The Empire

[cuse]

Great job and great font too!


John

[S&S RR]

Next up is a big thank you to John Seikirk.  His description of how he built his control panels helped me figure out how to do these.  I use the Barrett Hill toggles like he does.  I couldn't figure out how to mount them.  His technique worked well here.  This is just a picture frame, but I think in the future I'll build these like he described.  Thanks again, John!


Jeff

You are welcome Jeff. I'm happy with the Barrett Hill setup. I just ordered the supplies to complete the rest of my layout.

[GPdemayo]

Nice progress Jeff.....

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, guys.  That was a big step to get over.  On the layout I'm trying to eliminate all the places where if there were a derailment, the trains would fall to the floor.  This curve area is right at the edge of the layout.  I'd designed this to be enclosed as this is the tightest "visible" curve (30" radius) on the layout.  Also, I don't like being able to stand at the end of a peninsula and see down both sides.  I was all open frame work, "closed in" by the backdrops of both sides. 


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Originally, I was just going to close the track in and make part of the cover removable for maintenance.  When my grandson visits, he really likes to stand in this spot to watch the train come thru the "tunnel", so I decided to open it up.  This required a lot of "engineering" and work to make this enclosed.   Here I've started the framing.


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Daylighting this took a lot more work than I thought it would  I've spent a lot of the last few days waiting for glue and paint to dry.  The trim is all hardboard, except between the track and plexiglass, which is some cardboard and the top which is 1/4 inch plywood.  Everything painted black, like the fascia.  All the long passenger cars and the "rail defect detector" steam loco pass through without incident.  Anyway, I'm glad this is finished.  The rail still near the edge will probably have some plexiglass as well in front of it eventually.  Of course, now that I have a horizontal surface, I'm sure stuff will accumulate there.   


Jeff

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

Great job on the tunnel. Always good to keep trains on the layout.

Tom

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful modeling Jeff.

[GPdemayo]

Great idea Jeff.....bet the grandson will spend hours watching the trains. 

[ReadingBob]

That's pretty slick Jeff.  I (and I'm sure everyone else) know exactly what you mean about stuff accumulating on horizontal surfaces.   

[S&S RR]

Jeff


Looks great,  and I know what you mean about the grandkids loving to watch for the trains to come out of a tunnel.  Horizontal surfaces will collect stuff until you build a diorama to fill that spot.

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.  John, I'd never intended to scenic this area, but your diorama comment makes me think I could have a waterfront scene here.  Thanks for the idea!


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I've mentioned "layout work" in some of our morning posts recently.  I've been working on the E Dubuque area.  I decided to add a tunnel to the scene.  There are bluffs in the area along the Mississippi where the Burlington traverses the east bank of the river, so though there were none "in real life", it's not a stretch to have one here.  Plus, I think there's a rule that every model railroad needs a tunnel.      I had planned bluffs behind the town,anyway.  First was to figure out how high to make them.  Too short and it would be foolish to put a tunnel thru here, but I don't have much area between the town and the backdrop.

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I had planned to go to the Narrow Gauge convention this week, but of course it's been cancelled months ago.  One thing I wanted to check out was Bragdon enterprises terrain and rock mold making clinics.  I decided to get his "test kit" after seeing how nicely it worked out for John (cuse) on his layout.  It basically uses the same chemicals that make spray foam to make the terrain.  You spread a thin layer on two sheets of fiberglass window screen material.  It turns into a flexible leather like material that you can then hot glue to formers (I'm using cut pieces of styrofoam).  This worked well.  But I think I made it just a bit too high. 


Jeff

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

The mountain looks good to me. I can just see all the rocks and trees on it. Also love the city scene. Well done.

Tom