Just watch where the tools go...

Dear Bindle,

We've all been there...

The structures and suchlike aren't the biggest issue however,
you gotta watch for the errant tools and other metal objects which are likely to be inadvertently left lying accross the tracks during such work sessions,

which are then forgotten, even after the "obvious items" are removed from the track,

and then manifest as a "where is that (darn it) short circuit the Booster is complaining about?"

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Mad

We seem mad because we lost our sanity a long time ago.  Just ask our spouses...

Terry

A bindlestiff

Aran,

I ran across this some time ago and thought I would share it with you. Thought you might want it for an "avatar".

Thanks for a Good Idea

I'll try to get it done.  I just watched "Emperor of the North" for the umpteenth time and I'm looking forward to setting up my Woodland Scenics hobo camp.  To me the name reflects the irony of having a hobby that requires years and years to bring  a substantial layout into completion while the pace of modern life moves us around from one place to another.

Glad you could use it

Hi Aran,

My progress is quite slow as well. A combination of age, lack of physical discipline, "analysis paralysis" and a tight pocketbook, but I am making some progress and it is fun. Having come across the MRH last year really has inspired me. I really admire the capabilities of others here and really enjoy seeing their results. They are an inspiration.

Aran don't forget

Take an Air brush and turn it down to the finest point you can a then on all your Water Tanks paint:

(A No 1) on the inbound sides of the Water tanks.

Maybe some custom

Maybe some custom decals....in the mean time I used the airbrush to give the sidewalks a coat of Floquil concrete. 

A lot of blue masking tape and a bit of printer paper and now 

Roads and sidewalks completed.  The white blocks are screwed to plywood base.  My structures "clip" on to them securely and yet are easy to remove.  Earlier I glued a styrene "fin" to the underside of the sidewalks so that I could glue the bases of the Atlas fence to it.  The fence is now removable for painting and can also be "clipped" back in once the bases are concealed with a little caulking, paint and ground cover.

More complete that it has ever been

A new coat of Woodland Scenics green grass (hey they are lawns), the buildings put back, some Preiser and WS people glued down, street lights and a few period vehicles on the roads 

Of course more to do but I think I'll runs some trains! 

I call this "Overhill Road".  The gray house was "kitbashed" from an old Life-Like kit and kind of reminds me of a neighborhood where we used to live in El Sobrante, California.  (That's me standing in front.)
 

The houses on Front Street are kind of reminiscent  of the house that I spent my childhood in. Of course I make sure that I view my memories through rose colored glasses. Afterall that was the Canadian Prairies and they have six months of winter.  Go Canucks!

WOW

Nicely done! How deep is the scene in the first picture? Is it on a point or peninsula of your layout?

I do love urban scenery.

Glad you like it. The urban

Glad you like it. The urban scene is on a peninsula approximately 6'6" by 14'6".  A rear corner of my layout is visible in the second photo. 

One summer vacation (from school that is) started with finding a couple hundred pieces of shirt cardboard.  My best friend and I had a great time transforming it into a city with a post office, a city hall, department stores,  a courthouse, houses, etc., etc.  I guess that's why 30% of my layout is taken up by a city - Bayport, with a tip of my cap to John Allen.

Thanks for the info

That is about the same number of square feet of my entire train room. As I said nicely done.

Careful Modeling, Bob

Thanks for the link to your photos.  It looks like very careful modeling to me.  Kalmbach published an excellent book of plans and descriptions by Iain Rice a number of years ago.  I think the title was "Small. Smart and Sensible Layouts", something like that anyway.  My own plan started with the "Pennsy Middle Division layout plan that was a series in Model Railroader a decade or so ago. It got larger and more complicated but that was it's inspiration, as well as the desire to do something like George Sellios though obviously I have a different sense of style.