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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    The river area continues to progress. I started with a dark brown base coat of paint along the river bank, then along the river bottom. Around the sandbar and beach areas, I applied an extra thick coat of paint and then applied the sand. The sand is actually ballast from a hobby supply store...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Spackling Complete Tonight, we got around to doing the final coat of spackling for the river bottom texture. We went through much more of it than I was planning to and hopefully, the end result is worth it. It doesn't look like much now, but paint will make things look more realistic...at least...
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    Two New Engines To The Fold: Kato & Athearn

    Yep, HO. I was able to find the Kato on the web at a pretty reasonable price ($100 off MSRP). The Athearn was purchased through a local hobby store as a gift for my son, who's helping me with a layout project. I've been very impressed with both engines so far, but the Athearn is a little...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Good to know you guys are making the white bead board work for your layouts. Maybe I'm not on the wrong "track" so much after all? I'm planning on working on the layout some again tonight and will post more pics afterwards. Dang, this model railroading gets in your blood!:cool:
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    Two New Engines To The Fold: Kato & Athearn

    You're right Tony, the Athearn is the first picture and the Kato is at the bottom. As good as I heard Kato engines were supposed to be, the Athearn runs very smoothly, at least out of the box.
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    Two New Engines To The Fold: Kato & Athearn

    Several weeks ago, we ordered a couple of new engines to add to the stable. The first is a Kato Mid SD40-2 and the second is an Athearn AC4400CW. Both in in the BNSF livery, which look very good on each. We ran them for a few minutes over the weekend and my overall impression of each was good...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    My understanding is that extruded foam is smaller celled and higher density than the white foam. It's supposedly easier to shape and sand if you're going to make hills and scenery out of the stuff. That makes sense as when I was cutting out the river area, at times, larger chunks would come out...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Thanks for your feedback Beach and Bruette. I did a ton of research before starting this, but completely screwed the pooch when it came to buying foam. Had the white junk home and cut before I realized my mistake. With this being my first layout, I wanted some expansion flexibility built in...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Starting On The River Since I'm still waiting for more electrical supplies to arrive at our home, I decided to start working on the river portion of the landscaping this weekend. The river path was cut through the foam with a sheet rock saw to give the appearance of a jagged shore line. We used...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Our seldom used pool table provides a nice base for the new layout. It is 9’ by 5’ and is constructed with 5/8” CDX plywood joined with 1” by 4” boards underneath. I built a partial frame of the 1” by 4” boards allowing the layout to fit snugly within the bumpers of the pool table, which...
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Appreciate the input Tony. I don't think I'll be putting the layout back against the wall for now because of the access issue. It's sort of "mobile" because it's mounted on an old pool table.
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    New 9'x5' HO Layout

    Greetings, First, let me say that I've been browsing this site for several months now getting ideas for the layout that my son and I are embarking on. We (Santa) bought him a Life Like elevated rails set for Christmas 2013. After having fun with it for a while, he decided that it was time to go...
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