Lots of rain outside = Lots of work on the layout inside!!!

With all the rain we've had lately, it's "forced" me to stay indoors and work on the layout. I've been getting about 6 hours a day in on it and making good progress. The sub-roadbed spline work for the upper deck main is in and planed smooth. Sidings and spurs are next. The spline was made from 1/8" Masonite cut into 7/8" strips then glued together. I got this technique from Joe Fugate and love it. I like how the Masonite automatically forms the transition curves for a smooth flowing base for the track. 

I started working on getting the spline in for the sidings and spurs by taking my track plan and a ruler and just measuring where the switches should go. I decided that I wanted to be a little more accurate than that so I printed part of my track plan at 1:1 scale. This printout turned out to be 20" wide and 500" long. I do CAD work on the side so I was lucky to have a wide format printer. Here you can see the printout as I have it laid out exactly where the track will go. The plan matches up PERFECTLY with my spline I laid by measuring. So, I guess my measurements were accurate enough. I'm going to mark the locations of the switches then begin laying the spline for the sidings and spurs. More photos soon. 

Lots of progress

The last few days have seen a lot of progress on the Aberdeen Sub. I've completed painting the backdrop......I think. 

I'm trying to decide if I want to add clouds and a horizon or just leave it as is. Originally, I had planed on it just being a plain blue but now I'm thinking of feathering in some white haze and maybe adding those clouds. Not sure yet. 

I've also started laying the spline roadbed for the upper deck and have made good progress there. If I work like I did today, I should be able to get about 16' of spline in each day. I'm limited by glue drying time and the number of clamps I have to hold it together but this has worked to my advantage. While the glue is drying, I work on other items then come back to continue on spline, let glue dry and work elsewhere and on and on. 

In doing that today, I was able to get some of my wiring cleaned up and secured, build under-layout shelving for my DCC components, build a pull out desk for a laptop to run DecoderPro and pull all the wiring for a new 110 volt circuit to feed the DCC system.  When I built the house, I had two dedicated switched circuits for the layout room. It turned out that this was not enough power. My layout lighting takes up those two circuits. The new circuit will also be a switched circuit to track power. When complete, I'll be able to hit three lighted switches when I leave the room and know that everything is off. This will be nice to during construction as I can turn on my layout lighting yet have the track dead so I don't have to worry about tools laying across the rail.

Painting the back drop

My third attempt at a backdrop is going well now. The Komatex has worked out great. 

For the seams, I used green Squadron putty. I squeezed on a bead of putty and smoothed it with a straight edge and let it dry over night. This morning, I sanded it with some 200 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander. That method worked GREAT. 

This is the first coat of paint and as you can see, the seam is GONE!!! You can see a chip at the bottom where the two pieces meet. 

The last shot is just an over all shot of the two decks. The top painted and the lower yet to be painted.  

Backdrop number three!!!

Here goes my third attempt at getting a backdrop material put in that I'm satisfied with. 

This time, I went with 4X8 sheets of 3mm Komatex. Its a sheet made of expanded ABS "foam" sandwiched between to thin sheets of ABS plastic. So far, I really like it. I first put in some extra support on the benchwork. The Komatex is very flexible so I wanted the extra support in hopes that it won't buckle like my Masonite did. After that, I applied liquid nails to all the supports then just stuck the Komatex to it and it stayed. At each joint, I added a 4" wide piece of Komatex to the back of the backdrop glued on with plumbing "all purpose" glue. It holds like a charm. 

I'm going to fill the small gaps at the joints with squadron green putty. I'll post more photos as I clean up the joints and paint. For painting, I'm thinking of renting an airless spray painter. 

Just to get a feel of how smooth it was, I tested it with a backdrop structure. To me, it looked like a good fit. So, for now, Komatex seems like a winner. More photos soon.

Bent problem solved....help with Brick Pier!!

I had tons of replies about the 6 post trestle bents and that issue is now solved. I've got a Black Bear Construction Co. 6 post trestle bent jig on the way. That should make fast work of building the 22 or so bents for the approach trestle. 

My next issue in getting the Tibbee Creek Bridge as close to the real thing is the brick bridge pier on the South end of the bridge. I've looked and looked but haven't found an HO scale model that even comes close to this. About the best thing I found was a two tier stone pier. So, I'm looking for any ideas or help on modeling the brick pier like in these photos. 

Tibbee Bridge

I'm about to get back to work on the Tibbee Bridge. Before I go further, I'm trying to find some scale drawings of bents used in the wooden approach trestle like in the photo here. These are 6 post bents on an ex-GM&O line. I want some HO scale drawings so that I can build a jig to quickly build many bents. Also thought I'd throw in these photos of the bridge. 

We had a LOT of rain lately and the water got higher than I've ever seen. Got a "normal" level photo to compare to. Also, take a close look at the bridge and the track on the North end. You'll notice another oddity for our area. SNOW!

Lot of work......

I've been lucky to have a lot of free time lately. I've used a good bit of that time to work on the layout. The two big things I've done are: Finish all benchwork and install most of the lighting. 

On the benchwork, I got the upper deck in and mostly complete. I've still got a little bracing to do for the upper. This bracing is the angle iron that I pictured in an earlier post. I used some "track type" shelf brackets every 8' to provide most of the support for the upper deck. To add extra support, I'm adding in the angle iron every 24". It's slow going as I have to custom fit each piece and drill mounting holes. I hope to get most of that in with the next week or so. 

The upper deck lighting valance is also complete and mostly braced. To brace it, I used some shelving "L" brackets mounted upside down from above. You can see that in the photos to the left, especially in the photo of the peninsula. 

For the lighting, I'm using strip florescent lighting composed of two bulb 8' sections and single bulb in 4' and 2' lengths. The bulb I chose was an SP35 which to me offered a good balance of brightness and warm sun look. Once I get the lighting and bracing complete, I want to get the backdrop in place on the upper deck and then get them both painted. After that, it's back to laying track.