Well....I've revised my goal a little bit. I had originally planned to put the trees in for the Winter Layout Party and not start work on the overpass until the Spring Layout Party, but needed to have the bridge height figured a little more precisely so I could set the line of the horizon and wooded bluff correctly. The overpass is really 2 bridges side by side...two lanes eastbound, 2 lanes westbound... and this is just one of them. There are 10 sections done so far. Instead of installing the plastic pillars in the bridge supports, I'm temporarily using floral stakes that I usually use as tree trunks for my lichen trees. (The floral stakes are like square wooden toothpicks on steroids. They are pre-painted dark green and available at Wal-Mart.) I'm trimming the stakes a little bit at a time until I get the proper clearance over large loads at the back of the yard where the bridge is lower to force the perspective a little bit. After I get the second overpass ready, I'll make a curved section of roadway that will disappear into the trees. This curved section will also be designed to force perspective. The road will pass behind some trees and then will reappear as a picture mounted on the backdrop. The bridge picture shown in these pics is still not positioned exactly where I want it, so I'll be adjusting that a little higher so it shows more. I also intend to mount some pictures of buildings that peek up above the tree tops and can be seen when railfanning by the Yards. I threw some cars onto the overpass and snapped another pic. Eventually I'll paint the lanes and shoulder stripes on the overpass.
Lovin' everyone's progress reports. Some really excellent work is being done here.:thumbs_up: Jamie that swing down gate is impressive. Diezmon watching the asphalt progess is helpful as I'll eventually have some road work to do. Wolfgang that tree is just too realistic. I'm back to work so progress has slowed. However I'm forging ahead with that ugly window. I'm sealing it with caulk around the frame as it is a bit of a dust and moisture leak. Still hoping to finish this and get the wall and floor painting done before the end of the party.
Mark, excellent work on the drop-down gate. Very solid engineering! If you have not done so yet: From my experience adding an electrical "fail safe" is a must! I have a 9-track dropdown plus a two-level, 4 track swing gate on my layout, and even with the most of care would have send trains to the floor (tiles!) would it not been for the "dead" track sections whenever a gate is "open". I had some early issues with derailments on curved track entering the dropdown, but since I have added short guardrails everything works fine. Dave, the bridge looks good. I would reconsider building a curved section: It woudl be very tight between the yard and the backdrop and probabyl just draw attention. You could just remove the trees between the bridge and the backdrop: Everybody will assume that the road goes down on the other side of the bridge, hence it will be out of sight. My progress: I have stocked up on scratchbuilding supplies for the next buildings, though I will probably not get anything done until the party is over... Cheers Dirk
This is not part of my planned layout party work. Instead, it's a favor I promised to a friend last year, so no... this doesn't go into my layout. I rebuilt and expanded a Walthers 130 foot turntable for a friend. It grew from 130 feet to 157 feet (added 2 inches to the actual diameter). I added length to the bridge at its midpoint using styrene sheet, strip and shapes. I made all my curved cuts on a bandsaw with a 1/4" blade. Paint is airbrushed Polly Scale Grimy Black and Desert Storm Sand. Here's a visual comparison of the original pit wall and the finished structure. Per my friends instructions, I used Z scale track for the pit rail. I used Evergreen styrene standing seam roof sheet for the pit wall because the parallel scores have consistent depth and spacing. Square strip stock strengthens the floor to wall and wall to flange joints. The rails remain extra long right now to allow for trimming later. This project took me about 8 hours.
I had the pleasure of visiting Mopman's fantastic layout during the Plano tour. No offense to the photographer but let me say that the photos don't do this layout justice. Mopman has a truly great layout in the works. His craftsmanship is superb and the layout is just very well thought out. All handlaid track and it flows beautifully around the room. Excellent job!
Great work on that bridge Dave. Not to be an armchair quarterback ..but as you readjust the bridge height, don't forget the looming height of autoracks also. I didn't notice any in the pics but it might be something to consider. Keep up the good work.
Mike, That video just kills me...I go overboard on everything. I did want to update my railroad's logo to match the CSX "How tomorrow moves" image introduced in 2008, and while messing around in Photoshop the video idea hit me. As for the gate, I had to disassemble it to notch the deck for the key masonite spline on each side, and when it went back together, I think one of my sides got out of whack. Gonna reassemble it and try to get the alignment perfect as I did when it first went together: Dave, I have a complete step-by-step account of how I built the gate on my website. And yes I do plan on having the electrical block on the gate and the approaches go dead when the gate is open. You can click this link for the gate details, but here is a closeup of the hinge (gonna get a wire brush in the Dremel to take off all those price stickers): FYI that is a 4" gate hinge from Ace Hardware. It has a tiny bit of play in it which concerns me, I may go back and see if they all have that play or if the one I got is a loose one. Of course, the play is not really hurting anything because as it is assembled, there is no downward play in the hinge and the deck is perfectly level on both sides of the gap. Still would like a tight hinge if I can get one. Now I am gonna sit back and enjoy everyone else's fine work Jamie
MOPMAN, I can sadly report that the cold that left you after two weeks has taken up residence in me! As such, I am home today and get to catch up on all of the postings I missed while getting all my work finished up over the weekend: Mike, As others have said, you have done a great job with the dropdown gate rework. Watching you and others do reworks like this, and now that I have been doing layout construction for 6+ months, I can say I am more comfortable moving forward with projects because if something doesn't come out right, it is not the end of the world to tear something out and rework it. Of course I have put extra thought and effort into the key areas that can not be easily redone (benchwork, backdrops, etc.), but I spend a lot less time worrying and procrastinating and more time building thanks to seeing the efforts of others on this forum. MOPMAN, Glad to know that you are feeling better, and that is a very impressive river scene you have going there. The way you have constructed that scene, you really don't even notice that there is a straight layout edge--everything flows smoothly, the foliage along the river edge is perfect, and the house up on the bluff looks great. Well done! Grey One, Nice progress you have there. Those will be foam supports I take it? I have a little 2x4' layout that I constructed about 8 years ago using foam supports. It is currently in the train room right now on its side. Every time I do some work, I have to move it around, and not a single piece of foam or track has come loose during all the shuffling about. Dave H, Love the bridge--will really "break up" all of the trackage in the yard and add a visual point of interest. Plus will add realism, since it seems every large yard has some type of bridge similar to yours (both of the big CSX & NS yards here in Atlanta do). Be sure to pose a few railfans on there throwing caution to the wind for a few good photos from the sidewalks Todd, The turntable is outstanding. It will be a long time before I take on a project of that magnitude. Jamie
Jamie - Excellent work! I love the idea behind that locking technique. pachyderm217 - Very nice. I've never been a turntable guy, but this is sparking some interest. I've still doing scenery here. I haven't been able to pick up more supplies yet, but I'm doing ok with what little I have so far. Once I get talus in, it will make a world of difference though.
Progress on the PCBL. The pink foam got the gaps filled with spray foam, sanded, and painted this weekend. BTW, don't try to squish the part of the spray foam that pokes out of the gaps. It just collapses the foam expansion and leaves massive holes in the gaps. I had the brilliant (at least I thought so) idea to lay boards over the surface of the pink foam to reduce the amount of trimming of the spray foam and also to get the spray foam surface to harden even with the pink foam surface to leave the smoothest possible result. I ended up with boards stuck to the pink foam and large holes in the spray foam. I had to spray foam into all the gaps again... :tb-hissyfit: :tb-biggrin: But I'm on to the next goal: getting the track installed. I'm hoping to get this done this week. Here is a photo of progress:
Wow, if not for those humongous pushpins as bumpers in the background, I could have taken this for a proto photo!! Very nicely done.
I appreciate the kind words. I make them myself, however when I first made them they were quite bulky.. they look so much better now after doing some Tree Trimming. I think there's a thread on here explaining the technique I used already. I'll have to search for it.
Thanks Doug & Jamie. There is still more work to do on the scene, but it does look better with more trees in place (and many more to go). I hope to get started on the backdrop between Van Buren and Alma in a couple of days. Right now I'm taking a short break after the Plano show (I'm about trained out). Ya'll keep up the great work.
If you can find that post that would be great! The trees look very realistic after trimming, thanks for sharing the tips! Cheers, Colin
I'm onto sidewalk work now.. trying to get things to look old and used before I paint 'em. Has anyone here used good 'ol rustoleum grey primer for cement? or is that TOO grey? I tapered the corners down with a nail file... working on shaving/cutting/scratching to make things look old.
WooHoo! Mystere, your layout is looking superb! And so fast! And Diezmon, the sidewalks are looking smooth, especially when you look at your pics full size Everyone is doing great work! =) I never thought I'd say this, but...... I finished painting my backdrops! I'm really happy with how they turned out, and with the PVC pipe at the ends of the peninsula. While I still have my paint out, I'm going to go back over the ceiling and get all those stray paint marks next to the backdrops and cover the rest of the white wires going to the room lights. I also got my last two 8' fluorescent lights wired up and working. All this work has really paid out. =) I can finally get back to trackwork!!! And speaking of, I need to handlay some more turnouts, so I'll probably end up posting a how to on how I do them. =) Anyhow, pics! -Mike
Nice work everyone!!! Love the lights Mike, nice sky color too!!! I am walking again, baby steps but I am doing it. Bought a FP7A & F7B yesterday. Have some C55 track and am working on some supports to glue under the masonite so it dosen't sag or anything. Then on to track!
