Ken that really looks good . I hope you do not have a derailment though as it could lead to a major disaster as cars could now fall onto the lower level . Mike
Thanks Mike, I may plant some more low shrubs/trees to act as a barrier to keep cars from taking the plunge.
That would be a good idea as I had a module one time that had the same slope and it can be a problem. I have also invested in a rubber floor and love the feel and helps (just in case) Mike
But if you plant too many the missus won't be able to see the trains, and you'll be back to the beginning! Looks good all the same. I don't think rubber floors would save my trains - first stop is a 2' drop onto the wooden workbench, then another 3' to the carpet. Bounce I think I'll go for a slight (1/4") lip on the edge of the fascia to try to shepherd the wayward away from the abyss. That and not build so close to the edge.
The rubber mats look good Mike, great if you have your layout in a garage or a basement where you have a concrete floor. I'm happy with the way things are and hopefully cars won't crash off the layout at that point. I had another interesting development, my auto-reversing modual stopped working. It was working fine untill I started to run some multiple lash-ups and at that point it started shorting out and just plain "not working". I could run a single loco around the reversing loop with no problems but no go with multiple locos and then it stopped working altogether. I thought it had fried itself. So I disconnected the modual from the layout and replaced it with a double pole double throw switch so I could reverse polarity/phase manually. Connected the power up, fine but when I flipped the switch major short out. So I have a problem with my wiring. Ok... but where? I started tracing wires and looking at connections and made a discovery. I had wired the frogs on my passing siding wrong. I had wired the tortoise switches to the main power buss and not the sub-buss controlled by the auto-reverser. Whew... that was a relief, did the rewiring and reinstalled the auto-reverser and all is now running sweet!
Man it has been a while and I just do not remember. I did get it at Lowes. I can not find it on their web site though. Same stuff as hobby lobby for kids flooring mat. This may give you an idea (more or less) http://www.getrung.com/state.php?s=west Mike
Ken, I see it advertised on the Web for about $0.65 per square foot. I got mine at Costco, and I'm sure I paid about half that, or less. It's actually foam matting, not rubber. It has saved my feet, legs and back compared to concrete. I just cover the aisles, so I really didn't buy that much.
Here's a video of a trio of SD60's hauling a freight drag through the reversing section of my layout: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xhlUgvPRPA"]YouTube - Run on the reversing track[/ame] WITH NO PROBLEMS...
Hi Ken, I like the way your layout progresses. Looking really good. Good that you found the short: To me nothing spoils the fun faster than electronic glitches. I have a few red sticky dots that go on the central control panel when something fails, so I can fix it between ops sessions. A chore that I do not like at all ... Anyway, keep us posted on your progress Cheers Dirk
So true Dirk, especially when you're not the smartest cookie when it comes to things electrical, like me. Progress has stalled a little bit. I have not spent much time in the train room at all in the last couple of weeks. I did however do some work this weekend. I found out why my Atlas Dash 8 BW was such a poor runner. There is a hex drive pin that fits into the brass flywheel. It's a plastic part and is too loose a fit so only drives intermittently. This is on one truck only, the other fits and drives fine. I will have to get a replacement part to put this right. I also did some scenic work, no pics as yet (sorry) but next weekend I sould have something to show for my effort
All I have to say is don't allow the little woman to select the apron design ever,WOW.:tb-tongue: You are banned for at least a month. An update with no photos is just sinfull. You know better.:tb-biggrin:
Ok, Ok, I know sorry just doesn't cut it, should have known better. So I whizzed off to the train room and took some pics. Bear in mind that there is much more to come and that this is just the basic scenic layer. Grass & shrubs planted to try and hide the seam where the removable section joins up I am thinking of adding a small maintenance hut in front of the bottom seam as well as some more greenery And then there is the rest of the area heading towards the river and the bridges.
Man you do nice work. I made a little progress on my layout too but I will not hijack your thread. You will have to look for it.:tb-tongue:
Like your work also Spidge, nice tressels. I splashed some paint around the hillsides, they seemed to be a bit too red for my liking. Now they are more toward the grey end of the spectrum although my camera still picks up the red/yellow colors. Maybe if I changed the fluoros to cool white instead of tri-phosphor? Some pics: Toned down a bit but still looks redish in this shot (it does look a lot more grey to the naked eye) This shot is closer to the REAL color of the hills. Back to too much red/yellow (Hmm... maybe I should alter the color saturation before I post next time?) The PVA glue is still drying under the track ballast and I am ready to plant some more tree,shrubs etc.
Nice rock faces, Ken. I found that thin washes of water colors enhanced the depth of texture on my rock faces and mellowed the overall base color. Not sure if that's what you need, but it certainly made a big improvement in my work. Keep up the great work, Ken.
Ken, I get the feeling that you don't like red rocks. I know, you are attempting to capture the color of the area modeled. The photos don't look red to me but would you consider adding some other colors for some variations? Also, try some dry brushing with white for highlights on the sunny side of the rock faces. You will see a whole new dimension. The depth it creates is a cool yet simple effect. Just go lightly.
Ken, I went with cool white flourescents (spelling any good?) for my Pacific Northwest layout and and really love the results. All tubes came as "warm white", but it was a much too red color. Maybe you could just replace the lights over the cliff to see if you like a different color better. If you do you can go back and replace all... Cheers Dirk
Seems like the problem here is that the lighting is fine in person but the photography looks too red/yellow. Just in case it can be helpful, here is a quick recap of my recent lighting experience: I just started installing the compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) on my layout. For some reason, I though I had read somewhere that the "soft white" variants were preferred for layout lighting. However, after installing them, they did not look good (way too red/yellow) so I went back to the forums and realized that most people seem to prefer the "daylight" variants. I replaced my soft white CFLs with daylight versions and--WOW!--what a difference! The lighting is much clearer and brighter, even though the daylight bulbs have about the same lumens (lighting output) as the soft white. BTW the "soft white" bulbs have about a 2700K color temperature while the "daylight" bulbs are about 5000K. Jamie
