ezdays 2010 EOY challenge

[ezdays]

But now I gotta get the wiring done before we can see any trains going across... That could take another year...............

:o

How about some alligator clips from your PS to your track? Then you can at least make a maiden voyage across the bridge and transition.

I think I'll be able to get the wiring done to the point that I'll be running trains any day now.

[ezdays]

Here we are close to the end of the challenge and I think I've got the transition finished. Still have a lot of trackwork to finish up, but I've at least ballasted and did what I intended to do with the scenery. And yes, I did get some wiring in and I can run trains over the transition, even after opening and closing the swinging section. Oh happy days....

This is where I am right now, and I'm calling it done.
   
   
   
   
   

[Ralph]

Looks great Don! Nice to see that Big Blue equipment too!
Ralph

[P5se Camelback]

Whoa!

Don, that's looking great! Nice job, there, Bubba!

I love the way the water swirls coming off the bridge pilings!

It's looking SUPER!

Is deer season still open up there?

[ezdays]

Thanks guys, although the project is done, I still have much to do on the layout, and that includes everything there that you see as brown dirt on both sides of the transition. I plan on some sort of structures there, I just want to get all the trackwork done before I take that on.

The water is two-part epoxy that I dyed a blue-green. The base underneath was painted progressively darker as it got into the deeper areas. The swirls were a result of smoothing out the final coat of epoxy as it dried.

[P5se Camelback]

It looks ...

Marvelous!

[Gary S]

Don, what kind of dye did you use in the epoxy? And was it mixed into the epoxy or just put on the top?

I like the swirls, and also like the advertisement for the forum!

[ezdays]

Don, what kind of dye did you use in the epoxy? And was it mixed into the epoxy or just put on the top?

I like the swirls, and also like the advertisement for the forum!

The dye I used was some stuff I bought a long time ago at a craft store for mixing in with casting resin. I mixed it in with the epoxy and used long setting stuff to give me time to get it mixed and leveled. I had two quarts of casting resin that I also bough a few years ago, but didn't realize that it has a finite shelf life, even in a sealed can. It turns out that there was enough material in the two-tube epoxy pak to do the job. The slow drying stuff ( 1 hour) stayed a bit tacky on the surface though, so I finished it off with a layer of fast-drying (5 min) stuff, which is probably why the swirls are as prominent as they are.

The car and loco I did for our first anniversary. Just wait though for what we have planned for this year's celebration.

[e-paw]

Nice work Don.. Is that the official Big Blue inspection train?

[tetters]

Ya did good Don! Nice work!