An old standby project.
Mrs. 'Ski had a can of Cambell's soup for lunch today, when I peeled the label off the can to recycle it, I really liked the ribs on it.
Some spray primer, decals printed, a model part spew, a ladder made from balsa, a sign from an old map and a Plasticville painter and this is what I came up with. An idea, I'm sure, that is at least 80 years old, but still a goodie.
I really dislike plug doors, had to deal with one again this morning. Which gave me the idea for this build. I dont know of people modeling this.
Just finished running some trains and now I’m in the process of admiring the artwork on a few cans of these items -
@Strap Hanger posted:Just finished running some trains and now I’m in the process of admiring the artwork on a few cans of these items -
Now that's a respectable can of beer/ale! Cheers!
Jeff
Hi Guy’s,
I’ve had table top and floor layouts on and off my whole life. Today I figured I should finally start my basement layout. The measurements are
19’ 7” x 22’ 3” x 12’ 6”
it’s going to be “U” shaped and will be loosely based off the New York Central’s Water Level route with the four track main line along the Hudson River in upstate New York. Today, with a little carpentry advice from my friend Alex M, I started building tables. I’ll put up pictures of the tables and a video of the empty basement. I just built two
tables, like I said, I just started. Lol!
Thanks for looking.
Mike R
That's awesome Mike. Can't wait to see the progress.
@Bill Webb posted:Mike it was nice to see the successful video. Congratulations.
Trainwork Nate… that car looks great. Can’t wait to see the rest.
Craig, we are going to try for April. Two months is cutting it close with that much walking based on my prior experience 🤢.
Bill Webb, you can make arrangements in advance to rent a scooter to ride around at York. That's what I did the one time I went there. Prices were very reasonable. I'm glad I rented them for my wife and myself, neither one of us could had ever walked that far that time.Good luck with your knee replacement.
A few more thousand words showing progress at the Arkansas and Missouri museum layout.
Despite its somewhat raggedy appearance, the wiring worked flawlessly out of the box!
Of course, gi-raffes were involved:
The trolley tunnel at left needs widening before the mountain can be reinstalled...
Had a couple of derailments, and the breakers worked flawlessly!
A shot of the consist, ready for Saturday's run...
Mitch
@Mike R posted:Hi Guy’s,
I’ve had table top and floor layouts on and off my whole life. Today I figured I should finally start my basement layout. The measurements are
19’ 7” x 22’ 3” x 12’ 6”
it’s going to be “U” shaped and will be loosely based off the New York Central’s Water Level route with the four track main line along the Hudson River in upstate New York. Today, with a little carpentry advice from my friend Alex M, I started building tables. I’ll put up pictures of the tables and a video of the empty basement. I just built two
tables, like I said, I just started. Lol!
Thanks for looking.
Mike R
Hey my friend, great work so far. It's going to be a great layout when it's complete, keep us updated on your progress.
Alex
Hello everyone, excellent progress and beautiful work !
Alex
@Mike R- congrats on the new layout. That basement looks familiar.....split-level? Mine unfortunately is not empty so I'm reduced to a 4x8 patch of ground in the corner. 
Mitch- the museum layout rebuild looks great.
Mike G- As long as it prevents the 4-8-4 from finding the floor it's all good
Strap Hanger- Nice work on the decals. I like your choice of refreshments too.
John- Your creativity is endless. Warrenville is one busy place. Thanks for the follow too! 
@Trainwreck nate- nice video. Real world experiences add to your modeling.
Not much to report but I continued on the track cleaning.
Have a great weekend.
Bob
Joe, thanks so much. I certainly will. I’m thinking of opening a new thread in the layout building forum.
Alex M, thanks pal. I appreciate the carpentry pointers. Without your advice I’m sure I would’ve cut ALL the wood crooked. Lol. As you know I could build a car but I can’t cut a 2x4 straight. Lol.
Bob, good guess it is a split level home. Yeah since I bought the house 2 years ago I put nothing in the basement knowing that would be a train room.
Thanks guys,
Mike R
Just setting up the control panel. Lots of wiring to follow.
Finally finished putting away Christmas in my train room.
@Mike R posted:Joe, thanks so much. I certainly will. I’m thinking of opening a new thread in the layout building forum.
Alex M, thanks pal. I appreciate the carpentry pointers. Without your advice I’m sure I would’ve cut ALL the wood crooked. Lol. As you know I could build a car but I can’t cut a 2x4 straight. Lol.
Bob, good guess it is a split level home. Yeah since I bought the house 2 years ago I put nothing in the basement knowing that would be a train room. Thanks guys,
Mike R
Mike, I heartily recommend you start a new thread for your layout build. While I have attracted a lot of help and good discussion on this thread, much more has been generated on my Blackwater Canyon Line thread. Pick out a catchy title for the thread, so that folks will be drawn to it initially, then once they are replying, more and more 'hits' will occur. These layout build threads are great two-way streets for sharing information. You have made a great start on your layout! So I'm not the only one who can't cut a board straight!! 
Excellent work everyone! I have only done a little on my scenery and my station kit. I'll get some photographs soon.
Mike, before you get too much bench work going you may want to consider a backdrop. An easy start would be to paint the walls blue. I used Sherwin-Williams “cloudless”. It’s easier now than climbing or reaching over everything.
Mitch, the Museum layout is looking great! Having visited Western Arkansas in the mid '80s to mid '90s when my late father-in-law worked his last 10 years before retirement in Fort Smith, where is the Museum? I recall the Van Buren A&M station, and we travelled up around Fayetteville on the way to Eureka Springs once.
With the help of my wife, we completed painting the train room, being careful not to mess up the new floor ! Next will be abandonment of the old ungrounded 2-wire overhead lighting & installation of a separate circuit w/ overhead 2' x 4' LED panels. The LED spots on the left were placed where the former owner had accent ? fluorescent tubes, I already had the track & spots from our former PA house. Now to consider painting the backdrop myself ?? I've seen some great backdrops here, thks for the ideas ! 
Hello Youtube ?
Rich in SD
@Mike R posted:Hi Guy’s,
I’ve had table top and floor layouts on and off my whole life. Today I figured I should finally start my basement layout. The measurements are
19’ 7” x 22’ 3” x 12’ 6”
it’s going to be “U” shaped and will be loosely based off the New York Central’s Water Level route with the four track main line along the Hudson River in upstate New York. Today, with a little carpentry advice from my friend Alex M, I started building tables. I’ll put up pictures of the tables and a video of the empty basement. I just built two
tables, like I said, I just started. Lol!
Thanks for looking.
Mike R
Hi Mike, did you do the epoxy floor yourself with something like a Rust-Oleum kit or similar, or did you have it done professionally? Or, was the floor done by a previous owner? Curious minds must know! ;-) I had a poor experience with the Rust-Oleum in my garage, gave up on it and had it stripped and done by a professional. Pro surface is WAY better, practically indestructible!
@Mark Boyce posted:Mitch, the Museum layout is looking great! Having visited Western Arkansas in the mid '80s to mid '90s when my late father-in-law worked his last 10 years before retirement in Fort Smith, where is the Museum? I recall the Van Buren A&M station, and we travelled up around Fayetteville on the way to Eureka Springs once.
The museum opened a few years ago at the Springdale depot (north of Fayetteville). We'll be resuming excursion service in mid-March!
Mitch
@radar493 posted:Cleaned up workbench area. Had to relocate one row of shelves to put up peg board. Running out of room. CEO says can't lease anymore space😁.
Ralph , no matter how hard you try to convince these CEOs , they keep throwing up the problems with too much overhead.
On my layout today I continued work on the tunnel, I can’t believe I have so much time in this, but that’s ok it’s an enjoyable project/hobby
This may help others, the window and door expanding foam will hold boards in place very securely which is really good for select applications
Now with the added supports the tunnel is much more stable and hence easier to work on
The picture of the cardboard is the template for the snow shed to be added soon, I’m looking forward to starting constructing the snow shed
2 new 'arrivals':
@radar493 posted:Cleaned up workbench area. Had to relocate one row of shelves to put up peg board. Running out of room. CEO says can't lease anymore space😁.
Looks like you can still go down to the floor. 
@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:The museum opened a few years ago at the Springdale depot (north of Fayetteville). We'll be resuming excursion service in mid-March!
Mitch
Mitch, Ah yes; Springdale!! Thank you for the link as well!!
Paving is underway. Got all the track laid, power drops done, and ran the 0-8-0 yard goat through to make sure everything cleared. Temps hit 60 degrees today, so set up the temporary spray booth outside and painted all the concrete surfaces with Rustoleum Camo Khaki.
After struggling with 1/8" hardboard, decided to go back to my original idea and use standard O gauge 5mm cork road bed for paving around and between the tracks. Only one track in the entire section is straight, makes the scene look great, but it's no fun making templates and paving ! Good news is for between the rails, it's a blessing as it bends easily and is the perfect thickness. The first section is glued and nailed with 23 gauge pin nails, hence the 1/8" mahogany strips forcing the cork up against the center rail while the carpenter's glue dries. I'll have 1/8" clearance for wheel flanges, wish it could be smaller, but not all manufacturer's wheels are identical.
Chris,
Things are looking good. You are moving right along with this project with regular progress. Good idea with the cork.
Dave
Chris, I agree with Dave, the cork would be much easier than hardboard with the curved track. So that's what the mahogany is for! 
Thanks Dave and Mark for the comments, and thanks to those who left likes. Yes, Mark I am sold on using the cork, not just for the flexibility and easier application, but it has a very realistic "texture" resembling concrete. I have used it for sidewalks, curbs and cap stones on block walls in the past. Just went downstairs and glued and nailed up the next section. At least I can see light at the end of the tunnel, and no whistles, on this road and highway work anyway !
The museum's Santa Fe K-Line MP-15 had a missing coupler knuckle and broken steps. A new knuckle was installed, and Lionel GP-7 steps from the junk box spliced in at the RTC shops:
With a new parts box horn and salvaged metal bell, the MP-15 is ready to hit the tracks again!
Mitch
Chris A,
Your brick detail is exemplery. I recognize your work all the time on various posts.
It was boxing day yesterday. I packed up the latest load of boxes from my recent purchases. I filled another 50 gal garbage bag and added to the pile in the attic. 
Surprisingly, I didn't get dirty looks and comments about having that many MORE boxes to put away.
I tell the CEO that the are ready for the trash pile after I'm gone. 
Then I was presented with a different "boxing" adventure. She's been re-organizing the basement and decided to tackle my son's Lego collection so we can pack them away. Most of the sets are 95% complete- but trying to find the remaining 5% is worse than the original build on Christmas day. 
Bob
I finished a truck overpass, using black foam board road surface and spray-painted plastic mesh for railing. Rick
Latest Coaling Tower kit bash pics.....
Peter
Excellent work guys! The projects are amazing. I have a good amount of cleaning up to do, both on the layout and in my work area. When that’s done I can get back to my bridge project.
Andy
@Putnam Division posted:Latest Coaling Tower kit bash pics.....
Peter
Looks good Peter. What are those yellow and white braces? Magnetic Clamps?
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:Looks good Peter. What are those yellow and white braces? Magnetic Clamps?
Bob
Yes.......from the Kalmbach online store
Peter
@Putnam Division posted:Yes.......from the Kalmbach online store
Peter
Thanks- looks like they make life much easier when assembling buildings. Just checked their site, the set with the adjustable magnets for roofs looks like a winner.
@RSJB18 posted:Then I was presented with a different "boxing" adventure. She's been re-organizing the basement and decided to tackle my son's Lego collection so we can pack them away. Most of the sets are 95% complete- but trying to find the remaining 5% is worse than the original build on Christmas day.
Bob
Something tells me, Bob, that remaining 5% are the pieces you kicked into oblivion when you stepped on them in the middle of the night
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