Don’t close on the new house until February 14th. Have plans drawn for the new layout but itching to start construction. Plan to box in a back corner of the garage to cut down on dust and that I am able to climate control.
Gasp! That’s … that’s … that’s a lot of styrene! But bless you Dr Wayne for helping keep the good folks at Evergreen in business.
Dave Nelson
PS the punster in me can’t help note that if you are going to “stall” on a project, what better project for stalls than a roundhouse? [A]
Sounds like a good plan to prepare the room for the layout before building. No basement? How big is the layout area going to be?
I knew I would have at least a year after closing before I could start on my layout. Looks like it’s going to be around 18 months but the house was neglected and bank owned when we bought it and we knew there was going to be a lot of money and time invested from the git-go.
[quote user=“riogrande5761”]
rrinker
riogrande5761
Not being able to build a layout because the basement isn’t finished yet and it’s a big job. That’s what is eating at me for about a half a year now.
As my British wife says, just “soldier on”.
Change it to almost 5 years. Oh and first I have to “unfinish” the basement, and I’m right there.
–Randy
What do you mean unfinish it? Do you have to rip out drywall?
We are making good progress. The frustration is it’s a bit like “a watched pot never boils” - the pot does boil but sometimes perception is it takes a lot longer than we would like and we get impatient.
Aug - Oct 2018: Electrical, plumbing and pre-rough inspection stuff was completed while other working was being done on the house and taking precident.
Nov: Permit to finish acquired.
Early Dec: started drywalling:
Early Jan: most walls drywalled:
Those beams and vents boxed in on the ceiling (seen
What’s driving me crazy right now? I’ve been opening up manufacturer’s original boxes containing HO RTR or built kits of rolling stock, safely stored, only to find broken detail parts, couplers off, etc. Looks like I have my work cut out for me and I hope that I have enough glue to get it all back into place on the models! [sigh]
Yeah. Coming home every night waiting for my track and it’s not there[:S][:(]
TF
Well,I retired 6 years ago with grand visions of a large version of the Western Maryland Thomas Subdivision. One thing led to another and I finally got a new building constructed, wired, heated, ACed and finished last May. It’s 14x16 rather than the planned 20x30 but I can live with that.
What’s driving me nuts is the pace I’m making on the layout. I have the benchwork up and all the cork down and sanded. My work bench is done and the paint booth awaits a new blower. It seems every time I start working something gets in the way. Allergies, bad back, family obligations and a ton of other things. Seems like every time I make plans to get out there something comes up! Just can’t win! But it still beats the daily grind of the airline and aircraft!
oldline1
Well, if I was going to let something drive me crazy, like Wayne said, it would be a short walk.
But, I’m pretty calm and pragmatc most of the time.
I would like to get started on the actual layout construction, but work is really busy, and the track plan is not quite done - hope to finish that up real soon. I’m expecting to be able to begin benchwork in the spring.
My new to me basement is unfinished, well it has painted block walls and a painted floor…
I do plan to install some sort of ceiling system, like a drop ceiling but different…more on that later. I would never install drywall on a basement ceiling of house I plan to live in - it is an invitation for repairs that require cutting holes in it…
And I will not be framing any walls, or installing any drywall. What would that accomplish other than subtract nearly a foot from the length and width of the space?
The layout will be around virtually all the walls, and I will install backdrop material on furring strips, or directly on the block walls from the benchwork up.
No need for insulation down there, the whole basement is below grade, it is comfortably warm in winter, and cool in summer just the way it is.
Ready to get started as soon as time allows…
Sheldon
Great! It looks like a nice clean and dry area.
I did the furring strip, only from the layout up, not all the way down, insulated between the strips, because the top two courses of block are above grade. From there down it’s poured concrete. I figured the extra little bit of insulation wouldn’t hurt, than I drywalled it, and finished it, and painted the back drop on that.
I only WISH I would’ve done the ceiling.
Mike.
I was right smack in the middle of installing my small roundhouse when I had to stop for a vacation trip to China. I left it just a bit further along than this:
Two weeks left before I get home to continue work.
TIME, the lack thereof! [:(]
Um, don’t you have a tracking number for your track?
Nearly all shippers provide them these days. Hope it arrives today!
Cheers, Ed
What’s driving me crazy is that my signaling system all of a sudden started showing wierd signals aspects (green over green, green over yellow). Founnd out it’s actually an issue with my digitrax command station. Apparently I have somehow overload the buffer in it. It’s also having a hard time consisting for some reason. Since its 22 years old now I’m not sure a trip back to digitrax is going to help. I was able setup a temporary stand alone loconet minus the command station and everything worked perfectly. Now I need to decide if I want to separate the block detection and signaling from the actual train control DCC and have two isolated loconet connections or upgrade to a new command station.
Have you looked into firmware upgrades, Renegade? I was having trouble getting my Duplex throttles and UR92s to play nice then I sat down and went through the firmware upgrade procedure one night and that solved a whole lot of problems.
http://www.digitrax.com/downloads/
or
https://www.dccguy.com/?p=4398
I don’t know if this will help you with your exact problem but it might be worth looking into.
Good Luck, Ed
Not real nuts, but enough to get me going on it. A caboose shortage. The track is all in and working, I’ve been enjoying running trains. There is room for 6 trains in staging. Only 3 cabeese on the layout, and 4 box shaker kits in storage. So today, (Wed) I got 'em out, glazed the windows, put Kadees and metal wheels on them and got 'em on the rails.[:)]
Dr Wayne: Those Korber Roundhouses leave a lot to be desired, don’t they? I framed mine up with tight grained wood cut on a table saw. Expanded to 6 stalls, it’s not complete, but is in use on the layout. My roof is removable in 2 sections; the front section and the larger rear section. Dan
You’ll probably gey your T1 before I get my BP20.
Last basement progress photo’s was from about a month ago, here are current:
Trying to find good running D&H locomotives for less than $60!?
There are a couple on Ebay right now, Athearn, Atlas.
Mike.
For trains or in general? If trains, getting each piece of track wired with feeders. I hate wiring! At least I have a process for doing it that makes sense to me.