Vic, you are the master of putting twelve pounds in a five pound bag.
Tom Trigg
...only this time I'll be trying to put 20 lbs into that same bag.
Have fun with your trains
Vic,
Just a thought, have you tried using building flats facing one side, with the tracks running through the building, but out of sight. You could put a tunnel mouth and hill at each side and pretend the railway goes off somewhere else. It might give you a place to put more buildings and change the way you hide the tracks in tunnels. I will try and draw something to better explain it if you are interested in the idea.
Mick
Chief Operating Officer
Northern Timber Company - Mt Beenak
The end for the "wedding cake" layout:
Months to build - Hours to dismantle. As of tonight the upper pizza has been safely set aside, all the track is up and the raised platform has been taken apart, the ballast has been the toughest stuff to get up, but its slowely coming together.
The foam has been kept aside, I will try to reuse as much of it as possible
Thanks Mick but I kinda need to get this thing onto as small a footprint as I can, I'm adjusting the plan as I go. I am going to move the fiddle track from the back of the layout to the left side as the bridge needs to shift the layout as far to the right side as possible, I'm hoping to reuse the station and the hotel on that side, we'll see.
Got the base cut to size, added new 1x6 trim boards around, the Pizza is in place, because of the way the base is built I moved the fiddle yard to the side and placed it on a removable cassette. Coming together very fast, Heres the latest sketch:
I realized I've gone backwards in time, back to early on the life of this layout when I added a small addition to the side , now though its got a much better support base and alot more experience under the belt.
Pic from long ago. Come full circle it seams to be right back where I started. New pics soon as I can
So Repition is the key to rebuilding the Pizza ??
Dave
The head is gray, hands don't work , back is weak, legs give out, eyes are gone, money go's and my wife still love's Me.
Not really repitition so much as evolution, the main pizza is unchanged, I had kept the extension when I first built the wedding cake, the upper level was the pizza and the extension, but while building the wedding cake moving the larger pizza turned out to be too heavy and unwieldy and I almost dropped it a couple times, so i dropped the extension and just kept the pizza on top. When I downsided the wedding cake I wanted to save the high trestle on the right side so that moved the pizza over about 10 inches off to the right of the bench, I needed to fill in that left section, so I looked around and found the old extension base I had from the photo above, I had to trim about an inch off of it an once modified it just dropped into place on that left side. moving the fiddle yard there just mad sense plus I can possibly reuse the 2 House Of Balsa kits, it was just common sense in the circumstances. Both are seperate pieces now, but they lock each other in place. Need to paint the wood now.
Just curious, what sofware do you use to make your track plan drawings?
IRB Souther Engineer Just curious, what software do you use to make your track plan drawings?
Just curious, what software do you use to make your track plan drawings?
I use Autocad 2004, plotted to PDF format, then converted into a jpg. Its graphicly intentionally kept very simple to allow for quick drawings and quick changes.
Update:
New 1x6 trim boards around and painted, added new cassette on the side, working on making a new girder bridge section to go over the steel trestle side.
Finally got the last piece of the puzzle:
Its attached to the portable itself, not the base, its some 1/8" plywood, basswood strips and some cardstock, makes a girder bridge over the old trestle, its not perfect, it still needs a couple tweeks, but at least I dont have to tear out the high bridge, it looks reasonably believable to me and gives it alot of visual interest.
Update pics
Begin the crushing!
The Chapel of Sister Mary Elephant has found a new home on the layout
So has the drug store, it actually fits rather nicely in that spot
The mine is now literally the center of things
Tincan Junction had to keep its tin can now didn't it.
Eye level vinette's
Never mind the postrate Mariachi's, one too many margaritas last night
looks great!
Nicely done!
P. V. & W. RR. htttp://home.comcast.net/~PVandW
Thanks, its been moving along since last posting, most of the buildings are modified and set in place, made a small track change at the fiddle yard side. I started assembling an article submission for GR before I had to downsize, I will see if I can salvage that and submit this, watch it end up in Model Railroader.. that would really freak out a couple of the HO scale fanatics wouldn’t it. . Once its completed I have to send Carl Arendt at the Microlayout website an update as well
Updates! still a work in progress but its getting close
added a scenic element at the rear tool layout area, its easily removable and used up alot of the foam from the wedding cake
ground level view at the front
and at normal eye level
reworked mineshaft, right in the center of the layout
coming around the back at the almost finished scenic element, with a facade mine and the added drug store
more of the rear
Coming around to the other side of the added rear scenery
The side fiddle yard area, with the Bachmann coal/mine tipple, reworked mine into industrial building, made from LGB piers, this whole section is also removable as is the Pizza itself.
the relocated water tower. I've run out of ballast and will have to stain some more Johnny Cat this weekend, its far too cold right now, it would never dry.
Thats all for now
Any plans on taking it to BTS or Fairplex?
ttrigg Any plans on taking it to BTS or Fairplex?
Not so far, the last time I took it in 2008 was as part of the MLS booth, but between the changes at the BTS and shifting dynamics within the MLS crowd, we havent had a booth anywhere since 2009 and it doesnt seam like we will this year either. Since the shift to the SWGRS the Fairplex layout has become the defacto redevue point for the group, no booth necessary when you can pitch the website at the best GR in LA. So I have no plans currently. Be nice to let some people see this this though.
edit: date correction
Updates! The fiddle yard track is finally ballasted, and almost all the major scenery is completed
Added the speeder track siding
reconfigured part of the old mine building into an industrial/warehouse building, with the tipple in place
Need to repaint this figure into a lost biker looking at a road map
More layers of scenery added as I go
Again more scenery, more junk behind the drug store
Managed to reinsert the infamous "shell hill" episode from my childhood
Lots of activity down by the station
I was able to reinsert this nice ceramic "ruins" peice back into the layout
The top of the layout, lots of figures added in
I think I am about 90% done, all thats left is inserting additional weeds, plants and rusty junk along with maybe a few more figures and details like mining tools and a few stray dogs, well see-I'm just going with whatever feels right now.
Final Updates!
Added back the old old style motorized wagon typical of early trucks
seams to have suffered a break down
scenery finished at the fiddle yard sidings
around the shanty, added the velociped back
reworked the industrial buidling/station a tad, need to find a scale mouse for the cat to be pouncing on
still a few small things to finish, can always add more junk and scale trash but I think its 98% done. Be nice if I could take it to a show sometime, but my car couldn't carry all of it including the base, would need a van at least. We'll see what unfolds.
Some one stick a fork in it, I think its done!!!
A mouse? Sounds like a "lessons from Ray" episode. Stuck a fork in and it came out dry, must be done. Now it is ready for the frosting.
A little frosting for ya Tom
Piddles the cat has finally found something to chase...must be hungry!
The cat is from a toy "CAT-a-pult" that flings these across the room. The birds are repainted doves from the "California Mission Church" building kits from Micheals Crafts. These are a great source for building details if you live in California.
Michaels, during the "5th Grade Mission Season" is indeed an excellent place for accessories. Hay bales, grain sacks, flower pots, spanish tile roofing, single bit plows are amoung the goodies I like to pick up.
if one has sharp eyes there are alot of those mission items scattered around the layout
vsmith if one has sharp eyes there are alot of those mission items scattered around the layout
Vic, Only our CA friends (and fellow avid Michael's CA shoppers) will know of which we speak. I normally drop a "C note" each year on missin supplies. Most of the stuff runs $1.95 ~ $3.50 range.
Looks like this will get another dose of the Shrink Ray
I will need to remove the Fiddle Yard and shorten the base of this by merging the High Bridge into the base, It currently hangs out to one side but I need to shrink this yet once more to make room for "something else "
so this Pizza will be getting a 10 1/2" shave coming soon, maybe this weekend, the Fiddle Yard will for now be set aside but not discarded, to do this will require a major dismantling of parts of the base and some rather insane cutting, but luckily I have the perfect tool for just such an occasion....no....its NOT a chainsaw
Benchwork on the mobile table is done, slotting the High Bridge into the side of the base turned out on one hand to be easier than I expected as only a few screws held the top down, but harder in other respects, as notching the side of the table and then cutting alot of other notches for the support members took some doing but it was mostly a single nights work. Ended up not being able to remove the entire 10 1/2" taken up by the fiddle yard, ended up with about 3" gap between the pizza layout and the new edge of benchwork. This will be filled with a 1x6 that will slot into the leftover space and act like a locking piece, just as the fiddle yard section did, I will add a section of track here to act once again as a fiddle yard. The new fiddle will overhang the edge of benchwork a little but it will work out just fine. The layout still has the rear scenery insert, but will fit into the garage easier. The reason I am doing this is to clear space for a new endevour
Pics of the changes
New Fiddle Track
The rear stays about the same
Modified High Bridge
Instead of jutting out its entire depth, now its tucked tidely into the baseworks.Just some painting to touch up, a little ballasting and its on to the next project.
Just a quick update of video from this years Big train Show in Ontario, Ca. showing the pizza as it is today.
http://youtu.be/a9PNQPj73_4
Tom, nice to see you again, hope the drive home was uneventful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOOxzm5wqg4&feature=share&list=UUrUkVNWoC7txLnsbdfOQFgA
A second short video, showing a birdseye view over the layout, just for fun.
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