2013-2014 Sixth Annual International Winter Layout Party

ppuinn Dec 30, 2013

  1. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    This was my solution for color: Titanium white and Raw Sienna 50-50 mix. The mixture is on the left.

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    Here is the final for this side of the wheel yard. I filled in the pond and moved it over so I had better access to the track. Gloss medium of some type will go in the dark spots.

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    Now for grass and pavement. This really moves pretty well when you get started. makes me wonder why I didn't do this sooner.
     
  2. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Most of my time since last Tuesday has been spent figuring out DecoderPro, entering data for about 80 locomotives, and then speed matching pairs of locos for various jobs. The process for speed matching locos this time has been going MUCH quicker than when I used the throttles in the past.

    I've also reorganized (sorted, consolidated, or cleaned out) 3 shelves worth of books, file folders, notebooks, and magazine articles jammed into a 2-shelf bookcase. Most of the books, magazine articles, and files are now in cardboard magazine holders with labels, and I've rearranged the notebooks (which hold all of my layout plans, DCC manuals, notes, records, communications) in a 2-door cabinet with my spare DCC components, cables, plug crimper, etc.

    Yesterday, I sorted/reorganized all of my information on the Keystone Steel and Wire Mill I've modeled on my layout. (maps, blue prints, valuation maps, aerial pics, google pics, boxes of photos, scrawled notes) in preparation for a 3 hour visit by a retired Keystone foreman (and current N-scale modeler). He brought me some neat satellite printouts (Bing?, Google Earth?) that he had trimmed and taped together showing all the buildings in great detail. We went through comparing his recent pics with my modeled buildings (which I based on a 1970s blueprint a former Keystone V.P./plant manager had given me a few years ago). We found several details that I'll be able to add/change to make a more accurate representation of how the Mill appeared in the 1970s, and he also provided information on the steel making process that will help me more accurately model the in-house rolling stock used at Keystone; how loads of materials came into the mill; how loads of materials and product were moved between buildings, and ultimately how the finished products (coils and billets) and byproducts (crop scrap, slag, waste) were handled; and information about the interiors of the various buildings so I can (at some future point) make accurate interiors, too.

    This week I'll continue speed matching locos, organizing bookcases, collected articles/files/notebooks, and (hopefully) get back to working on the scenery in the new staging areas.
     
  3. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    Well, friends....the 2013-2014 Sixth Annual International Layout Party will officially end tomorrow, Sunday March 2.

    In the next few days, those working on their layouts as part of the Party will post their final progress report (with pictures, if possible) summarizing what they accomplished during this year's Party. If anyone would like to post comments/replies to specific participants' posts, please do so by the end of next week.

    Additionally, as a Layout Design Discussion moderator, I would like TB members' feedback about how this year's Party went (both, from those who participated by posting about their layouts, and from those who participated by visiting the thread to view or post about others' posts). If you have any general comments or observations about how this year's Party went or suggestions for the next Layout Party that you would like to pass along to me, please click on my screen name in any of my posts, and select Send a Private Message or Send an Email from the menu that appears.
     
  4. Flash Blackman

    Flash Blackman TrainBoard Member

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    Here's how mine finally came out...at least so far. This photo shows the finished soil part at the bottom and the unfinished TOFC and MOW area at the top.

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    Overall view of the area to be filled in with wheel yard items and light maintenance.

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    Another area to be finished. The completed yard is on the left and the maintenance sheds are on the right.

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    The layout party got me moving again. Hope I can keep it um until the next party.
     
  5. ppuinn

    ppuinn Staff Member

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    I'm very pleased with how much I was able to accomplish during this year's Layout Party.

    Throughout the Party, I worked on Decatur the least. The Illinois Central Decatur Yard only has 1 finished tree flat out of 4 and no other scenery (lichen trees or grass), yet, but I've cut out and positioned Google Maps Street Views of buildings that I want to model behind the Decatur tracks. Last week I experimented with some software for creating buildings and then printing them on paper. I'll probably use it to make the houses, garages, and church that will go behind the Decatur Yard. The locomotives parked in the engine facility area are now speed matched. The fascia is installed and painted but there are no labels yet. The valence hiding the fluorescent light is still just ragged pieces of cardboard instead of painted Masonite (hardboard).
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    The Conrail Hillery Yard (on the right in the picture below) now has trees in back, tanks and a small building in the Engine Facility area, and paper mock-ups of buildings at each end. The lower deck has been made 4 inches deeper at one end to accommodate the 2-lane highway with proper lane striping that runs in front of the Yard tracks. The fascia is installed and painted but there are no labels yet. The fluorescent lamps lighting the lower deck have been moved to improve taking pictures and are now properly hidden behind the new fascia on the upper deck (which is now several inches wider). These CR locos still need to be speed matched. The N&W locos at the other end of the Hillery Yard (not shown) were the 1st pair of locos I speed matched using jmri's DecoderPro a couple of weeks ago.

    At the end of the aisle, all repairs to the sky/backdrop are finished, scenery (trees, tree flats, shrubbery, grass) is done. Fascia is installed and painted, but there are no labels yet, and I still need to drill holes for the toggle switch and bi-color LED for a hidden turnout to the Helix (which are currently taped to the front of the fascia).

    At the Illinois Central Mattoon Yard on the lower left of the picture, the scenery (grass, trees, tree flats) is done, except for a Rix highway bridge and country road over the tracks at the north end of the yard (which is still a foamboard mockup on pieces of styrofoam). The old fascia was removed and new fascia installed and painted. No labels have been re-applied yet. The IC locos have always run relatively well together, but I still want to use DecoderPro to fine-tune their speeds.

    This pic shows Hillery Yard on the lower right, Mattoon on the lower left. I'm very pleased with the appearance of the carpeting on the step-up benches and the black skirting under the lower deck.
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    After finishing the wiring, not much was done at the Peoria and Eastern Indianapolis Yard (on the lower right in the pic below)except installing and painting the fascia and relaying the throat of the yard to correct some elevation issues that were causing turnout problems. There are still a few kinks to repair in the Yard classification tracks where the exceptionally dry weather this winter caused Homasote shrinkage. The P&E locos are speed matched. (I had them decently matched before, but they are beautifully matched now! (Thank you DecoderPro!)
    On the lower left, all scenery is done in the CIM Havana Coal Yard, except a small creek and its associated shrubbery and trees that will run under the main at the far end of the yard. One direct-wired fluorescent light fixture with a bad ballast was replaced with a plug-in fixture, and a 2nd plug-in fixture was added to provide better illumination of the Coal Yard. The Coal Yard fascia was installed and painted, but labels have not been put on yet.

    The main power bus wires for all track on both the upper and lower decks on both sides of the aisle in the picture below were cut in several places, DPDT toggle switches were installed, and all track rails were double gapped to divide one large electrical block into 3 smaller ones. I'll be adding another power booster in a few weeks.
    In the Keystone Steel and Wire Mill on the upper deck to the right, I rewired several switch machines and replaced a broken stationary decoder DS44 which used track power to activate 4 Tortoise turnout motors, with a DS54 which has a separate power source. I still have to re-install 11 ground throws that were removed when I repositioned track and turnouts to narrow the upper deck (and make easier access to the BN Galesburg Yard on the lower deck beneath that southern end of Keystone--to the right rear behind the camera in the pic below). The fascia to the right on the upper deck has several loose places and still needs to be repaired and all seams and edges aligned.
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    In the pic below, CIM Havana Yard and Rail-Barge Facility are on the lower level in the distant corner, BN Galesburg is on the lower left, and Keystone Steel is on the upper deck in the distant center/right.
    The old fascia on the lower level at Havana has been replaced and painted, and new fascia has been installed and painted on the lower deck at Galesburg and on the upper deck at Keystone and above Galesburg where the shelf was cut back to improve access to the Galesburg Yard. Scenery at Havana is finished behind the Yard tracks as far as the cardboard mock-ups of the Rail-Barge Facility. Scenery behind the CIM Havana Engine Facility, the Galesburg Yard, and the Galesburg Engine Facility is partially complete (3 of 8 tree flats are done), grass is in, and styrofoam hills are shaped, but no trees and only a few shrubs are planted yet, and no buildings are in (or even mocked up). The bridge over the BN Galesburg Yard is still a foamboard mock-up on styrofoam pieces, but will become a Rix highway overpass in the next month or so. The carpeting has been secured on all of the step-up benches, and all but 2 of the benches have black skirting around the bottom.
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