Trying out a micro layout (or close to one).

[Bonita Grand Central]

I have taken some time over the last couple days to put together the Kato turnout control circuits and give them a test run. I took the box from one of my recent online orders and mounted the toggles with switches facing inwards to give myself a way in which to easily solder the wires in place without physically holding the toggles themselves. I’ve only soldered a few times in my life so as I expected, the results weren’t the greatest but after a quick test, each kato turnout worked great! I’ll sacrifice the “tidyness” of the soldering job for functionality any day

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That's a great idea for holding the switches while you solder. Good tip.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

Hang on to the proto assembly and use it to make a removable extension of the real layout. Something tells me that this railroad will get bigger.

Unfortunately I didn’t design the track plan/benchwork to allow for expansion but I wasn’t planning on expanding anyway. I live in a very small apartment so space is tight. Eventually when I get a house I’ll be making a new layout.

 

[Bonita Grand Central]

Probably fell into your bag and didn’t notice…

Ya we know how it happened. Ha!

I’m almost done with the retaining walls but I’ve come across one area I’m not sure how to continue with. It’s certainly not necessary to fill this part in with chipboard but I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it. Perhaps instead of doing that I might just put some Celluclay in there and blend it in with scenery when the time comes?

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After I fix this area and attach the remaining chip board sections for the ramp, I will be closing the gaps with some caulking before moving on to using some plaster of paris to create the road crossings.

Try some dry wall mud for the places where you want the celluclay. Easy to use and easy to carve in changes. It's about $8 a gallon and that's a lot of mud.

 

[Bonita Grand Central]

It’s certainly possible I would think! I haven’t thought about painting them but it might make the most sense with that approach.

I think you can get manhole decals too. Maybe print your own.

The rock faces are done! Second time in my life carving rocks from plaster and first time using this technique for painting/weathering so I couldn’t be happier with the results.

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I think your good at carving rock faces. The coloring is good too with the white bringing out the recesses.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

I think you can get manhole decals too. Maybe print your own.

I think your good at carving rock faces. The coloring is good too with the white bringing out the recesses.

I did find some decals online for manhole covers. Not sure if I’ll order them yet or make my own.

Thanks! I think I applied a little too much white but it’s a learning process so next time I’ll ease up on the white

 

[GuilfordRailman]

The Bakery complex is nearly complete. I have only a couple parts left to finish. I will also be adding a gravel roof to this structure which I’m hoping to get done this weekend.

I’ve also begun working on the rooftop details kit I purchased. These are really easy to assemble and look great! I highly recommend.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

I’ve completed all the rooftop details. Next up is some priming and painting.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

So…I felt the need to try and utilize the structures I originally purchased from the train show. I didn’t think I could use them since my layout is so small but I remembered that Steve (from Steve’s Trains) utilized sections of a building for a scratch built corner structure. I figured since I’m so inspired by his micro layouts, why not try the same.

I went ahead and dismantled one of the used structures and came up with this. I created a small corner structure and I can use one whole side of the used structure to create either another industry sharing the same track as the bakery or expand the bakery itself. I suppose it could also just be an additional building with no specific purpose. If I were to utilize these building segments, I would go ahead and repaint/weather them.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

The gas station and repair shop are almost complete. I haven’t glued down the repair shop roof yet or the roof AC unit. I’ll be using some of the roof details I painted to supplement the provided AC unit that came with the kit. I also realized I have some touching up to do on the gas pump canopy.

One particular thing I’m not too fond of with this 3D printed kit is the fact that the canopy isn’t smooth along the sides which will make it difficult to adhere decals. I’m thinking I might cut and glue a piece of styrene onto the canopy to glue the decals onto.

On another note, I have completed painting of the rooftop detail kit by Walthers. I need to figure out which components I want to use for each structure and after that I’ll give each piece a touch of rusty weathering.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

While building my last layout, a 1’ x 4’ N scale shelf switching layout, I accumulated a variety of rolling stock since the only industry I had was a transload facility. This allowed me to have pretty much any freight cars I wanted.

With this new layout, I have two specific industries which only require a few different types of rolling stock. I have spent the last few months acquiring the required rolling stock needed. These include two airslide hoppers, two refrigerated boxcars, two corn syrup tank cars, and two regular boxcars. I have also decided to utilize the gondolas I purchased last year for the bottling plant which will serve to transport broken glass for recycling.

For those interested, I am using JMRI for operations. Believe it or not, JMRI works well for such a tiny layout! The prototypical operation is simple. The train arrives with loaded tank cars with corn syrup for the bottling plant and loaded airslides with flour for the bakery. It also brings empty boxcars for the bottling plant and reefers for the bakery. The gondolas won’t be included in every ops session but more at random. The operation itself is the good ole “switcheroo”. This layout can also be used as an inglenook setup for “switching games”.

On a different note, I acquired a few more items, two of which are the aforementioned reefers which I received today. The other items are two vehicles; a ‘97 Ford F150 and ‘96 Ford Taurus, as well as a food concession trailer.

 

[kleiner]

Just caught up with the whole thread about this layout - absolutely love it! I have long had a hypothesis that only small layouts actually get completed and you are clearly proving this point

 

[GuilfordRailman]

Just caught up with the whole thread about this layout - absolutely love it! I have long had a hypothesis that only small layouts actually get completed and you are clearly proving this point

Thanks! It is certainly easier to finish a layout so small. While I would prefer a larger layout, I am enjoying building a “mini” layout

 

[GuilfordRailman]

I have begun weathering the rooftop details and my first results weren’t what I was looking for unfortunately. The technique I tried was taking a piece of sponge material, and dry-brushing or rather “dry-dabbing” the paint on to each piece.

The difficulty came from the fact that some of these pieces are VERY small and I couldn’t apply the paint in a realistic way. Paint would be too thick in some areas and not thick enough in others. I decided it was best to start over so I began removing the acrylic paint with warm water and an old toothbrush. Surprisingly, after some initial scraping, it created a rather unique rusty pattern on some of the pieces.

After some thought on how those pieces now looked, I decided to weather the rest in a similar manner. I think I’ve got the results I wanted

 

[OleSmokey]

Great idea fellow!!

 

[GuilfordRailman]

I’ve just about wrapped up the roof detail weathering. Last thing to do is apply a quick layer of matte clear coat to seal in the acrylic paint.

 

[logandsawman]

I’ve just about wrapped up the roof detail weathering. Last thing to do is apply a quick layer of matte clear coat to seal in the acrylic paint.

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It is noteworthy how realistic the results are from this technique.

Nice work!

 

[GuilfordRailman]

It is noteworthy how realistic the results are from this technique.

Nice work!

Thanks!

 

[GuilfordRailman]

I’ve begun some work on the additional background buildings I decided to build with parts from the used structures I had from the train show. I’ve washed each piece, removed the windows, and sanded the backside smooth in preparation for new windows.

I’ve also applied the first coat of paint for what will be the addition onto the bakery. I decided to go with a sort of mocha brown color with dark brown doors and windows which will be added this weekend.

I wanted to make this structure more 3D as opposed to just a single wall against the edge of the layout so I decided to add some styrene strips along the sides and top to add a small section of roof and side walls which are about 1/4” in width, just enough to fit between the layout edge and bakery spur track.

 

[JeffH]

Isn't it great fun to repurpose stuff? I'm really happy that I got a ton of little bits and pieces of detailing and doo-dads when I bought large lots of train stuff. It good for my aging brain to use my imagination to create something new from all the bits and pieces.

 

[GuilfordRailman]

Isn't it great fun to repurpose stuff? I'm really happy that I got a ton of little bits and pieces of detailing and doo-dads when I bought large lots of train stuff. It good for my aging brain to use my imagination to create something new from all the bits and pieces.

I enjoy it a lot!