Skip to main content

Ski, Thank you very much!!!  Actually, the Ceiling Central RR is in the basement.  When our daughters were still living with us, my wife suggested I build it in half of the so called family room, more like all purpose room.  It is about 12' x 12'.  After the daughters were married and moved out, she decided there was no reason to keep the other side as a sitting/tv room and gave it to me to build my new layout.      The people and subway entrance look great!

Paul, I did not know there was such a thing as sticky drywall tape!!!  Is this another one of those Menards things, that we backwards Western Pennsylvanians haven't been privy to yet??    Excellent idea!! for the plaster on the plywood!

Trestleman, the coal in the cars, engines, and farm scene all look great!!

Johan, another nice SBR car!

Vincent, the ornaments look great!  Your neighbor looks very happy!  We will look forward to the next layout!

Bill, I'm glad you and your dad had such a great day!!!

Phil, Congratulations on your wrist being healed enough to get to designing that layout!!

Odenville Bill:  Thanks for sharing the story of your Dad's visit, that was heart-warming.  I didn't have enough of those days with my dad, but I cherish the few good days we shared around the layout.  

Mike G:   I haven't forgotten about the video for the "maiden voyage" around the completed main line, I didn't make Halloween, but before Thanksgiving is possible.  

Lee,  thanks for the kind words,  trust me, I miss you guys too, not being around this thread every day...  There will be layout and OGR forum time this winter, just have to make the big push and get two more window restoration jobs done before the Boston Winter sets in.  

Johan,  as always, thanks for the positive thoughts.  That weathering you did on the Santa Fe switcher was outstanding.  

Scotty,  as Mike G and other commented  thanks for sharing the photos and the details on the tunnel work...  I have used crinkled tin foil blacked out, but never thought about the inverted corrugated structure to handle the curves,  great idea.  

Paul:  Layouts looking good.  I am curious have you tried painting (weathering) the ross and gargraves before putting it down.   I did all of mine with the Rustoleum Camouflage dark flat brown paint.  I just set up a temporary spray booth in the garage with large flat corrugated cardboard to catch 90% of the over-spray.   Then I  wipe down the track with the Blue Shop towels wrapped around a block of wood wet with Acetone to remove the paint from the tops of the rails.  The shop towels wrapped around a block of wood, keep me from wiping the paint off the sides of the rails, and works really well.   I have started going back and lightly airbrushing after ballasting to blend it all together, but I really like pre-painting the track in the garage.  

Trestleman:  The coal loads look great, is the coal glued to shaped foam, or shaped hard styrene insulation or did you go another route ??  I am curious,  I have about 30 hoppers that need real coal loads.  

Chris, I bought a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" foamboard insulation from Home Depot. ( $12.99 )Stripped the outer covering off, cut to size and used a rasp to make some mounds on the Western Maryland Railking hoppers . I had to glue 3 small pieces on the Virginian Premier hoppers to get the mounds higher. After using the rasp I spray painted the foam flat black. I just used Elmers white glue and sprinkled the coal on the foam. Honestly, I would do it differently if I had to do 30 hoppers. This method was messy and time consuming - using the rasp on the foam creates a mess and spraying the 3M 77 spray adhesive creates bad fumes ( I had to go outside to use it) and it still gave me a bit of a headache  There are YouTube video's that look like they have easier ways of doing this. On the plus side with the foam I don't think I added any weight to the cars because of the foam.

Hope you efforts turn out to be easier than mine,

Don

Don,  thanks for sharing the details.  After reading your post, I am initially going to take the Atlas O H21a hopper plastic simulated coal loads and glue real coal directly to the Atlas plastic molded simulated loads.  That will take care of more than 1/2 the cars... 

For the others I have some pretty stiff foam padding that is about 1 1/2 inches thick I think I'll try tapering and plucking out small pieces of foam, till it looks close to a realistic profile and give that a try.    Obviously 1.5 inches is too thick, but once I get the top of the pile close, I can shave off the back with the 25 mm utility knife.  

sigh     I began disassembling V.I.P. (Vincent's Industrial Park) this evening. I disassembled my N scale train and scrubbed every section of track with rubbing alcohol. I gathered all the pewter Monopoly pieces I could find scattered around my lay-out and put them into their box. I threw out all of my beaten-up Coke bottle caps from the Coca-Cola Bottle Cap Manufacturing Center. I Super-Glued a magnet onto the end of a crane.

I have a lot more disassembling ahead of me, but I'll feel better when I start assembling my Disney Christmas Lay-out.

Mark Boyce posted:

Ski, Thank you very much!!!  Actually, the Ceiling Central RR is in the basement.  When our daughters were still living with us, my wife suggested I build it in half of the so called family room, more like all purpose room.  It is about 12' x 12'.  After the daughters were married and moved out, she decided there was no reason to keep the other side as a sitting/tv room and gave it to me to build my new layout.      The people and subway entrance look great!

Paul, I did not know there was such a thing as sticky drywall tape!!!  Is this another one of those Menards things, that we backwards Western Pennsylvanians haven't been privy to yet??    Excellent idea!! for the plaster on the plywood!

Trestleman, the coal in the cars, engines, and farm scene all look great!!

Johan, another nice SBR car!

Vincent, the ornaments look great!  Your neighbor looks very happy!  We will look forward to the next layout!

Bill, I'm glad you and your dad had such a great day!!!

Phil, Congratulations on your wrist being healed enough to get to designing that layout!!

Mark. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

Bob and Lee, I can't say that the tape is a good tip. I was having trouble with the plaster sticking to the plywood, especially at the edges. Mike g suggested glue around the edge, which I tried in a number of spots. Mark, I don't know if it was at Home Depot or Menards that I saw this sticky drywall tape and decided to give it a try. Today after raking leaves I hope to finish putting down the ballast.............Paul 2

Mark, Great looking train on the ceiling Central Railroad! Now you can watch it as you recover! 

Don, Nice job on the coal cars and wonderful farm scene! Also those are some nice looking engines !

Johan, What great depth you have in your photo! Looks so real, it kind of takes away from the great job you done on the box car!

John, People are looking good once they are dressed! Nice addition of the Subway entrance!

Bill, I am so happy you and your dad had a great time running trains! This is the stuff you will remember forever!

Paul 2, Things sure are moving right along and really looking good! I never used dry wall tape for the layout but have 2 rolls in the garage, I just might have to give that a try!

Jim, Thank you Sir! I will contact soon!

Vincent, I know its hard taking down your layout, but just think how much fun the new Disney Christmas layout is going to be!

Well I did a lot of work around the house yesterday, which limited my time in the train room, but I did get some track ballasted and this morning I will go back out and get it glued down. After talking with Dennis Brennen it looks like I am going to need 11 more bags of ballast! I guess that will have to wait a little.

Then I might start placing trees on the mountain along with the cabin the CEO wants! I have to give a little to keep here happy and keep the layout going! LOL

Lee D, I will get a photo or to for SWSAT!

I hope you all have a great day and have fun!

P.S. LEW I know, no pictures it didn't happen. I will have pictures later today! LOL

chris a posted:

Odenville Bill:  Thanks for sharing the story of your Dad's visit, that was heart-warming.  I didn't have enough of those days with my dad, but I cherish the few good days we shared around the layout.  

Mike G:   I haven't forgotten about the video for the "maiden voyage" around the completed main line, I didn't make Halloween, but before Thanksgiving is possible.  

Lee,  thanks for the kind words,  trust me, I miss you guys too, not being around this thread every day...  There will be layout and OGR forum time this winter, just have to make the big push and get two more window restoration jobs done before the Boston Winter sets in.  

Johan,  as always, thanks for the positive thoughts.  That weathering you did on the Santa Fe switcher was outstanding.  

Scotty,  as Mike G and other commented  thanks for sharing the photos and the details on the tunnel work...  I have used crinkled tin foil blacked out, but never thought about the inverted corrugated structure to handle the curves,  great idea.  

Paul:  Layouts looking good.  I am curious have you tried painting (weathering) the ross and gargraves before putting it down.   I did all of mine with the Rustoleum Camouflage dark flat brown paint.  I just set up a temporary spray booth in the garage with large flat corrugated cardboard to catch 90% of the over-spray.   Then I  wipe down the track with the Blue Shop towels wrapped around a block of wood wet with Acetone to remove the paint from the tops of the rails.  The shop towels wrapped around a block of wood, keep me from wiping the paint off the sides of the rails, and works really well.   I have started going back and lightly airbrushing after ballasting to blend it all together, but I really like pre-painting the track in the garage.  

Trestleman:  The coal loads look great, is the coal glued to shaped foam, or shaped hard styrene insulation or did you go another route ??  I am curious,  I have about 30 hoppers that need real coal loads.  

Chris. You are welcome. 🤝

Johan

mike g. posted:

Mark, Great looking train on the ceiling Central Railroad! Now you can watch it as you recover! 

Don, Nice job on the coal cars and wonderful farm scene! Also those are some nice looking engines !

Johan, What great depth you have in your photo! Looks so real, it kind of takes away from the great job you done on the box car!

John, People are looking good once they are dressed! Nice addition of the Subway entrance!

Bill, I am so happy you and your dad had a great time running trains! This is the stuff you will remember forever!

Paul 2, Things sure are moving right along and really looking good! I never used dry wall tape for the layout but have 2 rolls in the garage, I just might have to give that a try!

Jim, Thank you Sir! I will contact soon!

Vincent, I know its hard taking down your layout, but just think how much fun the new Disney Christmas layout is going to be!

Well I did a lot of work around the house yesterday, which limited my time in the train room, but I did get some track ballasted and this morning I will go back out and get it glued down. After talking with Dennis Brennen it looks like I am going to need 11 more bags of ballast! I guess that will have to wait a little.

Then I might start placing trees on the mountain along with the cabin the CEO wants! I have to give a little to keep here happy and keep the layout going! LOL

Lee D, I will get a photo or to for SWSAT!

I hope you all have a great day and have fun!

P.S. LEW I know, no pictures it didn't happen. I will have pictures later today! LOL

Mike. Thank you very much. 🤝

Johan

Brian, Great pictures ! I just got done adding something to SWSAT for everyone to enjoy!

Mark, I am glad you got it all set now so its there when you really need it! Like when your sitting in your chair doing your PT!

Paul 2, Things are really looking good, I think your passing me up like I am sitting still! LOL Kind of putting the pressure on the other guy! LOL

Well I didn't get a lot done today, but I did get my ballast all glued down, got some pictures for SWSAT taken, and realized that I needed a parking lot for my power plant so that is what I have been working on most today. I still have mud the top and sand then paint it black. But I want to get the pillars mounted underneath first and to do that I have to sand them and paint them first! Here are a couple pictures. Enjoy!IMG_20191102_073507060IMG_20191102_140302753IMG_20191102_140500414IMG_20191102_140033182

Attachments

Images (4)
  • IMG_20191102_073507060
  • IMG_20191102_140302753
  • IMG_20191102_140500414
  • IMG_20191102_140033182

Mike, Thank you!!  I'm glad you made it to SWSAT II!  Brian is right, that will be a great scene!! 

The recumbent bicycle is in the same room.  There are some sitting down exercises.  A number of the exercises are done laying down, so on the bed until I can get back on the floor.  On one of the trips going through my parents' things, my wife insisted I bring my mum's rocking chair home and put it in the train room!  Is she trying to tell me something?  Though she has had both knees replaced, she is 4 years younger than me.  

Just call me Uncle Joe, cuz I'm movin' kinda slow!!  

mike g. posted:
briansilvermustang posted:

 

 

                                that is going to be a GREAT looking scene Mike !!

 

Thanks Brian, I still have to figure out some sort of fence or something to put around the outside edge so the silly drivers don't drive off the end! LOL

Railroad ties!!  At Possum Point Power Station, it could have been easy to drive into the Potomac or Quantico Creek!.  At Mount Storm PS, The Storm Lake was right there to drive into!!  Now for North Anna, the Nuke, there was cyclone fence razor wire, real armed guards, and you name it to keep a driver on the straight and narrow!!  

I got a set of leather punches from Hobby Lobby, and found one of the dies is exactly the size of the Bachman number plates on the 10 wheelers. You can see the results from the number plates I printed on photo paper. I picked the best of the three number plates I need to replace, and I'm going to darken the edges with a marker, then mount them directly onto the pre-existing plates. Clearly, they're better than what came with the engine. It's the one thing Bachmann perpetually screws up on their number and Builder plates, which are done the opposite of how they are in real life...

1102191655-01

Attachments

Images (1)
  • 1102191655-01

Thank you everyone for the kind words! I just got off the phone with Brian and he gave me some great ideas for the power plant. I will try and put them into action tomorrow and watch the game at the same time! 

Mark I am glad your all ready for recovery! The rocking chair will be handy for you!

Johan, wonderful picture!

Paul , looking good, how do you figure out what color to paint the plaster?

sniff   I disassembled my entire Lego train set (Took a while, because it curved through everything else). Disassembled the Coke a Coal a Railroad. Pulled several boxes from underneath the train table and sorted various items into the correct boxes. Gave away some stuff to our neighbor's five-year-old daughter (She really liked the G.I.Joe tank--it still works).

When it's all gone   sniff   I'll start assembling my Disney Christmas Display.

Last edited by Vincent Massi

So, I've completed my number plate project, I think they look way better than they did out of the box.

1102192102-01

Bachmann does their number and builders plates the opposite of how they're supposed to look.

1102192052a-01
These number plates were based on photos of the actual ones, as all three still exist. Two are in private collections, one is a cast copy from the original, mounted on locomotive 12 at Tweetsie railroad in North Carolina...

1102192133a-011102192133-01

Attachments

Images (4)
  • 1102192052a-01
  • 1102192102-01
  • 1102192133a-01
  • 1102192133-01
Last edited by p51

Paul 2, Thank you for the information! It really looks good!

Vincent, Mark is right, you will feel better when the new one is up! Heck, your neighbor will probably like the new Disney setup even more!

Howard, I think your scene looks wonderful!

Lee, very nice work! Big improvement! 

Rockershovel, sure sounds like a lot of work! I hope you will post some pictures !

Well its to early to hit the train room, but I will get out there today and try to get the ideas that Brian gave me into action. I figure another hour and I can get into the garage and work on some quiet projects! LOL

I hope everyone has a great day and finds time for there trains and layouts between football and all the other projects done on Sunday!

p51 posted:

So, I've completed my number plate project, I think they look way better than they did out of the box.

 

Bachmann does their number and builders plates the opposite of how they're supposed to look.


These number plates were based on photos of the actual ones, as all three still exist. Two are in private collections, one is a cast copy from the original, mounted on locomotive 12 at Tweetsie railroad in North Carolina...

1102192133a-01

That's a great photo Lee.

Nice work on the plates.

Add Reply

Post
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×