Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Train Show

This weekend I glued the foam to the board. It is now well affixed and ready for a centerline. So, now I have to commit to a trackplan.

Also, this weekend I went to the annual local train show at the fairgrounds. It was pretty sweet. A couple of years ago I went to this show and there was very little N Scale to see. This year, nearly half the show was N Scale. There was plenty to look at and a lot of great ideas. I really should have taken my camera, but I didn't think of it before I left for the show.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Foam.

Today, I finally got around to trimming the 2" foam upon which the model will be built.
I wanted pink extruded foam which is apparently easy to find in some parts of the country. In my neck of the woods - impossible. After having several hardware store guys (including a friend of mine) stare at me like I had asked for the results of an alien autopsy, and visiting multiple stores, I decided that extruded foam must not be part of the building code in California. So, I went with insulation foam that I have used before. It crumbles a lot, but it will do.

I thought that I had plenty of Liquid Nails, but I am out. While the foam is trimmed and ready to go, it is not yet securely attached to the door. Maybe tomorrow or Tuesday.

This is the foam I am using.

The foam on the door from the end.
Close up of the foam on the door.

My kitten checking out the crumbled foam before I vacuumed.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Shelving

Today, I nearly completed the benchwork by buying and putting together wire shelving and placing the door on top. As you can see in the pictures, the foam for the top of the table has not yet been added, but is ready when I get the time. Hopefully the foam will be installed one evening this week.

Here are some pictures of the simple train table. Notice, my cats are very interested in the new structure.

My Door

A week ago I went to Home Depot to buy a door. I asked the salesman in the door department if he could make a deal on a damaged door. He could not. He said that they cannot make a deal unless it is the last door available, which it never will be because they constantly order new doors.
Anyway, I bought one at full price which was still reasonable at a little over $20.


Pictured above is the new door on the floor. Below, a close up of a small train on the door. Pictured is easy track, though the actual layout will not be easy track. I have this so I can run a train while in the early stages of design and construction.

New Layout

I have decided to start a new layout on a 36" hollow core door. The building will likely be slow.
That said, I will document the creation of my layout on this blog. While I take the Western Pacific Feather River Route as my main inspiration, I will be freelancing this layout.

I was inspired to consider using an interior door because of Jim Cullen's amazing layout at Chartiers . If you are interested in N Scale on a small scale, check that site out.

So, here we go.