Paul, you have wet my appetite!

Thanks for the introduction - your railroad sounds neat.  I'm looking forward to pictures and following your progress!

Retirement projecte--a few pics

Some of the initial benchwork.

Retirement project pics

The foam is on (glued to the luan)! Initaily I used a simple carpet knife to cut the foam, then a boning knife, and finally settled on a 1" breakoff blade setup. It allowed me to cut through the 2" foam with little effort ( even curves). It is a wicked tool however and I feared accidental amputations! the roadbed is 1/2" foam on 1/4" luan supported by pieces of the 2" foam. Track will be glued onto the foam after it painted brown.

More pics

nice start

just keep plugging away.  I need to catch up as I am just now getting my time to play back from studying all the time.

I Play With Trains

Retired Feb 2008, i play with trains 24/7. I am now busier than when I was working. Now have no excuses not to help people with there trains. 

Visit the Grande pacific Model RR.

I'll bet it feels good to be

I'll bet it feels good to be building something again. Thanks for sharing.

Rob in Texas

Yes!

Update on retirement project

Hi!  Back again after a long hiatus!  I realize I have neglected this blog!

 

 The scenery is now partially complete with ground paint and rough ground foam applied.  Need to make more ground foam, then trees!mm,

A few pics of progress so far...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Initial regret!

 The track was glued onto the 2" foam..that works but proved to be a pain when it came time to install additional turnouts (made using Fasttracks jigs)  I much prefer the homasote base as well, it is rigid allowing above bench work controls and hand spiking for fined just adjustments.  I cut homasote pads into turnout size, and removed the corresponding foam where needed.  That has worked just great!.   (I avoided the homasote initially because of the dust, but have discovered an undulating razor blade for my jigsaw that resolves this issuie)

 

 

 

Pics of turnout installation pads and controls

 

 

 

Another regret.

 

I planned to put on the fascia with a 1" lip when further along.  That was a mistake.  The sound of one of my engines(not one of the brass ones) hitting the laminate flooring created much heartache, but forced the decision to make the fascia immediately.  I plan to redo when scenery is applied so the fascia follows it) but felt the small investment in 1/4" Masonite was well worth it!

 

 

 

Successfully negotiated an expansion to the layout room (framed, wired, and  sheet rocked)and have recently completed the lower level bench work  (this time with homasote!)and track work.  While the main room is dedicated to HOn3 with std gauge as an afterthought, the new section contains only std.  No scenery is applied yet..that is the next step.

 

 

 

 

Having gotten the majority of the track work done I was much more comfortable bringing out my old brass engines.  Of course they are all DC so I have been adding sound to them.  So far my RGS41 (Key C19) and RGS 74( west side K27).  I remember being extremely frustrated when I first got them due to their poor electrical pickup.  What a great addition to the hobby is the current keeper/keep alive!  The run superb noww!

 

 

 

 

P

 

 

 

Model Railroad hobbyist has been a fantastic resource.  When I have a question or simply want to validate my approach, the answers are but a keystroke away.  Strangely enough, someone posts a question I was about to pose before I can get to it! 

 

Hope to remember to keep this updated better than I have so far!

 

 

Grinding foam for ground cover etc

 

 

X 

Had to adjust a radius

So added several tracks, and a tunnel.  Got the rock work done. Just a few trees so far.

Looks great!

Paul- at first glance I thought that was a prototype photo. The ground foam looks pretty good. Have you tried freezing the foam first? Someone posted that it grimes a much finer product. 

Neil

Thanks

What a great compliment!

i have tried the "freeze the foam" approach.  It works, but I still get better results with my wire wheel. 

Thanks again!

Another. Hill or two!

 i

now we plant a few trees and shrubs!

Making furnace filter trees

What fun!  Made lots, and plan to make more!

trees planted!

You betcha'

Looking real good Paul.

Thanks

Thank you Rick S!  I appreciate the feedback!

Granddaughters make great trees!

what fun...

Boiler weight

Weighted my K27 with tungsten welding rods, and wow what a difference!  

Planting trees at Fort J

 Proud granddaughter planting the latest crop she made!  And

That's a look of pride!

 I

Adding mountain tops to the layout!

The winter has thankfully forced a shutdown of landscape activities here, so decided to add the needed mountain tops to the Fort J railroad.
The first one is a Stand up access area, but I decided I can cover it with a removable scenery section since is is still accessible from below.

First I made a 1 1/2" foam base that fits the opening, then removed it as the area is difficult to reach. I glued pieces of 1 1/2" foam using 'great stuff' to roughly form the shape I wanted, filled in the gaps and let it cure. A large razor worked well to carve the Rock faces etc

A base coat of dark walnut latex wall paint was applied, then lighter colors of brown dappled on. Finally white just dry brushed on the sharp Rock outcroppings gave me a good base.

Brown tempura was amply sprinkled onto the surface which had a coat of spray adhesive, then several varied dry pigments.
A heavy dabbing of brown tinted caulking provided a good adhesive base for my brown landscape foam (made from dyed cushion foam using a white wheel).

Spray paint is then misted over selected areas, green foam sprinkled on and. We are ready for some furnace tree pines!

This looks like a tonne of

This looks like a tonne of fun!

The lightweight mountain is a great idea. And thanks for the foam insight, noted!

Trees planted

Furnace filter pines and sedum deciduous finish the new top.  Done working on this until I make a curved trestle and carve out the area to install it.