A beginner's layout


Finally started scenery! Not much but gotta start somewhere :)

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tdipaul said:
Be careful with this alignment here. I just notice this stuff from my own struggles :)

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Yeah not the best track work there :( and to make it worse that track is glued down.

At least for the time being I'm not terribly concerned with messing with it because I've never had any problems there (believe it or not :))
 
santafewillie said:
It can be corrected by inserting track nails where Paul has the arrows pointed and pushing the rails more into a smoother curve to straighten it out. It would be a delicate fix but it is possible. Don't ask how I know!
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I was wrong when I said this track is glued down. There is a short section I left unglued (I don't remember why). Because this section is unglued it is straight when part of it should be part of the curve, hence the kink. Maybe I can improve this after all.

If I ever build another layout I will have some experience and hopefully do trackwork better. That being said I've been a lucky beginner because all my trains so far run well on my layout (most of joints in my tracks aren't that bad though :))
 
Another thing you can do, is pin everything in place, ballast, and pull the pins. The track ain't going anywhere after that.
 
diesel said:
Another thing you can do, is pin everything in place, ballast, and pull the pins. The track ain't going anywhere after that.
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That didn't occur to me. I just assumed one had to glue (or otherwise fasten) the track before ballast. This is a good idea. It will give me an excuse to do some ballasting on the little section on which I've begun scenery too. Then add some trees, other details and one little part of the layout is "done"! That would amaze me 😀
 
Well, it can be hard to keep everything solid and lined up prior to ballasting, hence the glue. But if you're ballasting with a white glue mix, the track bed is hard as rock - in fact be sure everything is perfect first because of that. Rework is a real pain.
 
I started building this layout when I was laid off due to Covid in 2020. Life has continued to be chaotic stymieing progress. Currently I'm dealing with some health issues which have financially hurt me plus I'm laid off again because of the winter (I'm in construction, winter's always slow).

In three weeks I'll have surgery and then a four week recovery before I get back to work (when the weather gets nice!) so probably not a lot of progress upcoming. That's why I was happy to have this kit laying around. It's the Bachman Spectrum Ambassador Hotel. I traded for it on this forum a long time ago. I don't have a lot of kit building experience so I left it alone until recently. Figure I got plenty of time now .

It's not done and the camera doesn't lie...I've got some touch up painting to do! Anyway, I wanted to keep this thread going so I thought I'd post some pics

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I've just caught this thread, and I've been back in this hobby a few years now, and I'm nowhere close to what you've achieved so far, good work, I'm another fan of yours, so I'm looking forward to seeing your layout progresses.
 
Nice start. Those Bachmann kits are not the easiest kits to assemble. The very tall walls need time and care to align them well.
I wish you well with your upcoming surgery and recovery.
 
Smudge617 said:
I've just caught this thread, and I've been back in this hobby a few years now, and I'm nowhere close to what you've achieved so far, good work, I'm another fan of yours, so I'm looking forward to seeing your layout progresses.
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Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Smudge! My layout is somewhat amateurish but I'm an amateur so I guess that's to be expected 😀

I'm glad you found my thread. By the way, I hope you're enjoying the NS SD60!
 
santafewillie said:
Nice start. Those Bachmann kits are not the easiest kits to assemble. The very tall walls need time and care to align them well.
I wish you well with your upcoming surgery and recovery.
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Thanks, Willie! Funny you mention the difficulty with aligning the tall walls...the roof doesn't quite fit 😀. I think the way to go is to use a piece of construction paper or cardboard to make a template and then cut a new roof from a piece of styrene. Other ideas are always welcome!
 
Not sure how far you've progressed with the track cleaning car idea - I purchased a CMX tank car track cleaner and found it very good to run over the track occasionally. The best advice I ever got regarding tack cleaning was via a YouTube post by Gregg of Fishplate Films - link attached

First word of advice - don't use any abrasive track rubbers or scourers if you can possibly find another way to clean stubborn spots - they destroy the smooth surface of the rail and lead to more track contamination than you started with. I have also abandoned Isopropyl alcohol where possible except to clean some stubborn wheels. I follow Greggs' advise and use a product called INOX which cleans the track and helps prevent oxidisation of the cleaned rail. Things have never run better or for longer between track cleaning sessions. There are numerous other YouTube videos from other modellers who have fully endorsed Greggs findings. Hope this helps
 
PMW said:
Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Smudge! My layout is somewhat amateurish but I'm an amateur so I guess that's to be expected 😀

I'm glad you found my thread. By the way, I hope you're enjoying the NS SD60!
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Errrrrrrmmm about that, I'm too scared to take it out the box, took it out, took pic, back in box, at the moment it's safely tucked away under my layout where it can't be dropped, knocked or otherwise mishandled. 🤣
Work has been a Bar steward lately, 15hr shifts, 6 day a week, my day off normally consists of sleeping most of it away.:)
But one day soon.
 
Smudge617 said:
Errrrrrrmmm about that, I'm too scared to take it out the box, took it out, took pic, back in box, at the moment it's safely tucked away under my layout where it can't be dropped, knocked or otherwise mishandled. 🤣
Work has been a Bar steward lately, 15hr shifts, 6 day a week, my day off normally consists of sleeping most of it away.:)
But one day soon.
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I get it! Life's crazy for me too, I don't get to work on or play with the layout much lately...glad I had saved that kit for a rainy day
 
AusPete said:
Not sure how far you've progressed with the track cleaning car idea - I purchased a CMX tank car track cleaner and found it very good to run over the track occasionally. The best advice I ever got regarding tack cleaning was via a YouTube post by Gregg of Fishplate Films - link attached

First word of advice - don't use any abrasive track rubbers or scourers if you can possibly find another way to clean stubborn spots - they destroy the smooth surface of the rail and lead to more track contamination than you started with. I have also abandoned Isopropyl alcohol where possible except to clean some stubborn wheels. I follow Greggs' advise and use a product called INOX which cleans the track and helps prevent oxidisation of the cleaned rail. Things have never run better or for longer between track cleaning sessions. There are numerous other YouTube videos from other modellers who have fully endorsed Greggs findings. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

Thanks. I knew about the abrasive track rubbers but didn't know that about isopropyl alcohol. I've been using that but not that much, only if I have an issue. Fortunately the trains have been running well for quite a while. I'll probably pick some of that stuff up.
 
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