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OK Hogger
Fireman
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Posted - 03/25/2021 : 12:03:10 AM
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Bob:
Thanks for letting me know this may be a widespread issue with the #701 "Sierra Boomtown" scene. I was fully intending to try again and hope for a scene from a better run. Darn.
I liked the way that distant town would have conveyed the idea of a town for me without me feeling the need to represent the feel of a town in 3D within the confines of the small closet diorama I'll have to work with for my town of Redcloud. Darn again!
I have some ideas on what I can do using my photo software, but I suspect trying those ideas will end up waiting their turn in the big scheme of things. Without intending to, I've fooled around and got a really big list of summer of tasks I want to get completed throughout the warm months, such as...
* Ozark layout: Accomplish the track revision, install the backdrop boards and paint them a basic sky color, install lighting and valance for same, then fascia.
* Motorcycles: Start the restoration of my final vintage cycle project, attend to some minor issues with the wife's vintage motorcycle, etc.
* Colorado layout: Continue to amass the needed items, and after the Ozark layout goals above are completed, start reworking the existing bench work to accommodate the track plan, lay the track, and wire same as I progress. Colorado layout goal: 100% functional by year's end or bust!
Andre
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OK Hogger
Fireman
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 Posted - 03/25/2021 : 4:10:53 PM
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I've finished my track plan by sketching in some scenery ideas along with the final track plan:
The above is very small to fit the formatting of this forum. Below you'll find a link to a very large version of the above:
http://www.vscalecreations.com/CnP/CnP_Ver1_3.jpg
All fer now!
Andre
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 03/25/2021 : 11:30:17 PM
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Andre,
You drew a nice plan. It looks doable.
Mike
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Country: USA
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railman28
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 12:35:36 AM
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Nice plan, do-able and not too costly. You can lower the cost by building the yard on the right as staging.
Bob
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It's only make-believe
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Country: USA
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CNE1899
Engine Wiper
Supporting Member
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 07:07:41 AM
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Andre,
I like the plan. I like the drawing.
Scott
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Bernd
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 09:11:29 AM
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Very nice plan Andre. I think it fits your TOC19 era wonderfully.
Bernd
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| New York, Vermont & Northern Rwy. - Route of the Black Diamonds |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 4007 |
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OK Hogger
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 11:11:55 AM
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Hi Guys! Thanks for your input! In response I'll type a novelette containing some replies and a lot of drivel. SO, let me make like a frog and hop to it!
Mike:
Thanks for the kind words on my little plan.
"Doable":
When designing a layout, I often have a propensity to consume switches like candy. In this case, I figured to get what I wanted in the space I had, was going to consume switches. What I wasn't ready for was how many curved switches it would take to fit in the elements I want. Shinohara code 70 curved switches are not easy to find and expensive when you do. Fortunately, I was able to go to a supplier in the UK I've used in the past for same, and they had just enough "Left Curved" in stock to fill the bill. Alas, those were shipped the first week of March, arrived in Chicago(?) March 11th, and I've not seen any updates to the tracking since. This would be terrible blow if they've been mishandled and lost.
Bob:
"Doable 2":
At 24 switches it's not going to be as expensive as some of the past layout's I've built. (One consumed almost 80 switches!) So, like you, I think it's plenty "doable". ("Not going to be as expensive". HA! I spent over $300 dollars on curved switches ALONE!)
Closet Stage:
Originally, I intended to do what you suggest: Use the closet for a fiddle stage. As time passed and I mulled it over, I felt that, given the small space I have to work with, even small towns were going to be at a premium. Well, the closet offered me to ability to have another town scene if desired. I desired, so I decided to make it a "scenic-ed" fiddle stage! The actual town of "Redcloud" will be on the "Sierra Boomtown #701" backdrop, so other than the depot and the engine house (of some sort), I won't have to fit in 3D town structures.
By the way, I've done some experimenting with the faded look of the "Sierra Boomtown #701" backdrop and I think I'm going to be able to mute the scene transitions with Grand Central Gem's "Pine Trees". By hiding the transition seams, it diffuses the "faded" look of the boomtown scene so that the impression of "distance" is conveyed. (Insert "Thumbs Up" icon here.) Also, I have definitely decided against the "Mountains To Desert" transition scene that was to be on the right of the closet diorama. When I originally conceived it, I thought of the Colorado Springs "Garden Of The Gods" and how quickly the land transforms into the ruggedness of Ute Pass. (CM Rwy.) Well, that's because there's nothing but prairie to the east!
On my "theoretical" line, the prairie of eastern Colorado is over hundred miles away to the east. Plus, I wanted the entire layout to convey the "feel" that it was smack-dab in the middle of the worst part of the Conejos Brazos mountains. The "Mountains to Desert" scene didn't reinforce that "feel". Fortunately, I now have two (yup, TWO) NIB "Tall Timber #702's on the way! (THANK YOU Mark!) Having three #702's on hand means one of them I can cut up use as a small "filler" section needed to completely cover the backdrop board that will be in the closet diorama.
Scott:
Thanks! I enjoyed designing it and the squiggles (rocks faces) and stars (spruce/evergreen trees) help convey on paper what my mind is "seeing". Designing track plans is a fun side-hobby for me. I've designed dozens of layouts that will never be built!
Bernd:
Thank you very much, Bernd! In spite of its small package, the layout delivers almost all of my most desired features.
The Layout:
This layout design definitely reflects one of my priorities for a TOC19 layout: "Helpers" in some form. Having "helpers" on a flat and high (58" track level) bench work within 9'6" x 12'6" is a tall order! (If you'll pardon the pun!) There's just not enough real-estate for a mainline of any significance to go up, over, and back down a "divide" with a contiguous main. Switchbacks to the rescue! The "boring an obstinate tunnel" idea supplied me the needed "reason" for switchbacks. Win-win.
It also gives me another very important priority: A TOC19 theme set among lofty mountains and pointy trees. Though I can, and do, appreciate ANY TOC19 theme (and a layout reflecting same), the TOC19 theme that has consistently melted my butter are my designs that contain lofty mountains with pointy trees. Such places like the Cascades, the Sierra's, Montana (and the like)... but especially... the Rockies of Colorado (many places) and/or New Mexico (i.e. Chama to Cumbres/Toltec Gorge).
SO... this little micro-layout is the best I can do. BUT, you know what? A small, "doable", TOC19 layout on which to run and enjoy my TOC19 model trains is FAR better than a TOC19 empire that only exists in my mind!
All fer now!
Andre
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Uncle Pancakes
New Hire
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 1:17:56 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by OK Hogger
Bob:
* Motorcycles: Start the restoration of my final vintage cycle project, attend to some minor issues with the wife's vintage motorcycle, etc.
Andre
Andre:
What are you working on???
Ted
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| "there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles" A. Lincoln |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 10 |
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OK Hogger
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 6:53:25 PM
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Hi Ted!
My "thing" is vintage enduro bikes, or "vinduro" bikes as I call them.
This summer's project will be a full restoration of this bike:
The above bike is a Czechoslovakian bike. It's a 1973 "CZ 175 Trail". It will pretty much need a ground up restoration.
Last summer I got this trio cleaned up, repaired, and running:
What you're looking at, front to rear:
1971 Zundapp GS125 (West Germany)
1973 Yamaha AT3 125 (Japan. Wild Child the wife's.)
1972 DKW GS125 (West Germany)
Got a big summer ahead of me, but that's the way I like it: No time to get bored!
Andre
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 8:07:45 PM
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Your bikes look really snazzy. They look really practical and fun to ride.
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OK Hogger
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 8:32:24 PM
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Hi Mike!
I super enjoy small bore ("tiddler") vintage enduro-type bikes. All of the above are tagged/insured so we can ride them wherever they are capable of being ridden. (i.e. Seeing as they're 125cc bikes, keep 'em off big highways!) The wife purchased her own (the little blue Yamaha) and likes it better than the larger bike (225cc) she rides when we ride our "modern" bikes.
I will often just pull one of mine out of the garage, and just simply putt around the neighborhood or around town. Of course, we also take them on all day rides on the forest roads/etc out in the mountains.
Here's pic of Wild Child the wife from our ride this past Tuesday.
I think we rode our little tiddler's 70+ miles that day. It was a GREAT day to be out in the mountains aboard a bike!
Andre
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 03/26/2021 : 9:14:35 PM
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Looks like a lot of fun.
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7497 |
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CNE1899
Engine Wiper
Supporting Member
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Posted - 03/27/2021 : 8:33:12 PM
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Andre,
Nice picture! Sure does look like a good day to ride.
Scott
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OK Hogger
Fireman
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Posted - 03/27/2021 : 8:59:25 PM
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Mike:
It is to us. We both enjoy being out in the mountains on a bike a lot.
Scott:
It was an excellent day. Such a day as that was is winding down for us here in the Sunbelt. Won't be long and it will be summer time hot. We don't ride during our summers.
Andre
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Uncle Pancakes
New Hire
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Posted - 03/29/2021 : 3:32:59 PM
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Andre:
Bikes look great! Love vintage endures particularly two strokes! I've got a 66 BSA Lightning and a 66 BMW R50/2 in the garage rubbing elbows with a 31 Model A and a long term project 52 MGTD. Looks like you have some perfect country to use those Vinduros in too.
Ted
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| "there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles" A. Lincoln |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 10 |
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