Re-post of my Indiana Layout

[John B]

Here we see the upper-level business area. I bought a Micro-Scale Clothes Pin and Broom Handle Factory for this area.

[John B]

I still had the problem of building the layout to wide for my reach. Some how Joan came up with the idea of maybe the was some sort of contraption that would allow me to extend my reach. That lead to an internet search, and we found this: Topside Creeper. They are a little of the spendy side; and they do take up some space; but the Topside Creeper will more than pay for itself by solving the reach problem. I seriously don't know what I would have done without it.

[John B]

This shot shows the single track upper level route to the first picture. At this time, I am still thinking about some sort of trestle. I also have my Dremel table saw out. It is set up to cut trestle bents

[John B]

I promised to show all the mistakes that I've made along the way; so here are some big ones.I've decided on having three waterway cutouts in various places on the layout. I've cut away a little stream bed here. I've cut wood dowels on my Dremel table-saw and made some trestle bents and am roughing the two single-track trestles in.

[John B]

I have carved away the foam to make a more realistic looking watercourse. I've plastered the sides with a combination of Sculptamold and drywall mud. Not very happy with the way it looks. Something's wrong here; but I can't put my finger on it.

[John B]

A straight on shot of the stream bed. More drywall mud applied. Something just doesn't seem right though.

[John B]

I've painted the stream bottom a dark color and I'm just not happy with this. It just doesn't look right. Maybe adding something to it might help. I bought a Sierra West Shelby's Marine Service and started carving out an area to fit the two structures.

[John B]

This is starting to get a little ridiculous. I've decided that I don't like the two little trestles going over the waterway. They look stupid and I don't like the results. I'm starting to get a little case of Gorre & Daphetid envy here. My best efforts don't come close to looking like what I've seen in magazines and online. I decided to fill in the trestle area with foam and make some sort of piling wall. I bought a FSM Pile Driver and thought that would look nice driving in piles along the wall. I've started to plaster in the cut foam to make a nice straight-up and down form so I can glue wood dowels along it to represent pilings. I used a little dumbbell to hold the putty blade against the drying drywall mud.Still not very happy with the outcome.

[John B]

A little afterthought here. I have to keep telling myself here that I am not in competition with other modelers and that my layout will never come close to John Allen's or George Sellios' layouts. I only have to make myself happy and not worry so much about how others see my layout. As long as I'm having fun then everything will turn out right. I probably should make a big sign of Model Railroaders' motto: Model Railroading is Fun.

At this time though, I haven't learned this lesson. More mistakes to come

[John B]

At this point in time, I've filled in the largest waterway on the layout. I just couldn't make a reasonable looking double track curved bridge. Plus it took up a lot of space. You can see part of the covered in area in the left corner of the shotI thought what I really needed was an area a Walthers Pier and Traveling Crane. I also want to utilize one of the Lindburg Tugboats that I bought several years ago. I glued the hull together of the tugboat (Lindberg Coast Guard tugboat) and cut the bottom off making it a waterline boat. You can see the top of the Walthers Pier in the shot. I was going to connect the waterway on the right-hand side to the area in the middle and have the short trestle support the track.

[John B]

Here you can see another shot of the proposed pier area.

[John B]

This doesn't look right either. I've got a huge waterway in the middle of my layout with no visible means for the tugboat to enter or exit. Frustrated with the looks of things, I cover over the waterway on the right and the waterway that I was going to place the Sierra West kits. At this point in time, no streams or lakes on the layout. The three foam water cutouts are filled with foam and plaster.


If you haven't figured out my biggest problem yet, here's a hint:  Start out with a solid plan and stick to it

[John B]

I've given up on waterways and have came back to the mountain area. In this shot I've continued the single track around the mountain into the mountain business section. Still without a trestle at this time. You can see the business area in the distance being glued in place with a dumbbell on top of it.

[John B]

Looking on [/size]Looking on ebay one day; I came across a seller that had homemade trestles for sale. He had a curved tall single track trestle for sale that looked like it would fit right into place. This area has been untouched for about a year now. So I have to move on. I bought it and it looked pretty good when I got it in the mail[/size] one day; I came across a seller that had homemade trestles for sale. He had a curved tall single track trestle for sale that looked like it would fit right into place. This area has been untouched for about a year now. So I have to move on. I bought it and it looked pretty good when I got it in the mail
[/size]

[John B]

I've added plywood mountain forms into the mountain area. These with help support the future cardboard mountain range. This area is at least 6x6 feet.[/size]