Dang Crandell, well I understand. Bet you are wishing the old layout was up and running! Looking forward to the next batch of pictures!
Ken
I hate Rust
Thanks, Blue Flamer. Thankfully, the wife's episode is behind her and she has returned to work. Unfortunately, we have other developments at our house, including me agreeing to take on another 27 students to finish an on-line university course for an instructor who was sent on training with little notice. Between getting up to speed on that bunch, continuing to run the course I started in May, and dealing with two 'needy' houseguests, plus getting the wife healthy, I haven't spent more than maybe five hours in the loft over the past month.
I have track coming from M.B. Klein's this week which will allow me to close my twinned main at the large truss bridge, and because my rails have been in place for almost two months now, including letting the framing take on some moisture by not running the dehumidier to see how that changes things, I badly want/need to run several different consists at speed to find the bad spots. Only then, and after covering the tracks with masking tape, will I feel good about moving on with scenicking. I want the two mountains built before long, so they are my next projects....to build them and enclose the tracks within them. I won't be able to spend much time in the loft, if any, prior to the end of June as things stand. July looks promising.
Crandell
IronGoat Those baffles and shields look excellent, Crandell... I'm eagerly following every step! Bob
Those baffles and shields look excellent, Crandell... I'm eagerly following every step!
Bob
Crandell.
I just caught up with your new build and do not see any recent updates since May 25th. I do hope that there are no serious after effects from your wife's fall at work that is keeping you from your endeavours and that you are in good health.
Keep up the good work and all the best to you and your wife.
As an addition, Happy Fathers Day to all you Dads out there.
Blue Flamer.
Wow, it looks great. I just caught that diamond in the track work. That will make for a great scene of action.
EDIT> not sure why it double posted.... but I still mean what I said.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
Good thinking, Brent. I may alter my arrangement in time if images look goofy or unrealistic.
-Crandell
Looking good Crandell.
Don't forget you can also use tinfoil as a light shield. On your old layout you had some nice photo's of trains coming out of the tunnel. If you use tinfoil you may or may not get a peek of that blasted rock look when you start taking picks on the new layout. Just a Thought.
Here's what mine looked like after I hit it with the grey primer.
(Edit) Here it is in a test fit behind my pink tunnel portal.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I will be using the same old ground goop, Ken. It is heavier, but it is easier to craft convincing terrain, and it holds tree armatures well.
Stein, thanks very much for your good wishes. We could use them.
Thank You Crandell for the update! Are you using foam for the lift off mountain? If so, you will have no problems.
Just got a chance to catch up on forum threads after a few extra busy days. Glad to see that your wife was not hurt even worse - it is downright scary when people we love gets hurt.
Progress on your layout looks good - hope you will get more Atlas track soon, so you can continue on the track laying.
My regards to you and your wife, and best wishes for a speedy recovery for your wife.
Stein
Here are several images showing the black poster board light baffles/shields.
...and a shot of the frame I have built to support the top of the mountain that will lift off...I hope.
You can see two parallel lengths of inverted L-girder on risers. The top of the mountain will be supported there, but built up over a trapezoidal frame with some plywood arcs. I show a plywood arc fastened under and to one side of the mountain top-frame at the right, but that will be to anchor window screen for the bottom half of the mountain that will always be fixed in place.
Yes, I'll take some tomorrow and post them as early as I can, Ken.
I bought six sheets of black poster board paper yesterday and am cutting it up and making light baffles behind my tunnel portals. The three windows at the west end of the loft, plus the shiny green floor, will make for strong light intrusion under the open framed modules. The light will flood the area behind my portals which will ruin the effect all of us would rather create. So, I curve cut lengths of the board and crease the last 1/2" or so on each end to fold under for a 'foot' to be glued to the surface just behind the sidewalls of the portals.
I'll take photos tomorrow.
Crandell, could you find time to take anymore photos? Does not matter if the layout has not changed much. We Like To Watch.
INT = International.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Thanks for your good wishes, everyone.
The track order was my first ever direct to Walthers. My order status page says it was 'completed' and 'shipped' on the same day, 07 May. The shipping method has a new code in MRR for me, and that is INT-PP. I can figure out the INT, but PP could be parcel post or pre-paid. They say it may take as much as four weeks to get to me in Canada, so I'm just going to have to be patient.
I have Peco Code 83 for the yard, but don't want to mix it with the Atlas out on the mains.
Crandell, glad the wife is OK. Hope you found some track in stock.
selector Still awaiting my shipment of Atlas Code 83 with wooden ties. Should be soon.....? Crandell
Still awaiting my shipment of Atlas Code 83 with wooden ties. Should be soon.....?
Message from the Atlas CEO to our Customers-Distributors, Retailers and Consumers,
In an effort to stabilize pricing, while assuring the continuation of quality Atlas model railroad products, I made a decision approximately one year ago to transfer all Atlas product molds from a primary supplier to multiple suppliers. The transfer of more than 5,000 Atlas proprietary molds and tools was not as smooth as I had hoped for, however, the process is nearly complete.
The following is a current update on Atlas production.
1. N, HO and O Freight Cars and Locomotives- Atlas freight cars and locomotives are in full production at our new suppliers and are currently being shipped from Atlas to distributors. Watch our A-Z on-line shipping schedule for updates. http://www.atlasrr.com/ordership.htm
2. O Gauge Track and Accessories- Atlas has a complete supply of both 3 rail and 2 rail track products and accessories. 2 rail flex track is currently sold out at Atlas and is in short supply at retailers. Production is being worked on and will be available late summer.
3. N and HO Gauge - Our new supplier is currently testing and prepping primary Atlas track molds. Production will start in June and Atlas will receive the first shipments of N & HO track this summer. Consumers should check their retailers for availability. If individual consumers need a few pieces of track to finish or repair their layout Atlas will fill their order from a limited supply of customer service stock while supplies last. Cost is MSRP, no discounts.
4. N & HO Accessories- Atlas has a limited supply of accessories and retailers should be checked for availability. New suppliers have started production of these products and full availability will be achieved during the summer and early fall.
I would like to thank all of our customers- distributors, retailers and consumers- for your continued support of Atlas products. Especially during these last few years of tough economic times. I wish you all, your families and friends, in particular all our veterans, a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend holiday.
Sincerely,
Thomas W. Haedrich, CEO Atlas Model Railroad Co. Inc.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Bob, I have asked all the major building suppliers in the valley if they carry Durabond, but none of them do. Maybe Victoria, Nanaimo, or Vancouver. Calgary later this summer when I fly over.
Crandall, that Ground Goop, does make for a nice base, I also found Durabond 90, Perlite, sawdust or vermiculite has more working time and is more controlable and better clean up. Of coarse I always love using the powdered masonry dyes in all plasters and ground "base"
Glad your wife is fine, things like that can get quite scary. Your "life" and your Wife are more inportant that the hobby. Well of coarse for some, it is their "life"
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
nucat78 Without wading back through the whole thread, what's the "goop" next to the roadbed? Is the track laid on top of it?
Without wading back through the whole thread, what's the "goop" next to the roadbed? Is the track laid on top of it?
The sub-roadbed is either half-inch or five-eights inch plywood. Because of the spacing between the sub-roadbed, and their heights relative to the plywood top surface of each bench, I have built ground goop berms and fillers. It is merely finely ground vermiculite, Portland cement, and plaster of Paris in the ratio 4/1/2 respectively. I also add a pinch of two colours of masonary powdered dye, brown and "mesa" or a deep yellow. Once the rest of the terrain has greenery, it should look a lot more finished and natural.
Glad your wife's fall wasn't more serious. I hope you get a chance to keep working but family comes first. Even though we are torn sometimes .
If you cannot fix it with a hammer;
You have an electrical problem!
Glad to hear that it is not serious injury for your wife. Concussions are nothing to laugh at but all in all things could have been much worse. Hope she has a speedy recovery and no other issues with anything else. Best of luck.
I have done almost nothing over the past week and a bit due to family obligations. Also, on Tuesday my wife had a very bad fall on a wet floor at work and suffered a concussion. The security video was sickening to watch, according to the few who saw it, so it is a miracle she is still "with" me. Even more miraculous is the fact that CTscan and X-rays showed nothing of concern to the radiologist. Between that horrible event and other family matters, I have spent perhaps five hours in the loft.
I have begun to frame the large mountain over the helix. It looks terrible, but it only has to be a supportive skeleton. The finished mountain will look somewhat better...I hope.
I'll do more work this weekend and post some photos next week. Still awaiting my shipment of Atlas Code 83 with wooden ties. Should be soon.....?
Thanks again for the up date.
Bob, you are right, I will have to think about a handy and safe place to 'hang' it besides in its functional place. For now, I think I will just slide it under the descending track that goes to the underground staging.
This looks great. Don't know how I missed this, except that I haven't been on much since January. Love to see the progress of the layout.
Dan
Crandall, looking good. So you must have solved the problems of the lift out twisting on you. Later on you can build a storage for it.
Thanks, John. It is coming along, a step at a time. I ballasted some of the rails descending to the bridge I just insterted. For this stretch, I used as ballast some sand I brought with me from the valley terrain over a pipeline running north to Palm Springs through Indio where I visited my elderly father in February. It is light in colour, a nice contrast to the local beach sand which is more salt and pepper with lots of grey.
I haven't updated my construction method and wiring for the lift-out bridge that carries the double crossover. Here is a photo of its one end. Under the flat top are four screws at each corner, around which are wound the feeders you see rising to the rails. Those feeders are recessed in grooves I cut so that they wouldn't interfere with the setting in place and lifting-out actions and wear their insulation or dislodge them. Their bared ends are wound around the exposed shanks of each thread and the tips are bent to make contact with the inverted L brackets on the shoulders of the supports on the bench. The brackets have feeders soldered to them, and the screws under the bridge's flat wood top sit on the brackets.
Here is the bridge in place. I hope you realize it is unfinished, but functional now.
Wow, stumbled upon this! Man, a guy gets off the board for a year and you get a wild hair! I want to say this is ow your 3rd layout documented here? I loved the last one... but this project.... Ah man, I wish you the best as I am so jealous. I love the room in your in. I will be following along.
Great job so far,