What did you do on your layout today?

SCRATCH-BUILD 28" TURNTABLE: PRELIMINARY PREPARATIONS

The Glacier Line update: I'm getting braver and braver in my old age. Last night I disassembled, greased and repaired my Atlas Turntable. Prior, I scratch-built a very small turntable to rotate the Lionel snowplow.

I received many compliments on this very small turntable. I didn't do the greatest job because it was made for one purpose and one engine. The whole project cost about $25. Yes! Really. You can see this very small turntable in the OGR magazine Aug/Sept 2016 article and in the upcoming video; OGR #13.

I assisted my carpenter on some of the finishing touches to my New Train Room.

Added a lot of trees today. Still need to do the poly foam covered balls for the opposite back corner so I can place vertical trees in that section.

I actually did some work on this elevator, cementing some trim on the tower, first time in a month.  Major bash on these San Juan tank car trucks, Weaver's, and their couplers., to make fit and work.

P51, your scenery is really looking good. I'm enjoying each post. Looks so real..............Paul

I had some time today so I finished up a project that I had started back in the spring. I had lionel passenger cars and I wanted to change them from pennsylvania to New Haven, add led  lighting and change the silhouettes in the windows. The following pics are what the end result is.

The RS-3  was originally a Lehigh Valley. My camera didn't take that great of pics  the window pics aren't blurry on the cars

60 or so of Connecticut's finest 10 inch sections of track being marked, painted, and trimmed, into modular layout bridge tracks.

Steve

Lee, you layout is so real it would be nice to be a little person and take a ride around it!

Steve, looks like a lot of work, but I bet it will payoff in the end. The tracks look like they are going to turn out great looking.

old_toymaker posted:

I had some time today so I finished up a project that I had started back in the spring. I had lionel passenger cars and I wanted to change them from pennsylvania to New Haven, add led  lighting and change the silhouettes in the windows. The following pics are what the end result is.

The RS-3  was originally a Lehigh Valley. My camera didn't take that great of pics  the window pics aren't blurry on the cars

That is fine work you did converting the passenger coaches to New Haven livery. Are the window pictures from Williams coaches?

the window strips were made using the program model builder, In the last two windows of the mystic car I put a pic of myself and my brother-in -law, thought it would be different.

I made backdrops.. This is a 1st.. Dan

BXCXDan, Super cool; quite an accomplishment. Congratulations on the success of it .

FrankM.

BXCXDan posted:

I made backdrops.. This is a 1st.. Dan

Dan: Your backdrops are fabulous! Bravo!

old_toymaker posted:

the window strips were made using the program model builder, In the last two windows of the mystic car I put a pic of myself and my brother-in -law, thought it would be different.

The coaches look GREAT and, you and your brother-in-law get to ride through your layout on your own train.

Thanks Gents (& Ladies if any of the accolades and likes!!) Take care and have the best day! 

paul 2 posted:

P51, your scenery is really looking good. I'm enjoying each post. Looks so real..............Paul

mike g. posted:

Lee, you layout is so real it would be nice to be a little person and take a ride around it!

Thanks a lot, Paul and Mike!

I think I've made the 'what if?' layout I always wanted. As I've pointed out before, this is the first real layout I've ever built and other than the electrical work and curtains, I did most of it totally alone. I wasn't sure how things would turn out and I must admit I post these things to see what the general consensus is. What looks good to the layout owner might (and sometimes does) look comical to everyone else.

Every now and then, I'll just walk into that room, stand there and soak it all in. It's hardly the best layout out there, but there are times it's almost too much for me to realize how much I've done since July 2014, considering this is something I've wanted since I was a pre-teen.

30+ years in a long time to wait but it was worth it.

Played with the placement of Union Station, (still under construction).

There's a lot of work to do in this area

Dan, I have to agree with Randy, I think your back drops are wonderful!

DJ Rocky posted:

Played with the placement of Union Station, (still under construction).

There's a lot of work to do in this area

Like what you are doing. My suggestion if you have the room is to move the coaling facility further away from the passenger station. My engine service facility occupies less than 12 square feet in an unused part of the room. I don't have a picture of the coaling tower, but it occupies 2 tracks to the left of the diesel service tracks.

Ran trains for about 10 minutes this morning!  Running time was short but sweet!!!  Also spent time taking photos of my team track for the TEAM TRACK TUESDAY thread here on the Forum.

Thanks Mike! Dan

Today I am starting out running trains but later am going to get into cleaning train boxes off the table I want to start the town on..................Paul

Want a challenge? Haven't pulled out ALL your hair? Join me in trying to replace scale trucks on a San Juan Car  Co. tank car with Weaver 3 rail trucks and couplers. Lots of fragile plastic detail jumping off the car, and a lot of cutting and shaping...car and trucks 

Today and for the past 10 days I have been working of four different Rich White Models structure kits, in various stages of construction. If you are not familiar with RWM building kits, they are hydrocal (plaster) castings every bit as detailed as Tom Yorke or Downtown Deco products. The difference is that doors, windows and roofing are not included in the kits, only the walls and in some cases the adjoining sidewalks. This lowers the cost considerably. The finished buildings are illustrated on eBay under "O scale buildings" with fixed prices and details as to which Grandt Line plastic windows and doors are needed to complete each structure. Design and materials for the roofing is up to your imagination.

In the past week I have converted the Hangtown Jail building into a one-stall fire station for my favorite 1/43 scale pumper engine, a 1939 Bedford produced by delPrado. I've turned the Tavern kit into a bank, and am currently turning the Wells Fargo office into three small shops that will help establish the era for my layout. You know that it is not 2016 nor even 2000 when the stores include a typewriter sales and repair shop, a seamstress and a television merchant advertising only 1950-era manufacturers' sets.

Gil Hulin, recreating an early-1950's seaport harbor community in On30 

Pictures, Gil! We want to see photos!

A little catch up after a few weeks. Today I'm only running and relaxing.

I finally got a spout onto my popsicle stick and frosting lid water tower.

For some reason the brass from the reefer kit corner brackets shed the glue, but only till I used it as spout bands, glueing it to itself, the glue worked then?????. The reefer will get sheet steel brackets instead. The sandbag is a sinker providing perfect balance, and spout lowers by finger then  takes about 5 or 10 seconds to self retract. The roller/pully is stainless steel mytery hardware from my box of micrometer parts and machine handles. The rope is coat and leather thread.

I also made headway on the home bent 0-20x29" layout for my bedroom. No more stray tools and crap as there is a place to store the progmess that creeps into the room as things progress and I drag things with me.power is a 1044 junker, sans cover, with a stereo volume knob on the throttle. Backing up on 020 isnt suggested and the recifier is gone so just one control. I mounted it upside down for better terminal access as this is sort of a test bench too.

Water tower was sauerkraut, the oil tank goop handcleaner. Both are on pw elevated trestles mounted to hardboard bases painted as concrete. The flag a window decal, chopstick, and floor protector for furniture legs as a base, painted as sand/ dirt with a grey curb holding it in. The cement piers are foam from the MPC DT&I set. (What to do with those old boxes is no longer a mystery)

The tunnel is also a cover for the storage. The storage pit can be a mine, basement/foundation construction, or a body of water with another cover Im doing in sheet metal, so both can stack in the cover frame to store.

this side is meadow when flat. The log/stump are each hiding knots in the low grade plywood. It just seemed right to do, so I painted them to see if I liked it. I did, and most of this left handedI too....no not my usual choice, the right was bandaged. The bridge, just scrap steel U channel unpainted.

The other side is, a mud field or construction site, etc.. Im going to try to paint the hinges as sewer grates maybe. The lamp base is an aluminum floor protector with fuzz now up. Ill paint it green for grass. The pole is bent brass tube, and the fixture a curtain rod end cap glued to a rope grommet. It works too, but needs paint. The grey coal bin, hardboard scrap from making the pit box. Nothing is secured to this former drafting light table but the track. Stuff can be rearranged or stored in the pit.

The zebra stripe barrier gate swings aside. It also braces the cover when it is set up as a tunnel. Notches in the covers frame also serve to support the tunnel; strong enoughI to support about 10lbs at least, so fa, so good. The rear of the tunnel rests on edge moulding not seen here.

My total cost, with this train, table, stuff, paint, and power, was under $40 total. Theres maybe four nights involved. I might hit 40 if I buy the front moulding vs waiting for free scrap.

Theres also snow piles appearing around the 027 Christmas circle. I post when it's closer to done.

Got a push mower for the Ensor farm. Small detail, but really important to me.

I forgot to mention there was an engine evolution. The night my os died, so did the can motor in the diecast 9053. Then I dropped my junk yard 249 plastic body and broke an inch hole at the boiler where the screw goes. The 9053 now sports a post war motor and is a competent little puller with all that metal added by mount shell, and motor ($15 in the 9053, $2 in parts and brushes for the free, but smooth running 249 with no cab roof. The Eunit I removed is worth more than that,lol) the new used motor is mounted in reverse grom the 249 on ho engine weight plates and a hole was drilled up front. Originally an inside frame job, the9053 now has outside frame rods. The fit is so tight within the cyclinders, the fore/aft rod play allows a small "tink" as the rods work, as the rod tip bounces off the forward cylinder wall, essentially producing a soft bell sound as it runs. The cylinders had to be shaved to clear the flanges; the wheelbase in longer than the original 9053 motor. A static/drift smoke unit is waiting. That will bump it to $50 I guess, though only a buck or two was spent in the 60s for the element.

rattler21 posted:

Lee, I like the lumber car on your siding in the last photo.  John

I love this car! Whose, what, where, where, how?

Adriatic,

You prove this hobby does not have to be expensive!!  It all looks great!!  I'm really glad you can post photos now!!

I stripped mine naked! 

Penny:  Pics or it didn't happen. 

Adriatic:  Extremely well-scrounged! 

Mitch

Today  I planted some grass, dug some dirt and did a trial fit of the buildings in Christianburg.  None of the buildings have been detailed yet and some are not even complete but my impatience got the best of me.  I really like the Kline diner but it does not seem to fit with everything else.  I'll leave it there for a few days and see if I like it any better.  If not I can pack it up and take it to York.

What should of been done yesterday I got to today. Went off track and decided to video one of my trains. Video played back in the camera but I could not transfer it to the PC. So much time wasted. Anyways today, while running trains, I got the table top cleared off where I am going to put my buildings for a town. Pics of the area.....Paul

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Penny:  Pics or it didn't happen. 

Adriatic:  Extremely well-scrounged! 

Mitch

Maybe after the glue dries!    Hey!  Where's that Berwyn gateman? 

p51 posted:

Added a lot of trees today. Still need to do the poly foam covered balls for the opposite back corner so I can place vertical trees in that section.

Lee finally getting to this.  Trees look good along with the push mower. I know back in the day that was the norm. But looking at that mower and all that grass just made me tired and sore. Sad thing when I bought my house. I actually bought one thinking it would be great exercise.  It got old quickly!

My Christmas Midget refuses to work hard anymore. It can handle a string of lights OK, but a heavy load is too much. It won't even spin load free wheels.

It acts like a thermal breaker is tripping, but I didn't really think it had one. I can't read the plate anymore. It was fine last session.

 I'll likely gut it as the black stuff is like a hockey puck and not brittle at all. Not a good chance of much surviving removal. The breaker might be in the slide switch, but the constant voltage dies under load too, so I kinda doubt it till I see otherwise, chaseing circuits. If it has a breaker in that sealant, or doesnt have one at all, its dead. If dead, I'll set it up for voltage dropping of other stand alone constant voltage power supplies by using diodes on the switch legs. Maybe paint it to look like a giftbox?

For backup I'm running a 1970s Radio Shack 4amp 12v constant voltage, DC power supply with diodes knocking it down to a constant 9v.

I think the 2 train AF 18b is going to need to go back on my table layout so I can swipe one of a couple 1033s or the Marx 100w to the holiday loop. This will give me a loose small transformer to dream with too.

Adriatic posted:

My Christmas Midget refuses to work hard anymore. It can handle a string of lights OK, but a heavy load is too much. It won't even spin load free wheels.

It acts like a thermal breaker is tripping, but I didn't really think it had one. I can't read the plate anymore. It was fine last session.

 I'll likely gut it as the black stuff is like a hockey puck and not brittle at all. Not a good chance of much surviving removal. The breaker might be in the slide switch, but the constant voltage dies under load too, so I kinda doubt it till I see otherwise, chaseing circuits. If it has a breaker in that sealant, or doesnt have one at all, its dead. If dead, I'll set it up for voltage dropping of other stand alone constant voltage power supplies by using diodes on the switch legs. Maybe paint it to look like a giftbox?

For backup I'm running a 1970s Radio Shack 4amp 12v constant voltage, DC power supply with diodes knocking it down to a constant 9v.

I think the 2 train AF 18b is going to need to go back on my table layout so I can swipe one of a couple 1033s or the Marx 100w to the holiday loop. This will give me a loose small transformer to dream with too.

Man where did you dig that up from? Its older then dirt!

Still the original cloth cord, lol.

  I got it with a PW Hudson. I was told it was bought for the set new, and pulled on a 4x8 till the 70s. Its worked for me fine for about ten years, except once it did do this same thing when left plugged in for a day or two, then began working again about a week later. But this time, I'm not suspecting a fluke bad connection due to carbon on spring loaded terminals. The Jefferson Midget is a good quality piece of equipment. Despite the failure, nothing about the internal safety makes me cringe. Its a solid little brick that was used to death, but was made to be abused. I'd use another anytime. Thinking back, I think I did bounce it off the floor a week or two ago. I checked saw lights, moved on. Oh well, nothing is forever, lol.