Being King is great. It's the Queen I have to keep happy too :tb-wink:. She loves the trains running again and doesnt mind the 'chain'. I am going to put her steamer on the tracks in the morning. When she wakes up and sees it running...I got it made !!! :tb-cool:
Sorry to hear about the trailer George and I was afraid of that. I lost a camper the exact same way from snow. The damage was too extensive and costly to repair. I thought of cutting the top off and replacing it with a camper shell, but couldn’t find one long enough to fit.
Putting in some streets and sidewalks .... Yes...the sidewalks are a bit wide. I had to use the 4 story as a starting place. The sidewalks at the 4 story are 1/2 an inch wide !! So....T.H.E. Town has wide 'tourist' sidewalks...lol. The streets may look to black but hey....it just rained in T.H.E. Town ...give me a break...lmao. :tb-tongue::tb-biggrin: Other then the 2 main loops...the rest of the unitrack is just temporarly attached until I can afford the X over and right and left turnouts. After that....more curbing...grass...trees...etc. Long way to go...but...it's a start :tb-wink:
Sweet! It's fun to see the progress, as my layout is now in 2 pieces standing on end in the shop. Next step, similar to what you had planned with the trailer. I inherited from a job tearing out a RV shed, a pile of good 16 ft trusses, roof sheathing and 2x6's. It's a start and maybe next summer the Railroad shed will go up. Maybe... in the meantime your solution is just awesome and has me thinking! One of my brothers put together a 2x3 layout with unitrack and loves it! Have fun!
Suck up. Er, I mean, good move. Nice to see it working out for you. Um, got to ask, does the copter pilot know he's down wind from the exhaust from the power plant?
Thnxs Steve :tb-cool: The helicopter pilot is a "NMRA Compiliance Ninja"...he has no fear. He was last heard saying " I love the smell of toxic fumes in the morning"...LMFAO !!
Got some more curbing done and a cinder block wall at BK. Still have to paint and attach the 3' sidewalk on the west end of THE Town. I will be so happy to get some grass, trees, some dirt etc on this layout. 'THE Asphalt Jungle' is getting to be to much...LOL
Your layout is looking great. Are you still planning to support the HCD with just the chains? I could easily see something "bad" happening someday which would exceed the strength of the chain attachments, where the chains attach to the wall or to the HCD. If a chain rips out of its mountings, things will get ugly, and you will get unhappy. My suggestion would be to add some sort of removable or folding legs which would support the forward edge of the HCD when it is folded down.
Thnxs Johnny. Beats me sitting on a desk chair all day. :tb-biggrin: Carl... I've thought about it. The chain seems fine though. Should a 'mishap' occur the door is only a foot from the top of the end of the bed. Short distance to fall. Yea...could be worst for things to hit the floor if the bed wasnt there...lol. Unfortunately...THE WIFE and I dont get to see the grandkids as much as we would like :-( So that just leaves us 2 adults watching trains. I am willing to take the chance with the chains for the abilty to easily close it all up at the end of the day. :tb-cool:
George, how about two hinged legs from an old card table, on the front edge of the door (one each corner)?
Rick...:tb-ooh: The left edge of the door is over the corner of the bed...cant get a leg in there. The other side is open but....I dunno. I have entertained the idea of a removable post leg...to put about 16 inches in from the edge of the door and up against the foot of the bed :tb-wacky:. All ideas appreciated.
Very nice, the swing down layout is not new, but seldom done. Your's is great, and with planning like you've done for the cell tower, a guy can still have a great layout. How about removeable mtns? The deserts here in AZ are not flat for long. Lots of mtns, not huge, but mtns none the less. Not necessary, but what you're doing is really nice. great way to keep a layout when room for one is hard to find. I salute you sir. Please keep us all updated on this layout, I for one can't wait to see what you do for scenery.
I browsed this thread before but only now did I realize how awesome of an idea this is. Yeah I don't think that chain will rip free from its mounts, if anything its overkill (overkill=manly). Really, really awesome idea. Heck, I could make a custom frame about 16" deep so that with the door up you would still have plenty of vertical room for hills. Also can put some fake cabinet doors on the bottom, so that in the closed position it would just look like cabinets.
George - that is a great idea all around. With a cell tower most folks would have gone with NIMBY, but you, you get it! I really like the idea though.
I am really liking the cabinet door thing with the depth for mountains/hills, trees and none hinged cell towers. The thing I don't like is having to rerail everything all the time. So what I am thinking is a shelf layout no more than 12" wide that is just a storage yard. Line it up so that when the door is open they form a "L" when done running move everything to the yard and fold up the door. The shelf can serve as a display of all your cars and engines. I am thinking turn buckles (even more manly) on the chain for accurate alignment with the storage yard/shelf.
ahahaha Yes we need more manlier man things yes having to rerail everything would get annoying, its nice to walk by and just admire a layout with the cars at various sidings.
I like the storage yard "shelf" idea. If anyone else with limited space goes the same rouet as a fold up layout...it is very fesible :thumbs_up: In my situation...I have just enough room along the one wall for the hanging HCD setup. No roomn for a yard...dangit !!
The rerailing isnt real that bad. 2 trains with 7-8 cars. Occasionally an amtrak with 3-4 cars. When cramped for space...we do what we gotta do...or just sit and look at our trains in a display case or still in the jewel cases. I would rather run em even if a small hassle at times !!!!! :tb-cool::tb-wink:
