KarlO staining solution.

Mark...let me know if you end up using the Blue stuff on your future projects.

Since 2004, It changed my way of painting timber structures, regardless of the type of paint i use..

It's a magic ......

.

cheer mate

Mark, the new train shed looks great!

Are you going to do multi-deck, the building looks tall enough for it. Looks to be almost 3 meters high.

I certainly wished I had that much space!

Hi Guys.

Thanks for you comments, Ralph...

Yes - there would be plenty of room for double deck. The ceilings are actually 3.4 meters high. However - I have lots of room (when the second room is finished - next year - the space will be 10 m by 5.9 m) and not a huge budget, and I have to be realistic about the time I have available for modelling. I would love the head-work of designing and building a double deck layout - and while working on the room I was certainly thinking how a double deck would fit - but I kind of find double decks a bit of a sensory overload. I like to be able to stand back and take in one scene, without visual noise interfering. And lets be honest - If I finish the S&T (Shadowlands and Tellynott) to the standard I want in my lifetime (and keep my wife happy!!!) I'll be doing very well!

Actually one of the topics that came up several times during Mario's visit - especially when visiting the two layouts I had organised for him to see, and talking with their creators - was to do with the time available, the end goal, the level of detail chosen to achieve that goal, and most importantly - not getting side tracked. In the end its all about fun!

My new book arrived during the week - Harbour Seascapes - and there are some great sketches that will be used on the peninsula - including a lovely 4-story house built into the cliff face. I'm itching to get to work on this part of the layout.

At present I'm playing around with budget ideas for the cantilevered ceiling over the layout. I'm experimenting with 4.75 mm MDF and 45 mm by 19 mm timber. as I am having no backdrop over the peninsula, that ceiling will have to hang from the ceiling. (Confused?)

More soon, cheers, Mark.

Mark

The layout room looks fantastic. It's great to hear that you and Mario got together. I will be following your progress. If we could only find the time and money to build the railroad that's bouncing around in our minds.

Thanks, John.

The NZAMRC will be held again in Christchurch during Easter of 2020 (Every 10 years it is held in Chch - 2010 being the first one I attended and the first time I knew it even existed). I hope to have enough done on the layout to make it good enough to be on the layout tour. Its certainly a good motivator!

Christchurch always puts on a good show - so if any of you are planning a trip to Aotearoa (the land of the long white cloud) this might be a good time???!!!

Cheers, Mark.

“At present I'm playing around with budget ideas for the cantilevered ceiling over the layout. I'm experimenting with 4.75 mm MDF and 45 mm by 19 mm timber. as I am having no backdrop over the peninsula, that ceiling will have to hang from the ceiling. (Confused?)”

Mark we have something like that at the Center over the Sundance Central. It has the usual black drop ceiling tile squares with lighting and speakers surrounded by an 8” black aluminum edge. It’s suspended by cables from the roof rafters and is referred to as a “Cloud”. Quite effective.

during Easter of 2020

That's only two years Mark, better get crackin!

P.S. The room looks ready to me.....

Thanks Frank and Carl.

Frank - Yes - I was going to do a 'cloud' over the peninsula but hadn't really considered doing that to the rest of the layout. If needed I could use wires or chains with hooks on the ends and eyes on the top of the layout ceiling. This would mean the layout would be free to shuffle backwards and forwards in an earthquake, and if removal was required the chains could simple be unhooked and the sections unbolted and wheeled out. I have temporarily installed my first 'experiment' and it is fairly sturdy, but still the 45 by 19 mm timber has a bit of flex in it. Next week I will track down some extruded aluminium of around the same dimensions and, depending on its price, either replace all the timber uprights, or every other one. In general I think the design will work.

Below is a sketch showing my design combined with Frank's 'cloud' suggestion. Oh - and the floor is NOT that out of level!



More soon, cheers, Mark.

Mark, this is probably more “cloud” than you had in mind. We have one large cloud that covers the Sundance Central mainline which is 45’ x 20’ and another smaller one over the yard area which is 25’ x 15’. The cables you see here are attached to the drop ceiling panel bars which are in turn wired directly to the steel girders that support the roof.

The clouds were assembled on the floor, pre-wired for electric and sound and raised into position.

The scale of the SC is 1:20.3 - Fn3.

Frank, I love the it! Mark, a nice model to work from.

Ralph

Thanks for uploading those photos, Frank, as Ralph pointed out - they are very helpful. I figure if I drill pilot holes and screw eyelets of a decent size through the ceiling plasterboard and into the ceiling battens this should be plenty strong enough. They don't need to support all the weight, just stop the front edge from sagging. I'll keep the 'cloud' as light as I can.

Cheers, Mark.

I should have turned the lights on for the picture. We have dimmable LEDs and fluorescents. There is a CD that plays bird, cricket, barking dogs and wind sounds through the overhead speakers.

Hi guys.

Well - a little bit of progress to show here.

Firstly - I spent an afternoon with my father making up 'shoes' to put onto my 3 by 2 legs so I can bolt my wheels to them. For this we used some rectangular box section cut into short lengths and some plate cut into approximately 4" by 3 1/4" sections. A piece of box section was then welded onto the plate, holes drilled for the bolts, and the shoes were then ready for painting. We made up 12 shoes - 6 welded together one way for the non swivel wheels, and 6 welded together 90 degrees differently for the swivel wheels. I will put two swivel wheels at on end of each section of the layout to help with maneuverability.








More soon, cheers, Mark.

Hi again.

With my next available time slot I started work on the first of several 'clouds'. They are not really clouds, as all bar one of them will have a back as well. I'd played around with a couple of ideas to attempt to make a quite large canter-levered top that was pretty self supporting. I will hang the cloud from the ceiling by chain where required at the front. As one of the photos shows, the sag is less than 1/2". There is quite a bit of work in these, and quite a bit of trying to think ahead and not get yourself into knots. It was the end of the day when I took these, and dark, so sorry about the graininess.

The cloud from the right end.



The back showing how I braced back underneath to get strength.



The top showing how I tried to stop the sag at the top.



From the front.



This piece of timber should fit in between the bench and the cloud ceiling. That is how much the weight of the cloud has made it sag. Not too bad.



More soon, cheers, Mark.

Outstanding!