Every time I log on here, I find myself all over the place trying to find all of my posts, as well as all of the other ones that I am keeping track of. So, I have opted to follow the lead of others. I am going to consolidate all of my build threads into this one. This will cover everything from kit construction, loco construction, layout construction, et al.

Stay tuned, there is some interesting stuff to come.

Matt

I have been playing with 2 track plans and contemplating a 3rd (still in progress) my dilemma is that I like each for different reasons:

track plan 1 has tons of switching opportunities, a grade change (heading left from the door at the first turnout, towards the back of the layout goes up about 2.5" and towards the front of the layout goes down about 2.5" and ducks under the upper tracks at the far left), street running which could be a + or a - and the lead on the left interferes less with the door than in the next option. Negatives would be more work to complete, grade changes could create "challenges" during switching sessions.... it also comes out over the edge of my workbench more than I would like... addendum: not sure I like the switch back on the back of the left leg behind the yard trackage.

track plan 2 faster build, less trackage and potentially more scenery and structure opportunities and is more likely to be completed in a reasonable time frame thus winning me a bottle of Gibson's finest Canadian whiskey for completing a layout before Squidbait. Negatives: less switching opportunities and longer lead in behind the door .... oh and Squid is less likely to approve as it will be completed much quicker (not sure if that really falls under negatives but I am sure Squid will think so).

Currently plan is to hand lay everything in code 70 and run MRC prodigy wireless. Benchwork would be freestanding as it will eventually come out of this room and move to our store when we get a bigger location (and my son moves out so I can build my big layout in the basement).

I am still not 100% comfortable with the narrow yard area on the left side in either plan but am very limited in this area as it cannot encroach too much on the bench and I want to ensure I have access to the window (there is a window on the left side of the room). Open to criticism or pats on the back.... but am hoping for a bit more than "wow that looks nice".

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I originally put this in bigsteel's finally building layout thread, but thought it was worth repeating here...

Bob Boudreau (of Fundy Northern fame) has an excellent overview of shooting specifically for railroad models...

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Andrew

I have had this Bachmann Spectrum dash 8-40CW sitting in the box waiting for me to do the decal job on.
I got the nerve up and removed the LMS factory painted lettering. Used IsopropyL Alchol 99%.I usedMicro Scale decals to add the wet noodle and make into 3 foot model for the CN/IC Dash 8-40CW. I could not justify the price of the atlas ready to run model. I had the Spectrum model so off came the LMS markings just like in the real world and CN was put in its place.
I had fun doing it and learned a few things.I only ripped one noodle. I am very pleased with it, now have to get some decal sealant and call it good. I am not ready yet to do the front number boards but I am very pleased. Will fill the void of my leasers.
Now the Leaser CEO is very happy the bigger leasing companies are coming for overhauls and repaints.
New units added to the fleet this month
AC 4400 CEFX 1049 Athearn( ready to run model)
Dash 8-40CW CN 2456 Bachmann Spectrum

I now understand the joy of detailing and making your own models

Stuart Warren
CEO
Canadian Locomotive Leasers
Go Big or GO Home

My wife went to San Diego for a continuing education seminar (R.N.) that was Tuesday. We just got in. We went down on Monday and stayed at the hotel where the seminar was being held. We went to Balboa Park Monday and went to the some of the museums she was interested in seeing. Today while she was in class, I went to the Model Railroad Museum for the day. In the morning I was talking with some of the members who were operating trains. About 12:30 or so I stepped into the gift shop and picked up a couple of books, and then went to lunch. After lunch I went back to the Museum, and a couple of the guys I had been talking to invited me to come in for a tour and to operate on the layout. I ran a long freight with an a-b-b-b F-7 unit lash up up the hill from Caliente. Then at the top of the hill we took the F-units off the train and put together a shorter train with a Gs-4 in black. I got to take it down the hill to Bakersfield and back up to the siding above Caliente (Alray, I think) before I had to go pick up my wife to head home. What an awesome layout. First time I ever ran a train on a fully signaled railroad with a dispatcher. For anyone who has been to the museum and thought the operators were being rude, I can tell you that even at speeds under 25 scale mph, an operator is very busy running the train even with what is a relatively small crew on a weekday when most of the operators are retired. On weekends when the people with regular jobs are available to operate, the layout may be crowded with trains making the operators even busier! Man, that is one huge layout! I suspect that the aisle is all of 100 yards from Bakersfield to Mojave, and it shortcuts much of the layout!

Next week, Tuesday night 9pm EST, on Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe learns how to operate a loco.
Set your DVRs!

OK - all you who know the secret of laying flex track laser straight...what's the secret? I've tried straight edges made from wood (which wasn't accurate enough) and metal tubing (which was way too long and not a piece I can cut to length). I'm just trying to get the yard tracks and mainline tracks that parallel them as straight as possible. I know in prototypical yards the tracks aren't necessarily the straightest in the world, but the mainline tracks always seem to be perfectly straight almost anywhere you go. When I use the Mark-1 Eyeball test, there's just a hint of wave to the tracks. Short of using a laser, what's the secret?

I pains me to do this, but I must post a negative report on Tichy Kits.

I recently purchased the Tichy N-scale Rotary Plow kit, which turned out to have a missing part after it was opened. (*Note here that store policies preclude opening and inspecting these kits prior to purchase.) Naturally, in direct obedience to Murphy's Laws, it is an essential part, not one that can be easily replicated using sheet styrene or such.

The Tichy site lists a phone number, e-mail and fax number; after repeated attempts to contact anyone at any of these contact points, I am forced to conclude that I made a mistake buying from them. BTW: Mr. Tichy himself is the voice on his answering machine.

I need a break from the bowser builds. I have a massive pile of structure kits.
I have a generic background building, a roundhouse, a turntable, a coal dealer, a coaling tower, a cinder pit and conveyor, a gas station, a power plant, a gas plant, and several pieces of rolling stock (in kit form, and some just undecorated). That is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more.
I really need to structures so I can move them around to get the best use of them, and the space. It will make track planning much easier. I just don't know which kit to begin with...

Matt

Here's my first post in this forum. I'm crawling a bit on using the new bulletin board software, but I'll learn how to use this.

The following pictures are taken from my layout. I must concede they are not well made in the photographic sense because I couldn't seem to work well with the interface of the camera I used. But I really want to show you guys how a hell-bent model railroader in the Philippines could do. There is presently no model railroad shop here in the Philippines, so I had to find some way to get the trains and the tracks. My present collection of model railroad equipment took more than 10 years to acquire. Most of my structures are paper models that I could easily buy and download in the internet. I got some trees and rose bushes from architecture supplies stores locally. The 7-Up trucks I used claimed to be 1:87, and most of the other vehicles are at 1:72(which is close enough to me). The grass on my layout is basically green felt paper that looked like golf course grass. I'm planning to make my own ground grass out of saw dust in the future to improve the look of my layout.

My original plan for my HO layout is a fictitious 1950's era railroad in New England, but acquiring the right items had been a problem for me. So there are many anachronisms in my layout, but I hope to fix those in the future.

Here are the pictures.