The blitz continues....

We're still making good progress on laying track. Hope to get a lot more done tomorrow on the last day of the blitz.  

Miles is hard at work putting the last piece of the upper level main in. Miles and Fran have been a HUGE help in getting the upper level in. I've learned a lot from them so far and get something new each day.  

Here we see the first train make the loop around the upper level. I can now make a complete run from around the lower level, up the helix, around the upper and back down the helix. I plan to get a clock out soon and time the lap. 

We've also started on the first area to get scenery. This is the HWY 82 underpass. The bridge was scratch built from Rix beams and scale lumber. The abutments were cast with U-30 plaster and the piers were custom done by Scale Segmental Bridge Co. This will be one of my favorite scenes.

Track Blitz

I've got the pleasure of having Miles and Fran Hale down for a few days to help with the layout. We started our track laying blitz this past Thursday and have made great progress. As of this post, we have the upper deck main line in and running from the helix around to the Starkville passenger depot. Here are a few shots of what all has gone on.  

This is a shot of a quick mock up of a farm scene that will be on the upper deck as you exit the helix.  

This is a shot from the end of the upper deck peninsula looking back at the helix.  

Here's a shot of the upper deck wye. The track going through the backdrop will cross over the lift out section and enter the Louisville yard. 

This is a quick mock up of the HWY 182 underpass at Mayhew, MS. This scene will be the first to get scenery. 

Finally, this is a shot of my test locos as they pass the Borden plant in Starkville. More to come soon.

Catching up on my updates......

It's been quite a while since my last update. I've also gotten quite a bit done since then. First of all, I've gotten about 80% of the fascia and valance up and painted. You can't tell from the photo
but the paint is a CTC green that Tony Koester gave me the formula for. 

The other big thing is the entertainment center and shelves I added under the layout. Painted black, you really can't tell how they're made. Basically, there is a 3'X4' two shelf bookcase on each side of the TV. There will be black curtains below the layout that will hide the chest of drawers on each side. I'll get this in as soon as I finish the fascia. 

 

I've also continued work on the Tibbee Bridge. The wooden trestle approach is complete. The T-girder concrete section is going to be re-done. The pilings under it are a scale 15'. I want to move them up to 18' to match the trestle. Also, the concrete pier on the North end and the Brick pier on the South end are currently in production at the Scale Segmental Bridge Co. I had a completed brick pier for the South end that looked great but it met it's fate after it was accidentally dropped. 

I've also begun to add in structures to see how things will fit. Here you can see the Borden plant and the Starkville Passenger depot. These two models were built by Rich Cobb and look fantastic. Work has also continued on roadbed spline. I've got about 95% of the spline in. there are only a couple industries that still need spline. I've got a track laying blitz scheduled to start on the 29th. I've got some help that will be in town for a week. We hope to get most of the track laid during that time. I'll post more updates soon.

Getting closer to having a brick pier.....

I had some great tips from several people on several Yahoo Groups on how to do the photo wrap. 

Here's a photo of the real pier. 

I was able to take the above photo and do some serious editing with Photoshop and come up with this photo to wrap.

 

Anyway, I feel much better now knowing that I'm close to having my Brick pier. 

Going back an editing this page, I realized I never posted a pic of the wrapped bridge pier. Here's just the pier finished.

 

Wrapping it up

I'm working on the Tibbee Bridge trying to get that wrapped up, literally. Thanks to Keith at "Scale Segmental Bridge Co." I now have the perfect pier for the South end of Tibbee bridge almost..... 

The prototype is built out of brick. So, I have to figure out how to give this pier the look of brick. I feel that I have two choices. First, I could scribe mortar lines and paint the pier. This I feel is my last option because my skill levels aren't that good. I'd hate to mess up a nice casting as Keith has made. So, I figured I'd try option 2 which is to do a photo wrap. 

As you can see from the photo, the pier is slightly tapered and rounded on each end. It will be viewed from one rounded end so I want to wrap the photo so that there is only one seam and it's on the back side of the model on the other rounded end. I want to wrap this photo around the pier....  To do so and have the brick and mortar remain level and parallel,

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.