I ruled out the house track this weekend. No sense in adding a turnout pair into an already tight curve. I'm positive my PA-1's would complain about that! I used Ace Hardware folding table legs. I screwed them into a hunk of plywood I Liquid Nails'd to the underside of the door. There's otherwise no meat for the screws to bite into. It's not perfectly level, but is good enough. Maybe my floor isn't level. That wouldn't surprise me.
I used a set of folding legs from Lowe's. They're mounted to 4 1"x4"s screwed to the frame of the door. I'll have to use the age old method of checking if the layout is level... a piece of track and a well rolling car. I was going to say something about your PA. lol Is it a Kato or Life-Like?
I have two sets of Life-Like PAs, one an undec. A-B-B set I bought to paint for my own railroad I was planning. The other is a D&RGW A-B-B-A set in the as delivered black and Grande gold. I have a book called Rio Grande Diesels A Pictorial History Vol. 1 by Joseph Strapac and the cover art shows the Exposition Flyer with some California Zephyr equipment being pulled by PAs in that paint scheme. I LOVE it! I'd love to get a couple of Kato Rio Grande PAs for a model of the Yampa Valley Mail. btw, the Grande is my second favorite road. When I was in HO, I was planning a small layout to run my Rio Grande equipment.
I have all 3 of the RG Diesels series. Very worth the effort to find and buy them! Some more progress! While I have been quiet here lately, I have been slinging 'mud on the layout! Tinted Sculptamold, that is! I had some cheapo satin brown paint I wasn't planning to use, and so a few teaspoons worth went into every batch on regular Sculptamold. This stuff is great! The resultant rocky texture is very nice for a mountain layout. I still have to do loads of rock molds, and hundred of trees, but the mountains are starting to look the part! Tunnel 25 side: Cresent, with rebuilt corner; I didn't like the slope I carved into the corner, so I hacked it out, put in a new piece, carved it to represent the rough MOW road that leads from the west end of the prototype house track, and sculptamolded the whole mess in: The Crescent end: I have plenty of work ahead of me to hide the joints from the removable mountains, but that's ok. Trees, rocks, and other stuff will hide them in the future.
Looks Great Hemi ! I especially love the way you've courdoned off the work site from 'little hands'. This construction site means business.
Thanks, Stephen! For the most part cordoned-off.... Glen can hop right over, and Isaac wants in as well. Glen loves to help mix and sling sculptamold, and Isaac's a little bit too young for most activities related to the layout for now. Glen's a great helper, though! You can see I didn't bother to mix my cheapo brown paint, and the variety of brown hues in the tinted scenery really shows. Not sure what, if anything, I'll do about it. I need to research my photos, and see what colors the rocks really are, grays, I'll bet, will dominate. I suppose I'll need to paint the rocky areas again, but I dunno just what color yet.
I just tossed a pile of scraps away, if ya wanna go dumpster divin'... Because of Thanksgiving, and relatives in town, I got nothing done on the layout. Track should be here soon, I hope! Dealer had a turnout on back order until the 24th, and that was the day I called about it.
I like the way the browns appear, especially the lighter shade. It has a "dry" appearance. Sort of like what I'd expect in semi-arid or arid country. Boxcab E50
Thanks, Caleb! Your layout is inspirational to me, as well. For half my age, you sure have double my skills! At any rate, Sculptamold, when tinted works well. The only thing you have to watch out for when mixing it, is ensure the paint is thoroughly mixed. Otherwise, when you get to the bottom of the can, the pigments are much more potent than the stuff at the top of the can. That's what gave the biggest color tint variation. The first batches I mixed had a more gray appearance; and the last batches I mixed had a very robust brown tint, thanks to the pigments all settled at the bottom. The rocks in this area I model are much more subdued.
Yahoo!!! A pack of track came in the mail today! Flex and #7 turnouts in c55... Tracklaying to commence tomorrow!
A couple hours' worth of work tonite, and the mainline is laid! The siding at Crescent remains yet to be done, but there's track on the layout, at long last!
Crescent's done! I laid it last night! Yahoo! Soon, I'll start debugging the track, and wiring it all up.
Good to hear you've got the track down. Time to get out the PA? lol I've done a bit of doodling on the door with the small amount of track I have. I think my idea might just barely fit.
I've thought about it. Unfortunately, my scanner and my iMac aren't speaking to each other and my progress has been very slow. What I need to do is get a new roll of film and when I use it up, get the photos put on a CD.
