Slow progress on the train set

Well, everyone has expressed wanting to see how things are coming on. It's slow, but it is getting there. Some people may have already seen some of the pictures before.

I'm currently working on a beautiful church, I just have a few more additions and it will be complete. I think this has been my favourite build so far. At the back, you can see the war memorial I made a few weeks ago, and the terraced houses that will eventually make their way back to the table in the other room. I still have the chimneys to finish on the one.

The framework of the table is done on one side of the room, and hubby has been figuring out the electrics for the buildings along the High Street. Everything is still a mess, but it's a work in progress and beginning to come together. 

This is the far end where the first panel, the High Street one, is going to  be.  The roll, you can see, is a sky and tree backdrop that will go along the back as well as the left side. Hubby has some wiring tidying up to do but has a couple of switches under the table on one of the cross beams, near the front.

This will be the front of that first panel, the High Street of my little town, St. William  Once it is put in position, I'll glue the remaining buildings into place. Some have been glued, but as hubby needed to lift those he was putting lighting in, some aren't.

For now, it is just sitting down the other end of the table, out of the way. It looks so small just sitting there on part of the frame. Once it is in its proper place, I will have 2 rows of terraced houses that will sit behind the houses and pub at the right, on some kind of a step up, to add depth. They are only half as deep so as so be used as a background to the main aspects of the layout.

Here you can see a semi-aerial view. The whole are needs re-vacuuming (I have a hand held) as it seems to attract dust and "bits". The envelope, at the right, contains my Belisha beacons for the 2 zebra crossings, and the electrical stuff to make them flash on and off, like the real thing.

This weekend, we are hoping to get this panel set in its correct place, and then put the other bare panels in place so that I can start figuring out the first track route, and bring in the other dioramas-in-progress and planning where they will all go in the bigger scheme of things.

I have a "stone" farmhouse and farmworker's cottage built, and the barn to go with it, is ordered. I now have some "stone" walls that will feature around the farmyard and have been working on the "cobblestone" yard area. The greenhouse and some other buildings will probably be near the worker's cottage, and I have a cornfield to "plant". A previous attempt to do that resulted in disaster, so hopefully this time, I'll do better.

The plan for Mark's motel, KFC and Travel Center, is for it to be at the back of the other wall, and have  the track on the opposite side of the road, like we see it locally, here, a lot of times.

The KFC will be to the left of the motel diner. At KFC, I have a lady taking orders and a couple of people in line. In the diner, I have people sitting in booths and lining up at the register to either pay or be seated, plus a  couple of other people walking around inside. 

The office is between the main motel rooms and the diner, and - again - I've tried to make it look like there's something going on there.

I still have a lot of work to do on this diorama though. The parking spots and road to mark, and some kind of verge, bushes or wall to divide the road from the motel. I haven't decided which, yet.

There are people coming and going at the motel and once I have the parking spots marked out, I'll get some cars out front and people by some of them. I'd also like a couple of people going up and down the stairs. All future plans.

There's a line at the pictures - it must be a Saturday matinee I guess - and someone headed into the tobacconists for his "nicotine fix".

I am enjoying building all the different pieces, and am impatient to have it all together ... but what I've done so far is probably less than 1/4 of what will eventually be how it ends up. 

Mark has some soldering to do on the turntable, and then I have to complete that, for his end. Once we then figure out where that will go, I'll build the engine houses that come off of it. I can't do those before the turntable, as they have to fit certain angles where the track comes off the circle.

Then, we also have to figure where some of the lines will run off to factories and yards in his industrial areas, and situate all the buildings that go there. His skid row end will also be down there. 

So, much is still far off in the future, but we plod on!

A Productive Friday

It's been a good day. We've been very productive.

Hubby went in and worked overtime until noon, and then we did some running around and delivered AVON to one of my customers. We grabbed lunch from Tropical Grille and parked down by the railroad tracks, but no trains came by so we weren't lucky enough to see one today.

We came home and spent some time outside. 

Hubby brought over one of my raised beds, that's been lying fallow since last year, and put it down by the other two, and I planted some pepper and green onion seeds.  My cabbages and peas are all growing well, the peas are 4"-6" high and the cabbages are about 2" and leafing out nicely.

Hubby planted tomato seeds in one of my large planters and I came indoors and planted some micro-salad seeds in compostable containers. The lemon balm that I planted last week now has 4 shoots in the pot, maybe 1/4" tall, if that. 

Today, I've also finished my first card model. I have a lot of learning and improving still to do, but it came out ok.

I prefer the plastic models, but - for a backdrop - the card ones will be fine. They'll be against the sky to provide depth and I plan on setting a couple of rows at different heights.

So, all told, we have had a good day. I hope yours has been good too.

My Weekend Beginneth

 I love Fridays. My hubby usually has a 3 day weekend, and so we get to lie-in and then take it easy throughout the day. It's also a day for catching up on chores, without feeling stressed about doing so. Like earlier, he was outside mowing the yard. Enjoying the sunshine while he was out there. We've already been grocery shopping and I've pedalled some on my elliptical cycle whilst reading one of my latest library loans. I made a quick and easy grilled ham and cheese for lunch, filled the spot without blowing my fat/sodium/calorie limits.

A week ago, at my doctor's office (I only weigh on their scales when I have a doctor appointment) I'd lost 12lbs since my last visit and she was pleased with me. Oddly, we may have to cut my thyroid medicine again as it seems it may be moving me towards hyper status ... and that affects my A-Fib. It's a delicate balancing act, enough to remedy my body's lack of hormone without exacerbating other health issues that I have. Getting older is definitely a journey, that's for sure.

My second childhood is definitely underway, and I've been working on buildings for my train layout. I have a small section of hubby's American urban industrial end done. It's a "skid row" section, with a bar on the corner. I'm planning on police and a fight scene at the back of it, and have bikes and bikers lined up at front (and 4 more bikes to make. The kit is so fiddly, it hurts my fingers putting them together.

My little English High Street is coming on nicely. I've named my town St. William, my dad's name being William, and this is kind of dedicated to him. I've room for some more shops along one side. I have some signage to work on, and some buildings that I have not yet glued in place as hubby is trying to learn how to do the LED lighting properly, and until he does that and puts the lighting in the buildings we intend having it in, I can't fully complete them. He's also working on the table area, in the corner bedroom, so that we can move the sections and put in there.

I did set up a farm vista the other day but the glue warped the base so I took everything off and will have to start that bit all over again. 

We spent the later afternoon decluttering, somebody came by that wanted to buy our 2 old mowers and he told them "take them" , then we took a load of donations to Miracle Hill, before heading out to Berea to deliver AVON to one of my customers.

It's been a great day. I'm about to pedal again and then lie on the couch with my legs in the air, as they are swollen from my ankles to my knees. They do NOT like me being sitting and driving around.

So, hope this has been a good Friday to start everyone else's weekend as it's been pretty perfect for us

 Well, today, I finally managed to finish the second pair of Victorian semi-detacheds. I found a base from another project that I hadn't used, that fit it. Once I had it on the base, the fencing and gates were accomplished in short order, and it took its place next to the grey.

Then I put together "The Bell Inn" pub and settled that on the corner. Tomorrow I am getting some hibiscus bushes from Hobby Lobby, to set out front of the pub entrance. Later on, I may see if I can get some outside benches and table to set on one side, if I can find a set that will fit.

So Traze Way is coming together nicely in my little town of St. William.

The Discovery of Things Forgotten

 Before I even bought my Flying Scotsman, in December, my husband had trains. We'd got them, and they'd never ended up being set out or played with, it was always an intention but somehow we didn't get around to clearing the space to set up a layout, and so everything stayed in a large plastic tub.

With me getting my long-wanted train set, I wanted to make a start on a layout. It'll have to work for both of us so - despite the fact that all the trains will go around the whole track - "my end" will be English style buildings and scenery, "his end" will be American style stuff. My loco is a steam one, steam being one of my passions, his are diesel. 

I've been working on "my end" for a few weeks now, painting fiddly bits of model pieces so that I can get buildings put together, and playing with how I want it to look. I've changed my mind quite a few times since Christmas. It's a learning journey, and one where patience is definitely a virtue. 

Tomorrow, I have to get more paints. The building I am working on currently (2 Victorian shops) needs blue and green for the different shop fronts so I'm at a standstill.

I decided to snoop into hubby's tub and check out what we'd got him in there - it being 10-15 years or so and neither of us remembering. We both got a huge surprise, as we don't remember ANYTHING in this tub! It's all buildings that somebody has already put together, kits, track, a couple of wagons, and other accessories. We can't remember if we bought it for him at a yard sale or at a fleamarket. It doesn't matter though, as it's a treasure trove..

I do remember buying him trains many moons ago, I think they must be up in the loft. We'd thought they were in this tub. One year (for his birthday or Christmas) my sister had bought him a load of accessories, people, trees, and such like. We haven't found that yet either. The tub is definitely not the things we remembered having!

Some of the buildings are damaged, some were crudely painted by someone with (surprisingly) less talent than I, so I now have half a dozen on my work table that I will be taking care of along with the building I am working on. I washed 2 smaller buildings earlier, and after drying them thoroughly, have begun repainting both. They are now sporting new grey rooves! 

On my projects, I had to reattach (yet again) the drainpipe to the station but then I glued the whole thing to the platform, so now that part is done.

When I was a child, platforms had big weighing scales on them. You'd put a penny in the slot, stand on it, and it would speak your weight. The platform accessory set is green plastic, and very small. I have painted the scale face white, earlier, and now the back red. Tomorrow I will repaint the red, and then, once that's dry, will paint the front (except for the face) red as well. That will then affix to the outside of the waiting room area.

Another piece is a bench for passengers to sit on, while they wait, so I have begun painting that the lightish brown colour that those benches are, It's slow going as these are fiddly little pieces (tomorrow I will get a craft toolkit, so that I will have special tweezers to hold pieces while painting or gluing them).

There is definitely a satisfaction in accomplishing each step, but they are definitely time consuming, and I just - as the song says - want it all and I want it now! 

Slow Progress

Well, have been  "messin' around" again on the first segment of the train layout. Nothing is pinned or glued yet, and I'm waiting on sheet packs of roads and pavement with kerbs so as to complete this scene and then will affix everything into place. We are still trying to figure how we want to do the stream to go under the bridge and culminate in a small pond at the left.  Then, in order to make this the Winter scene  segment, we'll have to "snow" most of it.

The station painted up pretty nicely, time consuming with the fiddly bits, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. Likewise with the trays of veggies for the Victorian shops ( the first bits I've painted out of that kit, after the roof). As you can see by the Emery board alongside, they are tiny tiny!

 

It took me 3 sessions to paint them. First the trays, next time the outside "fruits and veggies" and then the inner ones, as had to allow everything to fully dry inbetween.

I just wanted to see my Flying Scotsman on the track. Sadly 2 pieces on it arrived broken, but I'm going to get a hold of Hornby to see if they can give me tips on fixing them. 

Each of the buildings has an LED light in and they look pretty in the dark, but sadly, my attempts at taking a pic in the darkness doesn't work, as you will see below. I am thinking I will have to put some other lighting one the station, so that it illuminates the houses from behind.

Eventually, the Victorian shops will fit on the row here of other shops and homes, but methinks it's going to take me awhile to paint all the pieces and then put the kit together. It's not a race to the finish but I so wish I had more talent with the painting, and I am so impatient to get it all done and be able to run the trains around the track. 

This is the first panel, 2' x 4', one of 4 that will slot together to make the first basic 8' x 4' layout. Being unable to stand and work it, I had Mark divide the 8' x 4' into 4 segments that will slot together. This way I can reach all of the area on one board. It may be more work, in ways, but it's the only way that I can do this since I need to be seated to do everything.

Unfortunately, my attempt to capture the "night" scene with the lights on in the buildings didn't come out very well but it does look pretty "for real".

Still a long long way to go, but having fun "doing".

Planning and Playing

 Well, this morning I've spent some time working on what will eventually be "the train layout". I painted some more of the station building, sadly my painting skills are lacking so it's taking me longer because I'm constantly having to clean up mistakes. Nonetheless, I guess it keeps me busy and, as my nan used to say "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing properly".

Messed around, on my craft/train table, with some of my buildings and accessories to figure out a Winter scene. The 2 black cars in the pic, I didn't realise I had left there. They are not a part of this scene. I am thinking this is a neat little street, and I will have to get some "road" to put in front of the houses between them and the bridge, and make a "stream" to go under the bridge. The stream will end in a small pond at the left, near the church.

The train track will then run behind the buildings, and the station and platform will be somewhere close by.  For now, though, I like this scene. All of the buildings have LED lights inside, so they should look awesome in the dark.

Still a LONG way from having a lovely-to-look-at layout but I'm excited at the prospect of how it can all come together, eventually.

Will have to talk to hubby, when he gets home from work, to figure out whether to do this on a small section that can then be affixed to a main segment, or to do it directly onto a main segment. This is just the beginning of a long project.