The M-K & Eastern RR

[Graff]

Hi all. I'm currently renovating a room for my layout.
It's 22' x 16' and will have coved corners.
My layout will be a freelancer Colorado narrow gauge in HOn3.
I've drawn the track plans for it, and I can't wait to start building it.
To prepare, I've been doing some city planning for one of the towns, called Twin Peaks (work name, yet to be decided)
IMG_20170518_110214 by Michael Graff, on Flickr
Main Street, the town will be 8' long.
The station will be regauged to HOn3.

IMG_20170518_110240 by Michael Graff, on Flickr

IMG_20170518_104830 by Michael Graff, on Flickr

IMG_20170518_110137 by Michael Graff, on Flickr
The street will go upwards in the back and turn into suburbs.

 

[montanan]

You have quite a nice collections of buildings. Looking forward to see the finished town. I really enjoy modeling town scenes, but being that I model a more rural area, my towns aren't very large, but I am currently trying to add as much detail as possible.

 

[Genetk44]

Looking good Michael...hope you don't have to dismantle the M-K & Eastern layout to make room for this new layout!!

 

[Graff]

No worries, it's in a museum.

 

[Genetk44]

No worries, it's in a museum.

Awesome!!!! That layout was incredible and one of my favourites...I actually go to your site and revisit it every 8-12 months.

 

[Graff]

Thanks!
The track plan for my new model railroad.
6.5 x 4.5 meters in size.

This is the inspiration for the city on my layout:

 

[KB02]

That's a great layout plan! Can't wait to see it come together.

 

[otiscnj]

Anything new with this? The town you were working on looked really good, although the photo looks like somewhere 'out West,' not in the northeastern US. The trackplan looks interesting.

 

[Iron Horseman]

This is the inspiration for the city on my layout:

I know that town. At first I thought it was Cripple Creek, then Victor, but the big "Y" of main streets ruled out CC, and the RR track is on the wrong side for Victor. The church tower on the far left side is what nailed it. It used to be a pretty interesting place to go before they approved gambling there. Now it is just, umm, umm, nothing. Here is another view.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

OMG -- Just realized that it has been 52 years from when I was LAST there!

 

[Iron Horseman]

OMG -- Just realized that it has been 52 years from when I was LAST there!

I passed through to boy scout camp about 5 years ago. It was very distressing for me, a Colorado native, to see what it has become.

 

[montanan]

Sherrel - I hope you know that your last statement does qualify you as an old fart.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Sherrel - I hope you know that your last statement does qualify you as an old fart. View attachment 64968

Every day I am starting to realize it more and more. I DO NOT LIKE IT AT ALL!

 

[otiscnj]

"Everybody knows that Cripple Creek is just a suburb of Victor." Lowell Thomas

I've been to both a couple of times.

 

[Graff]

Finally some progress!
I've actually managed to clear out the space for the layout.
The room as it looked...

Insulation and moisture barrier installed.

Sheetrock... We all love to do some sheetrock and mud and sanding, and mud and sanding....

I rounded two of the corners. I made a backing from two layers of 1/8" hardboard.

I used 1/4" sheetrock that I wetted and bent to shape in the corners.

The backdrop is now the next step (almost..)
I need to install the lighting first.
I painted a test piece just to see the colors and tonal values.

It needs to be toned down a bit though.
More like this test:

I've ordered the carpet and all the LED light fixtures, so it's finally getting there.

 

[Olie]

Looks awesome. Definitely going to follow this one.

 

[Graff]

Weathered the Blackstone C-19.
I used it to try some new paints and techniques.

 

[Graff]

Let there be light!
First LED strip in place in the train room.
There'll be double rows, the other angled 20 degrees to the wall.
Fill lighting will be with LED spotlights.
Can be okay in the end.

The switched power supplies I use are from Mean well, 12 V and 18 Amps.
They are adjustable between 11.4 V and 12.2 V.

The LED strips are rated at 12 Watt per metre and are 5 metres in length.
4800 K in temperature.

 

[Graff]

Installed the second LED strip today.
The light level will probably be okay when I can install the outer LED strips as well.
I have to build the valance first, so it'll be in the right places.
My plan is to have the valance about 2-3" outside of the layouts edge.
The LED strips has a 40° light angle will be mounted 20° inward so it will light straight down at the front, and towards the backdrop.

 

[Graff]

Started the backdrop painting. One wall is sky painted with clouds.
The backdrop is 60' long and 4'6" tall. I use regular wall paints.
I will wait a bit to paint the landscape until after I've started the benchwork.