A few trees

 

It's not much, but I found time today to plant a few trees on the layout.

 



Backdrop and base scenery

 

I haven't been able to work on the layout for a few weeks until this weekend.  I spent a bit of time putting up some more of the blue painted hardboard backdrop.  

 

 

I spent some time getting a base layer of paint and ground foam down as well.  I have a few totes of trees all made up ready to go and plenty of static grass for the areas without tree cover.





A few pictures

 

I haven't worked all that much on the layout lately.  Usually, model railroad season is in high gear this time of year, but between work and indoor R/C racing season, I haven't had a lot of time for the train room.  Here are a few shots of the paper mill progress.

 

The facia is still roungh and unpainted, the backdrop isn't up, and the ground is still pink foam, but the track is in and working and the buildings are in place to my satisfaction.  Scenery to come soon.

 





a few updates

 

I haven't been posting much as its the busy season at work, its hunting season, and there is still a ton of work to do to get the house ready for the winter.  I have been poking along on the layout when I have time.  It's mostly been wiring, which does not make for good pictures. 

 

The track wiring is all in.  The bus is strung and all feeders are dropped.

 

 

I have even started hanging some facia.

 

 

And a few shots of the bridge areas where I started applying some basic scenery.

 



Track

 

It's been awhile since I last updated this blog.  Real life, getting ready for cold weather, the start of winter R/C racing leagues, and my birthday have gotten in the way of posting, but have not stopped progress totally.

 

 

90% of the track is down now.  Only a few sidings are left to be glued down.  Mostly because I am out of the premade grade pieces that I use to transition from the higher roadbed of the main down to the sidings.  It is time to start soldering rail joiners and feeders, a task I dread because of the pain of reaching and bending.

 

The yard

The mill



I have gotten a few pieces of the backdrop painted and up.  It's 1/8 tempered hardboard.

 

 





Bridge #2

 

I put down the basic scenery around bridge #2 today along with laying a bit more track.

 



More track and some river work

 

Laid a bit more track today.  It looks ugly because its from the old layout and I didn't clean out all of the old ballast, but it works just fine.

 

One of my bridge crossings is very shallow so I figured that it would be easier to lay down the basic scenery under it before dropping in the bridge.

 

And a bit more progress on another creek scene.







Roadbed and track

 

The mainline roadbed is all down now and the transitions down for the sidings is coming along well.  There is even some track glued down in a few places.

 

 

As the glue dries, I have been working on carving out and shaping the contours for the water crossings.

 



Roadbed

 

Did some test fitting of track today.  Then started putting down the roadbed for the main.

 



Track plan

 

This is the basic track plan that I will be building.  I have gone with a narrower shelf than I had originally planned to allow the center of the room to remain open for flying micro helicopters and racing mini R/C cars this winter.  This plan still gives me plenty of switching but, still leaves the rest of the room open for me to enjoy my other hobbies during the cold weather.

 



Benchwork again!

 

The new benchwork is going up.  The new HO layout will be a shelf around the room, varying from 12-24" at 50" off the floor.  This leaves room for future On30 construction as a lower level at 30".

 



Benchwork

 

The room has finally progressed to the point where I can start to put brackets for benchwork.  The lower deck will contain my On30 module and will eventually expand around the room.  It is just right to be operated from my rolling desk chair.

 

 

The upper deck will be HO and I am tentatively building from this plan.

 

I also spent a bit of time at the bench doing some more detailing, including eye bolts on my GP7s and GP7rs.

 

 



Locomotive weathering

 

Here are some in-progress shots of a few locomotives that I am currently weathering using matte and gloss medium mixed with weathering powders in various viscosities.

 

These are all Atlas units with DCC, sound and keep alive circuits.

 



 

The photos were taken on my On30 module.  Work on the new HO layout should start soon.