As Dogwood indicated in his late-August post, your documentation of this elevator build is just as impressive as the elevator build! I'm starting the 2022-2023 Winter Layout Party in less than 2 weeks, and I'm certain Party participants and visitors would enjoy following your progress again this year. Since you already have this firmly established build-thread with pics and beautiful descriptions, your Layout Party Progress Report could be a very brief comment about your progress on the elevator for the week (or on any of the other projects related to your RR modeling) and a link to this thread (and maybe the most recent eye-catching pic, if you have one).
Backdrop/Divider continued........... . . . . . . . . . Next up will be painting this section and getting the rest of the backdrop up in the long center section. If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
Backdrop Pt. 8.... Time to paint the smaller backdrop/divider. Dave has a lot of great YouTubes on rockwork, paint, backdrops, etc. ( HERE ). . . . . . Click on the image above or ( HERE ) for the video of Dave's that shows how he did his backdrop. Part of my layout will be Utah's red rock canyon country and I'm going to use some of his techniques such as the following video. I'm old and need to make scenery fairly quickly and he has some techniques, ( Click above or HERE ) that help with that and they can/could also apply for other types of rock formations, not just red rocks. If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
Backdrop Pt. 9 Time to get the last part, the long part, of the backdrop up and ready for paint. . . . . . . . . . Next up will be getting some paint on the backdrop. If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
This backdrop is really coming together nicely. I like how you blended the dark and light blues on the backdrop, something I never thought to do.
Backdrop Pt.10 Paint................. . . . . . . . Next up I'll finally start putting down some roadbed and track!! If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
simply awesome yeppers. wow this is gunna be great when its all done (oh wait there never really done are they )
Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 1 Next step isn't fully defined at this point. I'd like to get the hidden track down going to the coal mine and for the hidden staging area so that I could run trains on it to make sure it is as bullet proof as possible. I'll still be able to get to it in the future but not as easy as now. It would also be best if I put down at least one perimeter track around the whole lower level of the layout so I can runt to and from the coal mine and hidden staging. Other alternative would be running as far as possible and then backing the train. Don't like this option for a number of reason. The other logical step now would be to finish painting the backdrops with clouds, distant mountains and such. To paint them is either going to be a long reach or working by sitting on the layout as I've done at times. Problem is I need to build some of the scenery such as canyon walls and mountains that sits on the upper level and against the back drop. It could be removable at this point. I just need it there to be able to paint in the distant mountains. Plan now, I think, is to get the hidden track down, a perimeter track around the whole layout with some of it placed at the edge and not in a ways where it will ultimately be. I should be able to work over/around the perimeter track after getting it in and work on the upper level scenery and painting the backdrops. The main area that won't work well on is the tracks to and from the coal mine that are right where I need to sit to work on the scenery and painting of the end backdrop/divider on the side that faces the coal mine. The mine doesn't have to be there for this testing, only the tracks, so think I can make a platform out of some plywood I have that would sit a couple inches over those tracks for me to sit on and would be easily removable. OK getting all of that down allowed me to picture it better myself. So onto laying roadbed and eventually track.... When I build the part above with the arrows going to it I attached it so that it would be easy to remove, at least with no trackwork on it. 10 minutes later it was gone and the location of the hidden tracks to/from the coal mine and for staging were in view. The tracks shown above are the ones that I'll build a work platform to sit over them while I work on the backdrop shown in the image. I'll probably try and finish that upper level and backdrop now. I'll lay the track and turnouts there. Wire them and try and finish the scenery there along with painting the backdrop with clouds and distant mountains. While I'm doing that I should be able to run trains over most of the track that will be place above. To this point none of the 1 inch foam board has be glued down. I got all the pieces in place where I wanted them and then pulled one at a time back out and vacuumed the underside of it and the area where it was going. I also did an initial cleaning of the areas where I would glue the foam board down in at this time. After the area was cleaned I replaced the foam. I used Liquid Nails next as an adhesive. When I did my test layout ( HERE ) I used weight to hold the foam board down while the adhesive set up but went a different route here and plan on using it to hold the foam down while attaching it to the rest of the layout. I've got lots of scrap plywood around so took pieces and drilled two or three holes in them large enough that the 2 inch grabber screws wouldn't grab in them. Put them on the foam and screwed through the foam and into the plywood base. It is easy to apply a lot of pressure to the foam this way and I didn't get carried away. I like it as plywood can be positioned at the joint where two piece of foam meet and you are pulling them down together so they will be exactly the same height when the adhesive sets up. The screw holes in the foam aren't large and will be easy to fill with spackling when I apply it to the cork roadbed. I need code 70 turnouts for the hidden track areas so started making them. I'm using ME code 55 for the visible areas but couldn't find enough of it for the hidden areas during COVID so bought some code 70 I found. I cut my own PCB ties as I find them easy to make, very inexpensive and can cut some any time I need them. You can find more about purchasing the material and how to cut and use it along with videos ( HERE ). The ties twist when you cut them but are easy to straighten. Check at the bottom of the page ( HERE ) for the method and a video of how to do that. I like the flexibility of being able to make these ties extra long if you need them for a unique situation like what I ran into building a double crossover and a custom curved turnout to straight turnout recently. If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 2 I needed to fill in a couple areas of the track surface that are under the foam board. They are areas next to the hidden track from the coal complex that the train with the empty cars uses to proceed back to the hidden staging. I have access areas next to that track that are wide enough for me to see up into and also wide enough that I could reach up to retrieve a derailed car or to clean track. I'll also be able to lift the landscape off above the hidden track if I need to do something in that area where I really need to get to the track. I made a template and cut a piece of 1/2” plywood to fill part of the area next to the hidden track and retrieved a couple of the risers I had made when I build the bench-work and track surface. Two risers were put into place and the filler piece attached from below. If you are considering building a layout or adding to one take the time to see the approach I'm using with risers ( HERE ). Risers are normally used to raise sections of track above the base layout. Usually one builds bench-work and attaches the track surface directly to the bench-work. Later that bench-work can be in the way of adding switch machines or other items that attach to the bottom of the track surface. By raising all of the track surface with risers, even if it is all flat, can overcome that problem. The risers are only attached to the track surface from below. If you ever find one in the way unscrew it from the bench-work and the underside of the track surface and move it out of the way and reattach it. Simple and effective. In my case it has already been a big help as I've move along with the layout and have had a clearance problem under it. The problem has been solved by moving the riser. Again give this approach some thought. It is easy to do and gives one a lot of flexibility down the road. Since I had access to the hidden track from the other side of it I decided to close this space in. It will be easier to build the mesa landscape above the area with it closed in. . . 30 minutes or so of work and the area above was filled in and I can glue the foam board to the filler piece. I need to build the turnouts for this section and I wanted two crossovers back to back from the outer main line to the one next to it. The track wasn't long enough to build the two crossovers back to back in the straight section there. I could of built another double crossover to fit in the space but this will be easier and faster to build. I'll use two straight #6 RH turnouts just to the right of the picture above on the straight section and will build the cross over above that will be a curved-straight crossover. I needed a templates so started with what is shown above and finished with one shown two images below. It took a couple steps to build this as my printer can't print a template as long as what is needed. I could of run up to the community college and they would of printed it but tried doing it with the sequence shown above and it worked out fine. I've been working on the staging area on the layout part of the day and building turnouts the rest of the day so will get to this soon and look forward to it. If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
Hidden Coal & Staging Tracks Pt. 3 Moving along jumping to whatever I feel like working on for that day. . . . . . . . . . If you came into the build here you can find the main index for the build ( HERE ). Sumner
LOL, when I first read the captions about empty/full coal cars from/to the mine (respectively) I thought you goofed. Then I figured out, these are on the hidden lines for the cars that will later be taken to/from the mine via visible tracks! I'm a little slow, but I get there eventually... not unlike a long coal train!
Dottie and I took sandwiches 40 minutes to the south for lunch today. Visited Valley of the Gods near Monument Valley. Was surprised to see 3 people camping there but it did get up to 50 today. The area has been found. Use to be no one there most of the year but the internet has changed that. I took along my practice canyon piece... ........... I did a few days ago to compare it to the real thing. Not a very good phone picture, should of used the camera I took but didn't use. Hard to compare as I'm hoping for the scenery to look more like a different sandstone formation that is up by Moab and the light wasn't very good. The noonday sun washes out the red in the rocks that really pops at sunrise and sunset. I'll think more about it and see what things look like when I put a canyon landscape in a larger area on the layout. Sumner
