Bonding with Grandson

[b&l railway]

All together we have 10 buildings from our local town.
My grandson helped add the LEDs, close up the buildings and plugged them all in.

Last week i attached the sidewalk to the buildings in order to run wires from the street lamp posts i added to some of the buildings.

 

[b&l railway]

My grandson is coming over this week so i have to get phase 2 going.

Even though the buildings are all home town businesses, a casual observer wouldn't notice so im adding the town square located on the highest hill in the town. The streets circle around a small park located in the middle of the square.

 

[b&l railway]

Here's the town square. I still need to fabricate the buildings for the square but until then i placed the 10 buildings i have already made around the square.

 

[b&l railway]

For the previous pics i placed various town buildings around the town square. I removed them to add the first town square building...US Post Office.

Here is a close up of the post office. That's our first wire tree.

We now need to make 10 more trees for the grass area in the center. Each tree is different so its going to be a challenge.

After tthat we have eleven more to go. Ten of them shouldn't be too hard but #11 is a very complicated victorian.

 

[trailrider]

For the previous pics i placed various town buildings around the town square. I removed them to add the first town square building...US Post Office. View attachment 271999

Here is a close up of the post office. That's our first wire tree.View attachment 272000

We now need to make 10 more trees for the grass area in the center. Each tree is different so its going to be a challenge.

After tthat we have eleven more to go. Ten of them shouldn't be too hard but #11 is a very complicated victorian.

One nit-picky question: How many stars on the flag at the P.O.? What is your era? Mine is in the early '50's, so I had to find a 48-star flag. Great work on the town square!

 

[b&l railway]

Thanks.

We're making it the current town square but didn't pay attention to the number of stars. 50? I hope?

I make an S scale first to work out the fit and any issues before making the HO scale. I gave the S gauge version to the US post office on Monday.

 

[DeaconKC]

Good for you on all counts!

 

[b&l railway]

My grandson started pointing out everything i missed in Center Square so i added more detail.

I couldn't figure out how to make the wrought iron fence around the cannon.
Then i remembered the plastic cup he left behind after his last visit.

Zoom in on the cannon and see!

 

[b&l railway]

I finished adding the trees to Center Square. I made wire trunk/branches and sprayed them with adhesive and dipped into course green turf.
The evergreen was made with string.

The entire square can be lifted out of the white mat board frame which hides the wires to the lamp posts and buildings.

The white frame just sits on top of the plywood and is also modular so it can be removed from the layout so my grandson and i can make more complicated track plans.

The remaining white areas of the frame are for the remaining buildings. Each building is allocated a 5"x5" square and has 5vdc jack. Buildings can be moved to any 5x5 square.

Buildings can extend beyond the 5x5 square and when it does, foam board is added and attached to the white frame.

 

[b&l railway]

Buildings can extend beyond the 5x5 square and when it does, foam board is added and attached to the white frame.

The post office extended beyond the 5x5 inch square so i added foam to the white platform which hides the wires for the town square.

I then used doll rods to make sure the foam would be even to the top of the white platform.

The foam has been shaped to butt up against the track that's at 2% grade.
Since the town square is modular and can be moved and adjusted to a different track plan, i will be able to remove the foam and cut another piece as required for the new location.

 

[b&l railway]

Im finding the hobby is less about trains and more about the scenery.
Here’s my layest paper building...the Moravian church in the town square.

This was most difficult build to date.

 

[b&l railway]

I added bushes and a LED and integrated the church with rhe town square on the train layout. It looks really nice.