G'Day All,
Regarding the issue of low/half relief buildings abutting the back drop I think one of the major tactics is to have a lot of eye-catching items about 50mm (2 inches) away from the backdrop so that most of the time the observer is focused upon them, and not the building/backdrop junction. We are creating an illusion and so we should feel free to draw upon the skills and tactics of illusionists. However I do agree that a well done backdrop can help a lot!
Regards,
Andrew George.

Reinhard, I love the new incarnation of your layout, but your Coke cans blew me away – fantastc idea!

Serving the west side industry





Kurt, thanks for the kind words. The coke cans are my interpretation of details you settled in my mind with your great brown cartons.

Hi,

The layout is looking great, I particularly like those long warehouses, very realistic.

For my next project I'm definately going to use longer warehouses than I did on Palmetto.


Mal

Reinhard,

The long warehousing looks really nice. I like the way you can place so much action in a small area. It has the feeling of being busy.

Larry

Reinhard,

I love those CF7's...

Are you saying that you glue the wood strips to the back of the styrene with CA gel adhesive? That seems like it could get very expensive. Are you aware of a less expensive adhesive that would work? Maybe silicone or polyurethane glue? If you have experimented with other adhesives that did not work, please let us know what they were. I have a couple of large structures to build and I'm curious about my options.

Thanks for your help.

Mark

Southern Tuxedo Wrote:Reinhard,

I love those CF7's...

Are you saying that you glue the wood strips to the back of the styrene with CA gel adhesive? That seems like it could get very expensive. Are you aware of a less expensive adhesive that would work? Maybe silicone or polyurethane glue? If you have experimented with other adhesives that did not work, please let us know what they were. I have a couple of large structures to build and I'm curious about my options.

Thanks for your help.

Mark

Surprising how effective double-sided sellotape can be, particularly if the side of the wood to be stuck is sanded smooth.

I had a mental problem with the track right at the rim of the layout. I was always afraid any clumsiness might result in a car or engine falling down from the layout. That track was therefor rarely used and always cleared before a switching session finished.

The problem is solved with two 40" * 3.5" opaque plastic strips

Southern Tuxedo Wrote:...If you have experimented with other adhesives that did not work, please let us know what they were....

The alternative I have tried with some positive results is two component glue. You have two tubes with gel ti be mixed or a tube with gel and a powder. Brand names in Germany are UHU Plus or Stabilit. They take longer to set and do not work as well as CA gel on the styrene.
The CA gel I am using is Loctite 454. The German dealer "Conrad" sells it in 20 gram tubes for about 30€ (# 220826 - 62). But 20 gram is good for a lot of buildings You might find a better source in UK?

There is a very different approach you might consider. Gary did use a massive wooden kernel for some of his structures (e.g. the bank building). All the styrene is decoration only somehow glued at the wood block. That sounds good for a long background building that needs stability. You would need old wood that will not warp on the layout (except you plan banana buildings ) and a circular saw bench in a wood work shop, garage etc..

More fine work Reinhard, both on the layout and with the camera!

CF7 lovers might want to do a big jump eastward
Those are the engines that got the Kato motors. I would like to have two more red FCEN shells. The paint scheme matches the CF7 shape very good.

Reinhard... a 1" round speaker will fit in the cab of a CF7. It can be mounted in a 1" speaker enclosure glued to the roof facing down, sending sound out around the trucks. Why not convert them to sound?

Gary S Wrote:Reinhard... a 1" round speaker will fit in the cab of a CF7. It can be mounted in a 1" speaker enclosure glued to the roof facing down, sending sound out around the trucks. Why not convert them to sound?

I had ESU Loksound decoders installed in two of them. The speaker fits easy under the roof of the cab. They did run nice and the sound from ESU is fine for me. I liked to operate the bell and horn like the prototype does. However, I like to "play" with sound for about 10 minutes but the rest of the session should be as quite as possible. The soft click of Kadee couplers engaging is enough sound for me.
The problem is the way ESU decoders (with or without sound) manage the motor at low speed (switching, coupling etc.). There is a steady humming sound. Most would not notice but that sound drives me nuts. I did sell (vial a friendly German dealer) over 30 ESU decoders for that very reason and do use ZIMO decoders (mostly MX630) only.

I have one ESU sound decoder and I have noticed a "hum" from the motor at low speeds. Most of my sound locos are QSI and I like them alot. Great sound and they run good too.

Reinhard,

Thanks for the additional information on the glue.

For some reason I was thinking that you were using a lot of it to make the styrene to wood bond, but now I am thinking that you wouldn’t need that much. I currently buy my gel CA in 10 ounce bottles (for woodworking) for about $40.00. My guess is that this would go a really long way in this application especially if I were just using a long continuous bead on the wood to plastic joint.

Thanks again,
Mark