Andrew Lapp's N Scale New York Central System HCD Layout Build

[chessie system fan]

That's a great start.   Keep us updated.   Judging from the backyard I'm guessing you're somewhere near the gulf.  We might not be too far away.   I'm in Mobile and go to Pensacola a lot.

[Philip H]

That's a great start.   Keep us updated.   Judging from the backyard I'm guessing you're somewhere near the gulf.  We might not be too far away.   I'm in Mobile and go to Pensacola a lot.

And I'm now the other way in Pass Christian. Y'all come down.

[chessie system fan]

That's only an hour and a half away.  Closer than I thought.   

[DeltaBravo]

Andy,
 Welcome, that is some super nice track work, Can't wait to see this project unfold.

[mighalpern]

Andrew:
very cool video of your switches, impressive track work too.
 Ok I have to ask, how did you create your control panels,  they look super clean
thanks and welcome aboard.
Miguel

[andyl913]

@chessie system fan I live in Sarasota, FL, about an hour south of tampa on the Gulf Coast. You guessed correctly!

Andrew:
very cool video of your switches, impressive track work too.
 Ok I have to ask, how did you create your control panels,  they look super clean
thanks and welcome aboard.
Miguel

Thanks Miguel! I actually designed the control panels myself with a free program for Windows and Mac (I primarily run Mac, but have both for work) called Inkscape. This program is ind of the same concept as Microsoft Paint, but it allows me to draw vectors which are required for laser-cutting.

My control panel consists of 3 layers - the top layer is clear acrylic (plexiglass), the middle layer is black acrylic, which is where my track plan is cut out, and the bottom layer is frosted white. The goal is to have the control panel illuminated with LED lights inside, so the trackplan part of the panel can light up if I'm operating the layout with it darker in the room. I had to cut the holes for the pushbuttons and the Walthers Turntable controller in all 3 layers.

Since I changed my trackplan, I am going to make a new panel. I also want to build a new housing for the module and change the style, which means I'll have to transfer the electronics inside in some clever way. Here are some photos of my control panel design in the computer program and pics of the panel itself:



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[andyl913]

Today I started building the roundhouse. Because of limited room I have for it, I had to change the radius, which meant I had to make a new base. Essentially, I am scratchbuilding a roundhouse with parts from a kit plus scratchbuilding parts needed to enlarge the building.

I originally acquired 2 roundhouse kits to make a 12 stall roundhouse, and I was going to cut the back of the building off against the background, but I just don't have the room to make it look right, so I am only using 1 kit and am reducing to a 4 stall roundhouse. You will have to wait and see what I'm going to do for the rest of the roundhouse

Here is a pic of the original foundation parts that I spaced out to make a tighter radius, thus bringing the roundhouse much closer to the turntable:


I built the new foundation out of foam project boards using the original foundation from the above pic as my stencil, then I covered it with spackle to give it a porous concrete finish and sanded it down:


After I smoothed out the surface, I mixed some acrylic paint - light gray and light brown - to get a concrete color for a wash. After applying the wash, I added a little black to the wash then painted it. After I painted it, I dabbed it with tissue paper to absorb the paint on the surface and make it look spotty. After that, I added a little more black for a third wash and just applied it in a couple spots that I wanted to highlight, then dabbed it again with tissue paper.




Here is the finished foundation. I also started to glue the walls to the foundation. As you can see, the back walls now have spaces between them since the tracks are farther apart at the back end because of changing the radius. So now I have to fill those spaces in with a wall.

[andyl913]

I continued working on the roundhouse today, assembling the main structure and painting the brick and doors/windows. It's hard to to tell from the outside that it's actually molded plastic.

The next step is to paint the interior black, install the round windows at the top and fix the one i put in crooked, and build the cement walls to fill in the spaces between the brick walls in the back.
Once I'm all done with the walls, I will add a wash and weather the brick and doors with chalk to give it a dirty look.

[Dave V]

As a member of the HCD Mafia, I feel like this thread is taking me to school.  The trackwork is top notch and I love the plan.  Simple yet interesting.  Excellent work, and I'll be watching with excitement!

[davefoxx]

"We are HCD layout builders.  Resistance is futile.  Your life, as it has been, is over.  From this time forward, you will service us.  We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own."

Sincerely,
The HCD Borg

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Lol, and every time Dave tries escaping, he gets pulled right back in.

[andyl913]

Glad to be a part of the HCD crowd I plan to have a large layout one day, but HCD layouts are such a great idea, and they aren't permanently fixed to the room, which I really like.

This morning, I kitbashed some of the windows to go on the top of the roundhouse. I used the old pieces that don't fit since I changed the radius of the roundhouse, and pieced them together for the new building.




Next, I added the wiring for the track and added styrene walls to fill in the gaps along the back wall. You won't be able to see the backside of the roundhouse since it'll be blocked by a retaining wall, so I'm only concerned with making it look good from the front/inside views.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Those look good.

Tell me about your brick color.

[andyl913]

Those look good.

Tell me about your brick color.

I incorporated this method into my brick painting (https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/trackside_talk/Painting-Brick-Buildings---a-Tribute-to-Bob-Ross-Post-by-Raul-Perez.html), except I changed the last couple of steps. I'll outline each step below.

These are the 5 colors I used, in this order, starting from the left to the right.
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1. I painted the entire structure with "Quaker Grey" (medium grey) for the brick mortar.
2. Once the grey dried, I dabbed "Autumn Brown" (medium-dark brown) on the brick using the method with the paintbrush as explained in the link above.
3. Next, I repeated the same method for a third layer using "Trail Tan" (medium tan).
4. Now, I use the black and dab it VERY lightly over parts of the brick. As soon as you dab on the black paint, immediately wipe it across the brick with your finger and rub it in to a larger area of brick.
5. Repeat Step 4 with "Primary Red" (fire engine red).

Remember, the black and red should be dabbed randomly on the brick, don't make it even. Then when you rub the black and red with your finger, you get a nice variation of brick.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Do you have a photo of the effect you're going after with it?