I presume you're talking about the foam (I just woke up and am quite groggy). All the foam was cut with a cheap razor knife (the kind that have the long blades made up of segments you can snap off) and then the carving was done with a serrated kitchen knife-and obviously I have a long way to go with this I have to admit, having worked with the foam I am wondering about using more cardboard lattice (of which I originally planned to not use at all). Saying that, it's probably just the tools available to me that are making life more complicated. Unfortunately my budget doesn't include a hot wire foam cutter, so I may have to go pick up a cheap coping saw and turn it 90 degrees. We'll see
The plan was to wrap hardboard around it (sounds insane, I know) but I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't try and track down some veneer-or something thinner and more flexible than 1/8th hardboard. Anyone have any thoughts on this/wish to tell me how bat-s***-insane I am?
Have been busy this morning cutting fascia panels and taking much time for contemplation. Having consulted the gf last night, we came up with a potential layout for the town/shops area. Saying that, I'm trying to capture the feel of a tight knit community deep in Appalachia that is built on coal-something a bit like Thurmond WV or North Fork WV-shops and businesses right up to the tracks. As you can see, all the turnouts are in place. They're just dry fit for now to try and help me visualize if I'm hitting the right notes so to speak. Also, had to make sure that the holes for the frog wires were still in the right places. And as always folks, comments, questions and constructive criticisms are welcomed and gratefully received.
Have you had any issues with those curved turnouts? I've got one penciled into my own track plan, so I'm hoping that Atlas has worked out all the bugs by now.
I haven't run anything over them yet so I can't really say. One of the point rails looked a bit bent the wrong way, but that was a five second fix. I honestly don't know if these are first run (buggy) or from a run thereafter, but I'm sure I'll find out lol. With that in mind i won't stick them down till I know for sure that they're okay.
I like your town but it seems like it would be hard to find where to put in grade crossings with so many tracks there.
I probably should have clarified the term 'grade crossing'. What I have in mind is an old asphalt/compacted grit & grime road wandering across the tracks (unprotected), in a town where everyone knows to keep their ears open for the frequent Chessie Cats rolling through town. Nothing spectacular, but I think it'll work This is where/what I had in mind: I promise, it all looks beautiful in my mind The biggest problem I face is lack of depth in the scene so I have to keep everything right next to the tracks, with crossings on the diagonal if they're to look anything other than gaudy :/
"Lack of depth" is an excuse Make yr own frickin' "depth" with yr mad modeling skillz. This is 6" deep with 4 tracks: Here's 9" with 7 tracks: Or 9" with 3 (very widely spaced) tracks & more town and hills: Having seen your skills on your last layout, I'm sure you'll be able to rock the scene. Don't be afraid to make that runaround or all that trackage "in street": it happens! (or just lose a track ) Looking forward to seeing it all come together: very ambitious project! Roundy round cubed! (Sure you don't want to stick a few local jobs in there to drop some cars off?)
Yeah, unfortunately ambitious doesn't mix with being impatient too well-a 'quality' of which I am full of. (2 pieces of lower level fascia left to do, only started it the other day) So yes, it will be very interesting to see how this turns out. Lord knows I hope it works! In fact, I have decided to add an industry or two so there can be an interesting little switching task should I ever have an operator who enjoys that sort of thing (heaven forbid I ever hold an operating session lol) The idea being, the local would come in from either of the helix tracks (far left or far right-far right being just cork for now), loop around once, break the train before the runaround on the inside loop, drop the cars to be delivered on the middle or right track, and then proceed to switch & runaround as needed. Haven't yet figured out how there could be a pickup and drop off in the same train, but then again, I'm not a switching person. I'm sure someone who is a switching person could figure it out in a cinch! As for industries, I'm thinking woodchip loading for one and a truck dump/loading operation for the other. Not sure yet if I can find a place to squeeze a team track in or not. We'll see, and as always, suggestions welcome.
How about an ammonium nitrate loading track? There's one in the yard downtown and it hold about five cars and the covered hoppers are usually loaded by a tractor trailer with a tube from the trailer to the covered hopper. Well at east I think ammonium nitrate is what's being loaded, but a team track would provide more variety.
Reading through this thread I'm amused at the ' tight knit community deep in Appalachia' comment earlier. Funny even if you innocently used it. Where's my banjo? On the other hand I don't see what will be funny about covering your helix with semi-believeable scenery?? Any plans? Jim
@Virginian Railway: Thank you for the idea. I have to admit, my fleet is probably 35% covered hopper (if not more) and had envisioned it being a part of mainly manifest freight with no real other purpose: so to actually have a proper use for them would be excellent. I wonder if one could model one truck unloading spur that serves different trucks for different industries, with the backstory being that many industries require rail transport for raw materials, but due to the topography only one spur was available... feasible or dumb? @HOexplorer: I never thought about it like that lol. I guess what I should have said was tight knit coal-company-centric community deep in Appalachia. As for the helix, that will have a backdrop surrounding it and it will hide it completely. @Daniel_r: Thank you :-D the total diameter is ...*goes to measure*... 30.5" across the outside supports, the roadbed is 30" across
Fascia about 90%. Have to fill screw holes, smooth out the joints and round the edges. Still, the big things are done. Also, starting to play around with the backdrop and seeing how things look. I'm feeling encouraged so far, looking forward to the point (a long long way away) where I can throw that up and get the scenery shell roughed in.
Got bored with what I was doing (so bored that I can't remember what it was) so I went ahead and did this: In other news: Finally got this to start looking like something. I'd say this piece of 'mountain' is about 1/3 done with the whole building and sculpting process (still have the back and all against the helix to hide the track going to staging) Incidentally, started testing the helix today with a train going between two dead end tracks. So far the only derailments have come from the temporary track laid down that hooks up to the helix lol. Odd problem I am having-or maybe it isn't odd at all- is that I'm at a ratio of about 1 loco to 4 or 5 cars to get up the bloody thing. It's only built to a 2% grade, but is it perhaps the curvature that makes it that much more resistant? Or is this just normal for grades (I've never really used them before). All responses, as always, greatly appreciated.
