Looking Good Jeff!!! looks like I need to get back to work.... I just used some WS water and now it needs to dry so I should have some pic's tomorrow. I also picked up my power supply for my DCC system
I've finished my plywood working phase, now I'm laying cork as roadbed and then track. You see at the front the line at grade to Harbor District. Then, there's the little yard from Plywood District. The first track is the branch line, second a storage track and third the track with spurs off. Some time! I've also worked with my switch stands. Here's the next step. You see the painted switch stand with rod and a tiny brass sheet as linkage. Wolfgang [ 12. February 2005, 17:36: Message edited by: Wolfgang Dudler ]
I finished these up today. A friend of mine came by the other day. He asked me how many of the pulpwood racks that I had. I told him that I had 19. The next time I saw him, he gave me one. He said it was the only one he had and it wasn't right for his layout, so he didn't run it. Now I have 20. A couple of Athearn bulkhead flats. A 33' hopper. This is the only one the AD&N had. [ 12. February 2005, 21:40: Message edited by: Tad ]
Okay, Sunday Night Update time. As usual, I didn’t quite achieve all that I set out to do last week. This week was much busier, for whatever reason, than a retired guy has a right to expect his week to be. But enough of the excuses. I actually did get a lot done. In fact, it’s close enough to claim “substantial completion” of the week’s scheduled work. That’s ‘Constractorspeak’ for ‘I didn’t do all the scheduled work, but I got close. I gave it a good try, and I’ve got bills to pay, so I’m putting in for this progress payment.” Anyway, last Sunday I said that the goals for this week were: 1. Installing the loose ties 2. Complete foam rough-in (initial gluing in place and rough shape) in all areas 3. Finish smoothing foam, and apply base coat of paint, in southeast quadrant of the layout. Again, I didn’t install the loose ties under the flextrack joints, but this is really no big deal. I’m probably 95+% complete with the foam rough in. There are just a couple of small areas where I’m still deciding what to do. And most of it got at least a rough surform rasping to smooth the contours down some. This has really made a difference, and I can start to imaging that there is some real countryside that the trains run through, even if it is blue. Here’s a shot of the last of the major foamwork. I pretty well finished smoothing the foam contours in the southeast quadrant. It’s not completely finished, but I decided to give it a coat of latex paint to help me see how much more work I need to do. Just minor spackling to fill some gaps and smooth some rough spots. I think I was obsessing too much about getting it smooth. I mean, I’m just going to cover it with ground foam in several layers trying to give it some texture, right? So here’s a shot of this area. Just a bit more work to get it right. So that brings us to the plan for this week. Let’s go with: 1. Installing the loose ties (I promise) 2. Finish smoothing foam, and apply base coat of paint, in all remaining areas. 3. Apply first layer of ground foam in the east/southeast section of the layout. I’m also going to try to install at least one CI ground throw switch stand. I got some good ideas from a thread over on the N scale forum, and I’m ready to try screwing up one of my switches. Whew, that about all, I guess. Regards [ 14. February 2005, 01:27: Message edited by: Ed M ]
Looks like everyone is making great progress! Here you go: I am beginning to work on the highway bridge. It is a kit made by Rixx. Here are all the parts laid out. I have begun to assemble the pier. Here is the foundation. I am planning on painting the pier after it is assembled. The parts didn’t want to stay on the spurs so I figured to go this way with it.
Hey there partiers! Got some quality time today, with mixed results. I built a tunnel portal, did some preliminary foam ground cover, and some more sculptamold contouring. The problem is, the sculptamold was a little too wet. One wall of the tunnel portal ended up warping. And it's all glued in, molded, etc. So... not sure what to do with that! But it was good to get back to work on the railroad. I will keep forging ahead! Tasks this week: - More sculptamold contours - More ground foam work - Investigate water feature! Never in the plans, but I'm thinking of doing a small pond on the far side of the layout, for two reasons. One, if I screw it up it's far enough away not to be noticed much, and two, it's the only spot really left for it. Anyway, it would involve some tough work in a slightly hard to reach area, so we'll see... Cheers!
Well, week 2 of the projects. I got the turntable project started. I got a new Atlas turntable/motor for $20, an Atlas roundhouse for $22, and a Walthers 90' turntable for $19. Another $10 of plumbing parts/bearing and I now have a smooth working turntable. I have bought two 'handy panels' of 1/2" plywood and plan to get started on mounting all of the contraption Wednesday evening(Monday night is Valentines's, and Tuesday is 'Pistol Club'). By Thursday evening, I should have the old terminal area void of track and can start cutting/fabricating the mounts to install the new turntable! For this interested, there is a nice writeup/pictures on the Atlas HO forum. Search on 'walthers turntable'. About the second screen in you will see a post by 'fullscalepilot' - what a simple and inexpensive project. Jim Bernier
This is going slower than I had hoped. I thought I was done with the "do-it-yourself styrene jigsaw puzzle" phase of the operation, but no such luck... Here's where I am so far: I have a bit more work on the various "tiles" that make up the area. Then I have to attach them all together, attach that assemblage to the module, and then I can begin the work of hiding the edges.
I'm pretty happy with the way my gap filler has turned out. The new section is non revenue and lifts out in one piece. It's gone from this: To this: Although it not quite complete , still needs vegitation and details. It does what it is supose to do, it breaks up the appearance of the shelf and hides the transition. The body shop and burger stand have their dedicated spots, with room for the Broken Arrow Springs Trading Post to be added along a state route. Now I have to get back to the main focus of the project and finish laying track. The run along the back drop will go up a 2% grade to a future blob that is also the turn around for the double track main. hmmmm.... where did I put my solder...... .....
Took a break for a few minutes while my 4bay hoppers were soaking in PineSol and just ran my newly acquired trains See them by clicking here
I've worked a little bit more with my switch stands. The switch stands are painted black, also the rods. Now I've glued with ACC the first switch stands. At first I've to guarantee that the target will turn around 90 grad. Therefore I use the paper instead gluing the target (in the wrong place). Next time, I can post pictures of the moving switch stands. Wolfgang
Thank you, Geeky, but this steamer weathered my friend Peter. My work was the RS-1. Story, it should be scraped by SOO. So this engine was bought by WT who was in lack of a switcher. They painted only the name. Wolfgang
John Great job on the "gap". Wolfgang Awesome switch stands. I have pretty much finished the foliage. I add foliage, fine leaf foliage, and clump foliage to the trees along the side of the station. I also completed the last section
The next few shots are some overall photos of how the diorama now looks with the foliage pretty much complete.
Now here are some photos of my trying to figure out how the bridges will look and what I need to do. Some things I discovered from this is that I am going to need to do a cap for the abutment. Also I can’t paint the highway bridge pier until I have the abutment finished because I will have to adjust its height.
Ok.... just a quick word watch out for those 500 Watt Shop lights!!!!! last week I poured my WS water and was trying to speed up the process with a shop light I guess that was a bad move as seen in the first pic. I did replace the bridge and added another layer of water. Also added more trees to another area Rick anything yet ?????
