What did you do on your layout today?

Thank you so much Art. I hope to see you up here before the snow flies. It's about 6 hours from your house. I'd be happy to take you around to see all the different train related hot spots, both model and real or at least tell you where they are. It's not quite as exciting as Chicago, but we get by. Also looking forward to seeing your yard remodel. I just spotted your topic. Heading there next.

 

Lee, the chicken wire is specifically for TMCC. It's a "ground plane" to help with the radio signal. The track wiring is hung using small nylon loop hangers that are screwed to the cross members. A zip tie is inserted through the loop and the bus wires are strung through. When all the feeders are tied onto the various buses, the zip tie is pulled tight, resulting in the rather tidy bundle you see in the photo. I learned this method of hanging wires from an electrical engineer. It is much easier and cleaner than drilling holes, and changes really simple.

After an unexpected 3 day stay at the hospital, I got back to working on the layout last night.  All I could think about in the hospital was getting home to work on the layout.  Between last night and this morning, I got 5 more switches wired and installed, installed additional power feeds to each of the 3 loops, and installed 3 LCS Sensor Tracks.

 

Sure looks great. I now deeply regret not drilling holes through vertical supports for a channel for the wiring. It's not that bad except in a couple of spots (of course, one is directly above a book case under the layout) and all I have to do is just bundle them up and tack them to something under the benchwork. But still, the underside of your layout is indeed very tidy!

Well just when I thought I had the right idea another came along which I think is now the final choice. I am glad I did not lay down any cork road bed yet. I changed the station so that the extensions are now on one side. I eliminated one of the two sidings moving the station over. Now I have three tracks into the station which will give me the added option of freight cars for unloading at the station or three sidings for RDC's.And it still leaves me room to put in a row of buildings. Now tomorrow I can lay down cork. Pics of the final idea.................Paul

Yesterday my good friend Randy came over to see my layout.  He brought the new Woodland Scenics lighting kit along so I could check it out.  I must say the kit is really great!!! The LEDs are very nice!   I will have many applications for this kit on my layout that for sure.  

 

Randy also helped with placing a few buildings on the layout.  With his help I was able to finally find a place for Wicked Wandas house of ill-repute, and a switch tower.  He was also helpful with ideas on completing my elevated trolly line.  

 

Tonight when I came home for work I went into the train room and turned on the AC and ran trains for a bit.  I left the AC running hoping for a chance to get back up there again before bed to have a "cool time" running trains with the lights out.

Mitch, You need to name that one.

 

The Ossicone? Or would that be better suited to a double header?

 

 

 

Maybe an A-A?

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I realized my mine is nearing completion. That means I'll likely slow my pace to a crawl as I know myself too well.

 So to beat that idiot to the puch, Ive started on a new scenery module for the elevated lines upper corner.

 

 I have my 175 launch pad & gantry from when I was a kid, and had planed to make room, but forgot, and it misses fitting by a 1/4 inch. I liked my track, so had decided to add a table end leaf, but in the long run, the layout is to big as is in the living room. So, that's why I've decided the upper corner can be a place where I can swap out a vignette as I'd like to.

 So the 175's time has come.

 

 Its still just a bit to large in area, so it will sit on legs 7" above the corner plateau that forms a track tunnel. Each base is a new ceiling.

 

 I traced the mines base, cut a new one and added the dowel detent for positing, took an old dowel section for the raised center on a boat cover, cut it up and added pylon legs to the #175, elevating the whole thing on stilts like an ocean going oil rig.

 Once I figure out exactly how I like its positioning, I'm going to fill the hollowed cave formed on the under side of the #175 base with the breakaway of an underground rocket prep, and/or launch control center of some kind.

It has legs and a plateau base, So tonight I fidget it around 50 different ways 

   

The chicken wire is Elliot's way of keeping the help in the layout room

          BMF Ballast Co.

          666 Rubble Dr.

          Baghdad, Iraq.

Elliot,

 

We regret to inform you that delivery of your ballast will be delayed.

 

 

 

 

 With all the giraffe car talk from Mitch and Marc

I was thinking (ouch) Giraffes don't exactly moo. Its too low pitched.

 

 So they must be MU-ing when Mitch is around.

 

Heck maybe Norma Kitty is just telling him what to run?...MU...MU MU.

 

 

Good one Bruce, but I've got this one in the bag, quite literally.

 

 

There should be enough there to finish the job, close to half a ton. Should we start a pool on how many gallons of Elmer's it will take?

A pool alright...a swimming pool full!  LOL

 

Bruce

10 each 2 gallon containers. 50 50 may be a wee bit thick in your case. How about 25 75 That's my SWAG!!

 

Larry

I have found 50/50 to be way too thick for any usable application but 25/75 is a pretty solid mix with a good shot of dish soap to break surface tension

Hee!  Can you fix the pics, tho?

 

Norma:  "Who, me?  Sweet, innocent little me?"

 

 

After recovering from yesterday's offshore fishing trip, I got home from Virginia Beach and completed the lights on a yacht brokerage building kit, Bluewater Yacht Sales, that we are about finished with. 

 

Details, roof, foundation, interior, etc remain to be completed and we are making several changes from the plan. The tenant is screaming that they want to take possession but the marlin are biting. It's not like they have never been late getting a Viking out.

 

When we complete the structure, we will post again. The structure will have an interesting interior for those who check it out.

 

 

 I used the same lights very nice setup . a little pricy but very easy to use.  this took under an Hour to do

Nothing quite so fancy for me...

 

A chum of mine gave me a Plasticville Cape Cod house kit some months back, and I finally got around to installing it on the layout.  Did a little rearranging of the town area, too, so that not all the churchgoers of Our Lady Of Sudden Deceleration have to cross the tracks to attend services...

 

The Giant Horse, alas, continues to terrorize the town, but SPECTRUM is still on the job!

 

Mitch

 

(who really, REALLY doesn't take scenery very seriously) 

Spending too much time on the forum.  Leaving to mow the yard and then to Berwyn Hobby to get track and supplies for my yard project.  Beautiful day in the neighborhood.

 

Art

The buildings look great with the "Just Plug" LED lighting system. The price of the system makes up for the extra hours of tedious soldering during installation of an equivalent "from scratch" system. However the cost of the Woodland Scenics "Just Plug" system is not cost prohibitive. It is extremely well designed with everything that is needed to easily light structures and other aspects of your scenery. It is available at discount http://www.harrisontrains.com/justplug.htm.

Today no going back. The  last idea I had for the station I penciled it in and today glued down cork roadbed. The glue will dry tonight. Tomorrow I will fill in where the switches will go with scrap cork. Then I can paint the cork and lay down the track..............Paul

I measured out the space along the back wall for the 'flat' that will be a large industry on the layout. Can't use brick flats (my layout takes place way out in the sticks, in mountain country. Nobody's ever made any brick buildings larger than a small house out there, even to this day) and nobody make modular wood structure flats, so I have to make my own.

I already drew out the layout of the flat, along with exact dimensions for the windows and doors (all Grandt Line castings) to go along with a long wood loading ramp I already had. Construction should start this week from individual wood strips...

I ran five more feeder wires to the longest loop of track to even out the trains' speed. Should have done it while building the layout - would have been a lot easier.  Oh well; Tiger Balm for the sacroiliac tonight. 

your right not cost prohibited. very easy setup and in the pictures I have the box in the building to the right and the 3 led wires run to the other buildings all self contained inside the buildings only wires are thru the benchwork and hooked up to track power.

Got module #3 done today. Because of its size and complexity, I'm going to put a longitudinal spar to prevent potential sagging under load. This was the most complicated construct of the modules.

 

What a hectic day! The exterior of the house was being painted, people kept calling me on train business, and all while Patrick was here.

 

Coming off a 3 month absence Patrick started off by filling the backdrop we did on his last visit.

 

After taking Jon's suggestion to use lightweight Spackle to fill the fascia, we decided to try it on the screw holes in the backdrop. We still used Bondo on the seams. There is more dry time on the Spackle.

 

The final frontier, Patrick installs the support posts for the Roseville deck.

 

2x4 henge (sorry it's a bit fuzzy)

 

After these two sheets of plywood are installed, there will only be one sheet left to do. We are talking the end of benchwork, after more than 13 years elapsed time.

 

This looks like the passenger depot in Bizarro World.

 

Here's the latest trouble maker, the tallest car ever made, the MTH premier husky stack. This thing tests the limits of all tunnels and bridges. Each post is about 1/4" short. If that sounds familiar, it was just 2 weeks ago that the Lionel auto rack forced modification in the horizontal dimension. Once again, the fix is simple because we caught it early.

 

Joe and more wiring on the agenda tomorrow.

Elliot, I always enjoy your photos and descriptions on the progress of your mega layout.

Last night glued down the cork. No turning back now. Glad I rearranged the plan again. Sidings will work out better this way. This morning I filled in open spots with pieces of cork where the switches will be. Once those pieces dry I will paint the cork...........Paul

I just performed some maintenance chores: Touchup of painted areas, reforestation of damaged trees, and addition of a little ground cover where it had become bare.

Was very fortunate that Tom at Berwyn Hobby Shop had everything I needed to complete my yard redo.  Now I need to get busy and paint the track and base before we lay the track.  It will make it a lot easier later.  Especially spraying the track outside instead of in the house.  Expecting a sunny 80 degree day with little wind, perfect!

 

Art

Elliott: Bravo to you and your crew. Seeing your progress is exciting and inspiring!

I had great plans for this afternoon of painting the benchwork top under my yard redo project.  And then spray painting the track in the driveway since it's such a beautiful afternoon.  Then my daughter came over for lunch and asked when she was going to get a ride in my Corvette with the top down?  Sometimes it's easier to set priorities and make adjustments than others.  Don't ask me how much painting I got done, but we did see two BNSF freights before we got home.

 

Art

"Flats"? Just the front? Like a 3d backdrop?

Maybe you could a whole building worthy of splitting in two, and using the backside as another industry face, or to double the size of one?

 

Yeah, just the flat. I have maybe an inch of space between the outer edge of the loading dock and the wall. So with a flat mountain backdrop I plane to put all the way around (ground foam on Masonite) so it's gotta be a flat.

For what I'm looking for, the only structures I see that'd work okay for that are laser or craftsman kits and I don't wanna pay over $150 for a kit I could scratchbuild myself in almost the same amount of time.

It's amazing how many kits in O scale for larger commercial structures are for brick buildings. In fact, that's most of them.

A new industry, the Fartzwell's Baked Beans factory, has committed to moving in to be serviced by the Great Northeastern Railway. I spent some time, today, working on another industrial flat backdrop for our yard that will be lighted by the new Woodland Scenics, "Just Plug" LED system. http://www.harrisontrains.com/justplug.htm. I will post photos when it is finished.

Thanks to all of you for your up dates, one of the most enjoyable threads on the forum. Keep the up dates coming, one day I may join you.

I was able to get a coat of flat black paint on the plywood area for my yard redo.  Then I took 6 switches, a half circle of 063, and a half circle of 072, and 12 40" straight track out in the driveway and spray painted them.

 

My son stopped on the way home from work and we got a couple hours of installation done last night.  I'll post pictures later.  A lot to do, but making good progress so far.

 

Art

May I use, on my business Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages...&ref=stale_email), the photos in that you included in this post showing the Just Plug system in use? Your fine photographs illustrate it well.

 

Thank you very much. I always ask permission first.

if you would like. I can snap a pic of  how it is laid out under the buildings