I started on building my first ever layout… oh… in April of 2005… give or take a month. Here’s a shot from back then. Impressive huh!!
I really didn’t know what I was doing, but I kept muddling along with the help from you guys. I had a vague idea about backdrops so I started adding one of those.
I tried to keep a little diversion over on the side, just to keep in touch if you know what I mean…
With the back drop in place it was time to put on a sealer coat of paint…
Ahhhh… blue foam. I didn’t know at the time how much of this stuff I’d be getting.
I experimented with tunnels and mountains and inclines, trying to figure out the best way to go about building this thing.
and I kept adding tables and peninsulars. Funny how these things keep growing.
Finally, it was in this configuration… although some of the spurs have been either deleted or changed in some way.
Now, I’m starting to work on some of the basic scenery such as hills, inclines etc.
Of course, theres a lot of photos of the wiring that were left out. That’s stuff we don’t see, right?
And this is about where I am today. I realize you can’t tell much about it from the picture but believe me, it’s come a long way and still has a long way to go.
You are a most patient and methodical man, JaRRel. It pays, though, because your work is excellent and interesting. You must be close to the plaster cloth/sculptamold/Hydrocal stage. That goes by quickly enough, and then the paint and ground foam stage goes flying past…or so it has seemed to me.
Of course, that means the trains have to be put away for a while so that you can cover the tracks in preparation for all this next stuff…unless you can leave them in a separate area. I hope you had/have fun.
Selector, I am doing some plaster cloth work now and trying to get Sculptamold to behave itself and do right. It’s been a learning experience all the way and, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I can see where I could be much further along than I am now if I would buckle down and work consistently at it, but I keep stopping… sitting down and watching trains go roundy round. Sometimes I even make pickups and deliveries to a shoe box representing some industry.
Heck. I may never finish at this rate.
Thanks for all your help over the last couple of years.
Yay! I looked in a half-hour ago, and some of the photos were the pcarrel little white squares with red x’s. (Remember his signature graphic?) Much better now. Anyway, it’s great to see this, particularly since you and I have been going at it for about the same length of time. It’s a great learning process, huh? I like your photo essays of the evolution of your line.
Lol… oh yes, I remember his famous red X’s. I thought I had the system on posting pictures down pat but I guess I still have a thing or two to learn.
Andy Rooney?! We probably just look like kin but we’re really not… [:)]
Yes, the trip so far has been fun. Tonight I added a, what some may call a very unprototypical spur under the bridge, but I have seen one done this way before. Besides, I’m scrabbling tryin’ to get more industries on this little pike. Gotta have somebody to deliver the goods too!
jarrell , the layout is looking great !
i too had problems with some of your pictures , but i found if i right clicked on the box where the picture was supposed to be , then scrolled down the pop-up menu to “view image” it loaded anyway and i could see the photo , so it seems the link to the photos is correct but for some reason they don’t show up
First, let me compliment you on your progress - everything looks great. Second, I think your benchwork plan is perfect…it looks exactly like mine. I call it a big letter E. Obviously you’re light years ahead of me because mine is still on paper, but I do have one of those 4 x 8 thingy’s off to the side that I practice on.
My track plan is not terribly different from yours but then the benchwork kind of dictates much of that. I swear I didn’t copy - I came up with my plan all on my own, after weeks of drawing, tearing up, re-drawing…etc.
I only hope mine looks as good as yours when I reach that point. I guess great minds do think alike! Ow, I just hurt my arm patting myself on the back…I hate when that happens.
Sometimes I’d like to speed up progress a little, and sometimes I think I’d start making major errors. More than the ones I’ve already made. I’m still carving foam right now and probably will be for a good while…
