The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 2

[S&S RR]

Tom


Love it! You are moving right along - I love it when a plan comes together. BTW - I watched your thunder and lighting video again and ordered the unit.  I have a couple subwoofers off old computer systems that I will try - just to see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the tip/idea. Frank told me today that he ordered one, too.

[Jerry]

Tom looks great.  Looking forward to the next part.

Jerry

[cuse]

Wow! I hope you'll be around next week...I'll be a little more free with my schedule and would love to see what we've been visualizing for a while now.  Looks great!


John

[Judge]

Tom - I should take a short vacation more often!  Very impressive progress!  I think it was a good decision to put the steam engine facility at the far end of the second level and build the town of Tahope to the south of it (closer to the south end of the shed).  I was worried that a nine-stall roundhouse might not fit, but the photos show it fits nicely.  No diesels at this facility!

For those who follow Tom's thread, the A&S has a small diesel facility on the second level next to the ovalix.  It services/repairs "short diesels" like F units and GP7's.  There will be a major service/repair diesel facility on the third level.  It will handle larger diesels (E units).

[ACL1504]

A neat trick?
Let me guess!  Measure twice, cut once and then go back and cut a new piece because you forgot to carry the one.  Ha, I know, I'm a nincowpoop!  KP-out...




P.S. Terrific job so far my friend!!!!!!!!!!

Thom,

I appreciate the kind words on the work. The tick may not be all that great to some or even many; however, as a 10 year old boy I was impressed.

Tom

[ACL1504]

I've never been able to get such neat straight line cuts with my jigsaw!!  Is there a trick to this?


dave

Dave,

My lines really aren't that straight but straight enough so they look straight. All the experts say to clamp a guide board next to the outer edge of the jigsaw and use it as a straight edge for cutting. But I'm assuming you are referring to cutting a jigsaw line freehand.

Since I had 9 stalls and 18 lines to cut I didn't want to take the time to position and clamp all the lines 18X. The cut outs for the pits were 1/4" wide so I cut just outside the lines. I also drilled a 3/8" pilot hole for the jigsaw blade.

My trick for cutting straight lines and circles with the jig saw is to let the blade do the cutting with only slight guidance from me. I've found that if I'm in a hurry and try to push the saw as it cuts, the blade wavers and I fall off the cutting line.

In this case however, I didn't care if a missed a little as the cutout portion would not show at all. The trick is to go slow and watch the line as the blade cuts. This is what I practice.

I hope this helps.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Great job and extremely impressive on the speed you're moving at. I don't remember if the second level to the right had the circular area in it previously or is that to make more room to get by?

Curt,

Thank you my friend. If I can send the Judge off somewhere more than once in a while, I'll get the move on!

Just kidding, er, no I'm not. Well, just a little.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom


Love it! You are moving right along - I love it when a plan comes together. BTW - I watched your thunder and lighting video again and ordered the unit.  I have a couple subwoofers off old computer systems that I will try - just to see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the tip/idea. Frank told me today that he ordered one, too.

John,

Thank you, it was a fun project.

You won't be sorry for getting the T&L kit. It really adds a little more realism to the layout.

Let me know how the sub woofers work for you. I couldn't tell a difference.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom looks great.  Looking forward to the next part.

Jerry

Jerry,

Much appreciated kind sir. It will be a few days. Other than the circle trick.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Wow! I hope you'll be around next week...I'll be a little more free with my schedule and would love to see what we've been visualizing for a while now.  Looks great!


John

John,

Thank you, much appreciated. Yes, you need to see the latest updates all the way. It's been almost a year.

I plan on being here all week, I have a lunch date with my childhood buddy Thursday at 11AM and the Babe and I are taking a little trip on Friday morning and will be back Sunday.

Tom

[ACL1504]

Tom - I should take a short vacation more often!  Very impressive progress!  I think it was a good decision to put the steam engine facility at the far end of the second level and build the town of Tahope to the south of it (closer to the south end of the shed).  I was worried that a nine-stall roundhouse might not fit, but the photos show it fits nicely.  No diesels at this facility!

For those who follow Tom's thread, the A&S has a small diesel facility on the second level next to the ovalix.  It services/repairs "short diesels" like F units and GP7's.  There will be a major service/repair diesel facility on the third level.  It will handle larger diesels (E units).

Bill,

Thanks for stopping by for a look see and posting a few comments. I figured you'd be surprised at the progress.

Take as many little vacations as you can handle.


I'll see you on the 23rd.

Tom

[ACL1504]

My father was a General Contractor from the 1950's until his election as the 29th Mayor of Orlando in 1967.

One day he had one of his company carpenters at the house repairing on of the circular light ornaments on the ceiling. As a 10 year old, I watched everything he/they (carpenters) did and even got to know several by name. I even watched the painters paint. It was all oil paint and turpentine back then. I loved the smells.

On this one day, he drew a rough circle on a large piece of 1 X 10.  I think he used the lid of a gallon paint can but memory doesn't serve me well on this adventure. He said he would show me a trick on how he was going to draw a larger second circle using straight lines. He took either a 1X2 or 1X3 and cut it to around 3 inches in length.

He placed one edge of the piece of wood on the outside edge of the circle and then drew a pencil line the length of the wood piece as shown below.




He left a small gap between the lines as he moved around the circle.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

He then used the wood piece to fill in the blank spaces. Again, using the wood piece against the inner circle and drawing the line on the out edge of the smaller wood piece.



Here is how mine looked when finished.

It looks like a circle but put a straight edge to it and it will show only short straight lines.




More in a few.

[ACL1504]

By the way, I used this straight line circle as the circular edge of the roundhouse area.

In the photo below, you can see my inner circle and the edge of the layout where I cut on the outer straight line circle. I used the jigsaw for the cutting and went slow and followed the outer line.

I was impressed then and am still impressed at the knowledge of finish carpenters.

[postalkarl]

Hey Tom:

Cool Time to put the roundhouse in. Can't wait to see that.

Karl