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.

LIghting it up......

I've continued with construction of the 2nd level benchwork. It ground to a hault when my local lumber yard quit carrying 1X3X16 lumber. I'm now trying to get them to special order me some. If not, I'll have to head to the local Big Box store and get some "not so good" 1X3X8. Until then, the upper deck is on hold. In the mean time, I decided to start working on backdrop and testing lighting. 

For the backdrop, I'm using 1' X 78' strips of vinyl flooring with the back side showing. It's then painted a "sky" blue. Once it's all up, I'll come back and feather in some white to simulate the haze in the sky. 

I've also hung up some test lights just to see how things look. Right now, I've got two fluorescent strips and a CFL bulb with different color temps in place. I've got my local electrical store ordering me a 10' strip of commercial grade, high output, LED rope lighting matched to the color temp of my room track lighting. I'm hoping it will work as it would be an easy install. I'll post more when it comes in next week or so. So far, the CFL that's been in experiment role is a GE Helican 26 watt warm white. I started with two florescent strip lights in a daylight 6500K temp. These made for some bright, vivid scenes but had a blue hue to them. I decided to throw in the warmer CFL to see what it would do and loved the results. The florescent strips give good, bright lighting while the warm white CFL warms the scene. If the rope light does not work out, then I'll do the tube florescent-CFL combo or get some full spectrum CFLs and pair them with a warm white every 24".

There's only one way to build. UP!!!!

Today, I finished wiring in an NCE Booster, NCE EB3 three zone circuit breaker and a DCC Specialties Auto-reverser for the CAGY reverse loop and another for the lower level wye. All is working well. I've still got to get the command station set in it's permanent home. I want to build a shelf under the layout for it along with a pull out desk for a laptop computer so that I can connect to the command station and run Decoder Pro. Hope to have this in next week. 

In the mean time, I've started on the upper deck benchwork. I debated and debated on what I would use to support the upper deck. Finally, I decided on using 1/8" think angle iron. I've got the first section up and it's quite sturdy. I like this method as it does not interfere with where the back drop will go later.  I attached the angle iron with 5 screws directly to the stud walls. This is very sturdy. No, it's not "I can sit on it sturdy but I believe my 3 year old daughter could and I don't have all the iron in yet. I'll post more as the benchwork moves along.

A few pics from the layout

Once I got the main complete, I decided to run some trains and play. Here are a few photos from the fun. 

This is a shot of an IC local with 9145 in the lead. I backed it onto NS main #2 in Meridian. Notice how the track kinks out for more spacing between the mains at the end of the local. The extra spacing will be for the passenger platform in Meridian. 

Here, the 9145 is overtaken by another local out of Artesia led by IC 9042.  

IC 9145 speeds by the camera on it's local run.