10 - Some Progress

As mentioned in the last post the box for the layout kit is huge. We decided to buy a cheap shelving unit to hold all the parts and supplies otherwise we'd be tripping over that box for months. Here's a photo of showing said shelf and a peek at the layout so far.

Yes, as you can see, I've taken over part of the closet. This shelf only holds the foam core elements of the layout and some various other items. On the other side of the room is another, much smaller, bookshelf that has all the scenery items....clump foliage, grass, road tape, etc.

Below is the track plan laid out for the first time. This is just to make sure everything fits and all the track pieces were included. This was actually a breeze to do. In the picture you can kinda see some writing on the white foam base. The foam base has the track plan pre-printed on it as well as numbered starting points for installing risers and track piece list, as well as, measurement reference points at certain spots. It made it super easy to slap the track together.

When the layout is complete it won't be flat like this. See the picture of the finished layout in the first post. The two pieces of curving track on the left will actually be in tunnels. The point, almost in the middle of middle picture, is the only point the tracks intersect. The spot more toward the upper left that that looks like they intersect actually don't. The inner most curve to the left will be elevated and the outer curve will pass under it.

Actually that is the next step to remove the track and start installing the risers that will elevate the track. It's a pretty ingenious system. In the olden days modelers would actually pencil out their track plan on the plywood and were it needed to be elevated they would actually cut the plywood and have to use complicated math to figure the rise and run so as not to create too steep an incline...NO WAY!! A hobby that involves complicated math is no hobby for me. So these foam risers make it super easy. There are flat pieces that come in various heights and incline pieces. All the pieces are notched so that you can bend them around a curve.

Stay tuned for more pics after the riser install.

9 - It's Here, It's Here

The layout kit has arrived! Holy moley it's huge!!

The buildings pack arrived too. Believe it or not this little box has 15 building kits in it. That's alot of gluing, painting and detailing!

8 - Practice Makes Perfect

Well, I don't know about perfect but we'll see. As reported in my last post, the scenery kit arrived, so I cracked it open! Since it arrived and this post I have put the basic "box" together and installed the track sub-roadbed. After I let the glue dry for about 24 hours I used wadded up newspaper to fill in the empty space and create the "topography".

Once all the newspaper was pushed, prodded and shifted around it came time to create the lay of the land, so to speak. I must tell you it was a bit messy but not too difficult.

The kit came with a roll of plaster cloth. I cut five 14" pieces, dipped them in water and draped them over the newspaper them starting on the left to right and back to front. Once the plaster has completely dried I'll be ready to start painting.

Oh yeah...on Saturday we went to The Great Train Expo in Puyallup and picked up a caboose, a boxcar, a flat car and a hopper. We have a "real" train now...well it's still pretty short but it's a start! There were a couple cool layouts to oogle at but other than that it was actually kinda disappointing there was a lot of junk for sale there. Maybe not junk, maybe collectors were excited about some of the stuff, but a lot of it looked like stuff people just didn't want anymore. We bought our stuff new from a Tacoma train store that had a booth. We got pretty good deals. Normal prices were $20-$25 and they were marked down to $13-$18. They're nice cars, metal wheels, lots of detailing, the only thing is they have cheap plastic couplers. I'll have to replace them with metal ones with spring actuators like the ones that are on the locomotive.

The actual layout and buildings kits are supposed to arrive on Tuesday to that will be exciting to finally have all the stuff and actually get started on the real deal!

7 - Choo Choo Is A Rolling

The track pack, loco and scenery kit arrived late last week! I just set up a real basic oval with a turn out to get the party started. It's super cool!!! The scenery kit is not the actual layout kit it is a practice kit that will, hopefully, teach me the scenery techniques.


At least now I can run trains and practice the scenery stuff until the actual layout and buidling kits arrive. I ordered them last week. I just checked the order status and they haven't shipped yet but should be any time!