Thanks guys!
Art - I love grain elevators too. The Hiawatha Milling District is special though. In a mile and a half stretch, at one time there were at least six different facilities. I'm going to sneak in a seventh for extra switching. This link will take you to Google Earth, where you can see what's left. I think only three are still active, two ADM's and a General Mills. People in the neighborhood are chomping at the bit to repurpose the district. I don't know how much longer it's going to be around. When the mills are gone, the tracks and the Milwaukee Road Short Line Bridge, will be history.
Mark - Gotta stay somewhat organized.
Pat - This is just a small sample of Scenic Express' catalog. They've gotta be HUGE to stock all the stuff they do.
Mike - There are three sizes of pipe/ The really big ones are 6", then 4" and 3". I've got to get some 2" for some really small silos. Those are all inside diameter, so the 6" comes out to about 26' scale.
Dave - The static grass applicator isn't a difficult contraption to understand or build. All it is, is a $4 electric fly swatter, and a cheap kitchen strainer. Cut off the bug zapper part, and there's a red and a black wire. Red goes to the strainer where you put the grass, black gets a longer lead and an alligator clip. Place a nail in the layout, and clip the lead to it, that's your ground. Fill the basket with grass, push the button and shake. Saw it on YouTube. Save yourself at least $120. I think I accidentally glued my push button into the on position. Now I have to take it apart again. The panel isn't rocket science either: buy all the parts for the boards, follow the instructions, and do a good job soldering. Finally, mount them neatly on a chunk of plywood, and get 12VDC to them. Connect the input side to your computer, and the output side to the signal's LED. The computer is only tricky on the first one, after that they're all the same. BTW, your mountain looks great!
Paul - Looking forward to your visit. I'll only have another six weeks before the convention. I'm saving a couple weeks to clean up. I know all about getting boxes from Scenic Express. Looking forward to meeting the owner at the convention. I'm also looking forward to visiting your layout in September. It looks great! As soon as I know my dialysis time, we can figure out when. We'll be in town September 22 - 24, then it's on to visit Mark.
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Yesterday, I spent all afternoon out in my workshop cleaning. The goal was to clear a table so I could start working on the flat walls for the elevators and mills. I'm going to go with Art's Masonite method, but this is going to be complicated by the addition of windows in all of the visible walls. The plan is to use strips cut to width for the sides of the windows, and rectangular pieces to for the tops and bottoms. I can make any size or shape opening I want. I'm going to start tomorrow.
What a mess!!! In this regard, I am the antithesis of Art. His shop is immaculate, you could eat of the floor. I think I'm going to have to fire the cleaning lady.
This is what 18 years of buildup looks like. Every so often I sweep up some of the big piles of sawdust. On rare occasions, I have a fire. But every time the layout makes progress, I make more scraps. I guess there's a reason I don't throw much away. This project will consume all the bits and pieces of Masonite. The trick is to get organized.
There's a lot of cleaning left (understatement), but this'll get me started. Waste not, want not (the extreme version).
Oh, I almost forgot, after more than three years of sitting in my garage, I finally opened my remaining bags of ballast, only to discover that I had even more of that dark color that I can't use. I called my guy, and set it up to grab another batch next week. I'll get back to ballasting, while I;m waiting for the glue on my walls to dry.
