Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF) Well, I'm on modeltrainstuff right now, I found an Atlas that looks good but buy the time I add cars Its to much.
Well, I'm on modeltrainstuff right now, I found an Atlas that looks good but buy the time I add cars Its to much.
Well, get the loco, then save up and get cars later. Or, since you have one steam loco that can switch the industries, get the cars and get the Atlas later.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
dstarr Newspaper and plaster is the traditional model railroading scenery solution. However, I've been doing landforms on my layout from foam. Less mess, no water, and it's easy. The foam comes from the lumber yard in 4 * 8 foot sheets, two inches thick. Just about any new house construction site will use the stuff and you can scrounge scraps for free. It sticks together with either foamboard adhesive or latex caulk. I carve it to shape using woodworking tools or just a saw edged bread knife. For taller hills, just stick a couple of pieces together. What's more, the resulting hills and mountains can just be set on the layout, no glue. That way you can rearrange your track no problem. Just pick up the hills and such, redo the track, and set 'em down again in a new location. If necessary you can trim a hill or mountain so it fits in the new track plan.
Newspaper and plaster is the traditional model railroading scenery solution. However, I've been doing landforms on my layout from foam. Less mess, no water, and it's easy. The foam comes from the lumber yard in 4 * 8 foot sheets, two inches thick. Just about any new house construction site will use the stuff and you can scrounge scraps for free. It sticks together with either foamboard adhesive or latex caulk. I carve it to shape using woodworking tools or just a saw edged bread knife. For taller hills, just stick a couple of pieces together.
What's more, the resulting hills and mountains can just be set on the layout, no glue. That way you can rearrange your track no problem. Just pick up the hills and such, redo the track, and set 'em down again in a new location. If necessary you can trim a hill or mountain so it fits in the new track plan.
I second using foam, and I second that it's great. There is mess, but then, it ain't in the form of plaster and water and that, but the shavings off of it if you use sandpaper to shape it. Just paint w/ latex paint, add ground turf, and presto, you have a decent hill (or other landform).
BNSF, might I suggest looking around on modeltrainstuff.com for a good 4 axle unit. You can get good locos there cheap, as well as anything else. Shipping might be a little higher for you than for me, because they're in Maryland and I'm in South Carolina, but they have prices that you can't beat. Also, look at the Atlas locos, they're the best for the money. Don't worry about the price, they cause you zero trouble and run like silk.
NeO6874 BNSF -- you absolutely have time to build some rolling stock kits.
BNSF -- you absolutely have time to build some rolling stock kits.
Well, I guess I forgot, I had put together 6 walthers "classic kits" they were 49' quad hoppers and they were fun to put together and now their my best rolling rolling stock. (May haft to think about that scentence for a sec.)
The simpliest storage shelves are merely bricks and boards. Cut the boards to length and set them on bricks and presto, a storage shelf.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF)<snip>... I do have steam power that works on 18"R but none of them have working front coplers and I looked and I cant put operating ones in them.
Oh, but you can. it'll take a little work and ingenuity (not to mention some glue). I've added Kadee couplers to the fronts of some of my plastic locos. If your loco has a metal pilot, you'll probably need some files or something to clean it up enough to slip the kadee shank through.
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
As to tracklaying: in its most raw form, the term does describe placing any track upon a prepared surface, but BNSF, this is what I spoke of earlier. As your financial and skill sets grow, try replacing the prefab track with coark or foam roadbed and Atlas flex track. It is a scary proposition sometimes, to convert to something else, but you then are on the road to improving your modeling skills, since tracklaying in its most refined form elevates to such things as handlaying track, which I do not know if you have ever tried, and would not recommend without a lot of study and experimenting on a separate secene or area.
Layout size should not be an important factor in your enjoyment of the hobby. It certainly hasn't been for me.
You have a track plan worthy of making some small changes to include more prototypical operation with an inustry spur or two if that is what you want to be into, and as a display layout it provides excellent opportunities for photography. If you like the Frisco, as your handle implies, that road had a couple of open air engine spurs on it's old QA&P subsidiary that you could model without too much trouble.
I agree with most everyone else; model railroading encompasses structure building, detailing, and scenery work. You could take a section of your track (preferrably a single scrap piece that is not being used on the layout) and experiment with either paint or Woodland Scenics ballast to give it a little more texture and dull the sheen of the plastic. Yes I know it is already textured, but try a test section of a scrap piece......you will notice a huge change.
All of this encompasses the hobby, so don't get frustrated or bored. There are always things to do.
Packers#1TrainManTyI used newspaper and plaster cloth on my mountains, and it worked well. Just be sure to cover the floor and wear old clothes, as plaster drips everywhere! To store equipment I'm not using, I have an old chest of drawers that I added felt to the drawer bottoms. The equipment goes on it's side so it won't tip over when you open the drawers. I can store plenty of equipment in these. If you don't have space or can't find the needed materials, you could use an old bookcase (a small one works great underneath the layout) and place the equipment upright parallel to the front edge so if it rolls, it will hit the end walls rather than the floor. I used a short (about 3 feet tall) bookcase on a previous layout to store rolling stock on. For clothes, also do that when you're playing w/ latex paint for ground cover if you do that or any other scenery method (also when hand-painting something, don't ask). I just have a pair of jeans that I already spilled model paint on (the don't ask thing) and an old Packers t-shirt that's a little tight. Also, to cover the floor, maybe some old towels your mom was about to throw out to the garage or something (newspaper works good to). To store my rolling stock and locos I have a little set of plastic drawers that you can get at Target, Wal-mart, Staples etc. that they market as things to help organize your desk.
TrainManTyI used newspaper and plaster cloth on my mountains, and it worked well. Just be sure to cover the floor and wear old clothes, as plaster drips everywhere! To store equipment I'm not using, I have an old chest of drawers that I added felt to the drawer bottoms. The equipment goes on it's side so it won't tip over when you open the drawers. I can store plenty of equipment in these. If you don't have space or can't find the needed materials, you could use an old bookcase (a small one works great underneath the layout) and place the equipment upright parallel to the front edge so if it rolls, it will hit the end walls rather than the floor. I used a short (about 3 feet tall) bookcase on a previous layout to store rolling stock on.
I used newspaper and plaster cloth on my mountains, and it worked well. Just be sure to cover the floor and wear old clothes, as plaster drips everywhere!
To store equipment I'm not using, I have an old chest of drawers that I added felt to the drawer bottoms. The equipment goes on it's side so it won't tip over when you open the drawers. I can store plenty of equipment in these.
If you don't have space or can't find the needed materials, you could use an old bookcase (a small one works great underneath the layout) and place the equipment upright parallel to the front edge so if it rolls, it will hit the end walls rather than the floor. I used a short (about 3 feet tall) bookcase on a previous layout to store rolling stock on.
For clothes, also do that when you're playing w/ latex paint for ground cover if you do that or any other scenery method (also when hand-painting something, don't ask). I just have a pair of jeans that I already spilled model paint on (the don't ask thing) and an old Packers t-shirt that's a little tight. Also, to cover the floor, maybe some old towels your mom was about to throw out to the garage or something (newspaper works good to). To store my rolling stock and locos I have a little set of plastic drawers that you can get at Target, Wal-mart, Staples etc. that they market as things to help organize your desk.
Ok, It looks like you guise covered some of the info I need for my layout, as far as clothes go I help my dad on the farm so I got work clothes that I can use for the mountain if I put one in.
Ok, now that I have my sidings constructed, I realize that I dont have an 4 axle road power and the loop that takes the loco from siding 1 to 2,3 and 4 uses 18"R curves and 6axis doesn't work with that very good and it dont cooperate with the switches in a spot, I do have steam power that works on 18"R but none of them have working front coplers and I looked and I cant put operating ones in them.
TrainManTy Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF)Ok, first off: your list off buildings that you made. I planned on adding some of them. Next I've been wondering how to store all my cars and locos that I'm not operating. I've been thinking of using the news paper and plaster cloth method to build my hills. Here's some help with the spelling and grammer... I used newspaper and plaster cloth on my mountains, and it worked well. Just be sure to cover the floor and wear old clothes, as plaster drips everywhere! To store equipment I'm not using, I have an old chest of drawers that I added felt to the drawer bottoms. The equipment goes on it's side so it won't tip over when you open the drawers. I can store plenty of equipment in these. If you don't have space or can't find the needed materials, you could use an old bookcase (a small one works great underneath the layout) and place the equipment upright parallel to the front edge so if it rolls, it will hit the end walls rather than the floor. I used a short (about 3 feet tall) bookcase on a previous layout to store rolling stock on.
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF)Ok, first off: your list off buildings that you made. I planned on adding some of them. Next I've been wondering how to store all my cars and locos that I'm not operating. I've been thinking of using the news paper and plaster cloth method to build my hills.
Here's some help with the spelling and grammer...
dstarr Starting from what you have, have you considered:1. Building a few structures? For instance, a gas station, a passenger station, a freight house, a factory, an oil terminal, a house, a store, a church, a school, a warehouse, a bridge, or engine house. Decent structures can be scratch built from cardstock for little money. With a color printer you can run off brick sideing, windows, lots of details. Place each structure on a base of plywood or masonite or foam board and then you can rearrange your structures as you rearrange your track plan.2. Build storage shelving to fit under the layout.3. Try for some three dimensional land forms. Scrounge some building foam and carve hills, ridges, mountains, embankments, what ever. The foam carves easily with a steak knife, (also just about any wood working tool). The idea is to break up the dead flatness of the table. You can leave the foam contours unglued permitting track changes. 4. Make a viewblock that divides the layout into two scenes. Run it down the center of the table. Cover it with a pre printed backdrop or try your hand painting a backdrop. Plenty of backdrops are just a blue sky with some white clouds floating in it. Trains pass thru the view block using tunnel entrances.5. Repaint some freight cars. A spray can of red auto primer gives a fine box car red. Add decals for your favorite road and watch a low end car turn into something pretty nice. 6. Make some loads for your hopper cars. Cut a piece of soft pine to fit the open top of the car. Carve the top round like a coal pile. Paint it black, and then cover it with HO scale coal secured with Elmer's glue all.
Starting from what you have, have you considered:
1. Building a few structures? For instance, a gas station, a passenger station, a freight house, a factory, an oil terminal, a house, a store, a church, a school, a warehouse, a bridge, or engine house. Decent structures can be scratch built from cardstock for little money. With a color printer you can run off brick sideing, windows, lots of details. Place each structure on a base of plywood or masonite or foam board and then you can rearrange your structures as you rearrange your track plan.
2. Build storage shelving to fit under the layout.
3. Try for some three dimensional land forms. Scrounge some building foam and carve hills, ridges, mountains, embankments, what ever. The foam carves easily with a steak knife, (also just about any wood working tool). The idea is to break up the dead flatness of the table. You can leave the foam contours unglued permitting track changes.
4. Make a viewblock that divides the layout into two scenes. Run it down the center of the table. Cover it with a pre printed backdrop or try your hand painting a backdrop. Plenty of backdrops are just a blue sky with some white clouds floating in it. Trains pass thru the view block using tunnel entrances.
5. Repaint some freight cars. A spray can of red auto primer gives a fine box car red. Add decals for your favorite road and watch a low end car turn into something pretty nice.
6. Make some loads for your hopper cars. Cut a piece of soft pine to fit the open top of the car. Carve the top round like a coal pile. Paint it black, and then cover it with HO scale coal secured with Elmer's glue all.
Ok, first off: your list off buildings that you made, I planed on adding some of them, next I've been wondering how to store all my cars and locos that I'm not operating, next thing I've been thinking of using the news paper and plaster cloth meadthod.( OK I know I spelled that rong, I'll finish later I g2g eat)
I would highly recommend against you getting a difficult kit (Branchline Blueprint Series, Red Caboose, or even worse Funaro & Camerlengo) as they take a lot of time, and a fair amount of skill to put together -- not to mention about $30-$50 (or more) in tools. Would hate to see you try one of those and get in over your head as it were. However you can definitely put together something that falls into the "shake the box" category. Some of the companies that make these kits are Athearn, Bowser*, Accurail*, or Roundhouse (there are probably others as well).
The first kit I built was a Roundhouse boxcar. It had a cast metal floor, a shell with molded on details, trucks/plastic wheels, Accumate couplers, and 3-5 detail parts (I think the air tank & 3-way valve for the brakes, the hand brake wheel, and maybe a few other bits). This went together in about 11 seconds**. Needless to say I was a little disappointed in how fast that went together.(I'm currently 22, and grew up reading the "how to" articles in MR where the author would scratch a steam loco or similar... so that had been my impression of "real" model railroading since I was old enough to check out the magazines from the Library). At the time I bought the kit (about 1 year or two ago), I didn't know the difference between a (more-or-less) "craftsman" kit and "shake the box". I quickly jumped in full-force and bought two boxcar kits made by Red Caboose, and have since graduated to the cast resin F&C kits (though they still don't look "just right"....). The first RC caboose I built took like 10ish hours to complete, and I've gotten that down to about 5-6 hours total to build the kits(no weathering).
Personally, I think that you should look into kits, they're (generally) less expensive than a similar RTR car, give a good deal of enjoyment while building, and the satisfaction of watching something roll past that you can say "I built that" about...
Then you find out about locomotive kits....
* These companies might make shake-the-box and more difficult kits, just be sure of what you're buying.
** In reality the car took about 20 minutes total.
4merroad4man Whoops. I am informed that Packers#1 shot the cab unit photo. Nice job P-1.....
Whoops. I am informed that Packers#1 shot the cab unit photo. Nice job P-1.....
Thank you. And in reply to your previous post, i agree that you need some tough skin to play out here. I've been bashed, and I've gotten critisised, but hey, you can't keep me off unless you kick me off, lol. BNSF, that looks like a great start to your new railroad.
csxns Packer i was not bashing or ripping somebody's head off so you can stick it where the sun does not shine.Packers#1 csxns Stay in Model Railroading and only model in one scale. Ya'll on here know that I usually don't come out and post a disagreement, but I gotta disagree w/ the second part. I do agree w/ the first part, stay in model railroading, it's a great hobby. However, the secong part (only model in one scale) is not the best. If you want to model in two or even three scales, go for it. who cares, it ain't their layout. csxns has his opinion, and there's mine. By the way, don't take the bashings to badly, some people just love ripping people's heads off. Happened to me plenty of times, and I've seen it happen before, I usually stick up for the guy being bashed. Any pics of what you've done? EDIT: Hey BNSF, when someone makes a comment about you're work that's downright nasty, show them this montgomery Gentry song called "What Do You Think About That?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QytPoRLEhF0&NR=1
Packer i was not bashing or ripping somebody's head off so you can stick it where the sun does not shine.
Packers#1 csxns Stay in Model Railroading and only model in one scale. Ya'll on here know that I usually don't come out and post a disagreement, but I gotta disagree w/ the second part. I do agree w/ the first part, stay in model railroading, it's a great hobby. However, the secong part (only model in one scale) is not the best. If you want to model in two or even three scales, go for it. who cares, it ain't their layout. csxns has his opinion, and there's mine. By the way, don't take the bashings to badly, some people just love ripping people's heads off. Happened to me plenty of times, and I've seen it happen before, I usually stick up for the guy being bashed. Any pics of what you've done? EDIT: Hey BNSF, when someone makes a comment about you're work that's downright nasty, show them this montgomery Gentry song called "What Do You Think About That?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QytPoRLEhF0&NR=1
csxns Stay in Model Railroading and only model in one scale.
Stay in Model Railroading and only model in one scale.
Ya'll on here know that I usually don't come out and post a disagreement, but I gotta disagree w/ the second part. I do agree w/ the first part, stay in model railroading, it's a great hobby. However, the secong part (only model in one scale) is not the best. If you want to model in two or even three scales, go for it. who cares, it ain't their layout. csxns has his opinion, and there's mine. By the way, don't take the bashings to badly, some people just love ripping people's heads off. Happened to me plenty of times, and I've seen it happen before, I usually stick up for the guy being bashed. Any pics of what you've done?
EDIT: Hey BNSF, when someone makes a comment about you're work that's downright nasty, show them this montgomery Gentry song called "What Do You Think About That?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QytPoRLEhF0&NR=1
I know you weren't. I wasn't taliking about you then. The only reason I had quoted you was to disagree w/ the only model in one scale part and agree w/ stay in model railroading. I've never seen you rip someone's head off. I'm sorry if I offended you then.
TA462 Midnight Railroader jeffrey-wimberly Track laying is the act of placing track onto a prepared surface. It's not a term reserved only for flextrack/roadbed. Whether you're putting down flextrack or EZ-Track it's still track laying. When someone tells me they were "laying some track," I'm sorry, but I don't picture them opening up the card of EZ Track and snapping it together. I don't picture that either.
Midnight Railroader jeffrey-wimberly Track laying is the act of placing track onto a prepared surface. It's not a term reserved only for flextrack/roadbed. Whether you're putting down flextrack or EZ-Track it's still track laying. When someone tells me they were "laying some track," I'm sorry, but I don't picture them opening up the card of EZ Track and snapping it together.
jeffrey-wimberly Track laying is the act of placing track onto a prepared surface. It's not a term reserved only for flextrack/roadbed. Whether you're putting down flextrack or EZ-Track it's still track laying.
Track laying is the act of placing track onto a prepared surface. It's not a term reserved only for flextrack/roadbed. Whether you're putting down flextrack or EZ-Track it's still track laying.
When someone tells me they were "laying some track," I'm sorry, but I don't picture them opening up the card of EZ Track and snapping it together.
I don't picture that either.
Russell
I agree- video games are death.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Been Nothing Since Frisco (BNSF) Ok lets see.... I've done (from your list) operating, tracklaying, a little electronicking, layout design (I guess what I've done counts as that), model photography (just my ho layout and locos), railfanning (I guess this site and swap meets count). Ones I haven't done (with a reason of some sort).... building roling stock (do you think a 7th grader that plays foot ball has time for that???), benchwork (I forgot what that was this morning), weathering (i'm short enough on cars already), structure modeling (I move my track around to much, I'll give it a try), I'm skiping a few, DCC (I want to but I aint got the $$ .) I finished my new track plan yester day, it is a loop with 4 sidings all conected, and I plan on adding oil idustry and a town.
Ok lets see.... I've done (from your list) operating, tracklaying, a little electronicking, layout design (I guess what I've done counts as that), model photography (just my ho layout and locos), railfanning (I guess this site and swap meets count).
Ones I haven't done (with a reason of some sort).... building roling stock (do you think a 7th grader that plays foot ball has time for that???), benchwork (I forgot what that was this morning), weathering (i'm short enough on cars already), structure modeling (I move my track around to much, I'll give it a try), I'm skiping a few, DCC (I want to but I aint got the $$ .)
I finished my new track plan yester day, it is a loop with 4 sidings all conected, and I plan on adding oil idustry and a town.
Let's define some terms:Tracklaying does not mean opening up the EZ Track package and plopping it down on a board. Tracklaying means, at a minimum, working out the track's path, placing roadbed, and then adding flextrack. It can also mean handlaying, which I did as a teen myself.
Layout design means more than just figuring out what loops go where; a good layout is well-designed so you don't get tired of it and the planning can take a weeks or more.
Railfanning means going out to observe real trains in the real world, possibly including photography. This site and swap meets do not "count" for that. You have to get out and see the real thing in action.
ok here's some pics of my layout, don't be fooled by the boxes and bags and locos and cars,
An over view of the layout
Now to show you the sidings
I plan on making this area in to a town with oil for an industry, I'm planing the town now.
TrainManTyEDIT: What's up with all those posts by me? I tried several times to post a message, but I got an error...
Could someone help? (And delete all those extra posts except for the first, I can't find the delete button on these new forums...)
TrainManTy Why do they do it to teens? I have no idea. Maybe they aren't afraid of offending us, or they simply think we don't care. That couldn't be farther from the truth. When this happened to me (a how-to video I produced on basic weathering was the provocative in this case), I was hurt and offended for a couple days, and I still have to work hard not to carry a grudge against a few specific posters, the worst of which suggested (for the second time!) I keep my work in Teen Model Railroader Place! Now that's definitely age discrimination! Most members here are very good to us teens, treating us as equals, and not throwing us all into one catogory labeled "Teens" when looking at our work. I'll second that, Magnus. Keep us posted BNSF!
Why do they do it to teens? I have no idea. Maybe they aren't afraid of offending us, or they simply think we don't care. That couldn't be farther from the truth. When this happened to me (a how-to video I produced on basic weathering was the provocative in this case), I was hurt and offended for a couple days, and I still have to work hard not to carry a grudge against a few specific posters, the worst of which suggested (for the second time!) I keep my work in Teen Model Railroader Place! Now that's definitely age discrimination!
Most members here are very good to us teens, treating us as equals, and not throwing us all into one catogory labeled "Teens" when looking at our work.
I'll second that, Magnus. Keep us posted BNSF!
I stuck up for you on that thread. As you pointed out earlier, some of our work is better than some adult's on here. So maybe the adults need to put us down so that they can still feel better than us. I'm willing to bet I'm bigger than some of them too (5 ft. 11 and a half in., 195 lbs., pretty much gone through puberty, not even 14 yet sound big to ya'll? ) Tyler, I enjoyed the work you did in that vid to. And hey, we got just as much right to post a thread as anyone else.
I'd like to address your complaints, and then I would like to comment on one of Tyler's statements.
First, eveyone gets tired of something they have had for a while. The idea is to modify it so that it is not tiring or boring anymore, but more to the point is the fact that there are areas in your railfanning, model building, painting, photography, etc. that can stand improvement as is the case with us all. The point in bringing this up is that the hobby no longer is boring if you work consistently on pefecting your skills in these areas. Yes, I know, but it is tedious to do this kind of stuff, and do it over again and possibly again, and there is no instant gratification, but nothing long-lasting or worthwhile ever comes quick or easy. That is experience talking, and while I do not know your exact circumstances, I think at least some of it applies.
If your Dad doesn't want you to sell your stuff, see about modifying it so that it becomes more reliable. Improve upon what you have. Check those rail joints to make sure they're in gauge, have you clipped off too many ties to keep the joints in gauge, check and recheck your centerline radii, add the necessary things to your existing layout to improve your enjoyment of it.
On the prototype railroads we tell our younger employees who want to become engineers or advance in another job to "perfect your craft first." What we mean is to perfect and hone the skills in your current job as that will serve you as you advance to a new job. The same is true in the hobby of model railroading. You can meet many people in this hobby who think they do not need to learn any more, or who don't care to work at making their layouts better. The excellent veterans of the hobby such as Chuck Ellis, are always searching for ways to improve already excellent layouts. They learn about timetable and train order operations (now THAT's operating), signaling systems and how they work, they study and do research and put their newly acquired knowledge to the test, and continue until they get it right. If their layout isn't doing what they want, they tear it down and start over.
The bottom line is that it is natural to get bored with something that is, by your own description, a basic train set. So make it something more than a basic train set and gain new skills along the way!
Tyler, as to veteran modelers saying your work is "good for someone your age", while experience is not the only factor in quality modeling, it is a significant one. Only time allows one to try and retry things that will enhance a layout or model. Nothing is ever meant by anyone on this board, I believe, in a derogatory sense when your age is brought up in a sentence as used above. Everyone models at different skill levels, and some folks are better than others. In my opinion, you fit the bill for current advanced skills and future excellence.
If you feel you need to hide in the TMRP, that is unfortunate, because you lose out on the ideas available from veteran modelers who have learned over the course of 25 or 30 or more years, but if you want to play on forums such as these, then be prepared for constructive criticism. Outright bashing has no place here, and I have seen you and several other younger modelers trashed uselessly and without good cause. Takes a little leather on your back to play out here, because so may people will needlessly make unthoughtful and downright vicious comments about what they see or read.
BNSF, as to the posts regarding your photo work; remember many of us are at a point in our lives where it is difficult to look at a computer screen with aging eyes. Anything you can do to make your photos look more like the Southern cab unit photo ( very nice) and less fuzzy would be greatly appreciated.
I am glad to see that you are an excellent student. That, above all else, will serve you best in both your hobby and life.
We've all been there, and a lot of us sent models to the dumpster, and left our hobbies in a fit of boredom or uncertainty. Leaving the hobby is the worst thing you can do. Modifying your layout as you've said you will, is a good start. Most of all, ask questions! Now, keep going and keep us posted.