Bought this a week or two ago–here’s the first run on the layout.
New Buildings in Progress
I’m working on a couple of new buildings for the layout. The first is the Pola lumber mill
The second is the Piko BayWa warehouse
Continue reading New Buildings in Progress
Sailboat Idea
Here in Kansas, the wind is a constant problem in the garden. Gusts up to 40mph regularly move things around (including buildings) and wreck havoc.
I’ve been thinking about putting a boat in my pond when it’s done, but with the wind it would need to be anchored somehow. Add to that the possibility of water-level fluctuations, and there’s a problem–if the water gets low and the wind blows, the boat could possibly wind up on shore.
First run
I’ve finally managed to sort out my throttle problem with my live steam locomotive, and sent it around a couple of time.
HLW Coil Cars
Bought these from Reindeer Pass. They always have fair prices and good service.
Cheap Ambient Sound
I bought several of these
to use to make the layout more interesting. I found these tiny MP3 players and speakers on eBay. About $6 for the set. I had micro SD cards on hand, but if you had to buy those you’d need to add that to the cost.
Continue reading Cheap Ambient Sound
Laser cut houses
One really nice thing about laser cutting styrene structures is that once the file is created, you can cut as many as you want with (almost) no additional effort. This one has a different roof (made from a CMS shingle pattern section) and I tried out some laser cut windows and doors. But the walls are cut from the same file as the other one.
So I built this house for around $10 in materials: half of a $4 sheet of 6mm sintra, $3 worth of Plastruct strips, $4 for the roof panel, and some paint. And (IMO) it looks as good as a more expensive kit-built structure–for sure from 10 feet away.
Continue reading Laser cut houses
Sidewalk cafe outside
Here are the cafe tables on the street. I think I need to turn the bases 90° so the people aren’t sitting with their backs to the street. But I’m happy with how these came out.
Live Steamer arrives
Just bought this :-)
Hopefully it will come by the weekend
LGB 2015D and tender
Here’s my LGB 2015D and powered tender pulling some boxcars and gondolas around my layout.
European House
Here’s another of my “winter” projects. This is a European house for the residential section of my town.
Continue reading European House
Sidewalk cafe scene
Whilst it’s too cold out to run trains (23 was this morning’s lovely number, with 18 mph winds) I’ve been working on some indoor projects.
Now that the town is mostly laid out, I want to add some interest to the main street. My idea was to add a set of tables with umbrellas in front of one of the “cafes” on the street with some figures dining there. But because of the high winds here, I didn’t want to use plastic umbrellas. So here’s what I came up with:
Continue reading Sidewalk cafe scene
Laser cut window panes
I tend to buy used G scale stuff, because my railroad is on a shoestring budget. A couple months back I bought a couple of Piko shops that were badly in need of repair. One thing they needed was new windows. The old plastic was brittle and opaque, so I thought about casting new panes and using acrylic for the glass. But getting a good casting for something so fine turned out to be harder than I thought. So I decided to laser cut a set.
Thinking about live steam
I’m looking into live steam, having had my interest piqued by some posts on forums I’m reading. One possible choice for a first live steam loco would be the Roundhouse Billy as seen here;
Snow on the layout
There was some heavy ice/snow while were were gone over Christmas break
Click for a larger version
Layout Plan Complete
Just finished updating this for (hopefully) the last time. This incorporates all the changes from my original plan–the not-a-wye, adding straights to my revers curve, one less siding in town–and shows the current state of the track, at least. Most of the other scenery is there, too. The only big thing left is the mountain.
Christmas train
You can see the modified cars at the front (getting power from the tender) and the bubble-blowing elephant and lighted Christmas tree car at the end. Pretty fun–and the kids loved it.
DIY tool for changing LGB brushes
Those little brushes on older LGB locos, where the spring and brush are loose, are hard to change. If you’re not careful, the spring tension will throw the brushes across the room when you’re trying to get one on the opposite side. I got tired of chasing springs and brushes, so I made up a little tool out of brass sheet.
Streetcar track
I’ve finally got my streetcar track down
