This weekend I've been trying out the layout for my 'yard', by combining several vintage toy kits and styles. The girders are obviously from a Kenner's Girder & Panel set, along with a Walther's Overhead Crane. Now, although I've got Bachmann HO EZ track in the photos, I'll be using Atlas code 100 for the actual layout. The Atlas track, laid on top of the bases for the Girder & Panel set, perfectly matches the height of the EZ track, so going from one to the other is no problem. Embedding the track would have been a nice touch, but it's one step beyond the level of work I want to put in on this one, unless I hear of a foolproof way of doing it.
I'll be painting all the girders with a silver acrylic mixed with a touch of black; & then weathering will be applied to the entire structure. (All unecessary 'nubs' will be sliced off & smoothed down prior to painting.) Concrete gray floors throughout; and I'm looking forward to installing an inspection pit which will be backlit. (It's one of the free offerings from Scalescenes this month.) http://www.scalescenes.com/railscenes
Later, i've got a pack of Walther's Piping to further add to the overall clutter, some pipe stacks & other emphemera scattered around; and then probably fiber optics for assorted lights. More pics to come as it develops.
Paul
Almost forgot - I've also got a bunch of old meccano parts; still looking at incorporating those, as well...
Roofwork is coming along nicely. I just have to join the two main sections & figure out how to put joiners on the inside ends to make it look like it's connected to the Meccano arches, yet be able to lift it off as a whole unit including the roof, which will be shingled with corrugated iron.
Wow, that looks impressive! Keep those pictures coming!
Btw, you are aware that the Scalescenes stuff is OO gauge, which is 1/76 instead of 1/87 - so it is roughly 10 % oversize.
Thanks for the tip - but Scalescenes conveniently & kindly supplies the workaround; which is to print the 00 gauge at 87%, and everybody's happy! (It's under their page, "Printing Tips", 'Modelling in another scale'.)
The roof trusses are all done in bamboo skewers - I've already gone through one pack of 100!
Kenner "girder/ building" set, wow does that bring back some memories from almost 50 years ago! Didn't think there were any left in existence. Had quite a bit of fun w/ them, If you need additional girgers for kit bashing, check out Evergreen "I" beams and the boxed CV girders and ones from the ME city viaduct.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Thanks, Bob, I'll definitely check that out! But I've got access to all the Kenner-type Girder & Panel stuff I need, thanks to a company called Bridgstreet Toys, which now manufacture & market all the old series, except for the SkyRail monorail system. (These and the other old sets can also be found on E-bay, where I got my Meccano stuff, as well as Central Valley ladders & steps for skywalks, or at least I used to until I found a wonderful LHS right here in the Hamilton area.)
Here's their link: http://www.bridgestreettoys.com/
I'm sorry to say that this entire layout is on hold until the new year as an untenable situation has developed in my apartment, severe enough that I've given notice. (I should have checked the Bed Bug Registry before I moved in!)
I've been able to treat and store the sections & buildings of the layout but it won't be up & running again until the New Year.
Thanks to all for your input & help; I'll be back as soon as I can...
Wow, bed bugs really suck!! Had a similar problem at one place I rented. Best way to keep em under control is to put ALL clothing into rubbermaid containers with a special bed bug killing bait. Then wash all bed linnen in HOT water and dry in a HOT dryer. ( bugs will die above 140 degrees) ( wash clothing this way B4 putting into containers ) . Buy the Tyvek mattress and box spring covers and install them after spraying the mattress/springs well. Also extermanators are EXPENSIVE, but worth at least the first visit to knock most of the critters down. HTH.....Mike
We caught it early; the central heat had woken some dormant eggs. The pest control company was in within a couple of days of the first bites while we started doing laundry. It now seems to be under control - I'm still moving; but at least the layout sections are clean. Had I gone through the wall, as per the original plan, it probably would have been noticed sooner. (Can you imagine the grief if the outbreak had been around the layout?) Thanks again for everyone's help.
I'll amuse myself in the meantime by painting a Walther's Skytop in the Canadian National's 1954 livery. Well, it could have happened...Skytops exisited at the time, even though CN didn't buy their 6 until the '70's from UP. I just like 'end' cars for my consists...I plan on doing one for the Hogwarts Express, as well, with one of those new mini plasma bulbs inside...a 'crystal ball', as it were.
OK, I've gotten back to work, after settling into a 150 year old apartment in Brantford, Ontario, of all places. (Actually, the home town...) I'm about 3/4 done, now, as the pics will show:
First up, of course, was the station:
Then around the corner & though the tunnel, & forest.
About a month working on the corner trestle,
(This was 3 pieces from an earlier layout, now joined and re-purposed as an inside curve). Some India Ink & weathering, & the whole thing comes together:
Rockface detail:
Then around the second corner;
And we're on to the Flat Bridge. I originally levelled the sides with black foamcore, to save on ballast weight later, but it looks pretty cool so I'm just going to leave it as is, for now... Here's the underside, as people will be looking up at it, from a picture of the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge...
I had to extend this bridge, from an earlier layout, & the flat brace was very noticeable, until I saw the need for another access panel:
Next up: the Yard...
Gidday Paul, read your post on another thread regarding confusion over posting, and decided against replying there. I, and I suspect other "LURKERS", view a large number of posts and like yours check up on it when you add new postings. However I, and if you ever saw me you'd understand why!!, am no cheer leader. As I suggested on that other thread I would have thought that perhaps that the number of views your thread is receiving might just indicate that it is a reasonably popular.
Incidentally I am impressed with how you are making use of the space available. You keep posting, I'll keep visiting.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Sorry, 'Bear'; you're right - I should be thankful for small mercies. More pics, coming soon...
I've been put on light duty for a few weeks while I heal up from some tummy surgery; so - back to the modelling table.
I decided to get a little more detailed with my train shed, & have completed the first wall:
And here's the basic yard. The shed will encompass all five tracks including the overhead travelling crane, with an inspection pit located underneath that. Motion sensor signals will be mounted on the end of the shed as well.
And the Roof is on!! I found a piece of plexiglass or something in a cheap frame & it's been a godsend. I painted the inside with a dark beige & weathered it with Sierra Scale models chalks. The top was then masked & roller painted with a flat black acrylic craft paint from the dollar store, to simulate black roofing felt. The small windows will host skylights from Kenner's girder & Panel Skyscraper Set, while the larger openings will be filled with a safety glass grid printed on inkjet transparencies, then blocked in with metalized balsa strips.
The roof will then be finished in foil die-pressed into corrugated steel 8'X4' tiles & weathered. The holes down the centre will be 4' diesel fans.
Upcoming projects include reverse-engineering an IHC signal bridge to span the width of the train shed, with working motion sensor-activated targets.
Here's a quick video of the current layout. Soundtrack from various sources. Mini DVD camera mounted on the end of a HO Stewart CNR F7B.
Feb0913zps53b66af2.mp4.html
I love the windows in the train shed roof! Who'd have thought that old erector type toys could look so great in a model? The weathering on the structure looks great!
S&S
Modeling the Pennsy and loving it!
I'd say thanks, but thanks should go to our fellow modellers here whose posts have been an enjoyable learning curve.
The combination of several childhood toys into the model & the layout is a form of closure, I suppose; the old dream of 'confluence', where your G.I. Joes would fit inside a Tonka truck, or that Matchbox cars were just a bit smaller so they would work with your trains...but of course, it was precisely those differences which sparked & spawned our sense of imagination, so I guess it wasn't a bad thing after all, at that...
Just a quick update - I took a tumble in my apartment a few weeks ago; I just got out of hospital for surgery to a fractured right shoulder, so future installations will be on hold for a while, sorry for the delays...
Sorry to hear about your fall. Get healthy.
Gidday Paul, Get Well Soon.
And...I'm back, finished my physio with flying colours last Monday. I'm OK on the big 8 ft. ladder, but I wanted to finish up the train display backdrops before I do the yard wiring. Here's the display for the circus train:
and The Hogwarts Express...
The green wires hanging down are switch control wires; they'll be all neatly tucked away...soon.
I work up in the thinner air of a ceiling shelf layout as well. However I found a ladder to inconvenient and dangerous. I built a very sturdy, movable bench to stand on while working on and running my layout. at the end of the bench I do have a built in, but removablestep affair that lets me lean over the far back edge of the 2 foot wide shelf, if needed. This bench allows me to walk about 6 feet on a stable and wide platform while working and operating without the worry of a significant fall. It can be dragged along the entire 24 foot long extent of the round about shelf system allowing 6 or more feet of access for work and operations.
An older image (2011) of the shelf layout. Allows easy access to both shelf halves over a 6 foot section on each side. A no fall, easy work situation.
Sorry to hear about the fall, but glad you are back in action.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
Just to clarify - I didn't fall off anything. I tripped on a stack of assorted stuff that should have been put away. from a standing on the floor position, & went sideways, landing so very wrong. Falling from a height of 6'7" (my height) can be very dangerous, as I get older.
But between a marvellous upper extremity surgeon & a fantastic physio team, I'm now confident enough to lift a frozen turkey or hang from my big ladder with confidence, in spite of my right shoulder now looking like a football (stitching). And everything now gets put AWAY...
Thanks for all the good wishes - they are very much appreciated.
Well, the shoulder is functioning again so it's back to work. Installed the 4 ft. fans in the roof & finished framing in the skylights; and now have started the tedious task of roofing it all, in corrugated steel (aluminum). I'm using product from Rusty Stumps for this. A little tricky to work with but it's easy to get the hang of it quickly. I'm starting with the side that faces the wall so I can work out the technique like working around windows without my mistakes being as glaringly obvious as they would be on the more visible side facing out.
I'm thinking of individual gable roof covers for pairs of fans, all enclosed with frost fencing - any suggestions would be welcome...also planning access ladders flush mounted on the roof; safety ladders up opposite wall sides...
Detail (very hard to photograph)
Finished the wiring for the inspection pit; 3mm fibre optic filaments lit by 1.5V grain of wheat bulbs, wired in parallel from the Low Voltage Lighting Controller available on Spookshow's page:
http://www.spookshow.net/lowvcircuit.html
I know it's got nothing on Broadway Lion's spaghetti, but it's a start...
PLEASE tell me that is not your finished wiring!
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
bigpianoguyI know it's got nothing on Broadway Lion's spaghetti, but it's a start...
Are we suppose to be looking for a little piano hidden in amongst your spaghetti?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Ha ha, very funny...but I DO have a Preiser Jazz Band set with an HO scale upright, so maybe in future posts...and Phoebe, yes, it is the finished wiring, for now. I should add that it's all about 7 feet off the floor, so there's no chance of human interference. I may just insulate the exposed wires but everything's soldered & there's lots of air between wires, so it'll be a later project...
I originally was going to use a large LED light source (a dollar store flashlight) for the fibre optics but that proved to be impractical so I went with grain of wheat instead. And since it wasn't in the way & cutting the filaments put too much stress on the inspection pit, I left them at the installed length...
Just remember Rule #1...