What did you do on your layout today?

Bryan- that amusement park is awesome . Post some more photos and video of everything in action

Bob

carsntrains posted:

OK guys I got it taken down.  All trains, track, buildings, cars, people, foam. Got the two 2 foot extensions off of the base 6x8 table.  Got it marked to cut in two.    Need to run down to HD and get some 2x4 so I can fix the two 3x8 sections. And put two legs on each.  Been a busy Sunday!    

Jim 

 

Photos, Photos, Photos!!!  I enjoy hearing about progress, but I LOVE seeing it!

Congrats on ripping the wall down.  One of the negatives about buying a move-in-ready home is, I can't find any walls that need removing!

I remember the emotions of tearing down my basement layout in the old home two and a half years ago.  All the track fit in a small box.  I sat there staring at it.  Texted a photo to Dad.  But good times are ahead for you and for me...more on that in a minute...

Bryan, amazing what you can accomplish with a few days off. Night scene is fantastic........Paul

Spent the whole weekend in the basement (aside from loading the club trailer for the Greenburg Show in PA next weekend).  Got a LOT cleaned up.  The goal is to begin work on my new layout!  Keep an eye out for a new thread soon.  I'm going to need some help and ideas with planning. (Yes, Mr. Coy, I've read all your posts and seen your YT videos, I'm thinking about operations BEFORE laying out track!).

A few years ago, I built a shelf.  I put slots in the top and bottom plates for an eventual set of sliding doors.  I bought the plexi when I bought all the other supplies.  It's been underfoot for probably 3 years now.  Today, I FINALLY got the courage to start cutting it.  I scored it real deep with a carpenter's knife with a fresh blade and then snapped it. I measured multiple times, but screwed up the math on the first door.  I'm going to have to fill in one of the slots with something about 3/32" thick so the door catches both slots.  I don't have enough material left to make another door.  I put a piece of bare 12ga copper wire in the slot and that seems to help, it's just not straight enough to work perfectly.

I left the protective film on for this photo so you could see the doors.

Took the film off (my favorite part).

Now to fill up those shelves!

Thanks for the compliment....I will next weekend when I should have the rest wired up.  I still have the roller coaster, hot air balloon ride, 5 little scenes (miniature golf, test of strength, tug of war, balancing chair, and pony ride), plus my midway with food stands and games of chance.  My goal is to knock out 1 to 2 each night this week after work and coaching basketball.   Here are a few pics of those areas still needing wiring.  After that of course I want to add grass, walkways, and fencing.  

paul 2 posted:

Bryan, amazing what you can accomplish with a few days off. Night scene is fantastic........Paul

Yep, every time I get a snow day I get to live a day in the life of Paul.....sitting around all day working on the layout. 

A lot of busy people on here - good to see!

I spent some time trying to figure out how I want this section of my lower level to look.

Today I put in embankment between my lower and upper level. Supplies were left over foam board covered with joint compound. Just slap on compound and Wa La natural looking embankment. I've also used joint compound over plaster cloth.

Ok this is where I ended the day/night at.. 12 hours it took to take down a wall, and to take down my existing 12x6.   Not much to see lol   Now all I have is a 3x16 storage table to put all my train stuff on lol   I have some more stuff to take out of that room.  Its supposed to rain here tomorrow so MAYBE I can get a bit more bench work up.  Still sad about taking the table layout down.  I have a new engine and a BLI water tower on the way.   And some electrical stuff to power up 4 or 5 woodland scenic  buildings.

Jim 

Got the water car done just now.

p51 posted:

Got the water car done just now.

Excellent work!

Truly exceptional, P51.

Lee, the water car came out great. Nice weathering job.......Paul

Radar493 (Ralph) - Glad to hear someone else uses joint compound. 20+ years ago i did all of my scenery with heavy duty paper towels dipped in slightly diluted joint compound. Cheap, easy to use, readily available, and has held up. I can't figure out why more people don't use it. The money i saved bought me an awful lot of boxcars.

Patrick came over today, and it was the end of an era. This was the final roller stroke of sky blue. It took five years, and Patrick did all of it!

He had me take a picture of the date and time on his phone to mark the occasion.

Let me back up a minute, I got a little ahead of myself. The first thing we did was correct the mismatched fascia from a couple weeks ago, and added the little piece of backdrop over the track.

We added the Masonite strip around the base of the helix. I'll be wrapping that with embossed stone plastic sheets to form a retaining wall. The Backdrop will get the back side of downtown Red Wing.

The plan here is to have a road go up a hill alongside the track, then there will be a bridge over the track to help hide the opening.

We hit another milestone today, when we put in the last piece of fascia.

Actually, the last piece isn't the big one with all the curves, it's the little filler with the two screws in it on the left. There's still some sanding left to get rid of the little steps.

We marked all the layout power cords and their respective outlets. Brown is layout convenience outlets, red is track power, orange is layout accessory power and yellow is layout lighting.

Patrick grabbed the camera, and took half these pictures. He's seen enough of my posts to know what to shoot. I don't know why I keep ending up in them. First my wife, then Scott (Miggy) and now Patrick. Anyway, we pulled the red and orange plugs from the wall and opened up the box with the layout power switches in order to add a new run of conduit over to the third peninsula for the C/MRI node.

We added an extension box to have more room for the new wires.

We didn't get the entire run finished, but the hard part is done. It's anchored to the box and run under the aisle.

Paul - I had a late night shopping spree on eBay, and bought a bunch of those buildings, among other things. We'll see if I learned anything.

The J. Reilly McCarren Transportation Museum has three new layouts (two Lionel, one American Flyer) courtesy of Bob Bretch of Van Buren! 

We got cowboys! 

And dinosaurs! 

And...well... 

Plus a really nifty Polar Express layout! 

Which I spent a few hours assembling this afternoon...  

Fortescue has told me he can't wait to take a ride on the Polar Express!   

Mitch 

modeltrainsparts posted:

Radar493 (Ralph) - Glad to hear someone else uses joint compound. 20+ years ago i did all of my scenery with heavy duty paper towels dipped in slightly diluted joint compound. Cheap, easy to use, readily available, and has held up. I can't figure out why more people don't use it. The money i saved bought me an awful lot of boxcars.

Count me in fellas. I too used diluted joint compound with paper bags cut into 2" wide strips over cardboard lattice. Came out great, it's at least 15 years old and I've had no problems ever!

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The J. Reilly McCarren Transportation Museum has three new layouts (two Lionel, one American Flyer) courtesy of Bob Bretch of Van Buren! 

We got cowboys! 

 

Mitch 

I wonder... do them thar cowboys (or is the correct term cowpersons  ) hunt long necked buffalo???

Apples55 posted:

I wonder... do them thar cowboys (or is the correct term cowpersons  ) hunt long necked buffalo???

Fortescue:  "I HOPE not!"  ;D 

Excellent work!

Truly exceptional, P51.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. This was a project I'd set out to accomplish inside of a weekend, but some paint and parts issues stretched it out a little more.

As an MOW car, I doubt it'll be on the layout all the time, but I might place it in various spots t make op sessions just a little more challenging.

My new Jordan Spreader

Measuring Fortescue for a bridle & saddle? 

  I used to have that set as a kid. Still have two sections of the corral fence, small crew, small horse herd, and some Natives.

Joint compound, powdered and latex premix both, over aluminum screen.

The brick is laytex wood putty spread like peanut butter on some 1/8" hardboard, covered smooth & carefully with plastic wrap, then pressed with a brick mold for candies/cakes, let to cure then peeled & painted. It slides up & out of the two portals.

Started scratch building a flat for the upper level, and tested a paint for my roads. I came across a couple 4x6 sheets of 1/8" hardboard packing material at work. I fist used them for facia on the lower level, then took what I had left to use as my roads. While at Lowes this weekend, found a textured paint. It has a finer texture than the "stone" sprays. Sprayed a test piece last night, and I think it came out really good. Gonna apply some lines this evening.

Mo985 posted:

Started scratch building a flat for the upper level, and tested a paint for my roads. I came across a couple 4x6 sheets of 1/8" hardboard packing material at work. I fist used them for facia on the lower level, then took what I had left to use as my roads. While at Lowes this weekend, found a textured paint. It has a finer texture than the "stone" sprays. Sprayed a test piece last night, and I think it came out really good. Gonna apply some lines this evening.

I used the same paint in black. Looks great. I added some black paint on the joints to simulate tar-filled cracks.

p51 posted:

Excellent work!

Truly exceptional, P51.

Thank you very much, gentlemen. This was a project I'd set out to accomplish inside of a weekend, but some paint and parts issues stretched it out a little more.

As an MOW car, I doubt it'll be on the layout all the time, but I might place it in various spots t make op sessions just a little more challenging.

Lee- the tank looks great. I wasn't sure where you were going with it when it was painted tan. I thought it looked too clean and shiny for your layout The weathering is just right.

Bob

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Apples55 posted:

I wonder... do them thar cowboys (or is the correct term cowpersons  ) hunt long necked buffalo???

Fortescue:  "I HOPE not!"  ;D 

If I were him I'd keep my head down.....

Last night I added the Building that was the collaboration of Eric's Trains, Legacy Station, and MTH to my Layout, though I should really get the backdrop up soon, but I haven't had a chance to get the Backboard from anywhere to put the backdrop on, no pictures, since I put the building on then ran trains for a bit, then headed back upstairs.

Lee, very nice MOW water car.

RSJB18, gloss black really looks like tar in the cracks.

tcochran posted:

Last night I added the Building that was the collaboration of Eric's Trains, Legacy Station, and MTH to my Layout, though I should really get the backdrop up soon, but I haven't had a chance to get the Backboard from anywhere to put the backdrop on, no pictures, since I put the building on then ran trains for a bit, then headed back upstairs.

I really like that building and Eric's Trains.   I had one in my "cart" but decided it wouldn't go well with my 1950s layout..  ???

Jim

Ok Mark, I am going to make this one easy on me!

Everyone I would like to point out each and everyones great work, but you guys have overloaded me this morning, so this is for everyone and there wonderful projects!

GREAT EVERYONE! Keep it up!

carsntrains posted:

I really like that building and Eric's Trains.   I had one in my "cart" but decided it wouldn't go well with my 1950s layout..  ???

Jim

I will have to someday in the future get pictures of it, I don't run trains a lot, no era modeling so I do not need to find things that fit an era. Though I mainly have steam engines in my roster.

RSJB18 posted:

I used the same paint in black. Looks great. I added some black paint on the joints to simulate tar-filled cracks.

The cap shows it’s black, but it did come out a faded/ grayish color. I may do some random spays of black, from about 36”. 

Made a Video last night Featuring new W&LE Power

2 Part Video with Caption's edited in on my you tube channel @13min

WLE Take the Grade pt1-The Drag up Wooster Hill

WLE Take The Grade pt2-The Return trip to Craneville

The video cover's the entire 10 x 12 dbl tier inter-connected shelf layout & features 2 new WLE locomotives (106 is non-powered) added to the fleet over the weekend by RC Jr.

Over the past 2 months the layout has received;

    1 new MTH ABC (Akron Barberton Cluster) SW1500 Switcher (1501 Pusher in video)

    Scratch Built dbl track trestle bridge

    The entire lower tier added with Y Loop & 3 yard tracks

    MTH WiFi Module with multiple devices

    Also on loan from RC Jr is the MTH 999 Empire State Express set

Enjoy!

PS; These MTH GP35's have the canac radio control antenna & sticker on carbody, system's which I installed on the actual units years back!

Lee, great shot of the car. A nice project adding to an already great layout. Going to make it my desktop. This morning it was do wait do wait do. I got the cork painted ballasted and track screwed down. And it looks like none of the things I ordered are going to get here till maybe tomorrow.While putting that switch in I decided to pull up one track and one switch going to the power station leaving the one going through it so I will probably work on that after lunch. Also in the last picture I lined up some telephone poles and before I placed them I was wondering how the spacing looks????. I am cutting off the base and drilling holes in the sidewalk. Pics...........Paul

Paul- the utility poles in my neighborhood are between 100' - 120' apart. At 1:48 scale that's 25"-30" apart. Don't know what the distance is in your photo but they look fine to me.

Bob

Paul, I agree with Bob, I think they look fine! Nice work!

Well it looks like Matt is back at Nicholas Smith to pick up a few things.  This time he brought his Vette instead of his bike.  He did a stellar job driving his loaded bike, I'm guessing he's a bit more careful with his antique Vette.

Brian, Love all the trains you keep putting up! Something is coming your way!

Matt, that sure is a great looking Vet, Oh the layout looks great also! 

mike g. posted:

Ok Mark, I am going to make this one easy on me!

Everyone I would like to point out each and everyones great work, but you guys have overloaded me this morning, so this is for everyone and there wonderful projects!

GREAT EVERYONE! Keep it up!

Mike, I was going to do like you this weekend, but I was just thinking of doing the same thing as you just did since I am a day late...and always a dollar short!

i am amazed at the large number of people who have made excellent accomplishments this past day!!  Great work everyone!!