Haven't really posted much about the new layout here lately,
so rather than bore you with past updates, I'll just link you to the blog and gallery :)
http://railroad.sodh.net/
http://gallery.sodh.net/railroad/layout5
Shaun
Good progress. I'm curious why you're putting 2X2 braces on top of the brackets. I'm planning on gluing a 1X2 or 2X2 to the bottom front of my extruded foam perpendicular to the brackets as a fascia anchor, etc. Things are pretty level but I'll use wedges on the brackets where needed.
I attached the 2x2 braces to each shelf bracket to give some cable running room under the benchwork top, making attaching the benchwork top easier (no screws pooking up through the wood), adds a little space for tortoise motors and underbench electronics, and help with attaching lighting and fascia as well to front edges.
It all seemed logical in my head :)
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
Dave Vollmer wrote:I like that aluminum trim coil backdrop idea.
Agreed. Do you / did you need to prime it? Does latex wall paint stick to that stuff?
nucat78 wrote:Agreed. Do you / did you need to prime it? Does latex wall paint stick to that stuff?
I'm thinking I probably will since I have the bare Aluminum kind. I've seen plenty of trim coil rolls online that come already painted in white/brown or white/white on either side and ready for painting (example). But Lowes/HD only had the bare kind (and for much less).
I'm thinking I'll probably try straight latex paint on it a little test piece, see how it holds up. But I'm betting I'll probably need like a layer or two of Kilz first before putting down some color.
The trim coil came out really great. I had a little trouble at first getting stuff lined up and held steady in place as I rolled it out. The Liquid Nails I have has like 15-30min play time, so the coil kept wanting to pull away.... then I discovered the staple gun :) The stuff naturally wants to coil back up, so a staple on the very end pieces and around the corners I found really help to hold it it place. Knowing this now, the upper level should be breeze.
nolatron wrote:Level 2 (mostly) completed. After getting the trim coil up on the top level and the top benchwork on, I gave the coil a nice coating of Kilz and then painted on "Skyline" colored paint from Ace.
Nice! You go, Bro!
Since I'm only using a 2'6" X 5'11" nook in my den right now, I probably won't use coved corners, but I'm definitely going to see what HD/Menards has in the line of flashing. Glad to hear the Kilz worked.
Addendum - I found a variety of widths and lengths of the aluminum flashing at Menards yesterday. The prepainted (white or brown reversible) is about $1 a foot for 12-inch of 14-inch width.
So it seems it's been about, well, forever since my last update on the layout. Progress has been slow, but it's moving along. I recently finished up the construction of the helix for the layout. I bought a precut made helix from an ebay seller, Ashlin Designs, to save me some wood work headaches, except I ended up not paying attention while gluing one of the columns on and it ended up gluing in place on an angle. This ended up throwing some of the levels at a sharp angle ie: ^ between pieces. I should be fix this though. Otherwise, I've started laying out buildings and planning where roads and buildings are going to go. I've removed the yard from the lower level and will be adding a "return loop" around the bottom of the room to send trains back up the helix (if space allows for the curve, I think it should), and/or create a "roundy-round" lower level. Work on the refinery continues, and I've ordered the Taco Bell and Dominoes kit from Summit USA, along with the ADM Grain Elevator from Walthers. My order of track should hopefully arrive in a week or so, containing mostly the bulk of the mainline switches. Once I get these, I'll be able to get a better idea on space needed for mainline trackage for the city and what not. I'm also still bouncing around names for the subdivision and towns. Georgetown has been scrapped and the layout's current name is the Elmwood Subdivision. I'm sure it'll change a few more times, heh. Phew...I think that's about it, so here's some pics. Oh yeah, and I installed all the lights for the lower level.
and lastly, a panoramic of the layout in its current state. The lighting btw on the backdrop looks much better in person, there's no dark spots or anything. Just something the camera is seeing.
Been a while since I've updated this thread here in the MR forums. Yesterday I made a little video tour of my layout I thought I'd share.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fhPSmAkDS_g
All of the latest progress updates can also be found at my blog.
Cheers.