The easiest  way that I can visualize a scene is to mock it up with the actual structures that will go in it.  Generally I'll glue or even tape together the walls and roof of a structure kit to get a sense of the mass of a building.  Sometimes I'll be happy with what I see and will be able to proceed. Sometimes I won't and I'll need to find another idea.  But most often, I'll be unsure so I'll just leave it alone and move on to something else.

I have just been plugging away at my trackwork on the old SP&S. So far I have completed most of the track from the Brooks Scanlon mill all the way to the mainline. I am still needing to put in the runaround track and scale house track.

I know it will probbaly slow down my productivity on the rest of the layout, but I have run out of track and am really wanting to do some scenery. I have already started on a few structures for one corner of the layout so i figure I will go ahead and do some scenery stuff to scratch my itch.

Here are a few photos:

Yes, I know I'm posting this on Sunday - it's been a bit busy out here so this is likely to be a bit short. 

Friday we didn't do any video interviews, preferring to get set up an discover what was at the show. I was very busy going back and forth between various manufacturers and our photo booth where Charlie Comstock turned models into 3D Click'n'Spin photographs.  

I was asked to go take some photos of the Lego layouts here at the 2011 National Train Show. As I normally do, I went overboard....

We started "construction" of the MRH booth at the National Train Show on Thursday afternoon. Some vendors/manufacturers had been there since Wednesday, and some of the larger ones like Athearn and Walthers had theirs all set up and were gone by the time we got there. 

Okay, Day 4, otherwise known as Thursday, is getting split in two - sort of like Wednesday was. Prior to noon I was at the convention - after noon, it was all Train Show. 

Part of my day on Wednesday was spent on my first ever layout bus tour - I've done the LD-SIG tour before, but those are self-guided ones. I picked this tour for a couple reasons - it only took up one afternoon, so I didn't miss as many clinics as I would have on a full-day tour, and it was the cheapest as well. 

Our first stop was at Scott Robertson's On30 Never Done and Always Changing:

Wednesday at X2011 was a busy day for me - before I really thought about it, I scheduled myself for a bus tour called "The Rocklin Rocket" - six local layouts in six hours, from 1pm to 7pm. The problem with that is that it meant I couldn't go on the Layout Design SIG tour. However, I think the rest of the MRH crew did, so hopefully you'll see the photos from those layouts in their posts. I also discovered when I got here that I'd "won" the lottery to attend a workshop on airbrushing by Scotty Mason - which started at 7pm.

Hello, all,

This is my first post although I've read the blogs and magazine for a couple of years and have learned a ton.  Hope I do this right!

There has been a fair bit of discussion around backlighting and I wanted to post what I have on my simple layout in case it helps anyone else.

I chose to use the RGB flexible led strip lighting as it is reasonably bright but more importantly I can control the color of the light to simulate sunrise, noon, sunset, twilight, etc.  Here is the remote.

Finally got the hidden storage track under the small village at the backdrop started and in place. Access holes were cut and track laid and tested for clearances etc.