I've already got a few Ribbonrail guides coming but not the NMRA gauge. The wobbly bit was going to be flex rail and not street level. I ordered a set of transition sections but nothing is marked so I'll have to look and see what looks right, but I have a good idea which bag is theirs. One thing I'm am a little worried about are the DIY switches. I've never assembled them before. Looks good. Does that door actually say "Acme?" Do you have a transition point from the girder rail to regular rail? I'm asking because I'm interested in how you did the ballast. In real life the Max line has a cliff at the end of the street level and the dedicated track comes up on the ballast to meet it, but I have very little room and I'm not sure I want to commit to raising my street level 1/2 an inch. I like the grey, but I'm going for red since thats what the MAX has. I'm going to have to weather it so the bricks stand out because right now they don't look like bricks, but they're there. Having lived in downtown I know that the weathering is going to be black, and some simulated gum would be nice too. I'm going to need to get some code 87 flex rail too since all my stock is 100. Thanks again for the help. I've never attempted laying individual rails before. OH! before I forget, I got their brass sheeting too and I guess the pin wire came with it. Anyone tried it yet? I know that at least on the flex rail portion it will make my life easier. Now I won't have to try and figure out how I'm going to run a wire directly under the rail.
Yes, that's an ACME sign. Further down that same building, I've got a door for Mom's Robot Oil, from Futurama. I've got 3 transitions from regular rail to girder rail. I'll try to get a picture for you when I get home. I think I just ballasted up to the masonite board with the girder rail and cobble sheet on it. Nothing fancy. The trick is to figure out the right underlays or shims to match the rail head heights between the two different types of rails. I never noticed the brass sheet. Is that a thin sheet you put under the rails, with a gap between the rails, and then you solder the rails to that? Offhand, I would think that's a better option than trying to connect the individual sections with the very thin wires. I tried doing that and I ended up with solder in the flanges at every joint, which made every joint a derailment-prone spot. That's why I switched to soldering a feeder to the underside of every section after a while, and not trying to maintain electrical continuity between the rails themselves.
A quick follow-up. This is the overall scene, with the girder rail curving around from the wye for the carfloat in the lower right around behind the buildings to the upper left. This is a shot of one of the transition sections from normal rail to girder rail, using the Proto87 transition: This is a direct-overhead shot. It's from the siding in front of the big brick building, where the blue Port Huron and Detroit boxcar is sitting in the top photo.
Looks good, how big is your layout? I got my motored axels and my bearing unpowered axels. The motored axels are tinny. Makes the Athearn single motor and gear setup look huge. I'm really interested to try out the bearing axels too. I'm really impressed by the tiny motor sets.
The layout is a 5x12 foot table, which is the lower leg of a T with a 19x2 1/2 foot along-the-wall shelf. The carfloat terminal area is shoehorned into a cramped corner, and access is limited. I would not do that again. I'm hoping to retire soon, and the plan is to move out of Taxachusetts to conserve retirement dollars, so it's likely that I'll have an opportunity to re-configure the layout, and "Mooseport" is first on the list.
