SeeYou190Most HOAs remain just in this maintenance role, but many get out of hand.
Within a few months of us moving into our home, the HOA board president moved to FL in early 2018. Shortly after there was only one board member left and it remained that way until last year sometime. Reading our by-laws and CCNRs, the board must have at least 3 members so this one board member wasn't legally a board. Then last fall a few of the residents decided to be board members and declared it so. No HOA residends have yet to vote them in but the Management Company Recognizes them as the board. Reading all the docs, my wife and I have doubts any of this is legal.
As it turns out, our next door neighbor we are told is the president. Now this clown does everything without following the rules. He is a 15 year old in a 60 year old mans body with a mullet! For example he was supposed to get permission from the HOA to build his fence on our east property line. Did he? No. While we were still talking to him he admitted to my wife he didn't submit the ARC form or get approval. Nor did he get HOA approval to build his patio. And btw we've had water and drainage issues along our side of the fence that we never had prior to the fence being errected. The HOA rules say fence builder is responsible for any drainage issues caused by the fence. We'll see. hm..
Add to that he didn't bother his backside get a county permit to put in a bathroom or bedroom in his basement - he told me so while we were still talking to him. Nor did he to for his pool in his back yard. The only reason he put in the fence (without the HOA's approval) was that the county got wind of the pool and threatened to fine him if he didn't install the fence, as is required in many places for neighborhood child safety. Later , he installed a shed 1 foot off our property line and the County code says it has to be at least 5 feet. The guy is breaks every rule and yet he is the HOA president? Anything wrong with this picture. But our now HOA manager doesn't seem bothered by this at all. SMH It's like the wolf guarding the hen house. For the past year he has constantly bocked our garbage bins with his too many cars such that we have left them out to hold a spot, which is puts us in violation of the rules but the only way we could get our trash emptied. HOA managment company tells us its a personal problem yet it prevents us from consistently getting our trash picked up.
We read that in Virginia that for a person to be an HOA board member, they have to be in "good standing". I read that means they are not in arrears with their HOA dues AND they are following the HOA by-laws and CCNRS etc. This guy ignores the rules and his modus operandi is it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. I also know the vice president last we talked to him, wants the HOA to overlook the big BBQ trailer in his driveway, which is also against the rules. These clowns want to get a free pass while the rest of us get hammered. Our neighbor on the other side went to put her house on the market and she was hit with 20 violations. Some we learned later were not actually HOA violations - like the roof. They expected her to pressure wash her roof, but when we talked to a professional pressure washer he said he would never do it, it would damage the shingles.
The management company was supposed to be doing yearly inspections but they weren't. Seems to me that is a neglect of duty, all the while they were collecting dues from us.
It's just one BS thing after another since this HOA woke up from the dead in the past few months with a new rogue board. The management company community manager was extremely rude to my wife when she inquired what happened to our ARC form seeking to build a fence on the other side of the property which sent in last June. Apparently they lost it. But the woman was very nasty on the phone and it was the first contact we ever had with her. We are told she has been removed as over our communty now, but she was the person who did the house sale inspection on our neighbor and wrote too many violations. The next door neighbor ended up taking her house off the market and we are helping her to catch up on some exterior remediations while do work on our home exterior. We are anticipating the HOA anual inspection (which hasn't been done for probably 3 + years due to the HOA being comotose for that long. It's a total crap storm. HOA's are simply evil organizations and often self serving.
The only real solution seems to hire legal counsel and go after the HOA, but we are bleeding money what with exterior house fixing up for the bloody HOA, my daughters wedding and other things.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I didnt know that an HOA could keep someone from selling their house because of violations. I thought they just put a lien on the property if dues were past due.
- Douglas
[off topic, and no model railroading content]...
Since you have the by-laws, take note of the annual meeting date and the specific provisions regarding elections. Prepare and print proxies for the residents, which can contain specific language about electing board members and officers, and distribute quietly in advance; gave them notarized at banks or other places with free notary-public service if you can.
At the meeting, you will want to be sure you have a 'second' and also someone quietly taping the meeting and taking minutes. At an appropriate time, move (and have seconded) a motion to elect members (and officers if the by-laws call for or allow that separate from Board managers).
Have your proxies ready and introduce them for all residents not present to vote -- the idea is to get as full a representation of the residents as possible; if they attend they can withdraw their proxy or assign it a different way by signing a later-dated one.
Whoever is the "secretary" of the fake board will have to take down the results of the vote, which you of course are recording. The result -- perhaps with the threat of suit or changing management -- ought to put the management company on your side. You can then have fun filing to compel the current crowd to turn over all records of the HOA to representatives of the current board.
One of your first acts should be to review and redact both the HOA charter and by-laws; there is often weird crap in there to safeguard developers, etc., or even unfair or currently-llegal/unenforceable provisions. Be open about this and get everyone who cares to participate. At the next meeting (or a special meeting duly called according to by-law provisions) move to amend both documents, and then record the new versions with your register of deeds (I forget the official title in Virginia) where the original HOA documents are recorded.
Again, so happy to have never lived in a cookie cutter development with house police.
Sheldon
HOAs usually don't have much power. They don't have an expensive legal staff.
They collect dues to maintain the lawn around the common ponds, put out flowers along the entrance, and remove snow,etc; all desirable services. The common areas, pools, playgrounds.
Our old HOA spent money to put a bunch of rip rap around all of the ponds to stop the geese from nesting and attacking small children during their feisty mating time.
They will harass a homeowner if he paint's his house bright purple with pink trim, and I hope they would, but I never heard of one putting a lien on a property demanding violations be rectified. The first problem would be to determine the cost of the remedies in order to value the lien.
I'm sure there are cases if the problem is bad enough. It would also depend upon how "upscale" the subdivision is. Rules might be strict in certain subdivisions, and the HOA fee steep, to pay the legal fees.
Lack of permits is going to run afoul of the county, who wants things done correctly and the increased tax assessment value.
You are wonderful Sheldon. I wish we could all be like you.
I am reminded of a plaque my uncle had on his boat - it read: "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken". Peas in pod you two!
Anyway...
Yeah, the newly self appointed president (affirmed by the management company lady) yet still unelected, is the biggest fraud in the neighborhood. He told our neighbor who got 20 violations he was a nice guy. My wife and I were thinking if a person has to tell you they are "nice", then something smells like a rat. Oh he told her he likes to party. He is a major smarmy schmooze but OTOH can't be bothered to pull permits or follow county code or in the case of the HOA, get HOA approval before doing stuff that requires it.
Thanks Overmod for your thoughts.
We have an HOA.
It literally costs $1 a year in dues and exists primarily to 1) give us a seat on the board of the community pool and 2) prevent anyone from forming the bad kind of HOA.
riogrande5761 You are wonderful Sheldon. I wish we could all be like you. I am reminded of a plaque my uncle had on his boat - it read: "I once thought I was wrong, but I was mistaken". Peas in pod you two! Anyway... Yeah, the newly self appointed president (affirmed by the management company lady) yet still unelected, is the biggest fraud in the neighborhood. He told our neighbor who got 20 violations he was a nice guy. My wife and I were thinking if a person has to tell you they are "nice", then something smells like a rat. Oh he told her he likes to party. He is a major smarmy schmooze but OTOH can't be bothered to pull permits or follow county code or in the case of the HOA, get HOA approval before doing stuff that requires it. Thanks Overmod for your thoughts.
Again Jim, I'm far from perfect, and there is lots I don't know.
But we all make choices and then live with the outcomes.
I am likely willing to do without things you find important to avoid certain challenges in life.
My choices are not right for everybody, but there are very few I regret.
But it seems to bother you that I am happy and confident despite those choices that did not go perfectly for me.
You have no idea what my real challenges in life have been because I don't share my serious personal business on the web.
But yes, I'm happy with how I live, where I live, what I do for a living, who I'm married too, and much more, despite life's bumps.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL In most cases here, after a developement is built, all the infrastructure is signed over to the county, roads, retention ponds, storm sewers all become county property and are maintained with tax dollars. Often developers are required to not only build the roads and turn them over to the county, they must make improvements to feeder roads and intersections at their expense. Do you know how much a traffic light costs? A simple intersection upgrade can cost $250,000 to $500,000. A complex intersection can be millions. There are lots of "benign" HOA's here as well, but some are just crazy. In my whole life, I have never lived in a modern planned subdivison with an HOA. Even as suburbia continues to grow around here, much of the housing is older and was developed on a smaller scale with less planning many years ago. Where we live now, a farm was developed into a neighborhood in 1964 when the Interstate was built. But our house and many of the houses were built by people who just bought a lot and hired their own builder to build what they wanted. And some of the houses were already here, part of a 130 year old farming village. House size, age and style varies a lot as you drive down the street, we have brick rancher on two acres, both our neighbors homes are over 100 years old, other homes are little Capes on 3/4 acre lots, etc. In fact, the 1880's Victorian farmhouse on the farm that became the neighborhood still stands, surounded by little 1960's Cape Cods, bungalows and ranchers. The streets have no sidewalks, and we all have on site wells and septic - but we do have natural gas - and our small "lake" (very large pond) with a picnic area, playground, and "beach". And yes it belongs to the "community" but there are no dues, no meetings except the spring cleanup at the park, no property rules, no house or yard police. Those who have the time, resources and the energy communicate via facebook and mailbox flyers and do whatever the park needs on a volunteer basis. I help when I can. Life is great in rural fly over country, minutes from the nearby little historic town of Havre de Grace. Sheldon
In most cases here, after a developement is built, all the infrastructure is signed over to the county, roads, retention ponds, storm sewers all become county property and are maintained with tax dollars.
Often developers are required to not only build the roads and turn them over to the county, they must make improvements to feeder roads and intersections at their expense.
Do you know how much a traffic light costs? A simple intersection upgrade can cost $250,000 to $500,000. A complex intersection can be millions.
There are lots of "benign" HOA's here as well, but some are just crazy.
In my whole life, I have never lived in a modern planned subdivison with an HOA.
Even as suburbia continues to grow around here, much of the housing is older and was developed on a smaller scale with less planning many years ago.
Where we live now, a farm was developed into a neighborhood in 1964 when the Interstate was built. But our house and many of the houses were built by people who just bought a lot and hired their own builder to build what they wanted.
And some of the houses were already here, part of a 130 year old farming village.
House size, age and style varies a lot as you drive down the street, we have brick rancher on two acres, both our neighbors homes are over 100 years old, other homes are little Capes on 3/4 acre lots, etc.
In fact, the 1880's Victorian farmhouse on the farm that became the neighborhood still stands, surounded by little 1960's Cape Cods, bungalows and ranchers.
The streets have no sidewalks, and we all have on site wells and septic - but we do have natural gas - and our small "lake" (very large pond) with a picnic area, playground, and "beach".
And yes it belongs to the "community" but there are no dues, no meetings except the spring cleanup at the park, no property rules, no house or yard police. Those who have the time, resources and the energy communicate via facebook and mailbox flyers and do whatever the park needs on a volunteer basis. I help when I can.
Life is great in rural fly over country, minutes from the nearby little historic town of Havre de Grace.
You and I are of like mind. Being a libertarian I would bristle at having to kow-tow to a HOA. When I retired 20 years ago, I moved out of Columbus, OH into a rural area outside of Utica, OH. I'm far enough out that urban sprawl is unlikely. Some of the farmland around me is being subdivided and sold as homesites, but even with that, there is still plenty of wide open space. If two cars an hour drive down my road, that's a lot. I take my dogs out for about an hour a day and as often as not, I don't see a single vehicle when I do. At "rush hour" we might get five or six. We have a grange that conducts some social activities but I'm not active in it. Still a few working farms near me including the property to my south. Mostly it's people like me who prefer the slow pace of country life and living among people who know how to mind their own business.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Again, so happy to have never lived in a cookie cutter development with house police. Sheldon
You may know the answer to this.
What is the penalty for somebody not following Historical District requirements? Can the District put liens on the property until the historical error is remedied?
Since the district is probably controlled by the city/county, they have more power?
The fantasy lay out thread has turned into a HOA thread. Reading through some of this is like a horror story!
I know from my home inspector days, there are some condos around here that have HOA's, but I'm not sure if any of the subdivisions do. I don't know of any gated communities around here, which I'm sure they have an HOA.
This is just crazy! No thanks!.
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewi The fantasy lay out thread has turned into a HOA thread. Reading through some of this is like a horror story! I know from my home inspector days, there are some condos around here that have HOA's, but I'm not sure if any of the subdivisions do. I don't know of any gated communities around here, which I'm sure they have an HOA. This is just crazy! No thanks!. Mike.
Yeah, OT for sure.
Once a subdivision becomes a gated community, generally the city maintainence goes away. Potholes are filled at subdivision expense. Sewer line decay becomes a special assessment for sure. Stuff has to be maintained up to city/county standards, but not paid for by the city/county.
No thanks, I'll gladly keep my streets accessible to the unwashed masses.
Doughless ATLANTIC CENTRAL Again, so happy to have never lived in a cookie cutter development with house police. Sheldon You may know the answer to this. What is the penalty for somebody not following Historical District requirements? Can the District put liens on the property until the historical error is remedied? Since the district is probably controlled by the city/county, they have more power?
I know more about it than anyone wants to hear. But the simple answer is there are VERY FEW historic district commissions with strict rules or lots of power.
First, all such power is at the local level. Federal National Resister statis, be it a district or individual property, does not restrict personal property rights at all, and places no requirements or burdens on owners.
In fact, such designation protects properties from government encroachment of things like zoning changes and highway projects.
Some state historic registers create requirements if you take grant money or tax credits, and typically make demolition difficult to impossible, but often still does not control maintence or renovations.
It is local government or district boards, created with the blessing of current property owners, that in some places are given strong powers. Alexandria Virginia is one. The Boston area has a few. The city of Annapolis MD has a few rules, but again strong historic district rules are the exception, not the rule in most historic neighborhoods.
mbinsewiThe fantasy lay out thread has turned into a HOA thread. Reading through some of this is like a horror story!
Jared came back to tell us more about his airplane-hanger layout. I think his post was overlooked...
Jared the Artist Wow, I really appreciate all of the responses. So thank you very much for that ( at least the constructive comments lol). I was afraid to write an entire novel about my project but given all the questions and skepticism I'll do my best to answer them. First off, no I'm not some troll from the past — I am brand new here. I had a die hard addiction to model trains growing up and now that covid shut down everything I do I've literally spent the last year developing this passion project. I started designing it a year ago February and it grew and grew until what it is now. Yes, it is THAT BIG. It scares me how big it is but as an artist I learned long ago that limitations are the death of creativity. Once I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___" I was able to let my creativity run wild and I truly believe I've got a multi million dollar design if I could just piece it together. I did an inventory because I needed to document the size, location and trackage length of each area and so yes I have close to 850 sketches. I rented out an exhibit hall at a fairgrounds facility to layout my sketches on the floor and I couldn't even fit half of them in a 60' x 95' room. My theme is " A Tour of North America in Ho Scale". So basically every scenic photo you've seen on instagram/facebook/pinterest/etc I have covered in my design. I plan on turning this into a Theme Park and believe me when I say I have thought about this from EVERY possible angle including building acreage (yes, acreage), location, budget (yes, it's bloody expensive but I've found many ways in dealing with that), technology, manpower, marketing, development, operations and testing, special features and so on. I have a large list of investors and business owners I plan on pitching it to but before I can even get in room with them I know the first thing they will ask is "Well, what does it look like? Show me the layout/design", which goes back to my initial post: How can I scale down this massive design into a map that can fit on a 3' x 4' blueprint or into a digital file that can be projected onto a larger wall mounted white board or any of the other ways I could present my design? Again, I have around 850 hand drawn sketches that I've traced using google maps with colored ink to designate rail lines, roads, waterways, structures, mountain ridges/peaks and so on. They can be scanned into PDF's or JPEG's. Or I can use the sketches as references and crop out sections on google maps or another railway specific map of the locations I'm using and import them into a program and build my design from there. Would CAD even work for such task? This is where I'm stuck. Thanks again for the input, advice, tips :) -Jared
Wow, I really appreciate all of the responses. So thank you very much for that ( at least the constructive comments lol).
I was afraid to write an entire novel about my project but given all the questions and skepticism I'll do my best to answer them. First off, no I'm not some troll from the past — I am brand new here. I had a die hard addiction to model trains growing up and now that covid shut down everything I do I've literally spent the last year developing this passion project.
I started designing it a year ago February and it grew and grew until what it is now. Yes, it is THAT BIG. It scares me how big it is but as an artist I learned long ago that limitations are the death of creativity. Once I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___" I was able to let my creativity run wild and I truly believe I've got a multi million dollar design if I could just piece it together. I did an inventory because I needed to document the size, location and trackage length of each area and so yes I have close to 850 sketches. I rented out an exhibit hall at a fairgrounds facility to layout my sketches on the floor and I couldn't even fit half of them in a 60' x 95' room.
My theme is " A Tour of North America in Ho Scale". So basically every scenic photo you've seen on instagram/facebook/pinterest/etc I have covered in my design. I plan on turning this into a Theme Park and believe me when I say I have thought about this from EVERY possible angle including building acreage (yes, acreage), location, budget (yes, it's bloody expensive but I've found many ways in dealing with that), technology, manpower, marketing, development, operations and testing, special features and so on. I have a large list of investors and business owners I plan on pitching it to but before I can even get in room with them I know the first thing they will ask is "Well, what does it look like? Show me the layout/design", which goes back to my initial post: How can I scale down this massive design into a map that can fit on a 3' x 4' blueprint or into a digital file that can be projected onto a larger wall mounted white board or any of the other ways I could present my design?
Again, I have around 850 hand drawn sketches that I've traced using google maps with colored ink to designate rail lines, roads, waterways, structures, mountain ridges/peaks and so on. They can be scanned into PDF's or JPEG's. Or I can use the sketches as references and crop out sections on google maps or another railway specific map of the locations I'm using and import them into a program and build my design from there. Would CAD even work for such task? This is where I'm stuck. Thanks again for the input, advice, tips :) -Jared
It sounds like I am coming out of retirement... I have a layout to build!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Jared the Artist Would CAD even work for such task?
Would CAD even work for such task?
Yes.
LINK to SNSR Blog
Now that Jared The Artist has re-emerged with his 2nd post (moderation of the first 5 posts results in chronological placements of posts that are easily missed), my feeling is that he is wasting his time posting on this forum to inquire about the immensity of the printing aspect of his mega project.
He needs to consult with some printing pros who can suggest methdologies for making prints of his project.
Rich
Alton Junction
How did we go from planning a layout to HOAs? Wow! Holy side bar conversations, Batman!
Great that the OP finally returned. Me thinks there is a huge scope creep issue here. By asking for too much on the layout while working primarily alone, I fear he'll get frustrated or distracted and walk (run) away.
kasskaboose Great that the OP finally returned. Me thinks there is a huge scope creep issue here. By asking for too much on the layout while working primarily alone, I fear he'll get frustrated or distracted and walk (run) away.
True. Here is what I wrote in a December 2018 post on a different thread about Onewolf and Michael Rose, two guys who were building huge layouts but nowhere near the size that Jared The Artist is talking about.
richhotrain I always had the impression that the Onewolf layout, as well as the Michael Rose layout, were too big and moving along too fast to keep their builders from exhausting themselves. I suspect that is what happened - - layout burnout. Rich
I always had the impression that the Onewolf layout, as well as the Michael Rose layout, were too big and moving along too fast to keep their builders from exhausting themselves. I suspect that is what happened - - layout burnout.
Jared the ArtistOnce I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___"
Jared the ArtistI plan on turning this into a Theme Park and believe me when I say I have thought about this from EVERY possible angle including building acreage (yes, acreage), location, budget (yes, it's bloody expensive but I've found many ways in dealing with that), technology, manpower, marketing, development, operations and testing, special features and so on.
Jared the ArtistI have a large list of investors and business owners I plan on pitching it to but before I can even get in room with them I know the first thing they will ask is "Well, what does it look like? Show me the layout/design"
If you are planning on using other people's money to build this, keep in mind that COVID has caused investors and lenders to rethink their exposure to theme parks, especially indoor venues, no matter what the theme.
And your theme might be a tough sell since venues such as concert halls, amusement parks, convention centers draw a bigger cross section of the spending public than would a niche theme like models of real places.
And the location of the building relative to good roads and visibility will be a component, if there is a need to attract the general public.
Just something to keep in mind as you are trying to secure the investor portion of this project.
I say again, Jared, if you have the investors, I have the skills and the connections to make it happen.
i wonder if Jared will even notice this buried in all the other posts
Jared the ArtistAgain, I have around 850 hand drawn sketches that I've traced using google maps with colored ink to designate rail lines, roads, waterways, structures, mountain ridges/peaks and so on. They can be scanned into PDF's or JPEG's
if you look at topos on historicaerials.com you would see that it is composed of blocks of jpg images set into a matrix. html can locate images at arbitrary locations on a page (see above composite of 4 separate gif/jpg files)
i would image the initial goal is simply be able to display the collection of images as a whole as well as in detail.
i'm guessing that not all images abutt one another, and therefore need to be located at arbitrary locations when displayed with gaps in between
i would guess seeing all the images, gaps and possibly overlaps will require some adjustments and probably more images to fill in larger gaps.
being able to see the entire image on a large monitor would no doubt be helpful
once the overall images is deemed acceptable, a cad drawing could be started.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Jared the Artist...How can I scale down this massive design into a map that can fit on a 3' x 4' blueprint or into a digital file that can be projected onto a larger wall mounted white board or any of the other ways I could present my design? Again, I have around 850 hand drawn sketches that I've traced using google maps with colored ink to designate rail lines, roads, waterways, structures, mountain ridges/peaks and so on. They can be scanned into PDF's or JPEG's. Or I can use the sketches as references and crop out sections on google maps or another railway specific map of the locations I'm using and import them into a program and build my design from there. Would CAD even work for such task? This is where I'm stuck. Thanks again for the input, advice, tips :) -Jared
Jared, I see nothing wrong with the "think big" approach, but your challenge of putting your plan on a piece of paper, well, is pretty much a fraction of what the real challenges will be when the real model is done.
Here is an idea for you: since you want to picture North America (I assume that includes Canada ), why not consider doing a plan for one mainline that goes around a room, passing through a number of peninsulas. Your "scenery" could be pictures put in backgrounds, which means that the peninsulas would have scenery dividers on which pictures could be put in the backdrops. So no 3D buildings, no sidings. At one end, there could be space for a large yard where trains could be assembled. With this concept, perhaps you could think of 5 "themes" for your pictures: 1) Southern California; 2) Rockies; 3) Midwestern Farmland; 4) Appalachian; 5) Industrial/City East. I think this can be drawn on a 2X3 if there are no sidings.
This 2D concept could be set up in modules for transportation. Once you have that up and running, then you could re-do sections in real 3D, one by one.
I wish you luck in your endeavours.
Simon
I took notice when this guy first posted because I sometimes muse over a 100' x 100' outbuilding in which I could build all six of the large downtown Chicago passenger train stations that flourished in the 1950s and earlier. Each station would include the track leading into and out of the train station. One massive operation.
Just a dream since I don't have the resources to do any such thing.
richhotrainI took notice when this guy first posted because I sometimes muse over a 100' x 100' outbuilding
i think you're looking at this too pragmatically
Jared the ArtistOnce I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___" I was able to let my creativity run wild
Jared the ArtistI rented out an exhibit hall at a fairgrounds facility to layout my sketches on the floor and I couldn't even fit half of them in a 60' x 95' room.
there are many aspects to this hobby. designing (without building) layouts is one of them
gregc richhotrain I took notice when this guy first posted because I sometimes muse over a 100' x 100' outbuilding i think you're looking at this too pragmatically Jared the Artist Once I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___" I was able to let my creativity run wild Jared the Artist I rented out an exhibit hall at a fairgrounds facility to layout my sketches on the floor and I couldn't even fit half of them in a 60' x 95' room. there are many aspects to this hobby. designing (without building) layouts is one of them
richhotrain I took notice when this guy first posted because I sometimes muse over a 100' x 100' outbuilding
Jared the Artist Once I removed those limitations such as "it must fit in a _____" and "it must cost less than ___" I was able to let my creativity run wild
Jared the Artist I rented out an exhibit hall at a fairgrounds facility to layout my sketches on the floor and I couldn't even fit half of them in a 60' x 95' room.
There's a 70-acre beanfield behind my house; wide open, flat like a pancake. You'd need to bring a lot of rocks to hold down the four corners of each sheet, but it could be done (and without the expense of renting out an exhibition hall).
Robert
i heard that AT&T Microelectronics (later Agere) when developing some larger chip (possibly a DSP) rented the local gymnasium and laid out prints of the chip etching on the floor to review it before attempting a fab of the chip. (not sure how Intel did, obviously better).
i think Jared is just trying to visualize his creation.
Jared:
Have you studied the scope of work necessary to put the HO scale BNSF layout in the Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry. It might give you an idea of how much work you are looking at.
This project was backed by Warren Buffet, and still lacks the maintenance it deserves.
The layout represents the United States from Seattle to Chicago.
SeeYou190 Jared: Have you studied the scope of work necessary to put the HO scale BNSF layout in the Chicago Museum Of Science And Industry. It might give you an idea of how much work you are looking at. This project was backed by Warren Buffet, and still lacks the maintenance it deserves. The layout represents the United States from Seattle to Chicago. -Kevin
Or David Trussell and his Greeley Freight Station Museum. He said he started with $5 million and a 9000 SF building (5000 SF layout, the rest workshop and storage). He told me he needed double that.
He has to do two specific things here: tile his sketches together to manage them all 'in context' from one place, and then optimize them so all the rail lines connect smoothly and there is non-labyrinthine access space for viewing. Nothing about actual construction, logistics, etc. comes into it immediately... although he could certainly benefit from topo mapping tools to put in "z-axis information" as he works
I was smiling when I read gregc's comment; it reminded me of how Marshall Holloway laid out the Mike device, full-size with draftsmen in stocking feet crawling out to work in details.
Here he'll need a Segway...
Rich, that sounds like the Lion's subway project. Did he not fill the attic of his monastery with his HO subway system? Haven't heard his roar for a while now..