Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - cuse

#1
Got back last night from Dublin, so I have some Guiness detox ahead of me  ;)...I took them at their word when they told us "It's meant to be gulped" at the Guiness Factory tour.

I mistakenly told my staff that I get back "Wednesday night", so I'll enjoy my day off. I've got a painful Knee injection this morning, then - If I can stand...I'm planning to do some soldering and see what the reversing circuit looks like on my branch line.
#2
Layout Tours / Re: Cypress Creek Railroad
March 12, 2024, 09:46:53 PM
Wow...nothing like adding a large water area to bring a layout to life....that's a big area to pour at one time. Congrats. 

Nice work on the slime too...that really adds to the scene.
#3
Baggage Car - Daily Chat / Re: Friday, March 8, 2024
March 08, 2024, 09:11:57 AM
Morning All and Happy Saturday to my heroes on here who celebrate them all week.

Hopefully, I'll tap out of work midday if the universe allows it...I'm heading to Ireland next Thursday and have some modest modeling goals I'd like to accomplish (or surpass) before then.

I finished what I believe to be the final route for my branchline and have done all of the foreseeable messy, dusty sawing of the benchwork, so I'd like to install and test the Ciruitron reversing circuit so I can run a small mine train up and down the (future) mountain...I've also got some damaged buildings from prior layout destruction that I need to touch up-mostly just re-attaching details and straightening pilings...no major surgery.

Those are the kinds of little boxes I'd like to get checked before I turn my attention to major scenery construction. 

Sorry I can't make it down to ACL Tom's this weekend...always a good time. I DO appreciate the invite and look forward to the next one.
#4
Baggage Car - Daily Chat / Re: Friday 01 March 2024
March 01, 2024, 08:06:45 AM
Morning All...beautiful FL morning. I'll get a little fitness in, then get a little business in, then some train time. I'm making some nice progress as the vision becomes clearer for the new layout.
#5
Baggage Car - Daily Chat / Re: Thursday Febuary 29, 2024
February 29, 2024, 02:55:39 PM
For any of you craftsman kit nuts, The Roundhouse South, in Port Orange, FL (just south of Daytona) has dozens of FSM and other older craftsman kits. I've never seen so many yellow boxes - other than under ACL Tom's layout (and it's close). I guess they acquired an estate collection...there are also some beautiful brass HO engines (Shays, etc).

I scored a Caboose Hobbies "Silverado Mine"...I never knew they made kits but this one looks like a good fit for my new layout. I had to dig through a sea of yellow boxes to find it.

Nice people there - mostly Lionel type stuff but I was happy to support a small retailer in this tough industry. 
#6
Baggage Car - Daily Chat / Re: Thursday Febuary 29, 2024
February 29, 2024, 08:40:06 AM
Morning All...headed out for an early beginning to my workday (hopefully an early end). Date night tonight but had a good day "training" yesterday. Backdrop is hung...track is primarily laid and next step would be to install and test the Circuitry AR-2 reversing circuit for my steeply graded mine branch. I also have more benchwork tuning to do and then on to my beloved scenery construction. No shortage of minor to-do's as well...all of my craftsman structures survived layout destruction intact - but nearly all have a little bit of cleanup - reattaching some details, straightening some pilings, etc.

Have a great day!
#7
Layout Tours / Re: Backwoods NE in Florida
February 27, 2024, 12:42:27 PM
Yep...have to come see it, now that I'm just up Markham Woods Rd from you
#8
Layout Tours / Re: Backwoods NE in Florida
February 26, 2024, 05:19:55 PM
Thanks for checking in guys...Jeff, I work fast but very infrequently  ;D
#9
Baggage Car - Daily Chat / Re: Monday 26 February
February 26, 2024, 08:17:23 AM
Morning All and my (shared) sympathies to those of you to whom Mondays are still "MONDAY". 

Good layout work this weekend. Hopefully, I'll keep it going a little bit tonight. Off to get a little closer to not caring if it's Monday or Saturday like my heroes on here...Have a great day.

John
#10
Layout Tours / Re: Backwoods NE in Florida
February 26, 2024, 08:12:57 AM
Productive Sunday for me.
-basically completed all of the benchwork for the extension along the wall
-backdrop showed up ...needs to be cut and hung. I plan to put it up a bit and build "towering"  ::) rock walls up to meet it.
-removed the entire middle track level, which was a very toylike figure 8
-chopped the upper loop into a winding branchlike with a steep grade down to the expansion area where it will terminate onto a coal bunker to load barges. There will be a mine at the other end and some sort of development halfway down...still deciding if that will be another mine, engine service, or some kind of industry, or just a tiny outpost...fighting the urges to fill it with my existing buildings and maintain the whole "way out in the mountains" vibe of the branchline

*Reversing Circuit (for the branch) arrives today...no rush to install that, but looking forward to it once tracks are finalized

*The expansion will keep me in shape (limit my own expansion?) as the working aisle is only about 21"...so far so good. It's actually not that critical for access beyond initial construction and it's not very deep.



#11
Layout Tours / Re: Cypress Creek Railroad
February 26, 2024, 08:00:02 AM
Great job Steve...Layout looks amazing. Such consistent coloring and weathering. Really works!

John
#12
Kit Building / Re: DD Luci's Tattoo
February 26, 2024, 07:57:57 AM
Very nice work Jeff!
#13
Morning all...would have loved to catch up with Tom and Orlando gang but I'm committed to "Porchfest" in Sanford today. Great concept - They close off a few blocks of roads in the historic section of Sanford, FL and various bands play on people's porches. Hundreds of people walk around with their folding chairs, enjoy the music, food trucks, and local watering holes. Fun time and one of my buddies is playing for the third straight year.

Next time-Tom, keep me in the loop please

I'm hoping to get in a good hour on the layout plan before going...Hammer and nails tomorrow.
#14
Layout Tours / Re: Backwoods NE in Florida
February 23, 2024, 02:58:20 PM
OK...I came around to the lightning-bolt realization that the design and overall "feel" of the new layout wasn't moving me. I think it's partly due to my visit to Jim Gray's incredible layout during the NNGC in Colorado last year. His scenery dwarfs the trains and structures...it's the opposite of the "caricaturish" busy elements I thought would be fun to try. 

So, I return to more of a "simple track - complex scenery" vibe...I think I may have been trying to fit in everything I wanted and my beautiful structures on hand to an unrealistic degree. I removed the entire middle level of track and chopped into the upper loop and am converting it to a point-to-point branch that will spiral down and around the mountain precariously - connecting a mine at the highest point of the layout to a remote wharf scene directly influenced (if not blatantly stolen  ;) ) from Dick Patterson's Dolly Varden layout. I've already purchased a Circuitron reversing circuit - so I can just let it go, which is my primary preference for operations. I also took advantage of family visiting from out of town, including 3 strong guys, to coordinate "lift-sliding" my entire layout over about a foot, so I could extend the branchline out of the 5x5 square and onto a shelf along the wall.

I also went on a bit of a goose chase today to find Homasote. My previous source (a lumber yard in Winter Park) is gone but I found a yard in Downtown Orlando that carries it. When I called, they made a point of telling me that they wouldn't do more than 1 cut  >:( . I told them I'd pay for cuts, if necessary, but was told that wasn't possible   :-X which is, of course, an utterly ridiculous policy-if you have any interest in pleasing customers. Anyway, I just decided that I'd have the sheet cut horizontally and that I'd just have to rely on a couple of wasteful foot stomps to get the 2 x 8 lengths to fit in my Tesla...once I got there the guy at the counter said "no problem" regarding more than one cut and all is well.

Big progress soon. I'll post pics and maybe a track plan (once I sketch one) so this makes some sense. 
#15
Layout Tours / Re: Shadowlands and Tellynott
February 23, 2024, 02:40:40 PM
I love that "into the canyon" view. I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like it - particularly as (kind of) the basis of the whole layout design- so creative and 'out of the box' thinking...I have studied and studied the two profiles I have found and saved (Narrow Gauge & Shoreline Gazette NOV/DEC 1991 & MR MAR 1997). I know the issues because both are out and on my desk. In fact, I was poring over it and I keep coming back to the "Alice Arm" wharf scene (I think you also referred to) as a potentially perfect solution to my present track planning conundrum...I was honestly looking for Ore Bunker designs like he used. 
Powered by EzPortal