The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 2

[PRR Modeler]

The water is superb. Like others have said, it looks like it's real. AMAZING.

[ReadingBob]

The water looked pretty darn good before the Mod Podge was applied but now it looks great!  (Where's Tony the Tiger when you need him?) 

Wonderful progress.  We need to get Greg out of town more often.   

BTW- Nice looking sail boat.   

[ACL1504]

Wow, Tom -- that's pretty amazing. Without the facia and ceiling around the edges of the shots, I don't know that I would be able to tell it's a model. Well done.

Vince,

Thank you, appreciate you following along. I wanted to get a water level shot and the camera also captured all the other stuff. When I cropped it out, it didn't look right so I just left the fascia in the shot.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Hey Tom, the water looks great and your photography capturing the scenes is the best.

Steve,

Thank you for the kind words of support on the water. The water level pictures changed the entire look of the water scene.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Man.....I leave town for a few days and all sorts of stuff gets done on the ole' A&S.....

Greg,

Yepper, no grass growing under my layout work.   My AS is moving right along.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Man.....I leave town for a few days and all sorts of stuff gets done on the ole' A&S.....

That will teach you to not go out of town while work is going on.

Jim

Jim,

It happens per Forrest Gump.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom - The A&S continues to give us more great views. One of life's disappointments is that I never got to see it in person. Florida trips are over. Jim

Jim,

Thank you for the compliment on the layout work. Sorry to hear the Florida trips are over but you can at least follow the thread.

Tom

[ACL1504]

The water is superb. Like others have said, it looks like it's real. AMAZING.

Curt,

Thank you, I really appreciate the compliment. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Have a safe trip on Thursday.



Tom

[ACL1504]

The water looked pretty darn good before the Mod Podge was applied but now it looks great!  (Where's Tony the Tiger when you need him?) 

Wonderful progress.  We need to get Greg out of town more often.   

BTW- Nice looking sail boat.   

Bob,

I appreciate the kind words on the water in the lagoon. The two coats were just the ticket.

I seem to get a lot done when the Judge is out of town as well. Bill, that is no hint.    I'll be out of town this Saturday. I'm gong all the way north to Tavares. I'm gong to stop and see Bill and Kris Cutler.

Ah, the sail boat. It's a Sea Port model and done by a very good and gracious friend. He also did the three speed boats. He lives up north in Lake Mary.  

Tom

[ACL1504]

I was a busy guy yesterday. I finished the last 18 feet of the third level framing and plywood decking.



I previously cut all the cross braces so that saved a little time.

The arrows mark the top and isle side for my reference. This way all the holes line up for the buss wires.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I fit the box, less the cross braces together on the center isle bench work prior to screwing it all together.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I'm not sure I mentioned this before but I've been using a soft pine in the 1X3 upper level boxes. It is a little less expensive but the main reason I'm using the soft pine is that it is very light.

The draw back to the soft pine is that it splits easily.

To avoid the ends splitting, I use A 9/64 bit and drill a pilot hole in the end of the 1X3. I then use a 21/64 bit to ream out a small amount for the screw head.

When the screws are added the wood doesn't split on the ends.





More in a few.

[ACL1504]

The first box was made and the LED strip was added. The box was then placed in place.



The box was positioned so I could pull the buss wires. The box was then clamped to the  installed box for test fitting.






More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Ah, very good, no adjustments or shimming needed.



Howdy Doody says it's Diet Pepsi time forks. Back in a few.

[ACL1504]

I repeated the process for the next two boxes.

Once all three were in place, I added the plywood decking.

NOTE: The three sections of plywood are not screwed on the frame boxes. They are just laying on the boxes for now. I'll screw them to the frame/boxes in a few days.