Another Miami Layout

[torikoos]

Ahh... The smell of solder.

I just started soldering the track yesterday and it was alot easier than I had imagined. I had my share of melted ties, but in that area of Miami broken track is probably pretty common. I have all of the turnouts soldered and I just need to solder the flex track sections and the curves and then I will be able to run trains!

Talking about someone with motivation to get things going! You seem to be going at lightening speed :-) Enjoy, but don't rush too much, this hobby is not a speed contest after all (unless you are modeling the french , german or japanese high speed train record breaking attempts (currently held by a french TGV at 574.8 kmh which is about 357mph) :-) Footage here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJfDWtbioEM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJfDWtbioEM</a><!-- m --> amazing technology.

As for soldering the track, if you don't already, get some solder flux (usually in a pot available from your DIY or plumbing supplier) additional to the flux that's in the core of your solder, add a tiny bit to the track where you want to solder and your solder will flow even easier, requiring less heat and therefore less damage :-)

[Justinmiller171]

I'm not actually going too fast, I have had most of the benchwork up for about a year and just recently added on to it. I won't be working on it for about a week 1/2
because I am going on vacation this Thursday and won't be back until July 7th, I hope to find a hobby store along the way so I can pick up some things that the hobby store in my town doesn't have.

[Justinmiller171]

I wanted to see how trains ran on my layout, so I added some of my dad's old brass track from the 80's, connected with brass rail joiners and I was able to run through pretty much my entire layout with a life-lke Santa Fe F-45 from the 80's with little problems . It stalled on a few turnouts, but overall it ran pretty good. I'm amazed that a life-like brand engine from the 80's still runs pretty good. I will add permanent track after I get back from Vacation. After I get the track down I will post some more pictures and then some real progress will begin :mrgreen:

[ocalicreek]

Glad to hear of trains running. Pictures are always appreciated!

Those older engines can still be fine additions to the roster if they're cared for and given the occasional shop work.

Galen

[Justinmiller171]

Alright, I finished soldering the track I have laid down now and I took some pictures!






I also did my first weathering with chalk, I used soot color to simulate diesel exhaust from going under tunnels, Here is the picture


I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow so I won't have any updates for about a week. So see you guys later! 8-)

[Gary S]

Justin, the weathering on the LO turned out nicely. Subdued but still there. Good work on that one!

[Justinmiller171]

I just got back from Vacation a few days ago and have made some great progress, I replaced the code 100 18" curves with code 83 24" curves and soldered down all track except for the spurs leading to the Archive America Warehouse area, I should be getting the flex-track for that in a few days.

I visited about 3 Railroad Museums while on vacation and saw some amazing things, I already posted a few photos in the weekly photo fun thread and I will post some more later. I even saw a patched Santa Fe unit in its original paint scheme in Union Pacific's Feather River Canyon in Northern California

Gary, I adding some graffiti to that hopper once I can find some, I weathered it on how the hoppers that I see in my area are weathered, most are covered in diesel exhaust from going trough tunnels, and it is a simple and easy weathering technique. I have been sticking to weathering with chalk since I have had some bad experiences with drybrushing .

Today I hope to practice making a road using cnw1961's technique of using very-fine sandpaper with cardboard underneath. I will post some pictures when I am finished.

[Trucklover]

Good to see some track making it down on the layout Justin, looking forward to watching the layout come to life

[P5se Camelback]

Alright, I finished soldering the track I have laid down now and I took some pictures! ...

Justin ... is it just my old bespectacled eyes playing tricks on my exhausted aging brain, or do I see small "gaps" in the soldered rail joints in the photo above?

I'm not so sure you should leave that as is! My experience has been that every gap, like those that I keep thinking I see, is a potential derailment waiting for the wrong moment to happen. hock: It only ever happens at the "wrong" time, mainly because there is never a "right" time for a derailment! :oops:

I'm happy to see you making positive progress on the building of your layout but at the same time, I'm hoping that my eyes are playing tricks on me when it comes to track laying. Second in importance only to proper, sturdy benchwork, track laying is one of those tasks that happens early on in the "life" of a model railroad that influences the "fun quotient" for years to come! Don't hurry through track laying because of impatience to see trains run ... take your time, do a thoughtful, careful job and realize the benfits of properly laid track for a lifetime!

[Justinmiller171]

Those are small gaps in the rails that you see, but the photo makes it seem much worse than it really is, There is not really much of a gap in the rails, it is just some of the pieces of track had some of their ends mutilated when they were cut with the rail cutters. When I test-ran an engine over it, I didn't seem to have any problems, but when I go out to work on the layout again I will have to take a closer look. Thanks for the hint

[Trucklover]

it is just some of the pieces of track had some of their ends mutilated when they were cut with the rail cutters.

A little Tip, when cutting the rail with track cutters, ensure that the flat part of the cutters is cutting the side of the rail that will be used and needs to be flush. The cutters only make one side of the rail flush, and the other side that is cut will get the deformed and will need to be nipped with the track cutters again, only make sure the flat part of the cutters is facing the other way to make it flush as well

[Justinmiller171]

I know that now but most of the flex-track was salvaged from my 4x8 layout from a few years ago and back then, I didn't know any better
about an hour ago I went out to inspect the track for this problem and I couldn't find any gaps in the track. It seems that is just the photos that I took make it look like there are gaps. Thanks for the help anyways :mrgreen:

[Justinmiller171]

Not much new has happened since I ran out of flex-track, so I will not be working on the layout until I get some more, After that progress should go pretty fast, I will make mock-ups for the buildings, add roads, and then place down sand and grass.

In the meantime I moved a L-shaped 4x9 into my room for a layout that I will build during winter when the weather is to bad to go out to my train-room. Here is a basic out-line of the piece of plywood that I have if anyone is bored and would like to sketch something up for me. I am still deciding between doing another ISL with Ho-scale, or making a roundy-round with a switching area with N-scale.
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab4/J...Layout.jpg

Anyways I should be back to working on the layout in a few days.

[ocalicreek]

Justin - that 4'x9' is an interesting area to work with. When I heard 4x9 I thought right away about an industrial layout idea I had sketched a few years back that would probably work, but then I actually looked at the space - it's not a rectangle! Doh!. :oops:

Immediately upon looking at it, however, I thought of Iain Rice's 'teardrop' shaped layout ideas, and I bet you could fit a scheme like that in such a space in HO. Sure, you could fit all kinds of curves on there in N scale, so the field is more open in that direction. But I'm an HO guy so mostly I tend to think in that scale better than I do with the others.

Galen

[Justinmiller171]

Unfortunately In HO I can barley squeeze in a 18" curve radius loop, so I am pretty much stuck with a switching laoyut in HO. In N-scale I have "too much room". By that I mean that If I try to add anything to the loop, it makes it look clustered, and with just a loop, it makes it look too empty.

If I end up building a Ho-scale switching layout, I think it would be cool if our own layouts, but have them based on the same location, sort of like how me, CNW1961 and others are building layouts based on the East-Rail industrial park in Miami. I know this probably isn't going to happen since most people here are already building a layout, but I think it would be fun, Maybe we could build layouts based on one of those industrial parks on Mindheim's Website: http://www.lancemindheim.com/industrial_parks.htm

Anyways time to stop daydreaming and get back to working on the layout I already have