Start of My Layout

George- I do not have a food processor so I am just going to use a blender. I figure I will run some tests tomorrow, using brown paper bags and maybe post the results if they go well.

In other news, I carved some more rocks on the mountain and painted them. The earth color was adjusted a little as well because before it was just too red for my taste. Its also impossible to see, but I painted the rails of the track (and made sure it worked, I just had to see some trains going into the tunnel tooth1)


I think I am going to take a quick break from rockwork, though, because I still have to cut some fascia boards out of plywood. I want to get all the outlines and "shape" of the layout before I proceed further and realize that I am unsure about it. I would hate to rip up scenery before its done :rolleyes:. If I am lucky, I can get that done tomorrow as well to get back to some of the fun stuff.:mrgreen:

See ya soon
Ginns
 

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VERY NICE! what grade is your incline. i'm getting ready to start a layout and i like the way you did the mountain. how about access to the inside of the mountain?
 
As far as access to the mountain, I cut a 9 inch by 10 inch hole in the side of the fascia. I plan on attaching hinges to it so I can open and close it when needed.

I decided to make an *official* grade measurement and it ended up being 3.3%. I had originally cut the blocks for 3%, but forgot to factor in the plywood, which ended up adding more. The trains on the 4x8 won't be pulling more than a few cars at a time, so this is good enough for me.

Ginns
 

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WoW...This is a man on a mission...!!!! Great progress in 1 1/2 month's time...and good work to boot..!!!

Very good..!! Keep it up & post your progress...
 
ok as far as ground cover goes why not get the leaves in the pics and grind them up. I have never done that but have heard of others who have successfully it would be hard to get a better color match than the real thing. I am very impressed by you work so far. take your time.
Les
 
I have also read about blending up real leaves....haven't had a chance to try it myself but I have seen pics from modelers who have, and it seems to work great.

You are doing a great job on your layout! I especially like your rock-work and the portals.....Keep it up!
 
There is a group of modelers in the NE somewhere who made a scenery 'goop' for their forest floor. I think it was part white glue, part sculptamold, part ground-up leaves, part dish-detergent or bleach (to kill mold as it had a long setting time) and maybe some sort of coloring agent thrown in. It was part of an article series on tree making. The ground-up leaves were blended, oven dried and sifted, if memory serves me right.

Perhaps a search on the model train magazine index would turn something up...the article series was in Model Railroader.
 
Thanks for all the comments, its cool hearing from you guys when I have admired and learned from all of your great work :cool:

I think I will try using ground up leaves on my layout as ground cover. My only concern with them was that they would begin to decompose on the layout or promote fungi growth, but if I pluck them off a tree and wash them with dish washing soap as suggested it should be fine. I would probably just apply them like normal ground foam, but the goop does sound intriguing. They would have to be ground up real small to be scale sized, but I think the texture and color will make it look good. I tried blending a paper bag, but it failed horribly (go figure :rolleyes:). The fibers in the bag ended up making a hairy mess that did not have the right "look". :mrgreen:

Work on the layout has been slow, but I did manage to finally start the bridge. I am planning on making a ballasted trestle for ease in construction, but am not sure how prototypical it would be. Hand laying track on a bridge is a little too ambitious for me at the moment, especially since a derailment could mean catastrophe for my little steam engine :eek: I may just go the extra mile once I build all the bents, but I'll see how it goes.

For now, here are some pictures of the two bents I built. They are the highest point of the trestle and are about 5" tall. Again, this trestle is not the most prototypical creation you will ever see. I have just been making them by sight and I think they turned out well enough. I got the plans for the bridge on google books.. I was surprised how much content they publish for free. I was able to get all the information I needed :) I may need to darken them more because the burnt umber wash turned out a little light. The bolt-like things are actually atlas track spikes. I have a whole bunch of them and no place to put 'em, so I cut off the tops, dabbed some glue on them, and pushed them into the balsa wood. I only did it on one side of one bent, so I am not sure if I will put them on all of them yet. They are pretty massive for scale size, if my math is right, but I will leave them on for now and see how I feel about them later :p

More updates tomorrow,
Ginns
 

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being an aussie who drinks tea I have used tea leaves for ground cover and have been happy with the results. if you are going to grind up leaves I would use dried leaves rather than new leaves from a plant .

think your trestle bents look good. the spikes look good and to me the color looks about right

congrats on your work so far.
 
Ginns said:
Also, does anybody got any good suggestions for visual aid on the reversing loop?. I was thinking of installing a LED in the switchmans house close to the operators controls to see if the train could go through. i.e. Red for opposite polarities, green for go. Could I use a signal or something as well? It seems I fried the other LED when testing it out. Would a switch fry as well? or does it have built in resistors and such to save it? Either way, I would really like something there and any recomendations of an early prototype signal would be helpful. :cool:
Ginns
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I think the LED idea is a good one. I have used them to good effect on my control panel and have plane within the layout. The tricky part is getting them wired up correctly, with appropriately-sized resistors and such. But, once working, they would be a great indicator for the reversing loop.
 
Hi...Will you be using DC or DCC..?? In my previous layout (DC) I used Mini-bulbs from Radio Shack (green colored) and wired them across the gaps to the opposing rail. If the bulb was lit...polarities were OK. If not, I would throw the appropriate reversing toggle switch to get'em lit....
 
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