Progress Report
Ok Squidbait you slave-driver you!
No pics yet, but yesterday I was able to get about a third of the foam sub-roadbed down. I started with the easy part - the yard area - because it's totally flat. I'm using 1 in. extruded insulation foam this time around. On the first layout I used Homasote, and while it's fantastic for driving track nails into, it's also becoming very hard to find. Also, it has to be painted both sides to keep it from absorbing moisture from the air, which is pretty time-consuming. And finally it's not great for carving contours, whereas foam is perfect.
I was shocked at the price -- it's gone way up since I last checked it out. It now costs as much as plywood!!!
BTW, you are right on with your assessment of what I'm trying to do. I love buildings, interesting little scenes and superdetailing and planned the layout that way. I already have lots of buildings, and it was a bit of a challenge fitting them all in. That's why the city is such a large part of the overall layout. Continuous running is a must, and although I've never actually done any operations I know I'll want to.
Here's a shot of the city to be -- a temporary placement of the buildings to see how it's going to look. As you can see, a lot of the buildings are not finished yet.
Val