20x8 Train Layout Build - 24 Feb 21 Update: New Switch Tower, and things are looking Up!

I agree on the green space! Wonderful job on the sidewalk! Are you going to put bikes in the bike shop window?

@mike g. posted:

I agree on the green space! Wonderful job on the sidewalk! Are you going to put bikes in the bike shop window?

Probably not.  I have bikes to put outside the shop, but the windows on these buildings are heavily frosted.   At most I may put a picture of bikes inside as it will be highly obscured anyway.   I'd originally planned to detail the interior of these 5 buildings, but the internal construction is not at all conducive to that - turns out the internal supports intersect most of the windows... it's something I didn't catch until years after I'd bought them already built, after I really (obsessively?) committed to building out interiors.   C'est la vie.

How did you do the sidewalks? They look great!

@BurkusCircus52 posted:

How did you do the sidewalks? They look great!

Thanks!   The sidewalks under the building are part of the building foundation & are made of 1/4" MDF.  The sidewalks between buildings are made out of a wooden yardstick from Lowes - also 1/4" thick.  (I stole the yardstick idea from someone else - that's certainly not my idea).  I scored and painted each piece using the same technique - but found the yardstick pieces much easier to work with than MDF.

The yardstick was cut to size to fill the gaps between buildings, then I filled/sanded the top side to cover where the measurements were printed (and indented!).   I used spackle as it is easy and cheap (at least cheap relative to wood filler).

Once that was done, I measured out and marked curbs and sidewalk gaps on each piece.   These were then scored with a box cutter, and given a light sanding again to remove any debris.  I also rounded the top "front" side of each piece for a nice rounded curb.

I spray painted the sidewalks light gray (though I hear a light khaki is also a popular color amongst sidewalk aficionados).  Once they were dry I used a very thin marker to emphasize any cracks/gaps that didn't come through as well as they should have.   After that, I installed then & dry-brushed them over with an "aged concrete" paint to give variation in the color tone.  (Note: I may also try using a wash of aged concrete paint for a more uniform look on future sections, if I do it pre-install).  The nice thing about doing the aging OVER a lighter/crisper color is that you can easily make sections of sidewalk looks as though they were freshly replaced by just leaving those parts alone.   I experimented with that on a small section of this sidewalk (not shown in photos) & liked the result.

Dustin, thanks for the step by step on the sidewalks! I was wondering how you got the rounded front edge.

I love how you cut down the size of the IHC kits.

The entire layout build is fabulous!

Peter

Dustin,

You are really going to town on your layout, no pun intended. The extra details and interior in the buildings are surely making your layout standout. We all know it's those little details that make a layout so realistic. I like what you did with the flat-iron building. I am working on mines but only added one floor. Never thought to add another. Your pics just motivated me to go back to the work bench with it. Can you share/show how you did your lighting for the building? This is what I need to do to complete mines and I'm at a stump.

Please keep this good work coming our way.

Dave

Following along, everything looks fantastic.

Where did you learn how to do all of these great detailed projects?

That is absolutely fantastic!!!  Thanks for posting.

Dustin, both the pool and sidewalks are terrific ideas and great follow through. Very impressive work.

@luvindemtrains posted:

Dustin,

You are really going to town on your layout, no pun intended. The extra details and interior in the buildings are surely making your layout standout. We all know it's those little details that make a layout so realistic. I like what you did with the flat-iron building. I am working on mines but only added one floor. Never thought to add another. Your pics just motivated me to go back to the work bench with it. Can you share/show how you did your lighting for the building? This is what I need to do to complete mines and I'm at a stump.

Please keep this good work coming our way.

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for the compliment!  I'd actually started building the flatiron when I realized part-way through that I really wanted a fifth floor - so I stopped what I was doing, ordered one from Andre, and worked on other projects while I waited for it to show up.

Unfortunately, I don't have any interior pics of the flatiron building's wiring, but can provide an overview of how I did it.   First, interior lighting is all done with warm white LED strips.  I did one strip above the 5th floor (i.e. attached to the underside of the roof, illuminating below) and one strip between the 2nd and 3rd floor (installed using an extra piece of wood for support, illuminating below).  Here is the brand lighting strips and connectors I use (Hitlights), along with a typical complete "rig" for lighting part of a building:

Note that I just cut the LED connector/extension in half to get TWO connectors that terminate in a wire.  I like to use the connectors (versus soldering it together) because its easy & makes a nice strong mechanical, insulated connection.  The strips themselves are self adhesive, but I also like to Goop them in place at the ends for good measure.

The exterior lights on the flatiron (and most of my buildings) are from a seller in China on ebay (we_honest) - they are fantastic and well priced for what you get.   I run almost everything at 12V on layout, so make it a point to ensure that lights and accessories are 12V compatible (though I do also have 4.5V and 14V strings for non-custom pieces)

The bottom floor is the only one that is super detailed and actually has a "floor" - its made out of foamboard with printed and other details glued in place.  Floors 2-5 of the building have the cardstock vertical walls only, set between the front and back windows (in what looks like a crooked "T" if you're looking in through the roof.  (Vertical walls only, of course, to allow light to pass through to floors below.)   You'll notice that I also strategically located longer window blinds, AC units, and blacked-out windows, and cats in the windows, to strategically hide seams in the walls and wires.  

Hope that helps!

-Dustin

@Santa Fe VA posted:

Following along, everything looks fantastic.

Where did you learn how to do all of these great detailed projects?

 

Short answer is that I've been building things for layouts for almost 10 years... I started with zero (and I mean ZERO) skill at it and gradually refined my techniques.    I still can't hold a candle to a lot of the folks on this forum - but its a stress reliever for me and something to keep me occupied on rainy days.   I've also learned a lot about modelling techniques - and borrowed ideas - from the guys over at AGHR (thanks for letting me experiment on the club layout!), youtube, pinterest, Bob Ross, and (of course) various posts on forums.

___________________________

Peter - Thanks!  ...but I can't take credit for the IHC-cutdown.  I bought those buildings, already built, from a fellow forumite over 5 years ago.   I love how the reduced depth makes the buildings much more practical for a layout.

Dustin,

Thanks for the thorough explanation. Now when I get a moment I will actually study everything that you said, lol.

I also was going to make the same comment Peter did about the IHC cutdowns. I agree with you about the practical side of using yours verses the full size version. That's going to be a really nice scene on your layout.

Dave

As I've been working on the town, I've also been continuing to detail out a Lionel building into a "Pizza Planet".  It's almost done, with just some figures, prints, and final assembly pending:

First, I found some O-scale arcade games on ebay.  They come in 3D printed gray plastic, but turn out great when painted and detailed,   

I also built out the first floor interior for the pizza place, complete with pizza oven in the back!   I make my ground floor interiors out of foamboard and insert them into the base so they can be easily removed and repaired/updated:

Because of the way the building is constructed, it's easiest to mount the interior to the floor below.   Here's the partially complete "arcade level" above the main pizza floor.  There's also a billiards level constructed in a similar manner:

Here's the sign for the roof.  I printed the log on gloss sticker paper, stuck it to styrene, cut it out, and mounted it to modified/painted miller engineering billboard supports.  Note the light strip mounted to the roof to illuminate the sign.  I blacked out the strip (aside from the LEDs of course) so it blends in:

In an earlier reply, I talked about mounting lighting strips inside the buildings.   Here's the one on the roof, where it will illuminate the 3rd floor.   I don't trust the sticky backing that comes on the LED strips, so I supplement it with goop.  In this building, I built each floor separately and will twist all the wires together (once assembled) in the unseen back half of the first floor.

I also have been adding Evan Designs police lights to a police car, for use in the "small town" area.   This was surprisingly straightforward...  The Crown Vic is well suited to this, even if it's a little tricky to get LEDs lined up perfectly and not drill all the way through the roof lights

Here's the police car shell:

Here's the underside with the wires in place:

...and here's a close-up of the interior.   I added some painted details to the interior while I was at it:

...and here it is mid-flash.  Success:

I'll also try uploading a video:

I finished the Pizza Planet last night!

Here are the second and third floor with figures added:

..and here is the building fully assembled and lit:

This is where the building will be situated - just outside of "downtown":

...and, of course, here is the delivery driver out front:

Also working on installing lights in the "small town" buildings & doing pre-wiring of the street lights for the town.   Debating whether to add a couple rocker switches so I can turn off the street lights and/or building lights in that section independent of the whole table (?).  Nothing too exciting there so no pics

The interiors look great!  They make the building seem alive!

@frizzinbee posted:

I finished the Pizza Planet last night!

Here are the second and third floor with figures added:

 

..and here is the building fully assembled and lit:

 

This is where the building will be situated - just outside of "downtown":

 

...and, of course, here is the delivery driver out front:

 

Also working on installing lights in the "small town" buildings & doing pre-wiring of the street lights for the town.   Debating whether to add a couple rocker switches so I can turn off the street lights and/or building lights in that section independent of the whole table (?).  Nothing too exciting there so no pics

Everything you do is just phenomenal and your pace is incredible. 

Impressive work, Dustin. We miss you at AGHR.

The one flaw I see, is the tables are too close together in this age of "social distanceing"

Just kidding it's beautiful!

Thanks, guys!   I've pivoted back to the small town in working details for some of the buildings there:

Most of these details didn't seem update-worthy, but I thought these were cool.   I didn't want to buy o scale surfboards ($$!), so I made my own!   I printed them out on gloss sticker paper, stuck them to thin styrene sheet, cut them out, sanded the edges, and mounted them to a "surfboard rack": 

Here's the completed rack (rack is also made out of styrene, painted):

...and here is the rack being glued in place.  The white strip is just a spacer while the glue dries.   You can also see 2 surfboards inside window:

I also started making some hanging signs using a similar technique:

1) Make signs in powerpoint (both front side and back side for each)

2) print on gloss sticker paper

3) adhere to styrene

4) cut out

From there, though, I used thin square wood dowels to make the "middle" of each sign.  You can see the wood going in here:

Here is the wood "middle layer" in place for each sign.  Note that each wood perimeter has 2 gaps.   These gaps are for mounting the metal rod that will attach to the building. 

I source my metal rods from landscaping flags.  They are cheap, the diameter works pretty well!  The one below is bent to support the "young's" sign as a single piece:

...and the barber shop sign is much more... straight forward:

Here's the "Young's" one installed:

Dutin, Excellent signs and surfboards.  Nice photo tutorial on the signs.

Thanks, Mark!

Working on a few small-ish projects simultaneously for the small town.  First, I'm doing the scenic details around the lighthouse.    I started adding in some grass, bushes, etc, to see how it looks.   Note bad so far, but more work to do:

This bridge needed a way for pedestrians to get across, so I added a 'sidewalk' between the sidewalks:

I'm also experimenting with using joint compound for asphalt roads, since I had some leftover from a bathroom remodel.  I did a little on the end (leading to the garage) and three small parking areas out front of the buildings.  Plan is to lightly sand, strategically crack, and paint when dry:

Here's an aerial view of the small town area, with lots of construction I progress:

and here's where the buildings are parked while I work on details for them.  Lighting is done - working on the window details for a couple of them still:

This stack of "rocks" got their base coat and will eventually be used on the trailer park area and surrounding environs:

...and finally, I also started some ballasting in the town.   A large syringe works really well for a white glue/water mix:

Here's my first attempt at ballasting:

Dustin, Great work on all your projects.  The stream really looks great, and the foot bridge really makes for a great scene!!

I envy you frizzinbee, I love layout projects and I've ran out of them.

Looking forward to seeing more of your cool work and interesting ideas

Frizzinbee, great projects and I love those 3D printed arcade games.  Did an extensive search on ebay sans results.  I found some cool ones by J&C Studios, but they seem to be out of that business.  Can you remember where you got the 3D printed game consoles?  If so, I'd like to find some for a new project.

Also, due to my lack of finding some, I decided to make one of my own...

Jerry

@JerryG posted:

Frizzinbee, great projects and I love those 3D printed arcade games.  Did an extensive search on ebay sans results.  I found some cool ones by J&C Studios, but they seem to be out of that business.  Can you remember where you got the 3D printed game consoles?  If so, I'd like to find some for a new project.

Also, due to my lack of finding some, I decided to make one of my own...

Jerry

Jerry,

Your arcade game looks amazing!   The ones I bought on ebay are actually sold out, and were listed under S scale (though the seller was kind enough to make them for me in O).  I emailed you the link to the original listing.

-Dustin

I've done some more work on the small town - this time painting the roads, adding foliage, and beginning to detail out the rest of it.  Still need to wire-in everything to the accessory power busses (wires are there, just not connected below) and add/work a few more details... so more pics - and night pics to come!

Here's the back side of the town, with foliage added along the tracks and the trees installed.  The blue button (bottom right hand corner of the image) is an arcade game button and will control the water tower:

Here's a look down the street with the street lights installed.

Further down the street...  Still need to detail around the cherry trees.  Trying to decide if I like them there...

Otter family on the move!

Benches by the river

Further along the trail...

Another angle along the main road

Backyard swimming pool:

Along the creek:

Yards behind the houses

Wow!  So many great details!  I like them all!

Great stuff!!!!!

Peter

Thanks again for the compliments, guys!

Ok, for those keeping score at home, I have a 12-story building under construction, need to wire-in the small town structures into the main power harness, and am working on another building for outside downtown.    I'm still slowly progressing on those projects, but have focused recent energy on finally building out the trailer park across the aisle from the small town.  I'll try and step through this chronologically as I go through building out the trailer park area itself, a couple p-ville trailers, and a caboose:

First, I needed a way to hide the base of the trailer park-adjacent water tower so it's not just sitting on the layout surface.   Routing a slot into the base of a foam "rock" worked well.   I will later cover the top if this base with foliage or rocks:

Within the trailer park itself, I have 3 Woodland Scenics trailers, 2 MTH trailers (lightly modified and upgraded), and a caboose (which will serve as the "office").   Here is a test mock-up of how everything would fit:

I have leftover kits for 2x plasticville trailers as well (I used the third one in the kit to make a houseboat, currently elsewhere on the layout).   Since there is room, I am building these (and attempting to super-detail them) as well.  Here you see them being prepped for painting:

Here's the sign for the trailer park.   As with most of my signs, it is gloss sticker paper stuck to styrene and cut out.  Sign is front-lit by a Evan Designs micro LED, base is made of scrap wood and plastic:

The caboose sits a little high in the mock-up, so I routed a slot into the foam for the track to sit lower:

...much better:

The caboose itself is an 80's K-line model, so I am also doing some work on it to make it more detailed and add some realism.  Here, I have disassembled it, clear-coated it, and begun painting detail parts:

Here are the two new trailers after the first round of paint.   One will be teal/cream, the other silver/red:

Inside the caboose, I installed black posterboard to block the light so that interior lighting doesn't give me a "glowing caboose" effect.  Here it is on the roof part way through install:

Teal trailer with stripes added.   I used styrene strips to ensure they are sharp and clean - I can't hand paint this precisely:

Used paint markers to do the tail lights, and printed a license plate (with apologies to Lone Star):

Trailers after round 2 of painting - the roofs are now silver on top:

Here is the trailer park area itself, with the road and parking spots all mapped out:

First step was to create the sand parking pads.   I used white glue and dyed play sand:

I decided to make bases/skirts for the p-ville trailers to up the realism.   Here you can see they are made out of wood dowels:

...and that the trailer bottom fits right into it:

Sand being done, here is the area for the road masked off with tape:

...and with the asphalt applied.   I tried out the "Eric's Trains Triple Whammy" technique of mixing fine black cinders with white glue.   I'm definitely a fan of this approach!

Here it is with tape removed...  hopefully I won't find any cat paw prints in this later, lol:

...and, finally, here is a trailer base on the skit with faux-stone cover added.   Not too shabby!

...more to come!

Dustin, Those are some more nice projects you have going.  The water tower is great, but I agree the base has to go or be covered up.  I never knew people use sand pads for trailer courts.  How about that.

Quick update on the trailer park:  It's done, but (like every other structure on my layout) I haven't connected the trailers to the 12V accessory buss/harness.   Figured I might as well wait to do that until the backdrop buildings are done and wired... plus the buss wires to the right half of the layout we disconnected to add the FX roadway.

Anywho, here are a couple quick pics of the trailer park:

Very imaginative name for the trailer court.  

Quick update, as I have been focusing and capturing most of my road-related progress on the AutomotionFX thread.   I now have a background behind the city (or the city area, as most of the buildings are awaiting reinstallation)!

Here is the mountain backdrop in place, behind a retaining wall at the back of the layout.  I bought a custom background, cut out the sky, and glued the background in place between foam hills in the foreground:

I also detailed along the lower left hand side of the area shown:

...and was able to snap a cool shot of this area under twilight conditions:

Also completed is one of the last few tall buildings for the layout.  This was a pre-made building from a York vendor with curtains, roof detail, water tower, interior lighting, exterior lamp, gutters, vents, and first floor interior added:

That's a nice backdrop for between your two mountains!

Looks great Dustin! I really like the night shot! Keep up the wonderful work!

Your layout looks amazing!!  Enjoying watching your build!  Seeing your children helping is an inspiration to get my young children more involved in my layout build.  I love the level of detail.  Thanks for all the how to's as your working on various elements.  Keep up the great work!

Michael

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, so I'll start with some pictures of the "downtown" area with the roads in place and the buildings lighted:

Ghostbusters in hot pursuit...

Eventually, the Beatles will be crossing the road below.   I have some figures I need to repaint first...

More recently, I've been working to finish up the super-detailing of a 5-story MTH building with the assistance of my 8 yo.   Here's how it came out...

As you can see, we mortared the brick, added LED lighting and curtains inside, added some outside lights, and fully detailed the first floor interior - which is home to P. Sherman, D.D.S and Sunnyside Daycare:

Window AC units on the back:

Made a more detailed roof on the top, plus added smokestacks and an exterior light.   This upward angled strip of LEDs will light a future billboard (content on billboard TBD):

Here is the building in place on the layout:

The very latest project (kind of a mini-project) is building a rooftop water tower for the new 5-story building above.   Unlike my previous attempts at semi-scratch water towers, I'm going to try and make this one more scale and more out of scraps/random parts.   We'll see how it turns out...  but worst case, I am out $0.

Here's an infographic on what I'm using to build it:

..and here's a a real rough look at it assembled, before some trimming and before the roof and other components are painted:

-Dustin