Day 1, Post 1.
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John Allen famously built models of his layout before building the actual product. I am going to do the same thing, but in full size.
I have the advantage of an inexpensive hot glue gun! Can you imagine what the modelers of the 50's and 60's could have done if they had access to a hot glue gun and a Hot Wire Foam Factory?
Here is what I have accomplished today:
This going to be a model of the most important corner of the layout. I am going to make sure everything works before anything gets built.
Progress will be posted.
What a great vacation this will be!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Day 1, Post 2.
Got more done today than I thought I would.
Just finished installing the turntable.
Starting on the Roundhouse tomorrow.
Day 2, Post 1.
Working on the roundhouse like a madman this morning. Progress is going surprisingly fast.
Time to paint the interior black.
Very different approch!
Day 2, Post 2.
The roundhouse is 99% done now. The roof was very hard to make. Probably spent 4 hours today making everything fit.
Tomorrow I will begin with bridges and tunnels.
Kevin:
This is a very interesting thread. You really will know whether or not you are happy with the layout before you sink your time and money into it. I don't have the patience to do what you are doing. I get a picture in my head and go with it. Usually it works out, but occassionally not.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Day 3, Post 1.
Thanks for the comments Ray & Dave.
Moving forward today I am starting on the bridges and hills in the corner.
Hopefully I will be about half done with this project tonight.
The roundhouse and turntable look good for cardboard mockups. So does the bridge.
Maybe this should be the final layout it sure has character :)
Hahaaha! That's pretty awesome.
I'm definitely interested to see.
Great idea Kevin, nothign like seeing it "as it is" to make sure your satisfied.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Day 3, Post 2.
Did not make as much progress today as I thought I would. Mocking up all those retaining walls ate a ton of time. Had to re-slope the mountainside a couple of times.
I think I should get the paper mache on it tonight.
Day 4, Post 1.
Made one heck of a mess this morning! Thank goodness I covered the floor with kraft paper before I started this.
I have a lot of paint to apply now. Hopefully the paint will make all this mess go away.
A lot of water went through the cardboard when I put down the hillside covering. With some luck it will not weaken the whole thing enough for a collapse. I have been fighting warpage all through this project.
Day 4, Post 2.
Paint makes everything look better!
I am quite happy with progress now. I love this corner.
trainmaster247Maybe this should be the final layout
This thing is really growing on me. I had no idea I could become attached to a cardboard mock-up. The thought of destroying it in four days is now upsetting to me.
Geared SteamGreat idea Kevin, nothign like seeing it "as it is" to make sure your satisfied.
I am surprised at how satisfied I am with some of the features. I really thought I would hate the cut-down roundhouse, but now that I see it in 3D, I really like it. The structure looks truly massive in five square feet.
I also got the chance to redesign the interchange track with the COPPER CANYON RR. The way I drew it did not allow for the planned photography location.
Day 4, Post 3.
Began laying out the second corner. I found I will need to make the layout 6 inches wider. This will take it to 7 foot 6 inches. This leaves only about 4 feet of width for the staging yards and reverse loop behind the wall.
Time for bed. I hope to get as much done tomorrow as I did today.
Lone Wolf and Santa FeThe roundhouse and turntable look good for cardboard mockups. So does the bridge.
Thank you for the compliment.
The bridges look really good as stand-ins. The long bridge will be a Central Valley Pratt Truss Bridge, and the shorter bridge on turn 2 will be a Campbell Howe Truss Bridge.
I know the truss patterns are incorrect on both stand ins, but I wanted to make them easy to cut out.
Day 5, Post 1.
Starting on the scenery in the second corner. I have the plaster cloth down now. Paper Mache will come as soon as it is firmed up.
I was smart enough to put plastic over the rest of the model this time before I made another huge mess and had to repaint everything again.
Live and learn.
Day 5, post 2.
Paint sure makes everything look better. The additional 6 inches this corner will get when the layout finally gets built is badly needed. This was a good lesson learned before I built a wall!
Day 5, Post 3.
This is what the whole project looks like so far.
Not bad for a five day effort. I have stayed busy on this, and I am right where I wanted to be.
I am relieved that the yard throat starts soon enough for there to be plenty of room for four yard tracks before the layout needs to turn again.
Day 6, Post 1.
I started functional testing of the layout today. I broke out the old reliable power pack and hooked it up to the model layout. I am most interested in the double crossings where the industrial track crosses the double mainline. The trackwork goes straight from the crossings to a 22" radius curve with no tangent or transition track.
I could have done all this testing on the table top, but this way is just so much more fun! It is kind of like running a real layout.
I tested my early Life Like Proto 2000 SD-7 first. It went through everything pushing and pulling freight cars with no problems. Then one of my Stewart F7 B units was put on the track, again (unsurprisingly) no problems.
Then I went for broke and put one of my Sunset Heavy USRA 2-8-2 Mikados on the rails.
SUPRISE! Even with all those plastic frogs, no flywheel, and only picking up electricity from one side of the tender, it went back and forth through those crossings with no electrical or stalling problems. However, when backing from the 22" radius curve into the crossings, the trailing truck became derailed every time. Hmmm... I guess either there will be no Heavy Mikados switching the industrial tracks, or I will need to modify the locomotives to make the trailing truck swing out a little bit more.
Then I tried what should have been a slam-dunk. I put my Kato NW-2 on the track. This little gem runs so very well (like all HO Kato diesel locomotives), and it will coast for 4" on the flywheels. SURPRISE #2: It would not make it across the crossings. I inspected everything and found the trip pin on the factory installed X2F couple was catching on the crossing frogs.
I cut off the trip pins with a pair of diagonal cutters, and now it flows through the crossings with no issues.
I find this all very interesting. I did not think the locomotives would run so well though back to back Atlas crossings.
The plan is to build these crossings on solid clad PC board and make them solid metal rail with insulating gaps through the centers of each crossing as described in a very old edition of How to Wire Your Model Railroad. This should give positive electrical pickup for even small locomotives. I believe I will need a 4PDT switch to control the crossing. The crossing would then be concealed under pavement as a roadway to the roundhouse would go over this trackwork.
That is still the plan. I cannot test my smallest locomotive, a United 2-6-2, because it is paint right now, but I am so pleasently surprised at how well my locomotive roster performed over this pair of Atlas plastic frogged crossings.
It looks like you are having fun, which is the Prime Directive. But just to keep the terminology straight, those are crossings, not crossovers. I see that you referenced them correctly elsewhere in your post.
SeeYou190 I am most interested in the double crossovers where the industrial track crosses the double mainline.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
cuyamajust to keep the terminology straight, those are crossings, not crossovers.
I edited the post and fixed the offending terminology.
Yes, this has been a very fun week.
Kevin, a very interesting concept. Looking great! Glad to see you are focusing on some model railroading again. War games taking a back seat for a while?
dieseldocWar games taking a back seat for a while
Actually, I was supposed to spend this vacation at the Historical Miniature Gaming Society convention in Orlando. The hotel tried to stick it to me when I modified my reservation, so I cancelled my participation. The DBA tournament won't be the same without me, and I missed my chance to participate in the new release event for the new edition of Battlelore hosted by Richard Borg. Oh well... this has been just as much fun.
Now for a Wargaming "mash-up", here a is an armoured Polish train on the cardboard layout:
OK. No more inter-hobby mash-ups for me. That European train looks too silly in front of a North American roundhouse!
Was there ever an American armoured military train similar to this?
Day 6, Post 2.
Adding a bunch of cardboard buildings. The roundhouse was getting lonely. He showed up on day two, then no one came around to join him until today.
Now time for more paint... again.
Day 7, Post 1.
Here I am on the last day. I added paint to the cardboard buildings this morning, and now this project is about 99% complete! I finally made it! This has been an exciting rush of work.
All I have left is some touch-up paint, add some loose chunks of stand-in scenery, and take some pictures.
SeeYou190I put my Kato NW-2 on the track. This little gem runs so very well (like all HO Kato diesel locomotives), and it will coast for 4" on the flywheels. SURPRISE #2: It would not make it across the crossings. I inspected everything and found the trip pin on the factory installed X2F couple was catching on the crossing frogs. . . I cut off the trip pins with a pair of diagonal cutters, and now it flows through the crossings with no issues.
I use a pair of jewelry pliers to bend the 'hose' up to the proper height because they are all low compared to the Kadee coupler gauge. There is a special tool marketed to do it as well.