What did you do on your layout today?

Deuce posted:

The littlest came out to watch today. I could see the wife taking a mental tally of everything on the table. Good thing she didn't look underneath! Ha ha ha.

Better hope she doesn't look at this Forum either   

Thanks guys, the hardest part was putting up the 4 X 10 beams by myself the rest was easy just time consuming! 

The Inspector is a push over! Give him a ball and some treats and he approves anything you do! Now the wife on the other hand is a different story. But the good thing there is she even approves how things are goin! She said wow that's a big room! Then asked do I have enough train stuff for it as I replied, over time I will ! LOL She goes WHAT?

MikeG. That is great work.  Take care of yourself, please. We all have a tendency to have high expectations.  Don’t burn yourself out.  

paul 2 posted:

All set now. My switches came today. The wife has a game tonight so I can do whatever I want to. The sign stand is ready for paint. The plaster wrap is done in the oil depot when that dries I can add plaster. And I placed a couple of switches by the grain elevator. I probably should spend a bit a time on the Pawn Shop to wrap that up. Pics.......Paul

How was the Independence show Paul?

TedW posted:

MikeG. That is great work.  Take care of yourself, please. We all have a tendency to have high expectations.  Don’t burn yourself out.  

Hi Ted, I cant burn myself out as I can only do so much! This build is paycheck to paycheck. As I can only work 3 days a week its going to be a slow build. But that's ok as long as thing move forward!

Still working in the basement after it flooded. Coming along though.....

gandydancer1950 posted:

Still working in the basement after it flooded. Coming along though.....

Dang!  The place looks great.  Nice floor, did you have to replace any wall material?  Ya know, in twenty years never a drop of water in mine, but you really have me thinking I should get off the floor...

TedW posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

Still working in the basement after it flooded. Coming along though.....

Dang!  The place looks great.  Nice floor, did you have to replace any wall material?  Ya know, in twenty years never a drop of water in mine, but you really have me thinking I should get off the floor...

No damage to the walls at all. Caught a break there. Carpet and padding were destroyed though. Replacing floor with vinyl laminate that is waterproof. Never had water down there in 24 years. Pipe collapsed leading to the street.

GANDYDANCER1950, the Independence OH show was great. The show started last September and  they moved to a bigger building. There was 150 tables. The next one in September will be bigger. It was a good size crowd. A lot of good reviews.  I sold more at this then in my last three shows...........Paul

Howard, the new floor looks great!

Paul, congratulations on the good day at the show!

gandydancer1950 posted:

Still working in the basement after it flooded. Coming along though.....

Looking really nice! I am thinking carpet for my future train room.

paul 2 posted:

GANDYDANCER1950, the Independence OH show was great. The show started last September and  they moved to a bigger building. There was 150 tables. The next one in September will be bigger. It was a good size crowd. A lot of good reviews.  I sold more at this then in my last three shows...........Paul

Paul, glad to hear you had a good day! But the question is still out there, what did you buy? LOL

Mike, I never left my table all day except bathroom breaks. So I never bought anything at the show.......Paul

...

paul 2 posted:

Mike, I never left my table all day except bathroom breaks. So I never bought anything at the show.......Paul

 

 

...

 

WOW you need to hang out with Dad more often! He took me around the show here in Seattle and we found all sorts of stuff to buy! LOL

I did some cleaning up and some experimenting with the backdrops I bought from George (G3750) last year.  The town on this side is at the bottom of the canyon, so I want a lot of mountain showing.  Track height will be 44".

Then there will be a climb of 5" to 49" on the other end of the room.  That town will be at the top of the mountain, so I will have mostly sky.  49" comes to less than an inch below the window sill.  In such a small room, I don't know how well I'll pull it off depicting a climb from the valley to the mountain top, but we will see how it goes.  Since there won't be any backdrop at the big window except some sky above it, I think I will have the top of the mountain on the backdrop a little lower to try to help this.

paul 2 posted:

GANDYDANCER1950, the Independence OH show was great. The show started last September and  they moved to a bigger building. There was 150 tables. The next one in September will be bigger. It was a good size crowd. A lot of good reviews.  I sold more at this then in my last three shows...........Paul

that's good news. Do you happen to know the September dates yet?

mike g. posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

Still working in the basement after it flooded. Coming along though.....

Looking really nice! I am thinking carpet for my future train room.

Mike, I had carpet and padding, then the back-up came...what a mess! This is a vinyl laminente that is waterproof.

Mark Boyce posted:

Howard, the new floor looks great!

Paul, congratulations on the good day at the show!

Thanks Mark!

Kirk R posted:

Deuce posted:

The littlest came out to watch today. I could see the wife taking a mental tally of everything on the table. Good thing she didn't look underneath! Ha ha ha.

Deuce... my office is the 2nd floor of a barn we used to live in until we finished building the house.  As long as my wife doesn't snoop around a closet up there I think I'm okay for the time being!  And she's out for 4 days with my daughter at the end of this month so that'll be my time to add 60 more square feet of tables for my layout with my 5 year old son.  If my track arrives then we'll lay some rail too!

I am very thankful that my wife has the attitude, "the less I know, the better off I am."  She's a very smart, and knows its all probably too much, but doesn't want to know and then ruin our fun!

Mike G- Something will go on top of the cliff, thinking of a small church (maybe a little Pittsburg inspiration), a campsite, or a country house.  Just not sure yet, but according to my wife, there must be bears and dandelions.  She knows my hatred towards dandelions.....  The color is close to what the final result will be.  I am learning that the less I try, the better the painting/coloring goes

Moonson- Thank you for the kind words, he really enjoys helping, and is always coming up with ideas for the layout.  Much of the requirements of this layout evolved from his wants, and how he likes to run the trains.  He's my enabler....

Paul2- Thanks again!

Thanks GANDYDANCER1950. They have not announced the date in September yet. If I forget to post it you can go to www.cleveshows.com . It is already listed there as TBD.................Paul

My sidewalks came yesterday. I am going to try to paint them outside this morning and once they dry I can start laying out the sidewalks for the lower part of town. Pic...............................Paul

Gandydancer- the new floor looks nice. The new laminates are perfect for below grade. I need to do new flooring in our basement and was leaning toward one of these products.

Mike- give these floors a look. Many of them offer nice padded backing so they are not to hard on the feet. Easy to maintain too with a swiffer mop.

Deuce- It's only a matter of time till she does the math. Might as well come clean now and admit that you have a problem and have joined a local support group (aka- train club).

Paul- glad the show went well. More money for more supplies!

Mark- looks good.

I started another little project yesterday. I'm putting a skirt on the side of my elevated track. The base is too narrow for a girder- style bridge look so I'm just putting a 5/8" strip of balsa on the sides. I'll paint it to match.

Slow process waiting for the glue to dry. I just finished a second section this morning. More later. After the outside of the curve is done I will go back and do the inside.

Bob

RSJB18 posted:

I started another little project yesterday. I'm putting a skirt on the side of my elevated track. The base is too narrow for a girder- style bridge look so I'm just putting a 5/8" strip of balsa on the sides. I'll paint it to match.

Slow process waiting for the glue to dry. I just finished a second section this morning. More later. After the outside of the curve is done I will go back and do the inside.

Bob

Bob, the outer edge sure turned out great looking! That sure dresses it up very nicely. I hope the inside one turns out just as nice, even though no one will see it, it still makes you feel good as a builder!

Keep up the great work!

Bob, the skirting is adding a nice finishing touch to the elevated line. Mike your moving fast on the framing. You are going to have a nice train room when done. Mark, keep the construction pictures coming. Good job so far. Now that the train show is under my belt today I spray painted the sidewalks and am waiting for them to dry. Headed to the basement and painted the cork in the grain elevator area. Then I placed the buildings in the oil depot in another position which I think is the final one. This afternoon I'll ballast the cork, mark out the buildings and apply plaster, glue sidewalks down and work to finish the Pawn Shop. "WHEW" I think I just tired myself out LOL. Pics.......Paul

Thanks Paul. The oil depot looks good.

Bob

WOW yall got so much stuff done its amazing!!  Train shows, skirts, roof joists, buildings (O scale), and cats!!!    I went to the old Hobby Town yesterday and to my surprise they had a LOT of stuff!  Lots of MTH buildings, Woodland Scenics buildings, and the LC+ Southern blue tooth engine Ive been wanting!!!  OOOH NOOOOO man is it pretty!   Had to stick to the plan though...   Only got got two switches, and some short adjustment tracks.   Well I need to go back today to get some more short adjustment tracks lol   

Any of you guys make ash pits for your steam engines?? 

Jim 

carsntrains posted:

Any of you guys make ash pits for your steam engines?? 

Jim 

I've been figuring out how to do that with FasTrack. Since its elevated, I might frame a small section to look like a pit, without actually working downward.

carsntrains posted:

WOW yall got so much stuff done its amazing!!  Train shows, skirts, roof joists, buildings (O scale), and cats!!!    I went to the old Hobby Town yesterday and to my surprise they had a LOT of stuff!  Lots of MTH buildings, Woodland Scenics buildings, and the LC+ Southern blue tooth engine Ive been wanting!!!  OOOH NOOOOO man is it pretty!   Had to stick to the plan though...   Only got got two switches, and some short adjustment tracks.   Well I need to go back today to get some more short adjustment tracks lol   

Any of you guys make ash pits for your steam engines?? 

Jim 

I got this week and put it on the wall .

Guy

JD,

  Installed the Street Car line on the HellGate Bridge/Activated Bridge lighting and modified the 1960's Bumpers for the Fire Place Mantel FasTrack Bumper Cars.

PCRR/Dave

Deuce posted:

carsntrains posted:

Any of you guys make ash pits for your steam engines?? 

Jim 

I've been figuring out how to do that with FasTrack. Since its elevated, I might frame a small section to look like a pit, without actually working downward.

Deuce I "THINK" I have a plan.    I bought one of those adapter tracks to go for FT to standard O track.  Think I will get another and cut a piece of tubular track to go in between the two adapters..  Instant ash pit!!!   AND nice finished edges with the adapter tracks! 

And a good thing!  With fresh eyes and mind I figured out a track move that saves me the hour and a half trip to the hobby shop and about 25.00!!!    I will get the wife to take some pictures later!!  

On the other hand that means "GRASSHOPPER" must wait longer.......................................... 

Jim 

Okay first off Paul 2 I am still waiting on my commission check considering I brokered your biggest sale and sold your other major item when your had one of your bathroom breaks.  If I don't receive my commission check Tuesday night at Dennis's then I invite everyone to attend Paul's major fire sale this September (of course you will have to wait until he has his bathroom break and I will be watching his table)  No offer refused.  

Major thanks to this forum and forum member Stephen Horling for walking this electrical novice through this project.  I wanted to swap out the very dim lights in the MTH Flood Light Towers that I am using as the lights on my baseball field to LED's.  After reading the few threads and Stephen emails I was able to get the first tower done this afternoon.  I think I can make them even better now that I know I have to fix a few aspects (bigger hole to fit LED back into fixture better, longer wire leads to allow lights to swivel better) but not to bad for a first attempt and of course the most important thing they worked!!!! Major improvement from the original lights that come standard.

"COMMISSION Bryan!!!!!!!. That sale your brokered you threw in a guarantee. So as to Tuesday night and a commission I think instead I will pass on knowledge on how to do things. That is more precious then any monetary amount of money. By the way the light look good. ............Paul

Bob, The outer edges you are putting on the overhead line are looking very good!  That dresses things up a lot!

Paul, Your many projects are all shaping up great!  That Corn Industrial tank car caught my eye.  I have one, but didn't buy it on purpose.  I bought some cars, and the seller told me he was throwing in a couple extra.  That was one of them.  It's a nice metal tank car, but doesn't fit in with my oil tank cars for Western Pennsylvania companies!

Dave, It is all looking good!

Brian, nice CP train!!

Bryan, The lighting change looks good!  

Guy, The semaphore signal sure looks good on your wall!!

Jim, Sounds like a good trip to the hobby shop

          thanks Mark ...