The track plan for my new model railroad.
6.5 x 4.5 meters in size.
This is the inspiration for the city on my layout:
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
Pre war years were bad, great depresion still on the forefront.
Hello all,
GraffenThis is the inspiration for the city on my layout:
The photo looks like Central City in the 1870's to 1880's.
My wife's Great Grandfather was born there. The Great Fire of 1874 destroyed many records including his birth certificate.
He had to petition the state government to prove he was born!
In the link I provided take a look at the census data on the right side of the page. Unfortunately these numbers contradict your perceptions of the polulation growth in Central City and many other mining centers of Colorado.
The town we live in; which was based on hardrock mining- -gold and silver, went from a population of 297 in 1900 to 127 only 20-years later in 1920, according the U.S. census data.
Today, Central City has survived by adopting limited-stakes gambling. The downtown area has retained it's original look with the casinos taking over the abandoned store fronts.
A photograph taken today of Central City would look almost identical to ones taken in the late 1800's and very much like the town you are modeling.
Keep up the great work and keep posting photos of your progress!
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Central City is one example of how the architecture outlasted the population, unlike other boom to bust towns in the gold country of Colorado, which I believe is what you are modeling.
My wife and I visit Central City frequently. There are few if any dilapidated buildings within the city center.
The placement of your structures evoke the feeling of walking down these streets today.
In a freelance pike there are no constraints. The purpose of my feedback was to give a first-hand perspective of some of your premises, not to constrain you to historical accuracy.
Visiting areas like this, along with other locations in Colorado, are amazing and provide great modeling inspirations.
Keep up the great work!
Finally some progress!
I've actually managed to clear out the space for the layout.
The room as it looked...
Insulation and moisture barrier installed.
Sheetrock... We all love to do some sheetrock and mud and sanding, and mud and sanding....
I rounded two of the corners. I made a backing from two layers of 1/8" hardboard.
I used 1/4" sheetrock that I wetted and bent to shape in the corners.
The backdrop is now the next step (almost..)
I need to install the lighting first.
I painted a test piece just to see the colors and tonal values.
It needs to be toned down a bit though.
More like this test:
I've ordered the carpet and all the LED light fixtures, so it's finally getting there.
Let there be light!
First LED strip in place in the train room. There'll be double rows, the other angled 20 degrees to the wall.
Fill lighting will be with LED spotlights. Can be okay in the end.
The switched power supplies I use are from Mean well, 12 V and 18 Amps.
They are adjustable between 11.4 V and 12.2 V.
The LED strips are rated at 12 Watt per metre and are 5 metres in length. 4800 K in temperature.
Installed the second LED strip today.
The light level will probably be okay when I can install the outer LED strips as well.
I have to build the valance first, so it'll be in the right places.
My plan is to have the valance about 2-3" outside of the layouts edge.
The LED strips has a 40° light angle and will be mounted 20° inward so it will light straight down at the front, and towards the backdrop.
Started the backdrop painting. One wall is sky painted with clouds.
The backdrop is 60' long and 4'6" tall. I use regular wall paints.
I will wait a bit to paint the landscape until after I've started the benchwork.
I have started the benchwork.
It's 1/2" construction Plywood that I had the lumber yard rip for me in 5" widths.
I have glued and nailed the modules together.
The longest sections will be 8' and no one wider than 2'.
That will make it easier to move if needed.
This is the first two sections:
Your layout is coming along quite nicely!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks Dave!
Finally some creature comforts.
Carpet laid and trim installed.
It made the room much more comfortable.
Progress!
The first benchwork is up. The plywood construction makes it both light and strong.
And here is about a third of the benchwork up:
I selected to use 2x2 standing legs because if I'd used wall mounted brackets, it would have been difficult to match the wall studs.
In any case it's very sturdy.
Decisions, decisions...
I'm planning the subroadbed, and the stations, yards etc. will have 3/4" plywood. But what about the lines then?
I haven't decided yet if I should use spline or ply subroadbed.
If I should build with spline, should it be 3/4" x 1/4" pine, or 1/4" hardboard?
How to fasten it on the risers? And how should the risers be constructed?
Any thoughts on this? Pros and cons?
Graffenthe stations, yards etc. will have 3/4" plywood. But what about the lines then?
Our club used 3/4" plywood for all the sub roadbed and it was relatively fast and easy. The biggest challenge was getting the edges even on the single and double track sections. Some of them are a bit wobbly but they will be hidden by scenery so it really doesn't matter.
We also installed 1/2" Homasote on top of the plywood. Bevelling the edge of the Homasote to increase the depth of the ditches was fairly easy as long as we used a sharp blade.
The following is a bit off topic but the information regarding how we drew the sub roadbed sections on the plywood might be useful to some people:
Drawing the patterns on the plwood was fairly easy. I used my 3rdPlanIt cad program to draw the sub roadbed outline on the track diagram. Then I divided the sub roadbed into sections between 6' and 7' long. I was then able to take each section and fit it onto 4' x 8' sheets to create a cutting plan. It took a little bit of experimentation to get the sections positioned in order to get the most use out of each of the plywood sheets, but ultimately there wasn't too much waste.
The next step was to position each 4' x 8' cutting plan on the cad grid so one corner was at 0"-0" on the coordinates. Then I put points about 12" apart on the outlines of the sections. The computer allowed me to click on any one of the points and that would give me the vertical and horitontal distances from 0"-0". We transferred the coordinates to the full sized sheets, connected the dots and then cut out the pieces. Note that we cut each of the sections a bit long so we didn't have to worry about getting the end cuts exact. That was done as the sub roadbed was being installed. We also used flexible a 3' aluminum ruler on edge to help draw the curves evenly.
Once we had all the pieces labelled and cut, I went back to the 3rd PlanIt track diagram and plotted the positions of the ends of the pieces on the plan. I placed one corner of the whole track plan at 0"-0" on the coordinates and then measured the horizontal and vertical positions for each section relative to one corner of the layout room. You can actually put the 0"-0" point anywhere you want on the diagram. It doesn't have to be in a corner. Just pick a point wherever it is convenient. You can even use different 0"-0" points for different parts of the layout.
Things fit together pretty close to plan. We did make a couple of adjustments as we went, but we didn't have to re-cut any of the sections.
Plotting the track position in the large areas like the yard was done the same way.
This is a typical plotting sheet for the position of the sub roadbed and the track:
What is the maximum distance you plan between supports?
Model railroaders have a tendency to build the benchwork for their layouts so it can withstand an H-bomb explosion or an earthquake of the magnitude of 6 on the Richter scale.
3/4" or 19mm plywood for subroadbed is, IMHO, oversized. 1/2" or 12mm does the job equally well, weighs a lot less, is cheaper and better to cut.
In one of my layouts, I even went down to 9mm and had no warping.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Thanks for the input.
The plotting idea was great.
I will have my supports at 2' c-c. Would 12 mm (1/2") be enough?
Graffen Thanks for the input. The plotting idea was great. I will have my supports at 2' c-c. Would 12 mm (1/2") be enough?
I´d say yes! I recommend grade A birch multiplex plywood, which has more layers or "plies" than ordinary plywood. It is therefore much stronger and less prone to sagging or warping.
To my knowledge, multiplex plywood (MPX) is largely unknown in the US.
I can get Finnish aircraft quality plywood.
A tad expensive, but the very best.
Alway enjoy seeing your work, and your backdrops are stunning, thanks and regards, Peter
GraffenI can get Finnish aircraft quality plywood.
I think the whole issue revolves around stability. You need to use something that won't warp or expand and contract too much. One of the reasons that we went with 3/4" 7 ply G1S plywood is that we just moved into a big renovated factory and we didn't know how much variation there would be in the year round environment in the new clubhouse. So, we decided to not take any chances. We have experienced some minor expansion and contraction in the benchwork and we have had to adjust some track, but nothing serious has happened. FWIW, I wanted to use 3/4" 13 ply Baltic Birch furniture grade plywood for both the sub roadbed and the framing, but who knows if the Baltic Birch would have made a difference? It certainly wouldn't have caused any problems other than the hit in the bank balance.
I'm assuming that you are in an environment that you can adjust fairly precisely by controlling the temperature and by using humidifiers and/or dehumidifiers as needed. If that is the case then you can use thinner materials. Depends how much of a gambler you are!
Some more progress on the layout.
Almost 80% of the benchwork is ready. The ones left to do are the curve sections.
I've also added the first 5/8" plywood roadbed.
I will use plywood roadbed on the stations and yards. The inclines and upper tracks will be spline roadbed.
Spline raw material made from1/4" MDF that I sawed into 1" strips.
Tracks and turnouts. I laid out some Peco turnouts to make sure the roadbed will fit the plan.
Laser cut sweep sticks for HOn3. These are invaluable!
I got these made by a friend in the US.
It might be possible to lay the first tracks this weekend.
Graff:
Your clouds are very well done!
I admire your fortitude for having chosen spline construction. You are setting your standards high as usual!
hon30critter Graff: Your clouds are very well done! I admire your fortitude for having chosen spline construction. You are setting your standards high as usual! Dave
Thanks Dave.
Some more progress today.
I've glued the cork. It's standard HO cork that I cut off a 6 mm (1/4") wide strip to make it fit HOn3 (16.5mm - 10.5mm = 6mm).
Now I have to order more cork .... I need about 40-50 yards.
I've begun on the Spline roadbed.
I'm gluing it with "No more nails" from Pattex on cartridge (I guess it's like liquid nails?).
The splines are 6 mm (1/4") MDF, which is cut in 25 mm (1") wide strips.
There is a need for huge amount of clamps though. Have to find some more, I know I have some...
Time to make all the curved and Y-turnouts as well.
More progress. I've finished about 2/3s of the subroadbeds.
I had to check my inclines to keep them under 2%.
I've started the work on the landscape painting on the backdrop.To make a representation of the Colorado rockies isn't as easy as it sounds....You want them to be tall and imposing, and have the color variations of the real thing.On top of that I have to find a level of detail that I'm satisfied with.I use regular artist acrylics for the painting.
I built a switch to fit my layout, a three-way stub switch in HOn3.
It is a #6 with 26" radius.
I will probably use a Tam Valley servo controller for it.
It's really fun to build these.
Nice turnout Graffen!
Made a bit more on my three-way stub turnout in HOn3. One drawbar is made, now it's two more to hold the track gauge to make as well. It's a little tricky to make them because the rails must be able to move individually. I soldered micro track spikes to hold the rails in place.
Built a # 6 left-hand turnout in HOn3 with 26" radius.
They are starting to go together easy now. This one took not more than an hour to make.
I use a drawn template to get the radius right. Otherwise it's just a matter of using the NMRA gauge and Railway Engineering roller gauges.
The frog area has a narrower gauge to make the rolling stock roll better through the frog.
I use the flangeway gauge to get it right.
More power to everyone who can do that. The first one I tried actually came out pretty nice. Took a while, but totally bump free. Great, I thought, that's the very first, it should only get easier the more I try to build. Well, after 5 failed ones, I finally had another decent set of points. Never did get another good set of points, even with the Fast Tracks tools. So I just put it all away and quietly went back to buying Atlas. Still don't know what I kept doing wrong, it looks so darn easy in the videos.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
That is really great work.
.
I am wishing my own layout room was not still a year away.
Please keep the updates coming.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Latest project to be started.
Bret's Brewery from Campbell.
This will be a nice addition to the layout.
Need lots of details on this one as I got this kit to build also.
There has been some progress on the brewery.
Content of the kit.
Some of the tools I use.
I started by measuring the parts and identifying them with the numbers from the manual.
I add woodgrain with a wire brush.
I cut out the windows with a xacto chisel blade, then I stained the areas which were to be glued together.
I add nail holes with a Trumpeter rivet wheel.
As you see, the wall lines up on the right side and the left is offset.
After staining the walls with india ink and alcohol, I paint the peeled off paint.
I use turps on a brush and while the surface is wet, I apply the acrylic paint which then pearls up in places to look like peeled off paint when dry.
I used a light grey green paint.
Painted walls.
The trim was painted green.
I glued the walls together.
The floor is glued in place. I added a hole for the stairwell.
Support beams under the floor.
This is as far as I have gotten now.
Hi Graff:
That is coming along very nicely! Thanks for explaining your painting techniques.
Some more construction pics of the brewery.
The door frames cut out from cardboard:
The painted doors:
Primed windows:
Painted windows with green acrylics:
Real glass cut to size with a diamond scribe:
The buildings foundation:
Loading docks:
The water tank:
The boiler house with the PVC stone sheet that is glued with contact cement:
I used Tamiya putty on the corners:
Painted:
Roof with cardboard frames to make it removable:
Corrugated sheet cut to size:
Mortar made with pulverized clay mixed with PVA and water and then wiped away from the top of the stones:
Getting there:
Nice stonework, love the rusted roof, how was that done?
More nice work Graff!
Beautiful work on that brewery, I lover the clearly visible aging, but it is clear that the building is functional. I have a couple of questions.
How did you do the stonework - I am assuming that the brickwork came as a clear plastic, that you the colored? How was that done?
What is the technique used for the doors? I have see a technique that involved "blotching" with a sponge before, is that what you did here?
Keep it going, can't wait to see the finished building.
Sorry, I missed your question...
The clear plastic was sprayed with grey spray primer. Then I painted each stone with various beige and grey colors. The mortar is grey clay pulverized and mixed with PVA glue.
The doors are a mix of blotching and stippling.
Thomas Yorke's kit of the "Pool Hall and Bordello" in HO scale.
Finished!
Front
Primed the castings with grey and started the stone color.
I paint the stones with a light ochre.
The floor:
I used the Vallejo wood paint set.
Looks nice when dry.
The fronts are very time consuming to build, as they need to be built to fit.
Interior wall for the stair well.
Most of the building assembled.
The rooms are lit up with SMD LEDs
Rear:
Side:
Roof details:
Fuel tank;
Interior:
Details:
I'm very happy with the result.
GraffenI'm very happy with the result.
Hi Graff,
You should be happy! Excellent work as usual.
Yes of course! As a matter of fact, my wife and I hung our first five 4x8' sheets of sheetrock/drywall last Sunday in the main basement room. We've been in the house since late Nov 2018 and other projects have taken precident but now have permit to finish basement and progress is moving forward.
Yours is looking great and you are an artist. I'm going to need to figure out some back drops for my Colorado/Utah border Rio Grande layout circa 1979
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Made some progress on the layout today.
Started the track laying! I decided to begin with the dual gauge trackwork before I do the narrow gauge tracks.
I couldn't use standard gauge cross ties as they're too thick, and I couldn't use narrow gauge ones, as they're too short... I then decided to use narrow gauge turnout ties and cut them to standard gauge length...
It'll be nice to finish the dual gauge tracks as they are very time consuming.
The narrow gauge will be a piece of cake after this. :D
I
Today I stained some ties.
The HOn3 crossties and turnout ties, and the HO/HOn3 dual gauge ties.
I bought an extra bag of turnout ties as it's easy to cut them to regular crosstie length if needed.
I used water based stain mixed with alcohol and some ink.
It dried really quick.
That building looks magnificent. Very well done.
I love Vallejo paints. The wood finishing set is excellent.
The track Laying has begun.
I made the first stretch today.
The HO/HOn3 double gauge trackage is a bit tricky to do. But now that I've spiked the first pieces, it feels as I'm on the right track.
Now I have to drill the holes for the turnout motors so I can install them as well. It's really fun!
Nice! Looking forward to more...
I made a new updated trackplan:
I've made some more progress on the track laying.
The tracks around Holy Cross jct are getting there.... (yeah, the town is named to get some plus points with my resident priest... )
Hi Graffen,
Nice track work. My first impression was that it looked messy. It took me a minute to understand what I was looking at until I realized that it is dual gauge. I apologise for thinking that anything that you would do might be messy!
Some more progress on my layout.
The tracks are getting ready to be ballasted.
I'll use crushed chamotte that I'll stain to the colors I like.
Just have to do some painting first.... And add feeder wires where needed.
https://youtu.be/JYtm-BeeMx4
I've started on the landscaping.
I made a stone wall and sculpted a plaster rock along the embankment.
The road is sculptamold for now.
It's real fun to get some nature on the layout.
I've started with the plaster work on the mountains.
I use a mix of WS moulds, home made latex moulds and alu foil.
The plaster is regular plaster of Paris.
I prefer to cast in situ. I wait until the plaster shows small wrinkles in the mould before placing it on the mountain.
I carve the surface with WS rock carving tools.
May need some more plaster in places.
I removed a part of the foam mountain backdrop and replaced it with a piece of hardboard cut like mountains.
It will be painted to give a nice 3D effect.
I've started painting the backdrop.
Just regular artist acrylics.
It's important to have a good original photo to paint from.
The colors are mostly midtones at this point.
The details are being added.
A lot of work left to do.
Your painting efforts look great, both the background scene and the rock castings.
I hope I can do half as well when time comes to paint mountains at the club.
hon30critter Hi Graff, Your painting efforts look great, both the background scene and the rock castings. I hope I can do half as well when time comes to paint mountains at the club. Dave
The portal is installed and the tunnel tracks got cinders.
The hidden staging tracks are finished as well. Only the servos left to install
GraffenTunnel liner made of Shaper sheet.
I love the Shaper Sheet tunnel liner! I'm working on some mountains for the club which will be covered in Shaper Sheet. I'll be installing it shortly as soon as I have trimmed the foam structure to shape. I'll post some pictures on my layout thread.
My solution of current pickup on brass locomotives.
They pick up one pole on one side of the locomotive and the other in the tender.
And it's via spring blocks .... It doesn't work well on digital.
I replaced the gearbox cover with a piece of circuit board laminate.
There is not enough space on the underside, so I had to sand the laminate 1 mm.
The holes next to the gear are filled with epoxy for strength.
The pickups are phosphor bronze which has a small spring coil made by wrapping the wire around a 0.7 mm drill bit.
The power cables are soldered to the old pickup points.
Now you have full power pickup on the locomotive, now the tender trucks will receive the same treatment.
Made some more on the town of Holy Cross on my layout.
Made a road tunnel.
The tunnel to the staging.
My rendition of the Silver spur mine.
The church.
I'm slowly getting there.
Thanks for the pictures and video!I really enjoy watching your progress on this - looking forward to more..
Mike
Bought a horse and wagon kit yesterday.
Really nice metal kit.
I've also started on the DCC and sound install on my K-27 #455.
I make ports in the tender for the wiring between loco and tender so they don't get tangled.
I don't know if this might help, but this is how I mounted sockets in the back of a 4-6-0 that I have been working on (for years). There are smaller sockets available but I can't remember where I got them.
Nice one Dave!
You take what you have on hand...
I needed to install DCC and sound in a K-27.
So I found a sound decoder in an old locomotive.
A 21-pin ESU V4.
I took out the circuit board to avoid having to solder new contacts on the decoder.
I manufactured phosphor bronze pickups for the locomotive.
I also replaced the gearbox cover with a piece of circuit board laminate.
The decoder did not fit straight into the tender, so I 3D printed an angled holder.
That's a neat project from 'found' parts!
hon30critter That's a neat project from 'found' parts! Dave
I just finished a coal bridge for my layout.
As it's a laser cut kit, I decided not to use a wash to color the wood, instead I painted it.
I used Vallejo IDF gray primer.
I then applied an oil based wash from AK.
The crane got weathered by various rust colors and powders.
Then some gloss oil spill.
This will be a nice addition to the engine service facilities.
Nicely built kit! Great paint job too. I love the greasy look on the crane!
I have one bone to pick with whoever designed the kit. The deck board end joints are all on the same beams. That doesn't make for a very strong floor because most of the flexing will be concentrated where those end joints are. If the end joints are staggered the floor will be much more solid. If the floor in your house was built the same way the squeaking would drive you nuts!
Sorry, that's getting really picky, but things like that drive me crazy!! Nothing to do with you, Graff.
I set it on the layout.
Can look good when scenery and detailing is done.
Spruce/fir trees 2.0
Faller's fir trees are really not at all good looking, but with a few minutes of work their appearance can be much improved.
I use Polak model turf and some spray adhesive for this project.
They are very coarse as they are...
I trim the armatures to avoid the cone shape.
Less is more...
I applied some spray glue and two layers of turf.
This group of five trees took me 10 minutes to do, a time that can be reduced severely if made in a series.
I have over 1000 trees to do, so any savings of time and money are very welcome.
GraffenFaller's fir trees are really not at all good looking, but with a few minutes of work their appearance can be much improved.
Hi again Graff,
Did you look at any other brands of trees by any chance? For example, did try anything from China or the far east? I'm guessing our club's layout will take 1000 trees easily so I am very interested in anyone else's experience. We are likely a couple of years away from planting trees but I want to figure out how we will do them when we get there.
The trees look good with the trimming and the added foliage.
The town of Holy Cross needed a turntable at the engine terminal.
So I decided to build my own 75 foot turntable from plans.
I haven't followed the plans 100%, but almost...
I designed the pit in CAD and 3D printed it in three interlocking parts.
The track around it is in a small trench in the print. I haven't even glued it yet as it fits so good.
The bridge is all wood.
There's some details left to do as the stay wires and the drive system.
GraffenThe town of Holy Cross needed a turntable at the engine terminal. So I decided to build my own 75 foot turntable from plans
Well done!
A little more done on the layout.
Some pictures of my mountain behind the town.
Hand carved plaster stained with WS ocher, sienna and raw umber. Sprayed with diluted matte Modpodge.
Then a wash with black and raw umber.
I finished it by dry brushing with white mixed with ocher.
What do you think?
Progress.
It looks a lot better with some scenery.
The section I've been working on.
The brewery and coal dock.
The brewery from the other side.
The track to the brewery and supply store.
The bordello.
The band!
Some trees around the engine house.
The town.
It'll be fun to start detailing.
More scenery in place.
Now I only have to finish up the rails and ground around the turntable and some ballasting before I can continue building eastward!
Where in Colroado will your railroad be set? I model the BNSF Pikes Peak Sub, Denver to Pueblo..
Caldreamer
caldreamer Where in Colroado will your railroad be set? I model the BNSF Pikes Peak Sub, Denver to Pueblo.. Caldreamer
My layout is protolanced. But imagine Central City and westwards.
The concept is that the M&K & E built a tramway north of Georgetown, and became a part of the D&RGW in WW2.
Since your railroad is just west of mine, would you like to "interchange" traffic?
caldreamer Since your railroad is just west of mine, would you like to "interchange" traffic?
That could be fun.
OK, consider the interchange agreement signed. What products will you be shipping and receiving?
caldreamer OK, consider the interchange agreement signed. What products will you be shipping and receiving? Caldreamer
I think it's easier to do this over email?
OK. sent you a PM.
Ira
Hi all!
I felt a bit creative today, so I decided to paint some more on the backdrop.
The backdrop at this section is almost 2' behind the scenery.
I think that'll give a good 3D effect.
Very nice Graffen. It just keeps getting better and better. Keep up your excellent work.
Joe
Tested my scratchbuilt turntable.
The turntable is beautiful, even without all the details. It looks like it runs very smoothly as well.
Have you considered showing some pictures of how you built it?
I made a small video on the state of the layout build.
Turntable installed.
Finally a locomotive in the engine house.
I've started on the trees.
Definitely going to need a LOT of trees for the layout....
Some new pics.
C-25 at the engine house.
K-27 filling water.
The town of Holy Cross.
The mining company presidents residence.
The scenes are wonderful! I particularly like the engine house. I will be scratchbuilding a two stall engine house and you have given me lots of ideas.
Installed lights in some of the buildings today.
The General store.
The Pool hall.
The Bordello.
It is great with LED lights.
I installed lights in more of the buildings and connected them on the layout.
Now I'll have to see what else needs lights.
Graff,
The interior lighting and details are excellent! I hope that I have your patience when I get to that stage.
hon30critter Graff, The interior lighting and details are excellent! I hope that I have your patience when I get to that stage. Dave
I installed the new lights over my layout today.
I use 6 W LED bulbs with 2 feet gaps in between them.
It's a LOT brighter now!
Tested the new turnout control. I'm really satisfied.
What are you using for turnout motors and how are you controlling them? I'm still trying to decide between servos and Tortoises.
Thanks,
hon30critter Hi Graff, What are you using for turnout motors and how are you controlling them? I'm still trying to decide between servos and Tortoises. Thanks, Dave
Hi Dave, I use micro servos from Tower pro.
The control system I use is actually a Swedish product from MGP (Möllehems GårdsProduktion).
It's extremely versatile.
I made some utility poles today.
It's an Auhagen kit.
I installed them temporary on the layout.
I will add E-Z line later.
I made a retaining wall out of Depron foam that I scribed with a pencil before painting it with gesso and some paint.
I glued it in place with hot glue.
I surrounded it with my homemade Sculptamold.
The stone wall looks great! So do the telephone poles.
I made a bridge for the road to the tunnel.
3D printed sides and cardboard/wood subframe.
I've just graveled the road, so the bridge is a little wet ...
Sylvan car I also built recently.
I've painted part of the fascia, it looks so much better in black.
Then I found an oil pump on Thingiverse that I printed on my resin printer last night. I'll see if it can be motorized.
Painted the new rockwork today.
WS pigments.
I have now soaked the surface with diluted Modpodge so I can add the black/raw umber wash.
I built a Timberline kit I had in the stash.
The Hardware store:
An old kit with some small faults.
I had to true up the walls, as they were leaning and too wide.
The shop windows, built from wood strips and plastic castings were a challenge as the templates were wrong and the windows too wide to get a good fit....
But it turned out pretty good.
I added the awning as I didn't plan to have a lot of interior in this one.
Needs some details, then it's finished.
The layout is ready for more work.
I've cleared out everything non-essential from the train room, which gave me a little bit better overview of how to proceed.
I've got me some electrical work to do before I continue with the track laying.
Amazing work Graffen. Keep the pictures coming!
Simon