T-TRAK: PRR MG Interlocking

[Dave V]

All of this could have been avoided if @robert3985 just made all the turnouts for me.

I do have to say, those hand laid numbers are sexy AF.


But moving along...reality is setting in. If I were to use the hawt double track end caps, my look would be 48"x 96".   I am wondering if that's too much space for me. I may have to scale back and use the ugly single tracks.

The double track pieces are all concrete ties, right?

[chicken45]

The double track pieces are all concrete ties, right?

They are. 

I'm going a mile a minute here in my brain and @Ed Kapuscinski  and I are going to find a way to make it work.

[Dave V]

They are. 

I'm going a mile a minute here in my brain and @Ed Kapuscinski  and I are going to find a way to make it work.

Consider this...  Assuming you can find a 4 x 8 foot area in the basement, the greater curve radius should be a whole lot nicer to your equipment.  While I was able to run my M1s on a 13.75" radius curve on the old JD, they did so begrudgingly rather than happily.

[DKS]

But wait... A proto interlocking alone would fill your basement, and then some... those turnouts would be, what, #20s?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't worry. It'll all fit.

Josh just had to work up to it.

[160pennsy]

Best brick material I have used was from the (long gone) Holgate & Reynolds. It was oversize, but looked great!

I agree....While browsing the scratch building raw material shelves at my local brick and mortar hobby shop, these dusty old sheets were hiding under a bunch of sheet wood & sheet styrene. Should be more than enough for my expected use. Don’t remember if he charged me the sticker price or not lol

[amato1969]

All of this could have been avoided if @robert3985 just made all the turnouts for me.

IKR, @robert3985 's work is what convinced me to "break the ice" and handlay code 40 switches.  If I can do it after a few failures, anyone can.

  Frank

[DKS]

Don't worry. It'll all fit.

Josh just had to work up to it.

TWSS

[jpec]

Don't worry. It'll all fit.

Josh just had to work up to it.

Ahh...the dentate line. Exhale slowly and push...

[peteski]

I agree....While browsing the scratch building raw material shelves at my local brick and mortar hobby shop, these dusty old sheets were hiding under a bunch of sheet wood & sheet styrene. Should be more than enough for my expected use. Don’t remember if he charged me the sticker price or not lol

Yes, those were really nice!  Not perfect, but pretty good. I used them when I scratchbuilt a power plant building.



The rumor was that the phosphor bronze forms used to vacu-form those were stolen by some drug addicts. 

[chicken45]

Hey men get it past that pressure zone.

Anyways, the big'uns will fit nicely. Just had to take some measurements.

[chicken45]

Did some more work on MG today. I think I'm about done with the bricks.
There is a lot of subtle blending of colors. I started with a base paint, then painted different shades of individual bricks and did a wash for mortar. Eventually, after more layers and colored washed, I decided I needed to emphasize the mortar again. I used gray oil paints (the artist tube kind) and the super fine particles and long working time really helped.
For the runoff stains, I painted bricks dark gray, then drybrushed them to blend. Then I tweaked with black pencil and drybrushed in some red brown.






What do yinz think?

[Point353]

But wait... A proto interlocking alone would fill your basement, and then some... those turnouts would be, what, #20s?

#15. The distance between the signal bridges on either side of MG tower would be just under 9' for N scale.

[chicken45]

I emailed the module company, CMR, to see if they would make a double depth corner endcap module for me.
Long story short, one of the owners called me, already saw what I was doing with MG, and now I'm adding Cassandra modules to the other side of the loop.
Heading up tomorrow to pick them up and test them out!

[chicken45]

Finally DONE with this.

I added an antenna on the chimney. My shitty soldier job actually worked out to my advantage.
The MG keystones were made of a graphic that the @Ed Kapuscinski made from scratch. I printed these on photo paper and shaved thickness off them with a technique that @Lemosteam suggested. I also added that little vent on the left side.
I painted the rafters brown after talking with some PRRT&HS folks.
I weathered the roof with powders.