Some updates from my layout.

[WoundedBear]

I'm just going to start out with a cut and paste from a Feb 2014 thread. Hard to believe it's been 4 years looking at this project.

OK...now that that is outta the way....here is the next thingamjigee I've been playing with.

I've had this MiniTrains Plymouth set sitting in a drawer for ages. I also an 18 X 36 inch wooden display case I had built years ago for some project and never used it. I decided to build a Carl Arendt inspired HOe micro-layout that can be incorporated into my main standard gauge layout as a scenery element. The concept is simple.....the little loco hauls ore from the mine to the ore dock.

I first laid out the plan on a computer program......I was able to tweak and shape the flex track down to a loco bending 4.5 inch minimum radius. With a printed copy of the track plan I started laying out buildings and after a few more track plan revisions, I was at last satisfied with the look of things.

I used extruded foam as a base and Woodland Scenics 4 percent incline starter ramps to change levels. The track is code 80 N gauge flex with Peco electro-frog turnouts. I soldered a length of flex to each of the legs of the turnouts, cut them roughly to length and attached it all to the cardstock roadbed with Lepage's Liquid No Nails. Wires have been tunneled into the foam and all connect at the rear of the layout.

The mine is a Grandt line kit. The supply house is an Alexander kit and the shacks are venerable Atlas trackside shanties. I think they will eventually be replaced by those miners shacks. I placed a wood floor in the mine house and added in a Bachmann HO log skidder to work as the steam hoist.

Here's a few pics of the progression of the layout and at the end is a quick vid I posted recently to youtube of the layout finally making laps. The thing is working well on DC now, and as the loco wears in a little, it's performance is smoothing out as well. Speaking of power......my ultimate plan is to be able to control this from my main DCC system once it is in place on the main layout. The loco itself has absolutely zero space for a decoder, nor am I willing to re-engineer the whole shebang to isoate a motor. My plan is to place a large scale decoder between the bus lines of my main layout and the feeder lines of the micro layout. If I connect the input of the decoder to the bus lines and the output to the micro layout's feeder lines it should work. Preliminary testing is proving positive.











And finally the video link.............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjzxcCJEgJE

Enjoy!!!

Sid

[WoundedBear]

Now for the current status. I snapped these pics this morning. It has taken 4 years, but the idea finally came together. There is still room for more details, but for now, I'm done. I find it's easy to overdo things. A lot of the time, less is better.

I like the bird's eye view of the scene, and it all lifts out to make a self contained little diorama scene that I can power with a DC power pack. The hoist house got detailed and lit up, one shack is lit and so is the supply/kitchen building.

As the story tells...........two brothers, Stan and Les Stihl, found some ore way back in the day, that was unlike anything anyone had seen before.....lol. The deposit they found is so pure, that they have no need for a tailings pile. What they dig, they ship.

This little diorama depicts their small mine, camp and narrow gauge rail that hauls the ore to a trestle dump. Eventually, a gondola gets spotted and the ore gets loaded out.

Sid









Sid

[WoundedBear]

Next round..............












Sid

[WoundedBear]

Last batch..............









Sid

[the Bach-man]

Very cool!
the Bach-man

[Terry Toenges]

Sid - I really like it. Neat job you did. The Youtube video was cool, too. I checked out some of your hot rod videos, too. Very cool. It made me nostalgic for my T-Bucket. I kind of wish I still had it. No where near as fast as your car, but it was still a lot of fun.

[jonathan]

Sid,

I remember this project. Thought is was a cool mini layout. Glad that you can incorporate it into the big layout.  As usual the level of detail is awesome!  One could get lost peering into all your structures.

Will be great to see how you blend it in.  Hope you've saved enough aisle space for all of us to go on a tour. 

Regards,

Jonathan

[Ken Huck]

WOW !  Sort of reminds of the way John Allen expanded his Gorre and Dephideid, only in reverse.  What's the gauge
between rails ?  I'm unfamiliar with HOe.  That's one little layout you can take with you   Really nice !

Ken

[WoundedBear]

Wow...........even a reply from the B-man himself

Thanks for the comments guys. Glad you enjoy my efforts.

Ken........HOe uses N-gauge track.

Terry.........here's a shot for ya of the T..........wheels up and heading for 140MPH. Best way ever to wake up on a Sunday morning.




Sid

[Len]

HOe uses N-scale 9mm gauge track to represent HO 2-1/2' (HOn30) narrow gauge track. It's not exact, but "close enough".

Len

[Terry Toenges]

Sid - Love it! I took my 'Vette to the strip a couple of times a few year ago after I got it. I didn't do very well. It's a 6 speed and I had never raced with a stick. I missed 3rd one time. Fished tailed a few times. My reaction times sucked because I'm not as young and on the ball like I used to be. I still loved it. In the late 60's I had a Roadrunner I used to take to the strip and did much better but it was an automatic. Nowadays, my pedal to the metal is limited to getting on highways and stop lights.

[WoundedBear]

Well.........it's time to add a bit to this thread. The summer is gone......and a crappy one it was. We have had snow, on and off, for three weeks already. Looks like this is going to be a long train season coming up. We never got to the race track once past September the 2nd. Weather killed it all.

But on the bright side......I did get some building done. I try to spend a few hours a day at the bench doing something.

First up is a Campbell Scale Models Branchline Water Tank kit and the shed that goes with it. I never took any construction shots. I hate when I do that. I get so focused on the build that I neglect the camera.

This tank/shed kit is a pile of sticks, some die cut slabs, cardstock for the shed and corrugated aluminum for the roofing. Windows and doors are styrene.

[WoundedBear]

This one is a Banta Modelworks laser kit. The Silver Plume Bakery. I colored it by dissolving weathering pigments in mineral spirits......essentially making my own paint. This has just about become my new favorite building on the layout. The interior is simply a few computer generated prints of bakery displays from Google Images.

[WoundedBear]

Have I mentioned that I like Banta kits? They fit perfectly and have a look to them the just appeals to my modeler's eye.

This is a laser cut frame with individual planking for the walls. Again I failed to take enough construction photos.

The model is planted on a thin piece of plexiglass and will look good with a couple of Tichy 22ft ore cars. The ore car on top of the tipple is a Grandt Line part.

[WoundedBear]

I ballasted some more track and got the Rueben Katz building planted permanently.