This is my 2nd attempt at building a lay out in HO scale, the table measures 5 feet by 8 feet and took a few months to build.
This is a fuzzy pic of the over all finished work.
I did the best I could with painting water, I will add clear resin over this later.
Here I have Chopper Dave with two Jazz singers thumbing a ride.
Every good town has a speed trap or two.
After spilling paint thinner on my road and it eating a hole into the styrofoam I put the road crew together to hide my boo boo, there is a guy on a ladder in the hole.
Here is my Parody of the Santa "Fa" loading Dock...LOL!
Being an EMT I just had too do this one, modeled after an actual crash right down to the color of the truck.
A Local Cop in traffic,
Waiting for the 507 on track 2,
We will be back to pick these up later,
Santa Fe Cabooses being delivered down the line,
Here is a glimps of the 3 muralled open gondolas, with city scenes at night.
My Army F-7 out bound.
Well other than wiering 10 buildings for lights today I still need to wire another 20 around the layout, I have a lit bill board as well, 8 qwanset huts are lit , the Train station and bording platform, Hospital and Caboose houses, the Ambulance station.
I still need too light the Cabosses in the Caboose Motor Court and the motor pool.
I worked on my street lines and detailed some more of the tucked away spots on the layout.
I'm happy that it is done but already want to build a bigger and better one, this is a sickness I think.
I'll have a lot of fun with this one and not begin another for quiet some time.
Thats it, it's a wrap for my town.
Nice looking layout. Lots of detail. Keep up the good work!
Bill
Red Horse--
My friend, the Bug has Bit. It will NEVER be finished, LOL! But I sure like what you've done. Just wait a couple of days, you'll take a look at it and think: "Hey, I can put another detail here, and maybe here--and oh, wow, I can change THIS--"
Example: I just spent the past four days building trees--it dawned on me that my forest wasn't THICK enough. Just got in a ton of 'rubber' rocks to re-do mountain faces that I've been happy with the past six years. Just ordered in a bunch of brass loco details because it dawned on me that the oil-burning loco I converted to coal six years ago doesn't have an ASH-PAN.
Nah, you're not finished yet. The Bug has Bit.
But I sure LIKE what you've done!!!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Jess,
Well done! As everyone has noted, it's never finished. I'm not done, after four years, and already contemplating replacing some sections with upgrades scenery and structures. Keep on railroading ! I look forward to seeing you layout in person.
Jim
Great work! I agree with Loathar that your roads are very realistic. How did you achieve this reality? The EMT scene really makes one take in the details. I happen to be one of those who was lucky enough to have built a 24'x24' garage loft, dedicated exclusively to an "around the room HO model railroad". Needles to say, there are still many scenery details that are (almost, but not quite) completely detailed. Being a scenery buff, I have all the track and turnouts in place, but have never completed the required DCC electronics to run the train around the entire multi-reversed loop trackage,(after five years of building the layout). My only suggestion is to take photos, and get a book on modeling "realistic water". Be sure to paint the base a dark sort of greenish-black, which tapers off to a light brownish color, as one approaches the shorline. The main point is to plan the final layout design, and install dead switches to the, (someday), layout expansion. Bob Hahn
The roads are simply the texture of the old school white styro foam that I had to use as a base.
I was way to far into the build when I was alerted too the pink and blue foam board but in the future I will use the more dense stuff, but I also like the look of my roads and will make my future roads out of thin slices of the white foam, I was given a bunch of this foam when it was left over from a walk in freezer job a friend did, the stuff is almost 4" thick so it was nice for carving out my lake and river as well.
When I step back and look at it I'm very happy with my 1st completed layout, I really liked my first attempt but when it was flattened by the falling ceiling I knew I had a second chance to rebuild a better one and it gave me a chance to do what I wanted too do and not be limited by my materials.
I really thought about giving up after the loss of the first one.
Thanks for the good words about the details, I really should have included the crowd of on lookers at that truck accident scene in my pic, there are about 20 people watching the rescue crew working the scene which gives it a more real feel.
I still have to weather most of my telephone poles to a grayish tint, the medium brown looks to fake.
I have seen water articals in some of my how to build a layout books but I really wanted a blue logoon style water way, I still need practise on my water but I think in time I'll get that down also.
The best part of the whole experiance was learning from the guys here and looking at thousands of HO train pics on the web, I love this site and recommend it to everyone I know.
The guys at work tease me about my trains until they come by the house and want to start their own...he he he , I'll get them hooked sooner or later and that is how I'll do my part to keep MRRing alive and well!
Happy Rails my MRRing Brothers.
Jess Red Horse of the glued fingers Tribe.
while your layout isn't really my cup of tea , it certainly looks like you're having a lot of fun with it , and that's really the point of this hobby i think . so congratz on all your hard work and i hope you enjoy it , and enjoy adding to it for years to come !
ernie
Definitely "Old School", but I like it because it is just loaded.
Some suggestions: for the accident scene, don't forget to include the guy who brings several of his small children to see the gore, the bag of beer that the driver stashed behind a bush before the cops came, and the orange traffic cones the 80-something is dragging under her Buick away from the scene.
Also, gotta be careful of those micro-busses; ever see Electric Glide in Blue...?
Those are some great suggestions, I like the cone idea and although I do have rubber neckers that are omitted from the picture angle there are no kids looking on, I don't think I'll add any but I do like the idea of tiny beer bottles scattered around the scene, it makes a statement about the dangers of drinking and driving, I have grand kids that come to play and they are now at the ages that they are aware that drinking and driving is bad, whats wrong with a layout with a message or two?
I still have to add the tiny paramedics to the scene but it is taking on a life of its own.
I didn't realize I was doing anything old school but I'm comfortable with that opinion.
Thanks for checking out my pics, most guys and gals here appreciate feed back from their work, I try to take all advice and store it away for when I do updates or some day maybe a whole new layout.
Another thing I've learned is that our layouts are never truely finished, I already have new ideas I'd like to try out.
Happy Rails and don't get caught with the glue in your back pocket!!!
Looking real good there Red Horse. You should be proud of what you have accomplished.
Enjoyed seeing the pictures of this layout as it has come together. Your sense of creativity is remarkable--the murals, etc. You have made me step back and think more creatively as I work on my own layout.