hon30critter Did you start with a hull or did you build the whole thing from scratch?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Mike:
So your track work isn't perfect eh? I hope I can do as well as you have.
Ed:
The carpets must make things a lot more comfortable under foot.
Bear:
The buoy boat is excellent! I love the details on the hull. The prototypes were obviously built to take a pounding. Did you start with a hull or did you build the whole thing from scratch?
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks for the kick-off to another WPF, Mike! Last for November, and another Holiday edition for many of us!
That first photo looks like a space alien has invaded your layout, or maybe a siamese cousin Itt? In the second photo is that Union Junction or Cold Water Flats? Lately I have been poking my head up into places around my layout that are not part of the normal view. Darned if the camera isn't on the other side of the room! That's a great idea, the seldom-seen angle.
Little did I know that I'd be spending the last few days on my knees! It all started a few weeks ago when I started finishing some of the bare drywall beneath the benchwork.
Then... I stumbled across a source for commercial carpet tile remnants on Amazon. Tuesday the UPS truck arrived with nine of the ten cartons, No. 10 is still somewhere between Georgia and Ohio!
Here is a before shot:
And this was just a few minutes ago...
(Shoulda' moved that caulking gun!)
For a little over a buck per square foot I think it is really looking swell. For years I've had a "dog's breakfast" of hodge-podge carpet scraps and finally got tired of it!
The random patterns kind of remind me of flying over the plains or a farmland.
I still have some trim work and cleanup to do, but only after the ibuprofen kicks in! Managed to get my new "yard office" put together and located near the new caboose track. Neat little Cornerstone building. One of the yard offices here in Collinwood on the NYC looked somewhat like this, so that was my inspiration.
I hope everyone has, or had—if yours was 10 October, a great Thanksgiving and a safe and enjoyable weekend.
On to more great photos!
Best to all... Ed
Guess I'll start this edition of WPF...gotta full plate tomorrow
Had some good times at this month's ops sessions last week. A couple of minor issues reported with several turnouts were really signs I needed to go over them. Of course, these were in tough places to reach, like where the line pretzels itself around a water heater behind the "metal mountain" to get to Snowden.
This is what things look like back there...
It is a little hard to reach, but things now move with a satisfying clunk when a turnout is thrown.
Another pair of turnouts looks easier to get to, but that's an illusion, it's a lot like building a ship in a bottle. Here, the points needed reworking, so got that squared away, only to have the tiny switch used to throw the curved one fell apart just as I was finishing up. That's the Radio Shack 275-0409. These aren't flimsy, but they can only take so much abuse. It's also the case that this curved turnout needed a bit more throw than provided. The Shack has carried bigger slide switches, but they're rather oversize to be credible and blend in in HO. I found that RS now has the 275-0033 slide switch, which is a happy medium in size, has a bit more throw than the -0409, and comes pre-blackened, helping it blend in, all improvements over the -0409. Here's a pic of the carnage as I was finishing up.
With a little ballast, things look good again and operate better than ever.
Here's to everyone having a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Looking forward to seeing what you've been up to, too.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL