The M-K & Eastern RR

[graffen]

Hi all. I'm currently renovating a room for my layout.
It's 22' x 16' and will have coved corners.
My layout will be a freelancer Colorado narrow gauge in HOn3.
I've drawn the track plans for it, and I can't wait to start building it.
To prepare, I've been doing some city planning for  one of the towns, called Twin Peaks (work name, yet to be decided)
IMG_20170518_110214 by Michael Graff, on Flickr
Main Street, the town will be 8' long.
The station will be regauged to HOn3.

IMG_20170518_110240 by Michael Graff, on Flickr

IMG_20170518_104830 by Michael Graff, on Flickr

IMG_20170518_110137 by Michael Graff, on Flickr
The street will go upwards in the back and turn into suburbs.

[strummer]

Very nice...terrific structures.

Mark in Oregon

[GaryHinshaw]

Excellent start.  What does M-K & Eastern stand for?

[Dave V]

So Colorado narrow gauge...awesome!  That urban environment looks like it could be Denver, which had narrow gauge trackage as late as 1937 as I recall (probably incorrectly).  Would love to see your trackplan!

[graffen]

The Minturn - Kings divide and Eastern...
Yes. The town will resemble a bigger (well, almost..) city.
The other town is more based on towns like Silver plume, Minturn etc.
The time period will be late 30's early 40"s.

[graffen]

The track plan for my new model railroad.
6.5 x 4.5 meters in size.



This is the inspiration for the city on my layout:

[graffen]

Let there be light!
First LED strip in place in the train room.
There'll be double rows, the other angled 20 degrees to the wall.
Fill lighting will be with LED spotlights.
Can be okay in the end.


The switched power supplies I use are from Mean well, 12 V and 18 Amps.
They are adjustable between 11.4 V and 12.2 V.



The LED strips are rated at 12 Watt per metre and are 5 metres in length.
4800 K in temperature.

[graffen]

Started the backdrop painting. One wall is sky painted with clouds.
The backdrop is 60' long and 4'6" tall. I use regular wall paints.
I will wait a bit to paint the landscape until after I've started the benchwork.






 

[DKS]

Nice plan! Also, you may want to double the light you have for the layout. Based on experience, that may not be quite enough.

 

[wm3798]

That peninsula in the middle will be a signature scene.  I like the simplicity of the track plan, woven into a rich and textured series of scenes.

For lighting, I used some track lights with movable heads on mine, which was great for photography, since I could turn the directional lamps to concentrate on whatever I was shooting, then put them back in position to generally light the room.

New LED lamps keep getting better and better.

Lee

[graffen]

I've started on the ballasting.


I use Chamotte clay that I glue with Mod Podge matte diluted with water and a drop of detergent.
I add acrylic paint to the mix before applying it on the ballast.


I think it looks quite good.

[graffen]

Some more work done.


I added some static grass.




First train on the line. 

[graffen]

I've started with the plaster work on the mountains.
I use a mix of WS moulds, home made latex moulds and alu foil.


The plaster is regular plaster of Paris.




I prefer to cast in situ. I wait until the plaster shows small wrinkles in the mould before placing it on the mountain.




I carve the surface with WS rock carving tools.
May need some more plaster in places.

[graffen]

I removed a part of the foam mountain backdrop and replaced it with a piece of hardboard cut like mountains.


It will be painted to give a nice 3D effect.

[Hawghead]

I removed a part of the foam mountain backdrop and replaced it with a piece of hardboard cut like mountains.


It will be painted to give a nice 3D effect.

I've been looking forward to an update on this layout.  However I think it's not fair to the rest of us to have to compete with such a talented artist when it comes to background and sky painting.  Going forward I think it should be decreed, that for your backdrop scenes, you should be forced to employ the neighborhood kids, ages 5 and below preferably with finger paints.   

Seriously, it's looking great so far.  I'm both dreading and looking forward to what you do with that hardboard mountain backdrop.

Scott