The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 4

[ACL1504]

Nice work on the hobby shop, Tom.  I used rolled up towels on a layout area when the electrician was here, but that would have been more a knee hitting the tracks or dropping something on the layout.  I'll use your cushion idea in the future. 


Jeff

Jeff,

Thank you for the kind compliment. The cushions worked perfectly. The cushions held the plywood in place and standing on the plywood was a solid foundation.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

Never put off anything you can do today that can be done next month.....

Greg,

Or next year, as I did with the attic clean out.

Tom 

[tct855]

ACL 1504,
                You sure you checked every part of the attic? One never knows...
                                                                                                                         KP-out...

[ACL1504]

ACL 1504,
                You sure you checked every part of the attic? One never knows...
                                                                                                                         KP-out...

KPI,

I didn't see any critters in the attic but did find evidence a critter used it as a bathroom. I left some poison is several areas of the attic. I made sure no critters were in the attic and then I sealed the last vent to prevent reentry.

Only time will tell.

Tom 

[jrmueller]

I can verify that Polk's hobby store was located in downtown New York City. They covered several floors in an office building. I don't remember the address, but I do recall riding the bus to the subway downtown.  At that time I was into model airplanes. It was a fantastic place and I awaited their multi page mailed flyer as well as magazine ads. Jim

[ACL1504]

I can verify that Polk's hobby store was located in downtown New York City. They covered several floors in an office building. I don't remember the address, but I do recall riding the bus to the subway downtown.  At that time I was into model airplanes. It was a fantastic place and I awaited their multi page mailed flyer as well as magazine ads. Jim

Jim,

Thank you for giving us the scoop on Polk's. Now we know it was, in fact, in downtown NYC.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

The main street, named Main Street, in Tahope is brick with A&S trackage down the middle.

Tahope will have several businesses along both sides of Main Street. The problem now is that the land on each side of the brick street is a few HO scale feet lower than the brick as shown below.



I used a piece of 2 ply heavy stock cardboard and pushed it up the the brick street. You can see in the photo below I'm still a little lower than the brick.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

A second piece of the heavy stock 2 ply cardboard is place on top of the other one and up against the brick street. You can see that this gives me just over 4 HO scale inches above the street.

So, the solution to this problem is two layers of 2 ply heavy cardboard. Problem #1 solved.



Now, I have another problem with structures. Most of the manufacturers include in each kit some sort of short sidewalk piece. These kits are also mostly stand alone structures and if the building is glued to the sidewalk piece that creates yet another issue/problem.

FOS models, KC's Workshop, CCK models all have a different style of sidewalk in their respective kits. Doug's sidewalks are more elongated, KC's are smaller squares and CCK has slightly large squares.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

You can see in the following photos the sidewalks vary in size and color. The color is mainly due to the builder and what was on hand when it came to painting the sidewalks. Some are concrete, different shades of gray and some aged concrete.





Continued -

[ACL1504]

For downtown Tahope, the sidewalks need to be all on one city block and fairly close to being the same color and pattern.

My plan is to draw on the heavy cardboard the sidewalk with expansion joints as I've done the the roads.

In the photo below you can see FOS' DeGraw's Poultry and Doug's elongated sidewalk pattern. The roadway is a piece of 2 ply heavy cardstock with 10' concrete lengths with each expansion joint.



DeGraw's Poultry is a stand alone structure so the sidewalk worked here.

The bigger problem will be discussed later this week.

Done for now.

[postalkarl]

Hey Tom:

I just love the street with the trolley tracks in it. Keep the pics A flowing.

Karl

[Judge]

Hey, Karl - Them ain't trolly tracks.  Those tracks are the lead to the Tahope Roundhouse and Engine Service Facility.  The City of Tahope is too small and too poor to afford a trolly system.  Their sanitation department is composed of a fleet of one garbage truck - and it is from the '30s.  The city is in need of a fire station.  it already has a couple of ancient fire trucks.

[nycjeff]

Hello Tom, for various reasons I haven't been posting lately, but I have been keeping up with the happenings on the forum. I love what you are doing in the thriving city of Tahope. Shelf layout building at it's best.    Jeff

[GPdemayo]

Hey Bill.....where did all those tax dollars go that have be dutifully collected all these years? 

[Judge]

Greg - There is no doubt about the existence of graft and corruption in the City of Tahope.  For instance, Three Fingers Freddy got a variance to put his fireworks business next to a gas station because he had a relative on the County Commission.  And some of Tahope's more idle residents simply 'tied in" to the Tahope County Power Company's line.  They don't pay for the electricity because the power company doesn't know they are customers. (See page 8 of the Saturday Report.)  The new City Hall, jail, and courthouse was built with only token bidding before the Mayor's brother got the construction job.  And somebody, maybe the sheriff, is looking the other way when the "white smoke is arisin'" from the still in Piney Woods.  The Tahope County tax collector has been indicted for embezzlement of public funds, but his brother-in-law is the local prosecutor so the case has languished on the docket for months.  Finally, there is no comprehensive zoning ordinance in the City of Tahope so developers take advantage and construct buildings that would be conflicting uses anywhere else.

I hope that gives you a little idea of the financial problems in Tahope.