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HO 1950s/60s NYC-ish 7x17 Layout

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  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: San Francisco Bay Area
  • 835 posts
Posted by mcfunkeymonkey on Friday, September 18, 2015 2:57 PM

Thanks, Peter.
It's been fun to play in HO, but will be nice to get back to N(ormal) scale  8)

A few more details added earlier this week:

Added lights to the racetrack billboard:



Added a light under the Rialto marquee as well as inside the two stores on either side of it:



[Hue is more yellow in person]

The Broadway strip:



By the time the steamer comes back from the shops in 3-5 weeks I should have a bunch more people painted.
Probably plenty more trees & bushes as well.

Thanks for looking!

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Friday, September 18, 2015 7:44 PM

 That looks great. The interiors on the drug store and theater really finish them off.

The overall view as well - we may not have ever had superdetailed buildings on any of our layouts when I was a kid, but EVERYTHING had lights, from the news stand all the way to the ski chalet on top of the mountain (with the Brawa cable car running between the base which was a repurposed Plasticville train station up to the chalet). Really makes a difference and makes the town scene come alive when stuff lights up.

                  --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: San Francisco Bay Area
  • 835 posts
Posted by mcfunkeymonkey on Sunday, April 22, 2018 9:58 AM

Thanks for all the kind comments, but I have some sad news to share:

I finished this NYC-ish HO layout for Don back in the summer of 2015.
He wanted Montecello, NY in the late 1950's, so I built it for him.
(With fab structure help by Miles the Weathering Guy)

This last weekend (4/14/2018)  Don calls & says he's moving.
In less than a month.

This Saturday, with multi-scale model railroad superhero Eric (from the Silicon Valley Free-moN Anarcho-Collective we rock together, & Silicon Valley Lines HO Club), we take down & remove the entire layout, saving as much as possible for projects our own as well as to share with others in our orbits:

A good chunk / good chunks of this project will appear in many Bay Area layouts over the coming year.

Plywood to plywood,
Foam to foam.
Funk to funky.

Here's a time-lapse of the dismemberment process.
What took me (& Miles) over 6 months to build, Eric & I removed in less than 7 hours.

May it inspire you to get building!

Life & model railroading is fleeting.

Thanks for watching.

  • Member since
    January 2014
  • 1,500 posts
Posted by ROBERT PETRICK on Sunday, April 22, 2018 10:07 AM

Hey McFM-

What a great video. Sad, but great. Inevitable.

I especially liked the lunch break interlude.

Been following your work for years.

Robert 

LINK to SNSR Blog


  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Sunday, April 22, 2018 10:58 AM

Why doesn't the owner take it with him?  It's a shame to just walk away.  Your gain, but his loss.

My layout is all packed up to move in a couple of months, but I plan to reconfigure it as necessary for its new space and have it rise again.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    August 2011
  • From: A Comfy Cave, New Zealand
  • 6,251 posts
Posted by "JaBear" on Monday, April 23, 2018 3:14 AM
Gidday MC, while it’s not the exact way I’d hoped to see you at work, it’s good to see you back, even if it’s only for a fleeting visit.
Cheers, the Bear.Smile

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

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: California
  • 2,388 posts
Posted by HO-Velo on Monday, April 23, 2018 9:05 PM

Hey M.C., fun vid., appears you're as adept at taking a layout down as you are at building one up.

Thanks & regards,  Peter

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: San Francisco Bay Area
  • 835 posts
Posted by mcfunkeymonkey on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 12:08 AM

Unfortunetly more so--5-6 months to build everything--8 hours to disappear it.

But Don got infiite enjoyment running trains while he had it, & I enjoyed building it!
(Disassembly presented its own enjoyable challenges :)

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone.
All of your exceptional work inspires mind & body to get off our caboose & get back to the workbench.

Cheers!

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