, about 16" diameter ?

I tried a circle with 7 regular O27 curves, only slightly kinked. Worked out to about "O24". This train ran OK without modification. That's O31 on the outside for comparison.

I think it could be interesting to make a long narrow layout with very tight end curves completely hidden, and observers would be surprised that the train turns back in such a narrow width.

My Contribution.

Ore loading wharf.

Roo.

Ace the oval is a 20" outside diameter and tv loop is 17". They were both bent on a simple homemade bender of wood, washers, screws, and flat L brackets. I semi-copied it from someone else's in a post here. S

 Stock able to run these tight curves is limited without shaving steps here and there; coupler swing. Though surprisingly some longer stock like a General set and passenger cars will work on 20".

The 4 driver frames pretty much circle the short rounds like Indy. (I guess I was Jones-ing for a pun, lol) My Adriatic and K4 can handle the 20", but the Sante fe and standard PW Hudson's can't. Only the little slope back tenders work well; steps.

I watch this TV more than the modern one  

Tat2d1 posted:

Love it especially the motorcycles Moonson.   Where did you get the motorcycles if I may ask?   

Thanks, Tat2d1, I much appreciate the approval.

The variety of motorcycles are from:

Walker's Hardware Store [973-942-2694];

Roy Baker's Railroad Shop [845-887-4596] (Roy will be at his usual line of tables this October's TCA Meet at York, PA, along the main transverse aisle, approx. across from Scenic Express.)

FrankM.

P.S. The middle photo, with the very yellow truck, includes a motorcycle with a sidecar and figures, an ensemble also available from Roy (exclusively, I believe,) as are the leather-attired figures at the other motorcycles.

paul 2 posted:

Moonson, you did a fantastic transformation of that area. The eye you have for planning out and executing it with the smallest detail is next to none. Job well done..........................Paul

Thank you, Paul, for taking the time, once again, to post your enthusiastic approval (of my "whittlin'", as my wife and I refer to my layout modeling). Every word you wrote was taken to heart and appreciated very much.

suzukovich posted:

Moonson posted:

This is a section of my layout that I completely (see the stripped-down shot) re-crafted, a...

FrankM, a mill-town boy.

Frank as usual great work. Your ability to tell a story or bring back memories is always amazing.  This is a great scene on its own. All you need is crane with a wrecking ball, dump trucks, a loader, piles of debris, and this could be any place.   

  

This easily could be South Chicago or any of the neighborhood that bordered US Steel. (My dads father worked at US Steel's South Chicago Works) 

Oh, don't tempt me !

And Thank You for telling me the old neighborhood (now my new neighborhood) reminds you well of such areas in Chicago. That's very nice to learn. It's funny how many, many details of life, witnessed as we are young and growing-up, get absorbed, only to be revealed much later in life when we are creative. I appreciate your thoughts and taking the time to converse.

FrankM

Roman posted:

Very nice Moonson, incredible detail. Wish I had half that talent!

Thank you, very much , Roman. You do, I'll bet, and it will all come out when you  get yourself elbow-deep in glues, paints, weathering dusts, kits, etc. which is how the layout happened to me. Being an English teacher, I had no idea I could create scenery on a model train layout. However, once I started to build the platforms themselves and decided where to configure "mountains" and towns, the urge and the need to make a nice layout manifested itself; also, the many fine products, such as those available from Scenic Express and Dennis Brennan's Model Railroading products, gave me even further impetus to learn and work at it, after school, something I much looked forward to every day, along the way, starting in 1995.

FrankM.

Gents,

Here is the next building.. more as a back drop building.. it is a large Soda Factory.. a place to have sugar tank cars and reefers come and go.  

Take care, Dan

Pat Kn posted:

Great job Frank. You really know how to make a realistic urban scene. I love the detail. 

Thank you, Pat Kn, the very kind comments you often make are truly appreciated. I'm glad you find my work realistic because I have tried to learn along the way from the example of such masters as Norm C and others I have seen in the magazines and on this forum. Yet, every craftsman has his own particular touch and style, which I feel cannot be duplicated, only used as inspiration and guide. So, I examine and learn, absorb the details of the world around me, and then let the imagination and creativity fly (!)

FrankM.

My sincere Thank You, also, for all the "Likes" about my "This is a section..." from:

pennytrains; J Daddy; Jameszz; leavingtracks; brwebster; Laidoffsick; texastrain; Fridge56Vet; Mark Boyce; BAR GP7#63; SouthernMike; WP; chessie1971; Joe B; Country Joe; Pat Kn; trumptrain;leapinlarry; Steamer; c.sam; suzukovich; paul\matt; paul2; p51; atlayank; Joe celeb; wmtrainnut09; Putnam Division; Hartman: gnnpnut; pennsynut; tplee.

FrankM.

After looking at all of these beautiful, well detailed layouts I'm almost embarrassed to post mine but what the heck.

The first pictures are of my 8x20 O gauge layout.

Nothing to be embarrassed about OKhiker....that's one nice layout you have...

Joeceleb posted:

Nothing to be embarrassed about OKhiker....that's one nice layout you have...

 

Thanks a lot Joeceleb.  I have a couple of more I'll throw in here of my 6x12 Christmas layout, my tiny 4x4 all tinplate layout and last but not least my 4x8 American Flyer layout.  If I had more room I'd have a permanent Standard gauge layout but then divorce proceedings would be in the offing.

Here's my 027 and HO car race track layout. It's 12' X 5.5' with a 36" x 30" extension for the corkscrew.

The upper level is 042 curves with 027 curves on the bottom and trolley line.

The whole unit is on castors so I can pull it out and work on the back side and get in the cabinets.

The race track is Auto World. We get a lot of enjoyment from this layout.      Azgary

Great layouts, neat scenics, interesting views, all inspiring.

Moonson: I like the Elish building. Where did find it, please.

pennsynut posted:...

Moonson: I like the Elish building. Where did find it, please.

Totally unavailable. Crafted together from a wide variety of parts from a wide variety of sources, not to be repeated again.  Glad you like it.

frankM

Moonson posted:

My sincere Thank You, also, for all the "Likes" about my "This is a section..." from:

pennytrains; J Daddy; Jameszz; leavingtracks; brwebster; Laidoffsick; texastrain; Fridge56Vet; Mark Boyce; BAR GP7#63; SouthernMike; WP; chessie1971; Joe B; Country Joe; Pat Kn; trumptrain;leapinlarry; Steamer; c.sam; suzukovich; paul\matt; paul2; p51; atlayank; Joe celeb; wmtrainnut09; Putnam Division; Hartman.

FrankM.

You earned them, Frank!

AZGARY posted:

Here's my 027 and HO car race track layout. It's 12' X 5.5' with a 36" x 30" extension for the corkscrew.

The upper level is 042 curves with 027 curves on the bottom and trolley line.

The whole unit is on castors so I can pull it out and work on the back side and get in the cabinets.

The race track is Auto World. We get a lot of enjoyment from this layout.      Azgary

Nice to see some one else has intergraded slot cars into their layout. I do remember you posted you layout awhile back in a different thread. Don't know if you saw this. Its buried some where in page 7. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JigBb2plmZ4

Adriatic posted:

Hmm I have to learn another way to embed video from photobucket. But this link below might get you there. I'll shuffle more of this into the album link soon. Here's some anyhow. 

The dials are a timer from a toaster oven on the left and the right one is "sunlight" or "moonlight" if dimmed. Just, a small microwave oven bulb shining down from behind the screen masking at 1 o'clock. The tunnel is open backed for railing stock and the mahogany cabinet is on its original casters, so moves smooth, as this was a high end piece from the early days of TV. An Admiral.

 I made a video to show a pal my "Small Upsetter" (a Clutch song title he knows well. ) So to see it work. Edit : new link

http://s1322.photobucket.com/u...y/layouts/Television

Suzukovich, to answer from 9/7(ish)

No, not mine. Futuropolis was a San Diego(or San Francisco?) Fairplex display by a G SCALE modeler & mini sculpture guy Cris Walace(spelling?) He was a big influence on my War Bonnet rocket.    

Well I can definitely see the influence.  The TV, now that's so cool.   My wife would kill me if I had that in the house but so what. That is some great work.

Here's my sawmill.

Guy

Guy.

The detail inside and outside the sawmill is great!  

Mark Boyce posted:

Guy.

The detail inside and outside the sawmill is great!  

Its one of the most interesting and memerable sawmill ends of the industry I've seen.

I love the sawmill 

Thanks for all the like's here's more around the sawmill .

Guy

Like others, I started a total rebuild of my layout two years ago.  I wanted to go to a new theme which included changing from an around the wall layout with loops at either end of the entrance to one that totally circled the room.

But my wife said "no layout is going to have me duck under it to get in".  But in our last York trip, at the Manne booth, they were demonstrating their new lift mechanism.  That made the concept work!  It was ordered and now it seems to be more of a highlight to visitors than the layout itself!

PeterA posted:

Like others, I started a total rebuild of my layout two years ago.  I wanted to go to a new theme which included changing from an around the wall layout with loops at either end of the entrance to one that totally circled the room.

 

  

 

 Wow ! Awesome layout and lift out. Well done. Do you have a track plan, & your layout looks quite large.