What did you do on your layout today?

paul 2 posted:

I sure do Mike. I try my best to keep from breaking a lot of them. I usually just take some black paint I use for sidings and dab it on with a Q-tip...............Paul

Just wondering do you free hand your bends or do you use a jig?

Mike, I have been doing the curves on this layout free hand so far. I take my time bending a little bit at a time...Paul

I spent the last couple days chipping away at a bunch of projects.

One small one was making those dividers with the colored tape on them. Trains in front of the divider are ready to go out onto the layout. When trains come back, they go behind the divider.

When I moved the small hidden yard panel, the Midway turnout was mounted to it out of convenience, even though it has nothing to do with the yard. When I removed the tape track diagram, it damaged the surface of the panel. Fortunately, my wife is a pen collector, and had a white paint pen, which I used to repair the damage.

I got lucky, and the lettering was able to be reused, so I mounted the tiny panel. Still needs to be hooked up.

This is the back side of the Red Wing uncoupler panel.

I soldered on colored leads.

Here we see the panel in its proper place. Oops, I forgot to take a picture with it flipped face up. You'll have to take my word on that.

I mounted the control board directly to the plywood, in an upside down orientation, and connected the leads from the panel to the terminal strip.

Now I just have to connect the output lines to the magnets, then repeat this process on the next 62 uncouplers.

I finally got this one to run with the help of Legacy, then I installed the crossover.

MY PRR 4 4 4 4, a beautiful Lionel engine.

Not one to let a machine get the best of me, I had butted heads with ho again a week or two ago, but browser issues kept me from posting.

  And so Ive won one "little" battle anyhow; reasonable operation.

  Today I took a stroll and found a ready made graffitti rock in my favorite "colors".

Nestled to be seen, but not easily, behind a newspaper machine outside of a dollar store. I had noticed others in the past with whisical flowers, happy faces, etc. They all vanish in a day or two.  I assume a certain bubbly female employee does it on break. Her little contribution to "world cheer"...I decided this one was done for my layout. I'll worry about confessing my rock theft when I see her again.  

I worked on some Atlas O Alaska Flat Cars that were having coupler issues, opening under a load.  I had purchased the Trailer Stands from Atlas Parts and assembled and painted them orange.  I drilled holes for the four pins and glued them in place on five 68' Alaska Flat Cars.  The Alaska Trailers look good riding on the Flat Cars.  They are being pulled by Lionel Legacy Alaska GP35 #2501 and #2502, previously unpowered, that I placed on a new Great Northern GP35 Legacy chassis.

3 years exactly between these shots. The latter, I took tonight.

paul 2 posted:

I sure do Mike. I try my best to keep from breaking a lot of them. I usually just take some black paint I use for sidings and dab it on with a Q-tip...............Paul

Paul and Mike,

Yes that is a problem, but they glue back easily.  Looking good, Paul!

p51 posted:

3 years exactly between these shots. The latter, I took tonight.

Happy Layout Anniversary Lee !

p51 posted:

3 years exactly between these shots. The latter, I took tonight.

Looks GREAT Lee, just wondering if you ever plan on extending to get more use out of your turn table?

Added in some parking lot. Used the thin foam material as I couldn't find the stair tread. What was available had a yellow caution stripe in it, making it unusable.  Need to weather it a little I think. D500's photo of the rail pile caused me to paint a couple O27 rails to put in the tie piles. Might add more. Got the trees where I want em', so will glue them down. Keep on chuggin. Lots of great ideas here. Good for the new guys. 

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?

Have you ever visited "Diecast Direct"? I've purchased plenty from them.

Moonson posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?

Have you ever visited "Diecast Direct"? I've purchased plenty from them.

Thank you sir, I'll check now. 

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Some great buys here on OGR.  I've used Amazon, esp. for construction vehicles.  ModelTrain Stuff has 5%-10% sale occasionally on vehicles. Train shows usually are the best value - NO Shipping!

Good luck, searching is the most fun.

TedW posted:

Moonson posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?

Have you ever visited "Diecast Direct"? I've purchased plenty from them.

Thank you sir, I'll check now. 

Whoa!     I guess you didn't say they were cheap. This'll separate the men from the boys.   The McLaren F1 at $174.95 is nice. 

TEDW, I am enjoying your work on the layout. It is really turning out great. Lee............HAPPY 3 YEAR ANNIVERSERY. Your layout has come out looking good. I am procrastinating again but only because I have to get the grass cut before it may rain otherwise I would be working on the table right now. Yesterday I got the my back order of shrubs. Now I have the three colors. They are a bit pricey but they look pretty real. Special instructions for them because they are very fragile. A pic. And as soon as I get the grass cut it will be table time.................Paul

TedW posted:

TedW posted:

Moonson posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?

Have you ever visited "Diecast Direct"? I've purchased plenty from them.

Thank you sir, I'll check now. 

Whoa!     I guess you didn't say they were cheap. This'll separate the men from the boys.   The McLaren F1 at $174.95 is nice. 

Hi Ted, you can always check out Menards as they have cars. I have also had some luck at Walmart! Plus this forum is a great place, I see folks selling cars all the time!

mike g. posted:

Looks GREAT Lee, just wondering if you ever plan on extending to get more use out of your turn table?

Thanks, but there's really nowhere to go. To the right, out of fame, is a closet door that spans the entire wall (the closet is filled with stuff from my military collection). There's about 2' clearance between the layout edge and that wall. It's important to me to have room for train-fan-sized people (as in not exactly on the emaciated side) move around in there as I want visiting people in op sessions to not feel like they're trapped in something.

I did think about maybe putting a storage track off the turntable, to the left of the track the table is aligned to in this shot, for placing a locomotive or rolling stock. I still might someday, but I wouldn't bet on it.

No, the layout has all the track it's going to have.

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Sometimes the Dollar General has vehicles in their toy section. Cheap too!

I guess this might qualify for something I did on my layout.  I was in Lancaster, PA last weekend for a wedding and took a day trip to Strasburg.  I saw the well restored PRR #460.  I have the Lionel Lindbergh Atlantic on my layout. It has a RPO, a combine baggage/coach and a couple of coaches behind it. The museum is really nice.  Iconic locos and well restored passenger cars.  A real treat.

Over the last few months, I've been kit bashing a Lionel Rico Station that I bought roughly assembled at a yard sale.  My plan was to divide the station into a warehouse for my Morrison's DOORS Factory and a country station to be finished some time in the future.  I finished the back of the warehouse with a brick wall.  I used Woodland Scenics window glazing material on all the windows & WS cinders and coarse grass on the edges.  To get rid of the original plastic colors, I used a variety of subtle latex paints.  Finally, I added a wood stove pipe through the roof & lit it up!  This building has an additional purpose - it hides an MTH power distribution board.

Went to a friends house to help wire up some miller engineering signs. Things did not go as planed. I only got one sign working instead of three. It took a long time to figure out just where to place the Steve's lay out sign and then it took for ever to cut the hole in the base board. Then I hook up that sign wrong and burnt up the control board. hooked up rail road crossing flashing lights. Did get the National Bo sign mounted ready to be wired. will have to back next week to finish up. sorry no pictures Steve may post his own pictures. now it is time for me to get to work on my layout tyding up little things. I will try to post pictures of what I do today.

pennsynut posted:

I guess this might qualify for something I did on my layout.  I was in Lancaster, PA last weekend for a wedding and took a day trip to Strasburg.  I saw the well restored PRR #460.  I have the Lionel Lindbergh Atlantic on my layout. It has a RPO, a combine baggage/coach and a couple of coaches behind it. The museum is really nice.  Iconic locos and well restored passenger cars.  A real treat.

Any photos? The last time I was there, that loco was still in the shop so I didn't get to see it.

pennsynut posted:

I guess this might qualify for something I did on my layout.  I was in Lancaster, PA last weekend for a wedding and took a day trip to Strasburg.  I saw the well restored PRR #460.  I have the Lionel Lindbergh Atlantic on my layout. It has a RPO, a combine baggage/coach and a couple of coaches behind it. The museum is really nice.  Iconic locos and well restored passenger cars.  A real treat.

Love that museum and the Strasburg RR!

I'll take some pictures of your layout when we have our NCHR Party at your house Carl and post them for you.

We'll try to set up a day before York to set up my studio lights and take pictures of your entire layout.

Steve

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Ted,

Take a look at this video regarding weathering with chalks/powders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzy3SHCCf

I prefer the powders from Bragdon Enterprises.

Make sure to seal your work after completed with a spray on matte finish clear coating.

As to the cars, many of us use 1:43 scale vehicles due to cost and availability even though they are slightly larger than1:48.

HMorgan125 posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Ted,

Take a look at this video regarding weathering with chalks/powders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzy3SHCCf

I prefer the powders from Bragdon Enterprises.

Make sure to seal your work after completed with a spray on matte finish clear coating.

As to the cars, many of us use 1:43 scale vehicles due to cost and availability even though they are slightly larger than1:48.

Appreciate the link(help). I'll watch it. I was thinking something close to 1/48 would be ok(acceptable).  Thx again. 

TedW posted:

HMorgan125 posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Ted,

Take a look at this video regardingweathering with chalks/powders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzy3SHCCf

I prefer the powders from Bragdon Enterprises.

Make sure to seal your work after completed with a spray on matte finish clear coating.

....

Appreciate the link(help). I'll watch it. I was thinking something close to 1/48 would be ok(acceptable).  Thx again. 

Hi TedW, Exactly what HMorgan has explained is what I do, too.

FrankM

HMorgan125 posted:

TedW posted:

mike g. posted:

Looking good Ted, now all you need is some cars and a couple of folks standing around!

Thx Mike.  Where can I look for cars?  Michaels, Hobby Lobby or internet?  Need 1/48 or what's acceptable close in scale?  And school me on weathering powder. Is it brushed(make up) on, rubbed on(finger tips or cloth) dusted, or what?  Thx in advance for the help. 

Ted,

Take a look at this video regarding weathering with chalks/powders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kqzy3SHCCf

I prefer the powders from Bragdon Enterprises.

Make sure to seal your work after completed with a spray on matte finish clear coating.

As to the cars, many of us use 1:43 scale vehicles due to cost and availability even though they are slightly larger than1:48.

Wow, and here I thought it some sort of dry application. Makes a whole lot more sense now after a little primer watching some YT videos of the process.  Will have to figure out a way to practice first before the layout attempt. Thx again for the info. Ted

I got my braces on the bottom of the legs. It is a tight spot to start with so I started little by little easing the table into place. But in order to get it into position I am going to have to whittle a  bit off the corner where the sewer pipe is. Once I get it into place I can level it and bolt it to the other table. But it feels good to almost be done with that. My next project is to build the bridge between the two tables by the washer and dryer. Pics..........Paul

You really made great progress Paul!  It looks really good!  So, once in position, will you be able to get in to the corner without pulling the table back out?  I forgot the original plan on this.

Mark thanks, once that table is in position there will be hardly any space around it because it is under the stairs. That is why I did all the track, ballast and ground turf first. But under the one section where I put the cross braces on I will have a shelf to store at least a few things. I will eventually be adding more table to the front that is exposed so I can run the siding with the black ballast out and around to the back of the basement. My idea right now is to place a coal mine there so I can pull loaded coal hoppers out of it but bringing them through the smaller opening. As to a plan for this layout I sort of have one but nothing set in stone. I am sort of winging it and in a couple of spots I'll be changing a few things........Paul

Got the lumber for my control panel.  Panel is painted, just have to mount.

Took some time off from details and ran trains. This just actually might work!   Whoever said foam board is quieter than wood; I'm not so sure. 

paul 2 posted:

Mark thanks, once that table is in position there will be hardly any space around it because it is under the stairs. That is why I did all the track, ballast and ground turf first. But under the one section where I put the cross braces on I will have a shelf to store at least a few things. I will eventually be adding more table to the front that is exposed so I can run the siding with the black ballast out and around to the back of the basement. My idea right now is to place a coal mine there so I can pull loaded coal hoppers out of it but bringing them through the smaller opening. As to a plan for this layout I sort of have one but nothing set in stone. I am sort of winging it and in a couple of spots I'll be changing a few things........Paul

That sounds nice, Paul!  Thank you!

TedW posted:

Took some time off from details and ran trains. This just actually might work!   Whoever said foam board is quieter than wood; I'm not so sure. 

 

Looks great, Ted!  The trains run smoothly.

I got tired of several figures leaning up against vehicles, so last night, I glued several down to where I want them standing for quite a while.

The GI's are mostly leaning on stuff for now as I still need to place a Quonset hut I'm working on and will need to determine the placement of them after it's in place...

I'm adding a steam era engine yard