Updated 11/15/2015

This bridge has been begging me to be included in my layout. Lately it seems to consume my thoughts so I spent some time with a tape measure and camera but had to go back a couple more times. There are so many little details that I wonder if anyone but me will notice (or care). On the other hand, who am I building this for? Certainly I live in a vacuum so, aside from these posts, it will never really get any scrutiny unless I ask - so here goes.

My sloping ceiling makes for some challenging areas to work on and this is no exception. I wanted the stream or cut to appear as though it goes beyond the modeled area where the line ducks into staging. The foam helps fill the gaps and is hard to reach so before I have the mirrors cut to shape it seemed prudent to give it a look-see. The pieces are scraps from a broken mirror and I hope a shop can cut a hole for the train to pass or maybe some trees can be used to cover the gap. Any suggestions would be helpful here. 

Sometimes you have to be in the mood to paint ... or do wiring, or ballasting, or whatever it is that is not a "preferred" model project. It's not that I don't like painting or soldering, etc but I like to build models or structures, trees, freight cars, - well you know. Painting a backdrop is always something that seems like it should be done before the roadbed or scenery gets started so access is easy but I don't really have a picture in my head of what the area will look like until it gets started. I plan for a living so when I get home it's anything but ...

Haleiwa Hotel

I am really excited about adding a hotel to the branch and found some great pictures for inspiration. The bad news is that O scale is so damned big. The image below might better be on the backdrop OR I just attach the big lanai to the photo at a slightly smaller scale (1:64?) with people inside to give a 3-D effect.

The photo editor doesn't want to let me select so I hope this link works. Select image_7.jpg

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/?q=imce&app=ckeditor%7Csendto@ckeditor_fileUrl%7

Setting my sections up in place took a bit of fussing and maybe should have done the backdrop first!?

Neil

After a long and exhausting journey from Hawaii my family have arrived in Pasadena. We are really excited about the event and I'll share what I see here. The three hour time change makes it challenging to get up in time but we have tomorrrow to get oriented and check out what's being set up for displays, clinics, vendors, and contest entries.

It must have been 85 degrees today so I'm not sure that I'll be up for driving around to layouts. If anyone is here and fels up to driving in this traffic, I'd be more inclined to go with ,or as, a navigator.

OK. I'm in a funk. I've got all these tortoise switch machines that, I assume, can do power routing to my frogs but want to plan for DCC controls of the mainline switches (future JMRI) but really don't feel confident about getting started.

After considering everyone's comments and suggestions thing have been slowly progressing. While the journey is enjoyable, I am eager to get some trains running. Below are some shots of progress to date. 

This seems to be a good spot as any to document construction so may stay here (with exception to my normal diversions). It is changing as I build and learn more. Less is more.

The plan is scaled up from HO to On30 in my 16'x24' room (outside dimensions).

Neil

I suspected that there would be some issues with building sections apart from one another. After some judicious cutting and fitting, it seems that things will be looking good. It may not fit in my space, but another inch or two out of my aisle will only affect me. The side benefit of the lone wolf modeler.