All change.... new start

[jerseycentraluk]

Ralph,

I got the 'blue' construction foam yesterday and cut it to length and roughly fitted it tonight.



Note to self.... I must have a word with DOW to make the blue of the foam a better match for my sky paint..!!

[Ralph]

That looks like it works well!
Ralph

[fast car]

Ralph,

I got the 'blue' construction foam yesterday and cut it to length and roughly fitted it tonight.



Note to self.... I must have a word with DOW to make the blue of the foam a better match for my sky paint..!!

Robin


You're going to paint the foam the same sky blue, so it should look good.

Larry

[jerseycentraluk]

You're going to paint the foam the same sky blue, so it should look good.

Larry

Yes Larry,
I think I will paint it white first as the walls were white, otherwise the blue might come out a shade darker than the walls because of the colour underneath

[fast car]

From the shine, it appears to have a protective film covering the surface.

Larry

[Steamtrains]

From the shine, it appears to have a protective film covering the surface.

Larry

I think you're right....

I bought a sheet of foam with a refective surface...It was a REAL pain in the seat to get it off....

[jerseycentraluk]

Success..!!

One coat of matt white and one coat of sky blue later....



....certainly seems to have done the trick.

[Ralph]

I'd say! It blends right in! Nicely done!
Ralph

[jerseycentraluk]

The remainder of my turnouts and crossings should be ready for shipping this week, so I had better get a move on with preparing the tops ready for tracklaying.

I will be gluing on cork tiles now to provide a bit of sound insulation and even out any level differences where the plywood tops join, although to be honest I'm pleased with how level they are.

[talltim]

As a fellow UK resident, I'm looking forward to this, especially with standard of the teaser pic of your old layout. Do you have any more pics of it (seperate thread may?)?

[jerseycentraluk]

As a fellow UK resident, I'm looking forward to this, especially with standard of the teaser pic of your old layout. Do you have any more pics of it (seperate thread may?)?

Talltim,

I followed your suggestion and I have started a new thread with photos of the old layout and a bit of a description of how it operated.
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As a fellow resident from the right (hand) side of the Atlantic, I'm glad you are enjoying following my slow progress towards another operating layout.

[Tyson Rayles]

If the first pic on page 1 is any indication of what your new layout will look like it should be a real treat!

[jerseycentraluk]

After a gap of several weeks I thought it was about time I gave an update on the progress of the layout.

Things have been held up waiting for the turnouts and crossings. The guy making them is based in New Jersey and production was delayed because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy, he had no power for about a week and with trying to get things back to normal I’m sure finishing Fast-Tracks turnouts was the least of his worries! They have been dispatched now, but I am still waiting for them to arrive. Fingers crossed they get here soon.

In the meantime I have covered the ply surface with cork tiles, as the area is mainly industrial track there is no need to build the track level up. I could have laid the track straight onto the plywood, but I always think the cork reduces the drumming noise you get running trains on track laid directly onto the wood.

The track plan was printed out from XtrkCad using 1:1 scale and glued to the cork using spray adhesive. Bus wiring is now in place ready to be connected to the final track once it has been laid.
I had invited friends to come over before Christmas for a social get together, to see our new house and see how the new layout was progressing.

Knowing that the turnouts would not arrive in time, I decided to mock up some of the proposed track plan using old turnouts and track salvaged from the last layout, mainly Peco code 75 and a few bits of Code 83.


So the track was temporarily laid using track pins to follow the plan, but only the facing turnouts as not enough turnouts or crossings to complete, so that at least there was something to run on and switch.
I also made temporary storage sidings to have somewhere to run from and to, but I wont be able to make anything permanent before the turnouts arrive.


I rigged up my NCE DCC system to run the locos and added decoders to two of the newly acquired locos to enable them to be used. All the new cars have had scale couplers added and trip pins removed, which makes a marked improvement in the look.


I added a few details to help the operators’ imagination as to what will eventually be there.


Everyone said they enjoyed operating the layout even in this truncated version, as well as providing useful suggestions for improvements.
Here's Leigh, Brian and Kathy mulling over the next switch.


Roll on the arrival of the turnouts....

[torikoos]

I can’t decide on what to do about the window? Go across it with a board? but that will cut out all the natural light, or have some sort of temporary piece to put in when operating or taking photos? Only trouble with that is it needs to be at least 6’ x 2’.. and that’s not light or easy to slot behind finished buildings and all sorts of detail stuff.. inevitably accidents would happen..!!
I did think of expanded polystyrene sheet, but it doesn’t have a smooth finish to take paint, then there is Celotex, the stuff with the foil face to it, but that gets dented so easily it would be a mess very quickly.. so I’m a bit stumped. I don’t want to carry on with painting until I can figure out a solution.

Anyone got any ideas..??

Yes how about installing a roller blind, a plain white one, that you paint on one side in the same pale blue colour (with or without clouds) when operating the session, and in the up position when you work on the layout to get the natural light in the room? Oh nevermind, you've already got a foam solution, but just a thought.

Koos

[jerseycentraluk]

All the Fast-Track turnouts are here now, so I’ve started to work on the track now.

I’ve also bought some detail parts from Proto 87 to lift the rather plain appearance of the Fast-Tracks turnouts. The Proto 87 parts are wonderfully detailed and fit well, but come without any instructions. I have needed to trawl through their website to try and find pictures of where to put what I’ve got. Perhaps I should know what all the different parts of a turnout are by now...note to self to study trackwork books more..!

So far I have only tried the parts on one turnout. I have only fitted the parts to the visible side, not only does this reduce the work needed on each turnout but it makes the parts go further too.
This turnout has had the point reinforcing bar and the frog/rail bolts added to it. I then followed Lance Mindheim’s suggestion on painting the turnouts. I sprayed the whole turnout with grey primer
Then I used a thin wash of burnt umber oils to wash the ties. Once dry this gave a nice look to the ties.



After the wash had dried I masked off the wood areas and sprayed the rails with a rusty rail brown colour. As you can see I didn't remember to clean the top of the rails each time, but the paint did not peel too much off the sides of the rails after cleaning.

So this is the finished turnout ready for laying. All the turnouts and crossings will be detailed and painted on the workbench before laying. The Micro Engineering code 70 track will be painted in situ though. Once laid I plan on giving all the track a quick airbrush to blend in any obvious colour differences.


I have ordered some more detail parts including some cast nut and bolts for adding to the guard rails. That’s the area that needs to be detailed more I think.

Please let me know what you think about how they look.