I've had some serious struggles with even getting started this week. I thought I had tracked down the foam I need to get started, but after a visit there today, they ONLY carry some yellow foam between metal paper. I've found white insulation board (styrafoam) but I can't seem to get my hands on blue or pink in this area. I have one more spot to check tonight, and after my experience on the phone with several places being told that they carried blue or pink, and then showing up and finding that it's pink roll insulation, not the board, I am going in person to check out the last place within reach. If they don't have the foam, I'll have to go with the white foam and use the shop-vac and lots of sculpt-mold. Either way, I'll be building tomorrow. Pics to follow then. The rolling-stock projects are stalled too while I repair the Christmas train that got knocked-down by a 3 year-old. Not terrible, just have to put the railings back on the loco and I've already used up my coupler supply repairing the broken ones there. My own fault, but a set-back none-the-less. Keep up the good work everyone else! You're inspiring me to keep going!
Well.... first week no camera:tb-mad: But I have the building assembled. I am not trying to fudge this and make it look better than I am doing... it is assembled! Razzen Frazzen Camera...
WOW!!!:tb-biggrin: Some excellent work is getting done by many of you. This week I managed to get the plywood prairie torn down. Installed the new electrical circuit and outlets. Now hanging sheetrock. Hopefully will have it taped and putty'd with some blue paint on it by the end of the next week.
December 26 Progress! Wow some actual progress! I have painted the fascia and put a base coat on the ground areas. I have also painted my track, I use Tamiya acrylics. 1 part black, 1 part brown, 1 part dark gray, all flat of course and mix in 3 parts methylhydrate to make it about as thin as a wash. I airbrush this on and then wipe the tops of the rails right away. I have also made the beginnings of my warehouse. I am using the Evan's Designs Model Builder software for many of my buildings. I am very happy with it, especially after our exchange rate shifted so quickly in October and now kits are more expensive! I print the buildings onto 32lb premium laser paper and then make the structure from 3/16" foam core. If you use contact cement be careful not to get any on the printed area as it will smudge the ink. Also a big thank you for the links to the photography tips, if I could find my manual and get out of my drive way for a remote shutter release I would be well on my way. But I think just using the low light settings and no flash has helped. Baby steps right? 1 more thing I would like some help with, how do you guys get the larger pictures in your post? Ivan
That's still my "status quo", no more work over the holidays. I had started with the actuation of the gates. Wolfgang
This week was a busy week: we got Christmas, Santa Claus brought lots of new toys for our kids, we got our youngest with chickenpox... But I was able to do little work on the layout. Onto the photos! I made the hill base with carboard strips Then I covered the cardboard web with 2" wide masking tape Here is the location where the foam board hills will be. Before actually stacking layers of foam board I have to take care of the track. I need to add ballast and weathering.
Got a wee bit more done this week. Put together my first freight shed. It's an extra building from the walthers elevator kit. Got some bases for roads in place. I'm using cheap "for sale" sign plastic signs to bring things up to the level of the tracks, so I don't have to spend a ton on styrene
Next project on my list Tonight, I started on the coal tipple site I've planned for Burt. Here's a planning shot taken after removing the existing trees. The white styrene tube represents the rough position of the mine conveyor; this will be a slope mine. Excavation progressed quickly. Perhaps you noticed the wedge of foam under the rails. Originally, the siding sloped down toward the layout edge when there was once a wye at Burt. When the wye came out, I reversed the slope of the siding here. Tonight, I replaced the wedge you see above with a new one (cut on the table saw) to produce a level siding. You may be able to spot the change below. I glued everything in place and filled the gaps around the edges with latex painters' caulk, so I'm done with this till at least sometime tomorrow. The track isn't mounted yet; I'll paint the rough terrain first before gluing it down. This structure is part of the Walthers Glacier Gravel kit. It will be a basis of a kitbashed tipple complex.
My only promise is I will try. The Goals Starting Sunday 12/28 Week 1) Rebuild the table and lay down new foam on top of old Week 2) Complete final design and lay track on freight level Week 3) Wire and test track on freight level Week 4) Build support for and lay track on passenger level Week 5) Wire and test track on passenger level Overview: Having grudgingly / regretfully accepted that I am never going to care about switching and I really just want to run trains I have decided to take a massive retrograde step and go back to the ovals but with a twist: Two concentric un-connected levels. I have decided to try to build a layout that has separate passenger and freight tracks. The freight level will be on the current 3"s above the bench work level and will be one or two concentric ovals as it has been. The passenger level will be raised four inches and will run inside the freight ovals. A three to five foot tall modern city will take up the rest of the space. Current Status: Constraints Budget: I cannot spend - anything - on the project Time: Finding more work is an absolute priority Physical Vision: Very limited but I never let that stop me before Personal Vision: Frequently outstrips the doable Intentions: Find and mark on the floor with tape two to 5 spots to place the tripod for photo taking. I am wondering if the shots taken from the same location will show greater progress or anything at all. From the Kitchen: End View:
Todd, Great looking scene and I am enjoying watching the progress on your makeover of this section of your layout. Jamie
Fence update, the gates at oil dealer, Diamond Valley are working! [ame=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IKAQ6engO-Y]operating gates[/ame] Wolfgang
Nice work on the gates, Wolfgang. For me, no physical progress so far. However, I've firmed out some of the planning and assembled some of the needed materials. The track laying should start in the next day or so. Pics will be posted in a few days. Dave.
Coal tipple kitbash is underway Here's this evening's progress on the coal tipple for Burt. This is a combination of parts from the Walther Glacier Gravel and New River Mine kits. I still need to build stairways, create a mine conveyor, and add several details. I discovered another cool little trick with this project: Typically on these Walthers kits, the roof panels have a groove along their completed ridge, even after careful sanding prior to glue-up. (Too much sanding alters the panel size unacceptably.) To fill the groove, I added 0.020 inch Plastruct styrene rod. This creates a nice crisp ridge line and is rounded like most preformed metal ridge caps are in reality.
I'm a day late for my post, needed to finish up some stuff. So for the first week I did not make my goal, only about half way there. =( So this next week I will finish the backdrops. But for now, here is what I completed: Finished painting the upper and lower 18' of backdrops, except for that one spot in yellow. Also got the ends of the peninsulas installed. Took some PVC pipe and cut it in half for a nice round end. Since the ends of my peninsula's are a different size than the PVC pipes, I took and cut some grooves down each pipe so it will open up to match the ends of the backdrops on the peninsula's. Then drilled some holes and sunk some screws in the middle. I screwed in the pipe and applied just enough pressure to the screws to keep the ends even with the backdrops. Will have to go back and fill the seams and screw holes and then paint. Should be done by this next week, along with the rest of the backdrops. -Mike
Quick update Hey all, Love the progress everyone has so far. Especially the working gates. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on an order of Woodland Scenic risers and inclines so I can begin. I was hoping they would be in for the first week, but I suppose the Christmas rush makes shipping slow down. :-/ Keep up the great stuff. -Mark
great progress all the working gates are really cool not much progress over the holiday.I filled in the screw holes on my modules and painted brown, waiting on track I will be getting the rest of my track next week and was looking for some tips for painting/weathering track and turnouts. some will be Kato Unitrack and the rest will be atlas code 80, all in N scale. Wayne W.
Today's progress on Burt coal tipple I finished the stairway and remaining details this morning. After a quick coat of primer dried, I painted everything this afternoon. I airbrushed the Grimy Black because there were too many surfaces to brush by hand. However, I brushed Milwaukee Road Gray onto the corrugated exterior to get the streaking effect I prefer and to avoid masking. As I usually do, I weathered with a wash of Grimy Black, Dirt and Rust all blended together. I went a bit heavier than normal as this is intended to be an old structure. It looks better on the layout than on the workbench. Scenic work to finish the site is pretty much all that remains. I've learned something during this project: You can never have too many different styrene shapes stashed away for that next project. I used flat strip, channel, H-pile, round tube, square tub, angle, rod, stairway, stair handrail, horizontal handrail, plain sheet, and corrugated sheet. Strasburg, thanks for your encouragement. I tend to focus more on 'bash' than 'kit' in 'kitbash'. To me, a kit is a box full of possibilities and spare parts.
