Got a real urban scene going on there Don!

(07-27-2021, 07:35 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]Got a real urban scene going on there Don!

Thanks, for some reason I seem to tend towards buildings and other structures rather than trees and hills. I guess we do what we enjoy the most. I'm about to add a 2' x 4' extension to my layout and I doubt that will change any. One thing I have to work on is the Denny's that I scratchbuilt for one of our challenges some 12 years ago. I found it here. Anyway, you can see substantial damage from being packed up and moved around at least five times, Just about all of the parts are there and I will have to cut down the footprint since I won't have as much space as I did on my old layout. But I  will have room for this and an oil distribution center. Beyond that, who knows...

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While we have a crew busy rebuilding the Denny's and constructing the layout extension, the town council made a startling discovery. The only water source for the town was from the small water tower on top of the museum.  They held an emergency meeting at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas only to find that Penn & Teller weren't working that night. Undaunted, they went to the casino to secure emergency funds for a new tower. The mayor hit the jackpot on the nickle slots and so they had enough cash to purchase a used tower that they found on the Internet, complete with pump house and maintenance shed. There is some town owned property on the west side of the layout, that with some work will fit the bill. Construction has already started and will be ready when the tower arrives from Arizona.

Hard to believe, but I'm told that this is a true story including a loser mayor actually winning something.

The museum water tower:

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The used stuff found on the Internet:

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The proposed tower location:

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Water? You don't need no stinking water! Why do you think they make beer!!!

(07-29-2021, 05:04 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]Water? You don't need no stinking water! Why do you think they make beer!!!

What do you think the major component of beer is? That's why the mayor is so concerned, he owns the local Duff Beer franchise.

It's been a couple of weeks, although I've been taking it slow and easy, I did make some progress.

The water tower, I took it apart to make repainting easier, a fresh coat of paint and some lettering and the town will soon have a source of drinking water.

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Tower Hill, I tried something different, I usually soak some paper towels in plaster to form the basic shape, this time I took a piece of sheet and soaked it in diluted white glue. I don't think I'll do that again, when it dried it didn't adhere as well as the plaster, plus anytime it got wet, it came loose. Anyway, after a couple of coats of drywall compound, it turned out OK. I need to add gravel, and some green things before the water tower, pump house and maintenance shed goes in.

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The bench extension, that's done, I just needed someplace to put my oil distribution center, maybe room for Denny's or even a rail yard. Lots of possibilities.

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The hill is looking good Don. I'm a little concerned over the grade going on or off on the extension.

(08-13-2021, 05:24 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]The hill is looking good Don. I'm a little concerned over the grade going on or off on the extension.

Thanks Mike, I looked at that yesterday, I really only have a 1" drop, so I'm going to need to remove/add a bit of foam and put the bridge a bit further out than the plan shows in order to maintain a 2% grade and still get clearance under the bridge.

Mike, you are right, I thought I had the numbers worked out, but I haven't a clue how I wound up with what I had figured out, but it was wrong, wrong, wrong.       I confirmed that empirically with my CAD and with a calculation web site (not into sine/cosine anymore) and I was off by a lot of inches. Now that the extension is built, I can try a few things which includes no bridge or drop, therefore, no grade, or just move the bridge a lot further out with maybe a 3% grade. A lot easier working this way than trying to use my math skills.

I'm sure you will get it worked out, just get your 1:160th engineers on it!

(08-14-2021, 07:48 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]I'm sure you will get it worked out, just get your 1:160th engineers on it!

These guys are busy building Tower Hill, and they are making a mess of it. I may have to hire a new engineering crew, do too many projects at the same time and nothing gets done right.

Maybe if you actually paid them?

(08-15-2021, 06:19 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe if you actually paid them?

Pay? These guys don't need pay, they have more perks than anyone could ask for. They have the run of the town, a bar, hotel, restaurants, stores, medical care (a new hospital and EMT ambulance), police protection, rail service (somewhat limited), a school and now even a semi-new water tower, and no one ever asked them for even a penny for all this. How ungrateful that they would even think about getting paid.

Spoken like a true dictator Don!!!!

(08-16-2021, 05:21 AM)Tyson Rayles Wrote: [ -> ]Spoken like a true dictator Don!!!!  

Not to sound any more dictatorial than it appears, but we even have our own cryptocurrency system here. When we do decide to pay these little guys, it'll be in Ittybittycoins, worth about 1/160 the value of Bitcoins but just as easy to create.