The Empire

[Zephyrus52246]

I've got the end of the benchwork up.  This will be a flat yard, basically 3/4 in plywood on top of these joists. It's a tunback loop and the yard will sit inside it.  I'm "cheating" on my 30 inch radius here so everything will fit.  I hope everything works with a 28 inch radius.  I angled the backdrop so I can access the electrical panels if need be.


Jeff

[bparrish]

Pretty cool...

thanx
Bob

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, Bob.  It's now "official" benchwork as I'm able to pile junk on top of it.    The 24" PVC flashing looks like it will be a "good enough" height.  I added another leg for strength/stability.

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I think this is gonna work.    I put up some hardboard backing and then attached 2 inch squares of velcro to it, the same Velcro use on the Tortoises.  Then pushed the vinyl onto it.  Pulling off the vinyl made the velcro separate.  The edge needs work (I may glue this), and it has some "waves", but better than the aluminum in the other room.  I'll let this sit a couple days and see if it stays up.


Jeff

[Twist67]

Hi there,

looking good so far.....nice benchwork...

Cheers,Chris

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, Chris.  I got all the PVC up for the backdrop.  had a little over two feet left over.     It's a bit wavy in places, partly as the Velcro has a thickness and it can't get truly flat up against the wall.  I think it will look better after it's primed.  I've started putting some painter's tape around the top on the one end so I can maybe get the primer on tomorrow after work. 


Jeff

[ranny9]

Perhaps I missed it in your earlier discussion, but the vinyl is glossy. How are you going to give it some tooth to hold paint, or do you have some thing else in mind?

[Zephyrus52246]

Hi, Randy.  Thanks for following along.  I used some Zinsser 1.2.3. Primer on the PVC.  It worked well on the aluminium flashing I used in the other room.  And seemed to hold well here as well.  I've put on the first coat of blue.  I built a raised platform to slide along the benchwork to hold the roll of vinyl to make sure it was put on relatively level.  It's now helping with the painting.

Jeff

[ranny9]

Hi, Randy.  Thanks for following along.  I used some Zinsser 1.2.3. Primer on the PVC.  It worked well on the aluminium flashing I used in the other room.  And seemed to hold well here as well.  I've put on the first coat of blue.  I built a raised platform to slide along the benchwork to hold the roll of vinyl to make sure it was put on relatively level.  It's now helping with the painting.

Jeff

Yes, I have used Zinsser 1 2 3...I'll be following along.

[Zephyrus52246]

The clouds are finished.  They are white Badger AirOpaque paint.  I didn't paint as many as in the other room, as I now think I overdid them there.  I airbrushed white about 1/3 of the way up for a hazy look.  It's kind of uneven, but I think it'll look OK.  Both ends will basically have industrial building flats on them, so I didn't have to go to the horizon.  I did stop about 1/4 of the way to spray thinner thru the airbrush, but started having some splatters about 1/2 way and ran lacquer thinner thru it.  I still had some splatters, especially near then end or when I was running low on paint (one disadvantage to using the cap on the airbrush, but my two spills without it override that disadvantage ).  I think the clouds look OK, but not great.   I used the stencils from New London Industries, you can see them in the one pic.  Subroadbed is up next, but I'm tired out from the three days of painting and it's time to watch football.


Jeff

[ACL1504]

Jeff,

The clouds look great. I like the haze look as well.


Tom

[BandOGuy]

Catching this at halftime/Pats.
You may have a second career as an artist, Doctor.
Go Pats! Lets finish this up in style.

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks, gentlemen.  You're being too kind.  I've put in the risers and some of the subroadbed.  Basically this is a turnback loop with the staging yard inside it.  I'm using a big piece of cardboard to see if everything "fits" before cutting up more plywood.  I have 30 inch minimum radius everywhere on the layout, but that wouldn't fit here for the loop and turnback, so I tried 28 1/2 inches and it seems to fit.  The next step is to make sure the passenger cars and steamers will work on 28 1/2 inches, so I'm going to lay the roadbed and track there to see if it works.  I've also arranged the turnouts to see if they'll work.  I have two right hand curved Walther's turnouts which are 36/32 in radius, I may order a couple of the 32/28 if the 28 1/2 inch radius works, as they would fit a little better.  Now where is the tracklaying stuff?   


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I should not have joked about finding the tracklaying stuff.  It took me an hour to find the small nails I use to tap the Homabed into place while it dries.     Since this was an "experiment", I used some Atlas Code 83 track instead of  the Peco, as the ties have holes nearly thru them already.  Following Tom's example of laying track on the plywood, I drilled a #80 hole in the tie and used the Micro Engineering spikes to hold it in place.  I then hooked up an old MRC transformer and found a non DCC E7 unit and tested passenger cars.  The Proto 2000 E7 had horn hook couplers (!).  I searched for my container with Kadees in it but was unable to locate it.     I had to pull a Kadee #5 off a freight car.  The Walther's went thru well, the Rapido's overhang a lot, but they got thru OK.  Tomorrow I'll get out some Brass Steamers and try them.  I'm pretty tired out, but it was a pretty good day of layout building.


Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

I got three steamers out to test.  They all fit, though the 4-8-4 only works with the tender placed in the fastener further from the locomotive, but it'll do.  The 2-8-2 and 4-8-4 I bought used off ebay barely run, but I'll send them someplace to get fixed up.  I also believe I have the "yard ladder" figured out.  Now it's time to cut the subroadbed and fit all that together. 


Jeff