Weekend Update 11/7/10

[up1950s]

" Ohhhhh baby you know what I like " and it ain't Chantilly Lace !

, we want to see trains .

[up1950s]

UP 535 gets painted next and post paint details then added .
 

 

[DKS]

I scratchbuilt an abandoned, derelict factory. It's based on the BSA Works building in Birmingham, UK, which represents a classic architectural style found all over the world after the turn of the century.
 








A four-part article on its construction starts here: http://jamesriverbranch.net/project_26.htm

[BCR 570]

This was a week of significant week of accomplishments on my layout.  With the deadline of next weekend's Trains 2010 show and associated clinic and visitors fast approaching, several projects have reached or are close to fruition.

For the last several months I have been working on the DCC circuit breaker panel. It has taken a long time to run the lead wires for the LED indicators because I wanted to arrange them so that they could be removed for troubleshooting or replacement without affecting too many others.  Here is the board with all of the indicator leads in place:




Here is the board with the LEDs temporarily pegged into the barrier strips for testing.  The track bus wires from the command station have been connected at the top left corner, and the bus wires for power districts have been connected to their respective breakers.  This test was to verify that everything has been connected correctly and works as it should, which it does:




If we induce a short in power district #5 (third trio of lights from the left), the green light indicating power to track goes out and the red light indicating a short present comes on:




Next up is soldering the wires to the circuit boards, and the entire panel can then be installed underneath the helix.


Meanwhile, with the newest and final sections of benchwork for the layout now fully painted, this week began with installation of the LED lighting.  Here is the underside of the top canopy with LED lighting for the upper deck installed:




Here is the underside of the upper deck with LED lighting for the lower deck installed.  The rear string has been powered up for a test:




Then, on Friday, with the final sections of benchwork painted and lighting installed, it was time to bring it all home.  The remaining benchwork goes along the west wall and links the existing benchwork along the north and south walls.  The west wall is a solid concrete exterior wall so no shelving brackets were used to support this benchwork.  I designed the benchwork to support itself, with a little assistance from adjacent benchwork and the window ledge.

The lower deck is a single unit approximately eight feet long and will accommodate Sundance siding towards the front and Septimus sidings (north staging) at the rear.  This section was designed to be 12 inches wide and was built with a shallow profile so that the desk would remain useable, and so someone can sit up in bed without cracking their head underneath.  It is bolted to the adjacent benchwork and the rear stringer sits on the window ledge for additional support.  The masonite backdrop is backed with 5/8" MDF to support the upper deck.  Here is the lower deck in place:




The upper deck was built in two sections - a short solid top section on the left and a longer open box section on the right.  This will accommodate the Kiskatinaw River bridge scene, hence the extra depth and profiled fascia.  The backdrop for the river scene needs to extend all the way down to the bottom of the box, so I designed it to curve in and over the rear wall.  The rear wall was then extended upwards behind the backdrop to reinforce it and provide support for the top lighting canopy.  The upper deck sections are bolted to each other and to the adjacent benchwork, and the rear edges sit on top of the lower deck backdrop for lateral support.  Here is the upper deck in place:




The top lighting canopy was built as a single section approximately eight feet long.  It is bolted to the adjacent canopies and the rear stringer sits on top of the upper deck backdrops for lateral support.  Here is the top canopy after installation:




And with that, after nearly five years, the benchwork for the layout is now complete.  The design and installation of a layout in a twelfth floor apartment bedroom is not without its challenges, not the least of which is that everything had to be built offsite, brought in for a test fit, removed for painting, and then brought back.  I owe a big debt of gratitude to my friend John Walter, a cabinetmaker by trade who built most of the benchwork for me.  His ability to turn my pencil and crayon drawings into reality and his craftsmanship with wood and other materials are tuly impressive.

So all the trucking and elevator rides are done, and I can now retire most of the painting equipment and supplies.  Next up are some final lighting connections, and I will then be able to take a picture of the complete layout with all of the lighting illuminated.


Tim

[Dave V]

Been busy this weekend, that's for sure.  After boxing up I don't know how many cars and locos (200 or so, maybe?  I need to start an inventory spreadsheet!), the Juniata Division has been denuded of anything not permanently affixed with glue.  We leave for my new assignment in the Florida Panhandle (Hurlburt Field) in two weeks.





The layout travels quite nicely in a U-Haul trailer which is how it will get to Florida.



The layout plus my workbench:



Will eventually come to rest in this 10x12 back bedroom in our new home in the Land of No Basements:



This is why PORTABILITY is the single over-arching factor in the layout's design.  This is our second tour in Florida.

[conrail98]

Last weekend and this weekend I ripped plywood and actually cut some pieces to length yesterday. I'm hoping to cut some more to length so I can spend some nights this week assembling benchwork pieces. Here's what I'm calling the "before" shot:


Phil

[SecretWeapon]

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Busy weekend for me too, kinda.

In reverse order, the Kato U30 thread reminded me to writeup the C30-7 that's been in my sig for a while:
http://conrail1285.com/news.asp?storyid=72

Last night I snapped some photos of the layout's current progress. All the styrofoam, well, except for the prototype width I83, is now cut and pretty much in place. Now it's just a matter of carving it down.




And last but not least... the kidney layout is now on its way to live with Brian "RockGP40".

[John]

And last but not least... the kidney layout is now on its way to live with Brian "RockGP40".

Are you going to try to connect all these layouts together somehow?

[chuck geiger]

Phil: One of my favorite stages of a layout - The wood puzzle. Love it and the
smell of pine.

Dave: She is one fine layout - I think you need to finally go round the room
on a sectional shelf and make it easily transferable to the next USAF
venture.

Ed: Winter 1985

[Mark5]

Yesterday, since I had to go to Buckystown, I did a "barnstorming" tour of model train shops up the I-70 corridor (west from Baltimore). I visited:

* ProCustomHobbies in Eldersburg - a handful of N scale items (ages ago they were in Catonsville - anyone remember Ronnie the Rhino?)
* Moose Caboose (address is Sykesville) - some selection of N with a good spattering of WM. Lots of Trainworx MMID hoppers. ;D
* Train Depot in Mt Airy - mainly Lionel type stuff, with small selection of used N scale (mostly relics)
* Hobbytown in Frederick - somewhat large N scale rolling stock selection w/lots of Premiere Editions, MTL, and some special Potomac Edison MTL offset twins.

There is a shop in Ellicott City that I forgot to visit ...

I was hoping to find some not so old releases that I found none of at the Timonium show, but I found none of the stuff on my list.

Well, the weekend aint over yet, so thats it for now.

Mark

[BCR 570]

Dave:

Good luck with the move.  Your new layout room is virtually the same size as mine.  You have quoted the specific reasons why my layout is sectional in design and construction.


Tim

[up1950s]

Are others seeing David K. S's red X's , or am I just excluded from pure art .

[sirenwerks]

There is a shop in Ellicott City that I forgot to visit ...

Mark,

If you're speaking of the one at the corner of Frederick and St. Johns, it's gone, died not long after I moved back.

Bryan Bohn

[DKS]

Dave:

Good luck with the move.  Your new layout room is virtually the same size as mine.  You have quoted the specific reasons why my layout is sectional in design and construction.

Ditto. My WR&N was built in a virtually idential room, and it was supposed to be portable. But I painted (or, more precisely, built) myself into a corner with it and literally could not get (it) back out. You've made some wise decisions, and I hope that you (and we) get to enjoy the Juniata for some years to come.