What did you do on your layout today?

Well I cleaned up the wiring, laid out the town expansion, painted the asphalt road extension, built the unplanned, temporary suburbia on the hill. Now that cookie break is over start wiring the town addition.

Six more days till Blissfield Railroad Days, will I make it ?

 

Clem        

Had 18 club members and guests over this evening visiting, running trains, and talking. They even ate all of my home make chili although they didn't drink all of my beer. Charlie will probably start a new thread with pictures. Great time.

Dan

This thread always makes me feel guilty of not doing much on my layout. I have been doing some; like line striping on my highways.

Kerigan & Kobrabob   I can understand how things are.I went tru A loss of a leg, and then a Kidney transplant,and then 3 way bypass all with in 8 months. And now they say I need to have a valve replaced in my heart And I just turned 45 a couple of week ago. So I know how things can be. All I know is that I will build this layout even if it takes me more time then other people to build.It gives me a lot of energy when I am building this.So with the weather getting nicer you will see me out in the breezeway  working on the layout.

I have 90% of the supplys needed to get going on scenery and tunnels and the mountains. All I need to do is finish the track, which is about 85% done, Then the fun part To wire this layout. And You have to remember that I have very little help and its my son and myself living hear.  So I need to get going  I have a layout to build.So I wish you guys the best and hope you recover soon Kobrabob.

Extensive scenery work in the new business district. Installed some roads as well as grass areas. I hope to finish the roads in this area today,  paint and install the curbs, and finish the grass work in the business district.

I'm playing with buildings and where mountain and streets might go; it's a start...

Ran-'em, and smoked-'em.   Now working on my mountain.

Ran some trains and carved out some foam near my harbor, going to lay some more plaster cloth in the next few days.  

In the last two days I made 72 catenary poles. Only took me about four and a half hours total. Really got a production line going. I need a lot more but that will keep me going for awhile. Now I'm working on a Korber Trolley Barn. Added a tile roof with a sway in it. Needed to raise it up a bit to clear the overhead wires and made it into a two stall barn. I still need to weather it and a few other things. Don

I finished the roads in the business district. It was very time consuming work but got this phase done before I stopped for the day.

My wife found some plaster cloth online from a veterinarian about six months ago.  When I say some, it was actually a case containing two boxes.  Weighs a ton ;-).   

 

You might find it for a good price at a local vet since quantity for the vet is probably cheaper for him/her and the savings on a larger order could be shared.   Same product as for people, but costs less since it is for dogs and cats, etc.

I sure wish that was true for all vet products and services!  In the past two months alone, I have spent over $2,000 on medical tests for my special girl; am buying her special food from the vet at $2 a can (only available from vets); and her meds costs about three times more than mine on a monthly basis.

 

I'll have to ask them about plaster cloth when I drop her off tomorrow for even more tests to be done while I'm away at York for a day or two.

I bought it at a med. supply store for my last layout. Very cheap price. Don't use it any more. Don

Sunday I ran trains for some young visitors then started work on my Tranworx stockyard kit. Last night I did a little more assembly work and hope to finish the assembly tonight.  Then comes the paint and weathering.

Good Morning

4 Days to go !! Well the town is done the expansion turned out to be a Gravel road turned out pretty good. Started putting up the skirting around the layout, did a 100' yesterday and doing another 100' today. Still want to get my temporary industrial area done. A lot of little things to do. People, vehicles, lights, shrubs. Today was suppose to be my last day on this project

clem 

Rehung the banquet table runner I use as backdrop this week. Started tearing one side off a piece of corrugated cardboard to experiment using it as lined crops per an idea from Lionel's blog.

I was able to get the railing and walkway finished before the high wind hit.

here are a few photo's to view.

 $oo

 

  these screws have got to go!

 

 

walkway I found this planking in a 24" sheet so easy to break apart

 

 

 

I have to find an easier way to do the railings! 

 

 

what do you folks think? this is my first attempt

at doing anything on my own no kit this is all me

and a few pictures online to get a feel for sizing

the structure.

Don

 

Why do you not us it anymore?  I heard the stuff fromt he med supply stores is very messy.  

Nice job, $oo Line! Mind if I ask where you found the planking? I like the side rails, too.

I finished the curbing project in the new business district and did some work on the expanded waterway. The day was broken up by two doctors appointments so I am pleased with what I accomplished.

Bailey swallowed a wine cork and I paid $1700 for a corkectomy.

billshoff....

 

I found the planking at hobby bench in phoenix,az if you have a hobby shop close by that also sells airplanes and so on they should have the balsa wood and various modeling wood planking this particular one is 3" wide x 24" long  it is scribed every 1/4" so you can snap anywhere you like and trim to size if need be with a straight edge and an e-xacto knife.

 

click on link below what I used is really wood sheathing for a doll house hope this helps or if you have a well stocked hobby shop look for where they have the balsa wood for aircraft and various other modelers.

 

corkectomy!!

imagine all the train supplies you could have!

 

so is bailey a cork connoisseur now LOL.

 

http://www.micromark.com

 

$oo

Last night we put power to the system for the first time since re-wiring and now have voltage on the two main line tracks.

A way to go before power is restored to the yard areas and the turnout control panel.

But at least no shorts, no smoke, no sparks, and no red lights yet!

I have been working on my scratchbuilt Diesel locomotive shop the last couple days im doing roofing today eh

Scott (sp2207), I wish the best of health to you also! Sounds like you have been through alot lately. Good luck on your layout building.

SooLine , That is one REALLY NICE bridge.

Cobrabob.

I have it sealed with a red primer for now until I decide on color for the girder portion torn between black and a dark gray. here are pictures with it in place I need to make 2 new supports with a cutout so bridge will be in same spot then I can cut the tracks so it can be removed.

 

$oo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

used the flash on camera this shot.

 

 

Work on the RR has defiantly slowed down now that winter is finally leaving!  I am not making it to the basement as often, and have a had projects half done for a very long time now.

 

I do need to get started on my sons train table for his birthday, 2 months away.  He will be 3 and I am building him his own train table with wooden track and wood thomas.  The other side of the table will have some O27 track on it so it can be flipped over and he can run his Lionel Thomas set on it.  

 

As of right now I am enjoying the 65 degree weather, mostly sunny.  Out on the back porch grilling some salmon and watching my son play in the yard!

Bil.....approx. 1 month after we adopted my dog from the Humane Society my wife left a bottle of Gorilla glue where she could get it. Not sure how many people know this but Gorilla Glue absorbs water and grows significantly in volume and mass. 2 days later and about $2800 later they removed a glob of Gorilla Glue the size of a baseball from her stomach. Needless to say with the number of surgeries I have had the dog and I share a very special bond (not Gorilla Glue either!).

Jdevleerjr, "Why do you not us it anymore?  I heard the stuff fromt he med supply stores is very messy. ".

It wasn't messy, I just have a much better way. I use Black Wrap for shape. Very little webbing or much of anything under because it's so strong. Then just use paper towels dipped in plaster and lay it on the Black Wrap. Don

What is black wrap material? Where do you get it?

Thanks

I get it from Film Tools http://search.filmtools.com/se...p;go.x=44&go.y=4  

a Hollywood company for TV and movie production. Back Wrap is like a very heavy aluminum foil but flat back. It's used in lighting and to flag off stray light when filming. I used rolls of it before I retired and had a few extra rolls when I started building my last layout. It's very strong but you can cut it easily and shape it like rocks. Just a little webbing of masking tape and it will stay in place. You can staple it to the frame of your layout. Then a little plaster on top and your done. I place rock moulds over it but you can just leave it as it is. It comes in two different widths and is cheap. You can order it from Film Tools. I'm writing a article for OGR about using it for mountains. It's great stuff. Don

I finally got up enough energy to day and ran to the pet store to pick up some supplys  for the dogs and cats. And I noticed that they carried chick Grit, so I picked up a couple of bags today. I also cut some 2" x 4"s for another table that I need to continue  my lay out. to discover that I'm out of the proper size nails . So tomorrow I need to run to Ace Hardwere to buy more nails.

Thanks Don ill check it out eh

Earlier I painted on a kitbash. Its drying. I was just now taking a break right now from my 2 track ceiling/wall shelf layout (rectangle). I have been cutting track pins & block wiring a pre war Z(not zw) to split my loop#1 into four sections-ground level(shared main with loop#2), grade #1, elevated tressels(parallel over top of a ground level branch{loop#2}), and finally grade#2. The KW has been reassigned to lighting, loop#2 on the left throttle(except for short merge with main), and two toggled sidings on the right throttle. Eventually the main will get a relay to switch between the Z and the KW automatically so I can run engines that have big power requirement differences together better. But tonight by Jove, the juice will flow again! Back to work.....

I began the lighting of 11 structures in the new business district and did some more work on the waterway. In terms of the lighting, all I have to do now is to connect the wires under the benchwork to the power source.