LAYOUT PARTY 2022-2023 Fifteenth Annual International Winter Layout Party

ppuinn Dec 17, 2022

  1. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Outstanding use of those ceramic structures. I've heard of folks using such items on their layouts before but this is the largest example I've seen, Well done !
     
  2. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    Finished getting part 1 of the boosters....

    [​IMG]

    ... and circuit breakers panels up on here ( HERE ).

    Also got things wired enough to ....

    [​IMG]

    .... connect to the DCC-EX Command Station and put a piece of track on the layout and run a loco for a foot or so. Click on the video above or ( HERE ) to see the setup and running of the first loco to run on the layout. I'll get the build pictures up for that part soon.

    Sumner
     
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  3. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Congratulations on your first loco on top of the layout! Nice job of adding the descriptions/labels to the video, too.
     
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  4. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Finished upgrading the four residences in the middle of the shelf.

    First House before upgrade (Closest house left edge of the picture):
    First House after upgrade--all trees refurbished and some added; Driveway "paved" with card stock; shrubbery and patio added, grass refurbished:

    Second House before upgrade (Closest House on right side of the picture):
    Second House after upgrade--Trees and lawn refurbished; Garden at back of lot (closest to the tracks) has been modeled as overgrown and no longer tended; Driveway "paved" with card stock; Path from back door to Driveway added :

    Third House before upgrade: (No pic available of 3rd house before upgrade.)
    Third House after upgrade--All trees refurbished, Driveway "paved" with card stock; Patio added where Garage was formerly located; lawn refurbished; paths added from backdoor and side door to driveway.

    Fourth Residence/Apartments before upgrade:
    Fourth Residence/Apartments after upgrade: Trees refurbished; parking area "Paved" with card stock; (Two pics = one front, one rear of building).

    Next Party goals: Finish Glen Avenue Crossing upgrade (sidewalks and nearby trees), also trees and grass along tracks from Glen Ave to Knoxville Ave; Refurbish field northeast of Glen Ave Crossing; (recently added goal) refurbish trees in Pekin; Refurbish Trees near Allied Mills/Wayne Foods.
     
  5. in2tech

    in2tech TrainBoard Member

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    Finally base is painted. It's a pain to paint the edge of the 2' x 4' corkboard with a brush! One of those cheap foam brushes. But it is done! And I got to throw the Note away :)

    Before:

    IMG_2690.jpg

    After:

    IMG_2703.jpg

    Much better, used to bother me seeing it stand out :)
     
  6. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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  7. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    I finished adding the sidewalks over the Glen Ave Crossing and drew lane stripes on the plaster road last night, but was very disappointed with how crooked the lines were...I'm blaming the uneven plaster job from several years ago, but--full disclosure--I was rushing the job late at night and that contributed, too.
    Here's Version 1:

    So, today I "repaved" the road with card stock and the parking lot of the 2 shops on the right, and redrew the lane stripes. Since taking the picture, I've redone the glue job on the "rubber" panels of the crossing. These crossing signals are Laser Cut wood and non-functional and like the Knoxville Crossing signals, are only temporarily here until I replace them with working signals (hence, the giant holes).

    I expect to refurbish the trees behind the 2 shops on the right tonight, and the trees beside the tracks of the Glen Ave Yard tomorrow morning. Then move on the refurbishing the trees in Pekin.
     
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  8. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    Been working on the area of the river between the west end of Carlin and the east portals of the Palisade tunnels. Adding to ground scenery as needed and adding bushes. I re-painted the river and gave it another coat of gloss medium. Seen in this photo it goes on white but then turns blue and then dries clear. When applying it, I try to use the brush to give it some ripples in some areas.

    TBLP07Feb23b.jpg


    Using the Woodland Scenics Hobo set and adding a few other scraps, I am creating this hobo camp on the west bank of the river under the SP bridge. Later I would like to try replacing the modeled campfire that came with the set with something animated that uses flickering LED's.

    TBLP07Feb23a.jpg
     
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  9. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Very nice looking scene
     
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  10. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Refurbished trees in the field near the Rock Island's Glen Avenue Yard.

    Refurbished the trees in Pekin.
    Caroline and Fourth Street before refurbished:
    :
    Caroline and Fourth Street after refurbished. Mirror in upper right allows operators to see the signals on the top loops of Pekin Helix that control entry to and exit from Pekin on the upper deck to the Southern Division rail yards in cities on the lower deck:

    Route 29 trees before being refurbished:
    Route 29 trees after being refurbished:
    Ever since I started construction of my layout shortly after we moved into our house in June 2003, the 3 panel sliding door of the walkout basement has been blocked by the Bartonville Helix and an upper shelf at 65 inches and a lower shelf at 48 inches. In January 2020, we replaced all 3 panels, which necessitated separating a 12' section of the layout (the Helix and a little over 7 feet of both decks) from the upper and lower decks at both ends and shifting it 3 feet away from the 3 panel door. When I put everything back together, the helix and lower deck had significant changes, and the upper deck was stripped of all structures and about 50% of the trees, but all upper deck track was left on its roadbed and, except where cut from the Helix on one end and the rest of the layout on the other, the upper deck wiring was still intact.
    Status of layout Jan 17, 2020
    In the next month or two, I reinstalled the sky blue backdrop and all tree flats and structures on the upper deck, but only some of the trees. Today, some of the bare toothpicks and sagging or damaged trees on the 7 foot long section were removed and some lichen was re-positioned or replaced, but there is still more to do...no pics, yet.

    Trees were refurbished along the Keystone Steel and Wire Mill water canal from the KSW Barge Dock to the KSW power plant, which are both on the portion of the upper deck that was NOT removed 2 years ago (to the right of the removed section). The canal water is modeled by 1/4" foamboard spray painted with brown semi-gloss enamel paint.
     
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  11. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I don't have a permanent layout, but I do have a double track test track, a simple T Trak layout and a whole lot of NTRAK modules. I have been working on one four foot section of my three module "Richmond, Texas" set. The front or "RED" line passes straight through all three modules while the center and third lines, Yellow and Blue, swing to the back behind a view block and come out to NTRAK standard three tracks at either end of the module set. That way I can better represent the prototype town as it looked in the early 1950s. On the module that I have been working on, the prototype Santa Fe line coming up from Galveston joins the Southern Pacific line that comes through town and parallels it for a few miles so I fudge a little and use the Yellow and Blue lines to model that.

    I kit bashed the generic depot that I was using for the Southern Pacific to better represent the prototype and added a Santa Fe depot on a spot close to where the real one stood. I had scratch built a new three story house that I have been wanting to do since driving by the real one in Richmond for many years.

    Here is how it used to look while attached to the other two modules.
    [​IMG]

    And here is just the single module with the new improvements.
    IMG_1520.JPG
     
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  12. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Welcome to the Party, Russell! Your buildings are beautiful.
    The white house's complexity and the 3-story house's curved railings are eye-catching...very impressive.
     
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  13. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    All of this looks great Y'all
     
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  14. nscalestation

    nscalestation TrainBoard Supporter

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    We are leaving for Japan on Sunday and I don’t think I’m going to get anything more done on the layout before then so it’s time for me to close out my part in this years party.

    This year my plan was disrupted by a power supply failure due to my having finally put to much load on it as I have added things over the past 8 years. This was quickly taken care of but then problems came up with the DS-64 on one of the main staging yards. This problem has been deferred until after I return.

    So here’s a summary of what I set out as goals this year and what actually got done.

    Finish the control panel for the east end loop:
    This did get done but still needs some connections to make all of the LED’s work the way I want them to.

    Build a scrap yard industry:
    Only got a start on this with assembling some fencing and also built a scrap pile of light metal scrap.

    Serial staging on east end loop:
    This did get done and does work but discovered I need to do some modifications to the crossovers at Weso if I want it to work fully automatically.

    Finish scenery around the river at the east portals of the Palisade tunnels:
    This did get done and I am happy with the result. Of course, there is always more that can be done.

    One extra project that I did not expect to do was to build an automatic point to point operation for modular layouts. This is now ready to go and will get it’s first actual run in April on the AsiaNrail layout and then in June on the mountain division track of our Ntrak layout at the NSE convention in Reno.

    I’ve had a great time these past couple of months working on and presenting the progress on my layout, and following the progress on all of your layouts. With my ipad and some wifi connections I will continue to follow the remainder of this year’s party while traveling and will look forward to next year's party.

    TBLP09Feb23a.jpg
     
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  15. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    [​IMG]

    Sumner
     
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  16. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    This is the page/part of the build I've been looking on as I finally have DCC power to the hidden staging area where I have the cork down but wanted to wait on laying track until I could also test it with a few different locos as it went down.

    In review there are going to be 8 power districts on the layout. 4 boosters with 2 circuit breakers on each one. 4 12v/5 amp power supplies. One for each booster. I had some time back bought two 'brick' style Tam Valley power supplies for about $15 through a distributor but needed two more power supplies. I ordered the two generic power supplies shown in the next image and wired them up.

    [​IMG]

    In hind sight I should of bought two more of the Tam Valley 'brick' style power supplies like the other two I had ( HERE ). I probably only saved a dollar or so going with these supplies and had an hour into wiring them.


    [​IMG]

    These are nice little power supplies though and I have another 12v one with higher amperage and a couple 5v ones I will use for the servos and LEDs. They are easy to find and you can adjust the voltage on them over about a 10% range. I adjusted the two I used to be right between the voltage of the two Tam Valley ones I was using which were close to each other.

    [​IMG]

    I used extension cord for some of the power runs and use it for the run between the DCC-EX Command Station which I can roll under the layout or quite a ways from it. The cords are relatively inexpensive, flexible, have nice outer insulation and I've wired the lights and brakes on a number of my trailers using them. The outdoor ones can hold up to the conditions a trailer sees quite well. I cut the ends off a little long and have used them on power tools that have worn out power cords and other applications like above where I used an end for a power supply's AC input.

    [​IMG]

    I think the test track/DCC Command Station on rollers is going to work out well. I can bring it out a ways if I want to test/break-in a loco on it or program a decoder. I won't have a program track on the main layout as the one on the test track will be more convenient. I can sit on a chair there and use the keyboard, mouse and screen with DecoderPro to do any decoder programming that is needed. Also the test track can be switched between a DC throttle and DCC easily with a toggle switch if I want to run a DC loco before installing a decoder. Most all my locos were bought used and DC and need to be DCC for the layout. I've converted quite a few but have more than quite a few to go.

    Connected Booster #3/circuit breaker 'A') to the track buss above and now have track power for the hidden staging are.

    [​IMG]

    Connected a loco up. It ran first time. Sometimes that's not the case for me. Now I can start laying track in this area and test it as I go along.

    You can see more pictures and info on my build on TrainBoard ( HERE ) or on my site ( HERE ).

    Sumner
     
  17. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    This is what the trees near the Bartonville Helix looked like shortly after replacing the Basement Walkout Sliding doors two years ago. I had put the helix and upper shelf back in their proper position but not the fascia. The trees looked pretty much the same when we started this year's Layout Party.

    A few days ago, damaged, dry, and faded lichen trees were removed from the area near the upper entrance to the Bartonville Helix.

    On Thursday, I finished refurbishing the tree flats, lichen trees, and brush and grass near the Bartonville Helix:
    -
     
  18. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Bug difference ppu
     
  19. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Re beginning of my layout best I can offer for this layout party
     

    Attached Files:

  20. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Evolution of the Bartonville Water Treatment Plant--The tank behind the tree and the black/white chlorine car was an unpainted blue plastic paper spool from a cash register or plug in calculator (1980s or 90s), and the settling pond was a "suggestion" (I left the Homasote bare, instead of putting down grass):
    Feb 2006,
    Jan 2017, The spool was painted, the settling pond was 1/4" foam board spray-painted with rattle can glossy brown enamel paint, set in a hole cut out of the Homasote:
    Friday Feb 10, 2023: After refurbishing the trees at the back of the shelf, I upgraded the industry by adding buildings (cardstock mock-ups), a genuine model of a tank (from Walthers), and a "concrete" block bumper at the end of the spur (cube-shaped push-pin painted gray):
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2023
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