4x8 figure 8 crossing

bigsteel said:
for base paint most people use a brown/tan latex paint right over the foam.then glue grass right on top.its simple as that :D.road crossings can be painted styrene to scribed wood planks,they all work pretty well.but id say just search road crossings on here and youll come up with something eventually :thumb: --josh
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Perfect thanks!! I'll pick up some paint on the way home today. Thanks again!
 
I like your changes. Can I make on suggestion? Where your bridges cross the track, maybe get a two track length bridge that has an arch underneath to let the train through.

I agree with the comments above, paint the ground brown and then spread glue over the top and put down the grass, that is what I did on my layout and I think it looks great. Don't paint the ground green, the green of the grass and the paint will not match and you won't like the look when and if the grass comes off.

For the roads, I highly recommend looking at UP SD40-2 pictures, his roads look incredible.
 
jesso said:
I like your changes. Can I make on suggestion? Where your bridges cross the track, maybe get a two track length bridge that has an arch underneath to let the train through.

I agree with the comments above, paint the ground brown and then spread glue over the top and put down the grass, that is what I did on my layout and I think it looks great. Don't paint the ground green, the green of the grass and the paint will not match and you won't like the look when and if the grass comes off.

For the roads, I highly recommend looking at UP SD40-2 pictures, his roads look incredible.
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That is a great idea :) you know who makes the 2 track length bridge? I've soldered one end of that rail i wonder how hard it would be to desolder it... Yeah i think it's coming out really well thanks to you and others who've helped!!! :mrgreen::thumb:

i've got a gallon of tanish brown (picked it up cheap someone mixed the wrong color at the good old home depot!!)
 
I've got a gallon of tanish brown (picked it up cheap someone mixed the wrong color at the good old home depot!!)
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sounds great,i get mine the same way (cheapest and best way I've found :mrgreen: ) if you want to you can also add sifted dirt to give it "texture",i find that it adds a bit of realism when you can kinda see the dirt under the grass.and if the grass flakes off,its just dirt.you can just say you modeled dead grass :D ;)--josh
 
jesso said:
I did a search at Walthers for arch bridges and it looks like Faller and Life-Like have arch bridges.
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The dirt idea sounds great we have some sandy dirt here in south jersey i have to build a little electro magnet to remove metal from it.

I've been thumbing through the walthers catalog and i found the arch span bridge set that goes for 20.50 and its 18-5/8ths inches long. It looks perfect. and it will mix well w/ the silver girder bridge. There are 2 from faller one is 15 inches and the other is really neat it's a curved arch bridge 14inches.

it's also giving me some ideas i could put a trestle bridge in the middle and 2 flat ones behind and in front of it. I saw a setup like that pulling into newark nj.

Man .. this is what makes this hobby fun :). I'm still staring at all the wires hanging under the layout though hehehe i'm procrastinating :).
 
One thing that I had fogotten to take into account is how tall is your hill, the arches might be too tall, but I came up with another solution, if you remove one of the current bridges and slide the other two over halfway, you shouldn't have any bridge supports right where your crossover track is.
 
jesso said:
One thing that I had fogotten to take into account is how tall is your hill, the arches might be too tall, but I came up with another solution, if you remove one of the current bridges and slide the other two over halfway, you shouldn't have any bridge supports right where your crossover track is.
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I can do that, I was also thinking of maybe creating my own little arches, i did some measuring and i'm going to the hobby shop tmrw to see if they have any of these bridges.

I'm using 4% risers but i don't have them all in place, i've left off the 4th section of riser so i think it's about 3" tall.
 
I saw a post about the terrible progress of a layout, hehe and that is me :). This layout has been languishing almost all summer and all because i'm stuck!!

I need some help on how to layout my control panel. I have momentary pushbutton switches that will act as my turnout controllers and i have red and green leds that will act as indicator lights.

So the problem is that i don't know where to start as far as laying out the lines on my control panel.

The other part is lazy !! this is alllloooot of work :) i love it but i didin't realize it was so much work and ever step of the way i'm again surprised at how much detail and planning i should have done hahaha. So when i don't plan i have to do triple work, i'm learning what and how to plan the layout properly.

The next step is wiring the turnouts to my control panel, installing an autoreversing module on my reverse loop then paint then the mountain/tunnel and then ballast and buildings and roads etc.


Did i mention i was having fun, i'm having fun, my youngest son is absolutly crazy about the trains, my oldest doesn't have the patience, but .... i'm working on him ahahh.
 
I use masonite hardboard for my control panels. Others use plastic sheets.
My first steps are to measure all the switches and push buttons that are going on the panel -- get the overall sizes of the hidden parts. Then I get a piece of paper and lay out the track plan. I use 1/4" wide lines and ignore curves, just diagonals in the corners. (see the London Underground route diagram). Then I place the switches and then rearrange them so they don't touch each other. Then mark for the push button, LEDs, lights,...
After a few tries, you should have something workable. The track plan doesn't need to be a scale plan, just representative. Now you can draw the plan on the material. There are various options; mine is contrasting model paint on bare wood or you may want a background colour. Blocks should be different colours; dead ends can be the same colour as the siding but with a break.
This depends on your operatirs as well. Real railroads use combinations of controls mounted on diagrams and numbered diagrams with the controls in a rack below them. I think for your boys the controls on the diagram might be better.
 
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