Light At the End of the Tunnel

More work completed this weekend. I got the tunnel walls up.

Things are starting to take shape. Finally starting to get some dimension into the layout.

The next steps are to install the profile boards. These will make the perimiter of the layout. In the photo above you can see the line on left that runs along the entire edge of layout. Once the profile boards are up it will essentially turn the layout into a big box with no lid. Then it's time to make the contours of the scenery with balled up newspaper which will create hills and valleys. Then the whole thing gets covered with plaster cloth and paitined. Sounds simple, but actually will probably be a few weekends of work. I need to a roof on each of the tunnels and then build several platforms in various locations around the layout. This is where the town areas will be located.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Chugging Along

You probably thought I forgot about this whole railroad thing. Nope....I've been a-working. I finally finished ballasting the track that will be visible from the tunnel portals. Ballasting you say?? That is the little rocks in between the ties and along the side of the track. Why did it take so long??

This was a pretty tedious process. I used a plastic spoon to initially place the ballast and then used a small dry paint brush to push it around. You have to make sure that you don't have any on the track or the ties, only in between and along side. Once I had it all placed I sprayed it with a 50/50 mix of water and rubbing alcohol. This allows the the 50/50 water and glue mix that I applied with an eye dropper wick down through all the rocks. If you just try to glue without using the alcohol mix the glue with just lay on the surface and not soak down and glue all the little rocks together.

It sounds like a lot of steps, but it's actually one of those things that once you start in and get in the groove it's not all that bad. Once this dries I can start putting up the tunnel walls and start working on the rest of the scenery components.

That's it for now.