Plans for Tomorrow

I might have to work late, but I plan on starting around 7:00 pm.  My goal is to finish sanding all the sections which is the three that are left.  Once this is done, we can begin cutting foam with the new cutter.

What fun!

Train night is at my house on Wednesday.  May not be many here, but we'll see.  We may work on the Dixie or the Swamp.

Industry & Structure Requirements - Updated

Industry & Structure Requirements

Wow, do these photos suck.  I took them way too fast.  However, each of these structures is headed to the shop for details and weathering so I'll reshoot them later.  Sorry about the blurry ones.

I've added a new INDUSTRIES & STRUCTURES column to the left.

 

Crossing

My buddy Concrete Keith showed up with a Walther's Code 83 30 degree crossing for my railroad!  How nice of him. 

Another piece of track for the pile!  This will be the first piece down, I'm sure.

Rolling Stock Aquisition Roster - Photos

I've just added a Rolling Stock Roster list in the side bar with a link to the photographs of the car.  I'll update this roster as we progress.  Several of the cars are being shopped for repairs, upgrades and weathering.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh Sandy, Baby!

Today's lesson Grasshopper....one is wise to take time to cut properly, then not have to sand his mistakes away.

- Cornfutious

Ok, so if you take time to make carefully accurate cuts, you won't spend time machining the wood down with a belt sander.  Tonight's episode is just that.  Machining wood to spec.  Yuck.  Cough Cough.

Section Three was carefully clamped down to the operating table.

 

As you can see from this photo there is a tiny lip of luan here.  This occurs in spots all around the section, however this particular shot is of a very bad lip.  I'll use my Skil belt sander to sand this off.  This is luan, remember so we'll wear safety glasses and a dust mask to keep this nasty sawdust out of our eyes and lungs.

The Eraser!  Makes mistakes vanish in thin air!  Cough Cough.

The before example....1/8" mistake in the cut and assembly.

The after shot...a nice smooth and flat finish for mounting!

After 40 minutes of sanding all the way around the module, flipping it once during the process, I've got nicely smoothed sides.  Cough cough.  Damn, this dust.  Even the vacuum is not helping.

I'll have to do this to the other sections as well...hope to get one or two done on Tuesday so that we can cut foam and build sides on Wednesday.  Some of the guys are coming over.

Foam on Section Three

I'm going to start the foam scenery on Section 3, the Tybee Island section.  This appears to be the easiest.  There is a 2" slab and 1" slab (3") that covers the base and a 2" and 1" slab (to 6") that make up the Maritinez turntable.  There is a 2% grade along the length of the section for the mainline, and spurs are level.

Click On To Enlarge

I went through all of the elevations and made some changes.  First of all I had calculated all of the elevations from the top of a 2" foam base.  This makes assembly calculations difficult, so I recalculated them all to measure from the top of the wood section.  Next, I re-adjusted all of the elevations so that the joints were on easy numbers so that I can cut wood support blocks for the track.

Since I keep referring to the sections, I've put in the section numbers as well.

Tonight I'm going down to the basement to finish off Section 3 and then maybe cut the foam.  With the exception of the turntable, the rest of this section is very easy.  The turntable maybe the last track section I install.

Here is the modified drawing that I'll be working with for Section 3.