Morning guys, I hope you all have a great weekend and fun with your layout!

Thanks you everyone for the nice comments about my progress. I didn't get anything done yesterday as I had to go into the big city, man I hate that drive! LOL

FECRailroaddog, Outstanding job on the Halloween box car!

Bob, You did an Amazing job on the track cleaning car! Maybe in your spare time you should think about building them and selling them with the buyers choice of road name! I really need to get one some day. I will get you a photo of mine but you can't laugh! LOL

RichieC, Thanks I think were on the same page, I have been thinking about putting a light cedar stain on it.

Well its now 3:20am and I should get dressed and head out to the train room to get an early start on whatever it is I am going to do today! LOL

Have a great weekend everyone!

Ok guys, It took me a couple hours but I got some ground cover put down and a couple trees planted. When every thing dries I will att the people!

Richie C, I took your advice and stained the walking bridge, Thats what took most of my time this morning!

And Bob,I didn't forget about you, Remember no laughing! Its just a flat car with a Mr. Clean pad rubber banded to it!

You all have a great day and I will check back in later!

Working on 13’ backdrop for layout extension. JohnA

Hello everyone! It is so nice to be back and to see all of these great projects. For myself, I have not been able to do much work on the layout, but I was able to produce a channel update video.  Also, I went a little crazy at a friend's layout, and here is a video of what we did. Thanks for watching, and happy railroading!

Today, because I can't leave anything alone, I added some lighting to my Miss Molly's Diner. Neither of Miss Molly's signs were illuminated, so using WS Nano LED warm white light and two WS spotlights, I illumined the signs. Here's the process and compare before and after.

I removed the interior of the diner to access the front lobby and connector board.

The diner already has an extra connector for the WS Nano LED.

Drilled a 3/8" hole to feed the Nano LED into the lobby and up the wall.

Drilled a 1/16" hole into the roof to feed the Nano LED into and glued with CA.

Connected the LED to the extra connector, reinstalled the interior, and plugged the hole with some sticky weather stripping.

Placed Molly's back onto the layout and plugged it in to a WS Just Plug Hub. Here's before and after.

@mike g. posted:

Ok guys, It took me a couple hours but I got some ground cover put down and a couple trees planted. When every thing dries I will att the people!

And Bob,I didn't forget about you, Remember no laughing! Its just a flat car with a Mr. Clean pad rubber banded to it!

You all have a great day and I will check back in later!

I started with this Mike. I was planning to build a holder for a pad on this old flat car but a good deal on the Northeast Trains car popped up so I went with it.

As long at it keeps your track clean and the trains running.

WP, outstanding job on the light additions! It really stands out!

Bob, looks kinda where I am now!

Nothing new from me today. I hope you all are having a great weekend!

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Today, because I can't leave anything alone, I added some lighting to my Miss Molly's Diner. Neither of Miss Molly's signs were illuminated, so using WS Nano LED warm white light and two WS spotlights, I illumined the signs. Here's the process and compare before and after.

I removed the interior of the diner to access the front lobby and connector board.

Great improvement  WP.

Now that is what a diner shoould look like in the after dark hours. 👍

I certainly won't laugh, Mike!  That is far better than the track cleaning car I DON'T have. 

@mike g. posted:

Ok guys, It took me a couple hours but I got some ground cover put down and a couple trees planted. When every thing dries I will att the people!

Richie C, I took your advice and stained the walking bridge, Thats what took most of my time this morning!

And Bob,I didn't forget about you, Remember no laughing! Its just a flat car with a Mr. Clean pad rubber banded to it!

You all have a great day and I will check back in later!

Liking the random variation in the grass colors Mike. Looks pretty much like my yard. 

The track cleaning car Mike...........KISS solution is well appre ciated and rapid pad replacement method is great. 😉

WP2217

When you added the extra lights to Molly's  dinner you took a nice model and made it super. Man does that accent lighting do the job. I think that lights on the layout Mahe it come to life and  draws  your eye to that feature. You've got it by the horns. Great.

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Today, because I can't leave anything alone, I added some lighting to my Miss Molly's Diner. Neither of Miss Molly's signs were illuminated, so using WS Nano LED warm white light and two WS spotlights, I illumined the signs. Here's the process and compare before and after.

I removed the interior of the diner to access the front lobby and connector board.

The diner already has an extra connector for the WS Nano LED.

Drilled a 3/8" hole to feed the Nano LED into the lobby and up the wall.

Drilled a 1/16" hole into the roof to feed the Nano LED into and glued with CA.

Connected the LED to the extra connector, reinstalled the interior, and plugged the hole with some sticky weather stripping.

Placed Molly's back onto the layout and plugged it in to a WS Just Plug Hub. Here's before and after.

Very nice! It's the little things you did that pop.

Finally got a chance to get some work done on the rock wall today.

@mike g. posted:

Ok guys, It took me a couple hours but I got some ground cover put down and a couple trees planted. When every thing dries I will att the people!

Richie C, I took your advice and stained the walking bridge, Thats what took most of my time this morning!

And Bob,I didn't forget about you, Remember no laughing! Its just a flat car with a Mr. Clean pad rubber banded to it!

You all have a great day and I will check back in later!

@mike g.

Mike:

You have come a long way on the re-make of your layout. Your scenery is outstanding! Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Morning guys, I hope you all had a great weekend!

jrstengel, Outstanding work on the rock wall! I too would also like to know how you did it!

Randy, Thank you sir! I just try to keep plugging away even if it just a little each day. Some days I get alot done and other days I don't even get to the train room.

I am heading out to the train room this morning to see what I can get done. I might do a little more ballast on tracks that need it, just not sure yet. It all depends on what I feel like when I get out there! LOL

Everyone have a great day and I hope you all find time for your layout, even if its just to run trains! Nothing wrong with that!

Well guys I went out and used up all the rewashed ballast I had and I don't feel like standing out in the rain today washing another batch! LOL

After that I decided to populate the first section of the park and the walking bridge!

I'm done for the day, but will check back in later!

I cleaned up the table, switched the trailer on the corner to a small house I need the trailer in another spot. I made a ramp to access the church parking lot and put in some grass for a future development. I will vacume up the excess tomorrow and add houses and trailers.

@mike g. posted:

Well guys I went out and used up all the rewashed ballast I had and I don't feel like standing out in the rain today washing another batch! LOL

After that I decided to populate the first section of the park and the walking bridge!

I'm done for the day, but will check back in later!

Mike the bridge and grass look great. Your ballasting is also very nice. People and trees definetly help give it the finished look but there's always somthing to add or change.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

I cleaned up the table, switched the trailer on the corner to a small house I need the trailer in another spot. I made a ramp to access the church parking lot and put in some grass for a future development. I will vacume up the excess tomorrow and add houses and trailers.

Hi Dave, really coming along nicely! New house looks great. I wish I had the space that you have. Your large grass areas are nice and blotchy like a real grassy field would be. I really enjoy watching the progress on your layout.

Scott

@mike g. posted:

Well guys I went out and used up all the rewashed ballast I had and I don't feel like standing out in the rain today washing another batch! LOL

After that I decided to populate the first section of the park and the walking bridge!

I'm done for the day, but will check back in later!

Mike, the bridge and wooden walkway looks fantastic! Looking good!

Scott

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Hi Dave, really coming along nicely! New house looks great. I wish I had the space that you have. Your large grass areas are nice and blotchy like a real grassy field would be. I really enjoy watching the progress on your layout.

Scott

Thanks Scott, I like to throw in some different shades to make it look like my lawn LOL.

Dave your future development looks great! I like how your planning ahead!

Scott, thanks for the nice comment!

@mike g. posted:

Dave your future development looks great! I like how your planning ahead!

Scott, thanks for the nice comment!

Thanks Mike, I plan as I work 1 to 3 square feet at a time.

Your more then Welcome Dave, I try to keep going on a project till I run out of supplies, then I wait till the CEO says it's ok to buy more! LOL Untill then I switch projects!

THIS is how a workbench should look! 

(Working on some American Flyer for a client)  ;-)

Mitch

@Dave Ripp. posted:

I cleaned up the table, switched the trailer on the corner to a small house I need the trailer in another spot. I made a ramp to access the church parking lot and put in some grass for a future development. I will vacume up the excess tomorrow and add houses and trailers.

Like that grassy area and the different lookof the drive.

Like those two vehicles a lot Dave. A really nice finish on them.👍

That screw laying near the driver side front fender one missing from one of the locomotives ? 🤔

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

THIS is how a workbench should look!

(Working on some American Flyer for a client)  ;-)

Mitch

I certainly go along with you on that Mitch...........only......,,,,,mine has more pieces on it that don't seem to have any bearing on what I'm working on !!!  😶😁

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Like that grassy area and the different lookof the drive.

Like those two vehicles a lot Dave. A really nice finish on them.👍

That screw laying near the driver side front fender one missing from one of the locomotives ? 🤔

The screw may have came out of the house it has 2 sections screwed together. I use Testors Dullcote Lacquer 1.75 oz clear matte with a brush to weather older vehicles.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

The screw may have came out of the house it has 2 sections screwed together. I use Testors Dullcote Lacquer 1.75 oz clear matte with a brush to weather older vehicles.

WHEW ....😥.......glad to hear that  !!!

I put together a train of cars to put away. My birthday was at the end of August and my wife's was last Wednesday. I have to make room for all of our stuff!

The F-3s were a birthday present of mine....kinda. I bought them back in 2013 at a show in Reno when I was on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They were a bit rough and needed to be rebuilt and painted. After shipping them home my dad rebuilt the motors but we didn't get them repainted right away. Without me knowing (luckily I didn't look for them) my dad sent them off to be repainted. He couldn't wait till Christmas so I got them for my birthday.

I got up early vacumed up excess grass and patched a few spots. Painted the ally and sidewalks, roughly placed the houses and trailers still need more sidewalks, trees, shrubbery, fences, guard rail, parking lines and figures.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

I got up early vacumed up excess grass and patched a few spots. Painted the ally and sidewalks, roughly placed the houses and trailers still need more sidewalks, trees, shrubbery, fences, guard rail, parking lines and figures.

Hi Dave, nice neighborhood, it's really coming together! Speaking of vacuuming, here's a suggestion: Make a scale model tornado to swoop in on those tornado magnet mobile homes! And of course the tornado takes out only the mobile homes and doesn't touch the foundation homes across the street. ;-) Isn't that the way it works?!

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Hi Dave, nice neighborhood, it's really coming together! Speaking of vacuuming, here's a suggestion: Make a scale model tornado to swoop in on those tornado magnet mobile homes! And of course the tornado takes out only the mobile homes and doesn't touch the foundation homes across the street. ;-) Isn't that the way it works?!

LOL, I bought those for my last layout and never found a spot for them. I thouhgt the same thing was going to happen but as I layed out the houses yesterday I added the ally and they fit. I don't care for the big house on the end. It was on the farm in my old layout. I think it'll end up 2 more row houses funds permitting.

Dave, what is the approximate foot print that housing area takes up?

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Dave, what is the approximate foot print that housing area takes up?

2 x 6 Feet.

@Dave Ripp. posted:

I got up early vacumed up excess grass and patched a few spots. Painted the ally and sidewalks, roughly placed the houses and trailers still need more sidewalks, trees, shrubbery, fences, guard rail, parking lines and figures.

Great scene Dave...we can always use additional housing units...nice job on the lawn area...

@Berkshirelover726 posted:

I put together a train of cars to put away. My birthday was at the end of August and my wife's was last Wednesday. I have to make room for all of our stuff!

The F-3s were a birthday present of mine....kinda. I bought them back in 2013 at a show in Reno when I was on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They were a bit rough and needed to be rebuilt and painted. After shipping them home my dad rebuilt the motors but we didn't get them repainted right away. Without me knowing (luckily I didn't look for them) my dad sent them off to be repainted. He couldn't wait till Christmas so I got them for my birthday.

GOOD DAD Cody.  Nice F3s.  Happy belated birthday. 🎂

Finally got my river scene installed and now getting ready to start my scenery on unfinished part of my layout

@Dave Ripp

Please share with me your quick  formula and process to attach an spread your scenic grass

Thanks much  in advance 😊

John d.

FarmerJohn, your work is superb! If you dubbed in the sound of rushing water, it would be completely realistic.