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Crandell's (Selector's) New Layout Progress Thread

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  • Member since
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  • From: Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
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Posted by Blue Flamer on Tuesday, January 1, 2013 3:18 PM

selector

Michael, I want to, I really want to.  However, wife had rotator cuff surgery six weeks ago, and with Christmas, I had a lot in the home to look after.  We are busy today with New Year's Eve hosting, and then things should settle down a bit.  Mind you, wife wants to journey into the interior of the Province to see her mother and sister, the former being rather elderly and ill, and certainly in the late twilight of her life.  So, I can't see me providing commentary or images before about the 8th of the month.  If I can, I'll post an update by late tomorrow or Wednesday.  Then, we'll be on the road.

Crandell

Crandell.

Sorry to hear about your wife's' Rotator Cuff problem. She has my sympathy as I have had the same problem in both shoulders, the first time about 14 yrs. ago and this last time just over 2 yrs. ago with what the surgeon described as a "MASSIVE TEAR". Due to my age, (71+ at the time) and the severity of the tear he was reluctant to guarantee full recovery and use. After a full 12 months of Physio Therapy doing EXACTLY what the surgeon and my therapist instructed, the surgeon pronounced me completely healed with full use of my arm.

Just make sure that your wife doesn't try to overdo things. (Like climbing under your layout to run wires for youLaugh.)

All the best to you and yours for 2013.

Blue Flamer. 

"There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"." Dave Barry, Syndicated Columnist. "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." Doctor Who.
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Posted by selector on Monday, December 31, 2012 5:13 PM

Michael, I want to, I really want to.  However, wife had rotator cuff surgery six weeks ago, and with Christmas, I had a lot in the home to look after.  We are busy today with New Year's Eve hosting, and then things should settle down a bit.  Mind you, wife wants to journey into the interior of the Province to see her mother and sister, the former being rather elderly and ill, and certainly in the late twilight of her life.  So, I can't see me providing commentary or images before about the 8th of the month.  If I can, I'll post an update by late tomorrow or Wednesday.  Then, we'll be on the road.

Crandell

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Posted by Motley on Monday, December 31, 2012 4:45 PM

Oh I didn't even know you were working on the mountain. Very nice Crandell, very nice.

You back to working on the layout again?

Michael


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Posted by MudHen_462 on Monday, November 5, 2012 11:06 AM

"looking great", Crandell !!!  The removable section is a good idea, and I may just copy that for the back side of my new layout, as it'll be a stretch to reach that area in the event of of derailments & other "disasters".

Bob

 

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Posted by bogp40 on Sunday, November 4, 2012 9:32 AM

selector

Here are two photos of the mountain.  First, the frame of 1X2 and 1/2" plywood.  All glued, no screws.

Now, covered with strips of aluminium window screen, hot-glued.

I will begin to cover it with ground goop in the next couple of days.  More to follow.

Crandell

I like the construction,  the entire structure can be lifted off if/ when that is needed.  Such a great layout and now all future work is done to ensure ease of dissasembly for that possible future move.

Modeling B&O- Chessie  Bob K.  www.ssmrc.org

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Posted by mikelhh on Saturday, November 3, 2012 7:39 PM

Nice! That's terrain that truly justifies a tunnel.

Mike

Modelling the UK in 00, and New England - MEC, B&M, D&H and Guilford - in H0

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Posted by selector on Saturday, November 3, 2012 7:06 PM

Here are two photos of the mountain.  First, the frame of 1X2 and 1/2" plywood.  All glued, no screws.

Now, covered with strips of aluminium window screen, hot-glued.

I will begin to cover it with ground goop in the next couple of days.  More to follow.

Crandell

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Posted by selector on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 8:28 PM

I have begun to construct the rest of the mountain for the far corner.  I have cut out a shaped 'rib' of sorts that will be part of the outer frame glued and screwed to two outrigger lengths of 1X2.   I'll post a photo soon showing how I did it.

Crandell

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 4:11 PM

Same here.  Both retired.  One car payment, otherwise debt free.  House is paid for, the other car is paid for, two credit cards, both paid in full at the end of each month.

I don't buy lottery tickets.  My odds of winning are not that much different from yours.

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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Posted by Blue Flamer on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 3:55 PM

Phoebe Vet

Lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math.

Amen to that, Dave but I am reasonably good at math. Good enough to know that the odds of me winning are DEFINITLY not in my favour but if I don't buy a ticket, the odds of me winning are even further from my favour. Wink As the wife and I used most of our savings to pay off the mortgage when I retired in '97, I can afford to blow the money on a ticket or sometimes two each week. It's nice to be mortgage and debt free. The two kids know that they wont get a lot of cash when we kick off but there will be NO DEBT other than the current months purchases.and they will have the house free and clear.

At my age, if I win the big one, the shock will probably give me a heart attack and the wife and kids will have a comfortable life afterwards. Laugh

All the best to all.

Blue Flamer.

"There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"." Dave Barry, Syndicated Columnist. "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." Doctor Who.
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Posted by selector on Friday, October 19, 2012 10:43 PM

Thanks, Schlimm.  Not for a part-timer already retired.  I was not employed in academia in my other life, more on the practical side.

Crandell

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Posted by schlimm on Friday, October 19, 2012 8:17 PM

Crandell:  Sorry about your situation.  No tenure up north?

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by selector on Friday, October 19, 2012 8:08 PM

Thanks, Galaxy.  Big Smile

Tom, in these hard economic times, our hosts are trying to preserve bandwidth.  This but one of the many cost-cutting measures they have implemented recently.  Laugh

Crandell

PS...I paid extra for this post's font size.  Huh?

Moderator
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Posted by tstage on Friday, October 19, 2012 5:25 PM

Everyone's posting using tiny little fonts.  (I think I know what happened.)  Is this a secret conversation?

Tom

[Edit: Well, I take it back.  I don't know why it's doing this.  I had to change the post to the #3 font size but my signature is still in #2 font size.  Weird. Confused]

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Posted by galaxy on Friday, October 19, 2012 4:53 PM

Crandell,

I have popped in on this thread now and again to watch "the master at work", but have never commented.

I am sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations, they come to all walks of life.

Perhaps it is better in the longer run anyway if the house is a handfull. A teacher once told "the only thing more expensive to own than a car to own is a house". Better to be out of the house now than forced out to the "home" as you put it. Or to be forced "to the street" in "poverty", LOL. Even our trailer home, now 29 years old is costing a bundle to fix and repair for us comparatively and we are going broke doing it. We may never have a house, but are now thinking maybe a new trailer won't be so bad if we can arrange that, but then 25 years later for it, we would be even more in to senior years and maybe just as broke!.ANY house will need repairs and maitenance that may require "deep pockets" to it's owner.

I, when I have a MRRIng space with a house over it {or at least a bigger room for it}, will build mine so it can come down if need be. I have a very small one now, but to build a big permenant one can be disappointing when life deals a changing blow.

I am the "keeper of the flame" in the diner..the prayer candle flame, that is. I will say an extra prayer for your ailing wife with healing thoughts.

The Best of luck to you and keep us posted on your transition!

Geeked

-G .

Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.

 HO and N Scale.

After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.

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Posted by Phoebe Vet on Friday, October 19, 2012 1:14 PM

Lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math.

Dave

Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow

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Posted by Blue Flamer on Friday, October 19, 2012 1:09 PM

Crandell.

That is one big pile of ground goop that you have there. It looks pretty good even with only the turf on it.

By the way, don't forget that the Lotto Max is $50 million tonight + 24 extra $1 million prizes so make sure that you have a ticket or three. I know the odds are REALLY SLIM if you buy a ticket, but if you DON'T buy a ticket, they're even slimmer. Laugh At least that's what I keep telling myself. AND, someone has to win it eventually. If it's you, you wont have to do a de-construct job on your layout.

All the best,

Blue Flamer.

"There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"." Dave Barry, Syndicated Columnist. "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." Doctor Who.
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Posted by selector on Friday, October 19, 2012 12:30 AM

Well, Blue Flamer, with that warm comment (and I am touched Big Smile ), I guess I should get back to work.   And thanks to all who have continued to support me during the drought.

Now, five full months after my last afternoon in the loft, I decided how to do the one smaller mountain, the one that will be in the far right corner.  I posted a photo showing a double-wide portal with the stepped retaining walls with tracks beginning to rise up the grade toward the truss bridge under the large glass block window.  (Turns out it isn't glass, but plastic, and something broke an outer wall of one of the blocks and it began to fill with water over the past winter.  I had to bore into it low using mm-thick drill bits and let the rather murky water drain.)

Anyhoo, just inches behind that double-wide portal is the separation between the long yard module and the corner module that will hold most of the mountain.  I figure to create a seam over the module join.  So, rising around the portal and retaining walls, back and stopping just at the join, I hot glued strips of aluminum window screen and supported it with custom-cut scrap ends of 1X2.  It looks like so:

Then I had to mix five separate batches of ground goop and spread them over the screen, except I wanted to do it more seamlessly than on the last layout.  I think it worked...I have to be more patient, and promised myself not to rush these things.  I then sprayed the still wet (learned not to let it dry before doing this) ground goop with a diluted yellow glue mixture and sprinkled on some blended turf and coarse turf.

You can see the ground goop and on the far side only the blended turf was done when I took the image.

Next I must build the frame for the rest of the mountain.  I think I will use a perimeter frame with crescents of plywood as the 'rafters'.  I will have to figure out how to brace it, too.

Crandell

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Posted by Blue Flamer on Thursday, October 18, 2012 12:31 PM

Crandell.

Sorry to hear of your temporary setbacks and that everything all works out well in the end. 

I consider myself to be one of your many online/Forum friends and I always look forward to seeing your input on the many topics that you chime in on. Just do what you can, when you can and we all will be happy to read about it.

All the best to She Who Must Be Obeyed and yourself. Stay safe.

Blue Flamer

"There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"." Dave Barry, Syndicated Columnist. "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." Doctor Who.
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Posted by selector on Friday, October 12, 2012 10:59 AM

Thanks ever so much, fellas!  I am very pleased with your good wishes.

Nothing is dire or set in concrete, but I have never been one to let fantasy and dreams get in the way of my screaming brain's warnings.  I can see the writing on the wall, and it says the jig is probably up. We have done well, if run through a lot of money, to live in this place and to enjoy its views, acre, beach path, and aircraft displays so close to the runway.  We always new we were not going to go from here directly to 'the home'; there would be at least one intervening move.

I agree with the sentiment expressed by Mark that one needn't just dread and mark time until the inevitable.   As I stated in my last post, I don't see why I can't figure out ways to continue, but to make it that much more deconstructable so that I can enjoy the build, but safely remove and transport almost all of it, including lift-off mountain structures and such.  As Granny always said, "Where there's a will, there's a way." 

It is a rain day, signifying, with the accompanying blustery off-shore wind, that the fall is truly here.  I have to blow out the outdoor water lines to the shower and garden, wrap the pump 'well' housing with plastic wrap to keep the colder sub-zero winds from actually penetrating the housing and freezing the piples, and pull up the last of the summer vines and plants. I will do that this weekend, and commence constructing scenery anew by Monday.  I'll post photos and commentary.

Thanks again, gentlemen and ladies.

Crandell

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Posted by ef3 yellowjacket on Friday, October 12, 2012 10:34 AM

The big ones are known as rats.  I sincerely do hope that you are not plagued (note that word...) by rats...

Rich C.

Rich
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Posted by Pruitt on Friday, October 12, 2012 9:52 AM

That's very bad news, man!No

Quite a bit of time between now and spring, though - maybe things will start looking up.

Whatever happens, just make sure you stick around here. Place wouldn't be the same without you. Broken Heart

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Posted by rrinker on Friday, October 12, 2012 6:50 AM

 Good luck moving forward. With what's happened over the past few weeks, personal health and the health of loved ones is FAR more important than finishing a layout.  I know you'll be back once everything settles back down again. Painful though it may be to leave the old behind, anything that relieves excess stress in your life will ultimately be good.

           --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

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Posted by "JaBear" on Friday, October 12, 2012 2:43 AM

Geared Steam

saronaterry

Well. That sucks.Sad

Terry in NW Wisconsin

Too say the least. Sorry for the luck Crandell. Hope it works out for you and your wife. It sounds like you have already got it figured out.

Gidday, couldn't express it myself.

Best wishes, the Bear.

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by HO60s on Thursday, October 11, 2012 7:58 PM

Crandell, I sure hope the best for you and your wife as you are faced with many potential changes in your life.  The hope is that when one door closes and new one is opened and you will experience the good life thru that new door.

Gale

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Posted by Geared Steam on Thursday, October 11, 2012 5:53 PM

saronaterry

Well. That sucks.Sad

Terry in NW Wisconsin

Too say the least. Sorry for the luck Crandell. Hope it works out for you and your wife. It sounds like you have already got it figured out.

"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein

http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/

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Posted by HaroldA on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 9:05 PM

Crandell,

So sorry to hear about your obstacles.  Life does get in the way of the best laid plans and when that happens we need to step back and do what is best. 

Take care and hope that mountain is a whopper!!

There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....

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Posted by saronaterry on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 5:17 PM

Well. That sucks.Sad

Terry in NW Wisconsin

Terry in NW Wisconsin

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Posted by selector on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 2:49 PM

Michael, I have come to a potentially serious obstacle.  I have been informed that my employment will be terminated when my winter course ends next spring.  My wife is ailing and will possibly have to stop working.  With that double whammy, we may be faced with a quick sale of our home and moving across the Strait and up into the south-central interior of the Province where living is much less costly.

Living seaside where we are, with a million dollar view, was always a tenuous proposition.  I inherited the property, and my father warned us that you need deep pockets to keep such a property.  I have rather shallow pockets being on a military pension, and I still have a chunk of debt from looking after all my daughters after I retired.  They have since been launched, but we still owe the money.  The sale of the property will allow us to be released, and still have lots to get a nice property in the semi-arid part of the Central Interior.

This means it doesn't seem sensible to keep working on the layout.  I am pretty sure I can salvage it intact since I built it in modular fashion, but it will be that much more difficult, and wasteful, shipping fragile details and scenery.  I can stop now and ship much more robust items that will withstand some mishandling.

However, I think I will tackle a removable mountain to see how that goes and looks, so stand by.... Cool

Crandell

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Posted by Motley on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 1:16 PM

Crendell, its Oct 10th, have you been busy building in the loft?

I know what you mean, the summer for me was busy, and I didn't even make it into the train room for 2 months. But my spark is coming back, we had a light covering of snow recently. For some reason, cold nasty weather and trains go together like peaches and cream. 

Michael


CEO-
Mile-HI-Railroad
Prototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989

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