What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)

[IST]

1 hour ago, serotta1972 said:

Looking good IST, when is the next to show to showcase your wonderful work. 

 

Thanks! I think it will be a small exhibition at the end of April and we got the chance to present our small Japanese layout. Let's see!

[Pauljag900]

 

Frame work finished after 3 hrs,thanks to my brother in law.

Boards will be fitted to the framework hopefully Tuesday.

[Pauljag900]

I could nt upload this earlier but this is option 2 of the new layout,exactly the same apart from the double viaduct loop,

 

Once the track is laid out and the tram module is in position this is what I m hoping to achieve.I m hoping I can slide the tram forward slightly to allow the double viaduct track to run down the back and loop around and over the tram module.I will need to raise the height to about 6” to clear some of the buildings and will need to custom build track support piers.It s a way off at the moment but this is how I m hoping it will end up,if not then I m happy with the original plan.

[Pauljag900]

6 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Paul,

 

glad you found the happy medium for the new design. Layouts are always an exercise in tradeoffs, but it shounds like you now have pretty much what you want. Glad you are going to also mock up as much as possible as a final check on things for your list.

 

good luck with reconstruction!

 

cheers

 

jeff

Thanks Jeff,

the intention is to get the track set up and Trains running then do nothing for a while except run Trains to make sure I m happy with things as they are,while doing that I ll carry on with the tram module.

[railsquid]

Don't ask, but nothing as impressive as Paul's woodwork above...

structure-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Pauljag900]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

Don't ask, but nothing as impressive as Paul's woodwork above...

structure-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Ha ha,it may look impressive on here,up close not so😂😂But it’s level and solid and tomorrow the baseboards will be on it so it wo nt be seen😂😂

i m guessing this is a continuation of your mountain?

[railsquid]

Yup. More solid than it looks.

 

tunnel-hill-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Pauljag900]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

Yup. More solid than it looks.

 

tunnel-hill-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

I bet it is mate,once it’s all tied together it’s amazing how strong it becomes.Looks good there too mate👍

I can see wot you mean about that trackwork now too.

[cteno4]

On 1/13/2018 at 2:16 PM, Pauljag900 said:

 

Frame work finished after 3 hrs,thanks to my brother in law.

Boards will be fitted to the framework hopefully Tuesday.

Paul, my first thought when ever I look at photos of your shed is man he has a lot of room, then I remeber the mirrors. It’s all done with mirrors as they say...  ;-p

 

nice work, you should be able to climb/lean on it some if needed. Do you have a small step stool to help reach the back?

 

jeff

[cteno4]

3 hours ago, railsquid said:

Don't ask, but nothing as impressive as Paul's woodwork above...

structure-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Love it squid, what to do with the drawer full of take away chopsticks! 

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

1 minute ago, cteno4 said:

Paul, my first thought when ever I look at photos of your shed is man he has a lot of room, then I remeber the mirrors. It’s all done with mirrors as they say...  ;-p

 

nice work, you should be able to climb/lean on it some if needed. Do you have a small step stool to help reach the back?

 

jeff

Hi Jeff,

i can actually reach all the back including the two rear corners from the front,the rear board is only 2’ deep.

to answer your question,yes I have a step,a 2’ section of a railway sleeper ha ha.

I did consider leaving the mirrors out as i m favouring a backscene poster but then thought I need something to mount the posters on so decided to leave them in.

paul

[cteno4]

Well it turns out the $4 ikea legs work great for the new layout. I got some 8mm threaded inserts and drove them into the bottom of our main L girders and they work great without using the ikea baseplates. Adds a small 1/4” bump on the bottom of the girders when storing but not horrible. Great thing is that then we get all the space under the layout to stash stuff. This will be very useful at shows to stash train boxes and even our transport crates now that they are smaller. Also handy when setting up in my basement as great to stash the stuff that usually sits where the layout goes. Just takes a few minutes to screw the 12 legs onto the girders. The idea legs have adjustable feet to up to 1” as well.

 

we also have the centipede supports that work with the girders that can adjust up to 3.5” at any point so we can use those when doing things like the Sakura matsuri where we have good slopes on the roadway. Downside of the centipede is they take up most of the space under the layout and it’s hard to move the layout once setup as younhace to have a few folks lift up the layout by the girders while others move the centipedes and the line things up when it’s all going back together, nice to have both options.

 

also started to rewire my 4’ fluorescent tube lights in the garage to use new LED tubes. Wow are they bright. Also the light is a lot sharper and much better contrast looking at things while working on them. The fluorescent in the garage were blowing ballasts pretty quickly, I think the cold may do it, but not worth the $12 to keep replacing ballasts and the 30 minutes each time! Also the fluorescent bulbs would take longer and longer tomcome up to full brightness. Leds just have a half second lag before they pop on but that’s fine as they come on full blast, also more light for 40% less energy as well. Going to convert the rest and then the ones in our laundry room and the basement next. Should have done this a while ago! 

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Pauljag900]

Yesterday I was having a think about what I need to get some Trains running and realised I d need quite a few power feed cables so I checked the ones I had ,a few were looking a bit tatty so thought I may as well replace them all.Then I realised I need 16!! So I decided to make some.

soldering is not one of my strong points,but i ve had a go and the wires seem pretty solid,so tomorrow I ll test them and if they re ok I ll put a blob of hot glue on the wires just to stop them pulling if they get snagged or pulled accidentally 

 

[kvp]

On 1/16/2018 at 2:25 AM, cteno4 said:

Well it turns out the $4 ikea legs work great for the new layout.

I think almost a year ago,  you promised to show us the plans of the new layout. I think we are still wating for this...

[railsquid]

Chopstick Mountain grows ever skywards.

 

tunnel-hill-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

It's starting to resemble the kind of ramshackle old mine you'd find in an Indiana Jones movie...

[kvp]

4 hours ago, railsquid said:

Chopstick Mountain grows ever skywards.

 

It's starting to resemble the kind of ramshackle old mine you'd find in an Indiana Jones movie...

I can already see the 1:150 movie poster: "Rail Squid and the riders of the last train"

[IST]

I know, it is boring, but here are my corner T-trak moduls again, this time with flowers in different colours and the lavander was re-sprayed. A friend helped me holding the styrene sheets, this is why you can see 3 hands in one picture. 

I have to tell that I am quite satisfied with the result. Now I have to upgrade the surrounding area.

 

           

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, IST said:

I know, it is boring, but here are my corner T-trak moduls again, this time with flowers in different colours and the lavander was re-sprayed. A friend helped me holding the styrene sheets, this is why you can see 3 hands in one picture. 

I have to tell that I am quite satisfied with the result. Now I have to upgrade the surrounding area.

 

 

 

I think it looks amazing. What are you not satisfied with?

[gavino200]

I extended my station by one Kato platform length, so it would fit the 11-car Yamanote subway. I also had fun hauling some new Kokis. 

 

 

[NXCALE]

Some weeks ago I started to build/plan a layout in my garage (aka "dungeon"), the layout will be a point to point one.

The project is going at a slow pace but I will try to take some pictures and/or footage soon. Cheers.

[Kiha66]

4 hours ago, IST said:

I know, it is boring, but here are my corner T-trak moduls again, this time with flowers in different colours and the lavander was re-sprayed. A friend helped me holding the styrene sheets, this is why you can see 3 hands in one picture. 

I have to tell that I am quite satisfied with the result. Now I have to upgrade the surrounding area.

 

Not boring at all, I've been learning a lot from your progress posts!

[serotta1972]

4 hours ago, IST said:

I know, it is boring, but here are my corner T-trak moduls again, this time with flowers in different colours and the lavander was re-sprayed. A friend helped me holding the styrene sheets, this is why you can see 3 hands in one picture. 

I have to tell that I am quite satisfied with the result. Now I have to upgrade the surrounding area.

 

           

I like it and looks like the Lavenders have bloomed quite nicely.

[Khaul]

The lavender looks absolutely gorgeous. I think the module would look even better if the ballast looked dirty. Some clutter and stuff in the green between the lavender fields and the track would also help.

[IST]

4 hours ago, Khaul said:

I think the module would look even better if the ballast looked dirty. Some clutter and stuff in the green between the lavender fields and the track would also help.

 

Weathering the ballast is a good idea and I keep thinking about it, but until now I did not find the right method to do that. As my other moduls' ballasts look the same, I will keep it as it is, but in the future I definitely would like to upgrade this part of my modul.

Clutter: you are absolutely right, that will be the project of the next club day. I have to change the tree also because it lost its foliage, I'd like to put some sand around the house because now it requires a big step from the visitors to get into the building (), on the other modul's corner there will be 1 or 2 street stall and festival people.

[IST]

7 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I think it looks amazing. What are you not satisfied with?

 

Thanks! There are a little bit too much petals in certain points while few on others. If you look closely (I mean in real life) you can see that, but from a normal distance it is OK. I also need to cut some of the longer grass (instead of 6 mm there were some wit 10-15 mm long and look just bad). Plus I have to do those additional work which I have just mentioned above.