Wait a minute! You fussed and messed around with a couple of lift mechanisms for that section of your layout, and all this time you had a CAR LIFT in your shop?!
Or you could leave that section at a fixed height, and raise/lower the whole rest of the layout!!! That would also be awesome for wiring, installing switch machines, etc. underneath the layout!
Before 5 years ago I never had anyone else work on a car I had. Now with 80 just around the corner I even have someone else change the oil so there hasn't been a car/truck on the lift for about 3-4 years. Still gets used all the time though. Works great for a couple work benches that I can set at convenient heights depending on what I'm doing. Still might get the '48 GMC back on it if I can get a local young fella working on it and he will be the one to inherit it. He is in the 'has two young kids' mode right now. Sumner
Designed, printed and mostly painted a 100' bridge for the layout and have been posting it on here at.... https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/back-country-road-bridge.153056/ Also added it to my website pages here also if you want to bookmark that and will get the print files up soon on thingiverse.com... https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/UP%20Canyon%20Division/page-191.html Sumner
The following was done before designing the bridge that I've already shown. . . I find the paper towels to work really well for at least an initial paper pattern. You can push it down and feel things like the roadbed next to the track and other features like the edge of the layout. I pretty much cut these out and mark the foam using them. If I really want to check things out before cutting the foam I'll use these to make a pattern on a piece of cardboard from a cereal box. Then place it in position and if I like it use it to mark the cut line on the foam. After cutting the foam with a hot wire knife at about a 90 degree angle I come back in with a sculpting hot wire knife and make an angle cut to angle the face of the section before moving on to the next layer of foam that is marked using the new cut line at the top of the foam I just cut. More pictures of that ( HERE ). . If you missed it for a link to the above and then designing and printing the bridge click ( HERE ). Sumner
Coal Mine Track – Part 1... I've dreaded having to work in the next area of the layout. There are long reaches and on one side one has to reach over part of the upper level. I have platforms that I made that are easy to slide around and couldn't of worked this area without them. To accomplish what I'm hoping to do with the coal mine complex all of this track (almost) had to get laid down at some point and it pretty much needed to be now as I need to build the scenery for this area and if it went in first I'd be working around it also. I want to run on this track some before putting the scenery in so I bit the bullet and proceeded on laying track in this area. Later if I have to attend to a derailed train or need to clean the track here all of the hidden track is easy to get to from below. Couldn't of laid it from below but can reach it pretty easy from below. . . The layout creeper above left has really been handy when I've had to go under the layout. Really glad I made it. Likewise with the raised work platforms. I have one for each side. The metal milk crates (from my milkman days) slide easily on the concrete floor from place to place but are really stable when standing on the platform. Working from this side was also hindered by the narrow section of upper level there that will ultimately be replaced with a bridge in that location. Took me two days to lay the track shown on this page. In a different area of the layout I could of probably laid this much track in a day. I've tested these two crossings about as much as I can before installing but still hope they work fine when in use. I installed them and the two turnouts without gluing them down. The track to them is glued down but they aren't. I've done this with the turnouts in the hidden staging and so far it has worked fine. If I need to remove them I can slide the rail joiners back and lift them out. I solder all the joiners on the flex track as it is laid. I have electrical drops on each section of flex track and will add drops to the crossings and the turnouts also since the rail joiners aren't soldered. Since the crossings won't be seen I've tried to do all the wiring on them that needs to be done to transfer current to and from the correct rails so I don't have to once they are installed. Also cut the electrical isolation cuts that are needed on the frogs. I've developed servo control for my turnouts that costs about $10 a turnout and it includes the servo, servo mount, servo controller, frog polarity handling and a switch box to control each turnout. The wiring is not difficult and you have good control over the throw of the servo so that it isn't overloading the throw bar. Also you don't need an Arduino or any other computer or electronic skills vs. the simple wiring and soldering that is required. You can find the information on this ( HERE ) Above 8 servo brackets are at the beginning of a print on the Ender 3 Pro. . Glad to have the track glued down in that area. I don't think there is another area that will be that hard to work in. to be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
High Bridge – Part 1.... Working on the scenery around the coal mine complex that stretches to the upper level I came to the point that I needed to figure out how the nearby canyon would be spanned. So needed to come up with a bridge about 26 inches long that could be place there along with supporting towers. The bridge will have two parallel tracks but they aren't actually a double track mainline. One track is an outbound track to the upper level above the hidden staging that will loop around hopefully by a sawmill there and continue back to the bridge and cross it in the opposite direction and enter a tunnel on that side of the bridge. On the other end of the tunnel the two parallel tracks will separate from each other with one going through a second tunnel and going to the upper level on the other side of the layout. Not prototypical so one will have to use their imagination some in this area as the bridge and the area will represent two different sections of track in theory. . . . We went to Denver over Thanksgiving and I couldn't take the layout there, but could design most of the bridge spans there. . . . . Close to printing the individual spans I need after tweaking the one above some and on to designing and printing the support towers that will be needed. to be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Coal Mine Track – Part 2 & Other.... Continued work on the area around the coal mine complex and where the high bridge will be. . . . . . . . . to be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Shaping Foam Board.... More on shaping foam. Most of these methods I got from watching Dave's videos at Thunder Mountain Studio ( HERE ). I highly recommend them if you are doing 'canyon country' scenery or about any rock work. Love working with the foam board. It is quick, a little messy at times but I find it fun to work with (might change my mind by the time I'm done with it all). . . . . . . . . . to be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
Excellent work! I love how the vertical part of this section of the layout is progressing upward! Some serious elevation!!
this for sure will be a very interesting layout when its finally done (haha oh wait there never done haha ) layouts are like boats always something to work on.......
Don't remind me, had two at the same time to spend a lot of time and money on, but also great times. Still trying to sell one. Then we will be down to a canoe and 4 kayaks (no maintenance, mainly just fun). Sumner
….. a little more info on working with the foam and hot wire cutters... . . I went the cheap route at first and bought a couple hot wire cutters but none where really like the 'router tool' shown above and to the left. It is my go to tool for all the detail work. You can shape the wire for different cutting profiles. I usually have it bent like above with a pretty sharp 90 degree bend on one end and a larger radius bend on the other. Love that tool and would hate to not have it. The Hot Wire Foam Factory tools aren't that expensive but you need a power supply that does add to the cost. I don't believe the cheapest one won't run the router but there is a kit with the router and a single power power supply (vs. their variable power) ( HERE ). I bought that and then the sculpting tool separate along with the 3 inch hot knife. The single power power supply has worked fine for me. I made a three-way power block (see above) for the three Foam Factory tools so I don't have to plug and re-plug them using cheap connectors you can find a number of places. The other black straight wire hot knife came from another source and has its own power supply. I use it some but not much. I highly recommend the Foam Factory cutters I have if you are doing much foam work at all. . to be continued..... A link to this whole build ( HERE ). Sumner
