I just bought a couple of hollow-core doors at a local salvage shop which should make great bases for pink foam.  They are fairly lightweight, very rigid, and cost $5 each, since they were slightly damaged.  And the damage is right where I'm going to glue the pink foam!

I was also looking at an old bulletin board, which has a nice wood frame.

manager 

It's kindof embarrassing, but I can't recall exactly what sort of glue I used.  Might have been an old bottle of Elmer's white that had gotten a bit goopy.  Keep in mind, Atlas HO flex is pretty loose where the rail and ties meet, so it doesn't hold a curve, and tends to straighten out, so bending it down to 6" radius produced lots of stress, but the first layer of glue held fine.  Subsequent layers of dirt and rocks and ballast were held down with diluted matte medium, since it dries with a flat finish, unlike Elmer's, which has a sheen when it dries.  I only use Elmer's for areas that will be covered up by other layers, and matte medium or Woodland Scenics Scenery Glue for the upper layers.

No plywood, but this test layout was only 32"x18", and I wanted to avoid using any organic material.  For a larger layout, some sort of structure might be needed, like a traditional wood base.

I had the idea that it would be fun to build another one, but video the process this time.

manager

I know how you feel, BKJ.  I date back to the time when the only way anyone built a layout was plywood and studs, cork and nails, straight out of the Atlas track plan books.  So I built a test layout, to see how the new techniques would work.  The base was 2" pink foam, and the track was some Atlas code 83 flex that I had around.  Curves were an insane 6" radius, and I wanted to see if the flex track would hold that curve with nothing but glue.  And it worked great, and is still in place almost 2 years later.  Oddly enough, this was the first layout that I completed 100%.

One thing that I did was to glue the track down, pin it down with temporary pins, and then sprinkle ballast and dirt onto the wet glue, so I had the first layer of ballast in place from the start.  Worked really well.

Best Wishes...

Manager

You may know this already, but there are listings of clubs and layouts on the NMRA site.
http://www.nmra.org/

Also, the On30 Annual has a website where they list modular On30 clubs.  Looks like there is a club in Eugene, Oregon.
http://www.on30annual.com/on30_modular.php

Which reminds me, the On30 Annual should ship in a week or so.  For anyone who hasn't seen this publication, it's really first rate, packed with useful info, glossy photos, and only a few ads.

manager

Now that's "news I can use."  Thanks Harold.  The passenger business on the old C.S.R.R. is about to pick up.  There might be a fireman or two in the bag as well.

Manager

Just saw the new 1:48 figures.  Great idea.  Some additional figures from the 1900-1930 period would fit better with On30 trains, esp. some sitting passengers.

Manager

Hopefully this online PDF will load properly for you.  And I do think that Banta makes a wood cab for the 2-8-0.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/dwg/dwgs/25960.pdf

Manager/

Nevin, you may have seen this already, but Mike Miller made a couple of SP 4-6-0s a few years back.  One uses a Bachmann 2-6-0 for the mechanism.  Mike also had an article in one of the On30 Annuals, where he turned an HO model of Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine into an On30 4-6-0.

I'm not sure if "kitbashing" is something you enjoy, but it can be a way to get the model you want now, without waiting for a manufacturer to build it.  And once you've built yours, some manufacturer often will release the loco you were trying to model, and it usually costs less than you spent on your bash, and runs much better.

http://webpages.charter.net/mransr/trains.htm

manager

ME On30 track ties [sleepers for those across the pond, right?] are exactly 1.5" long, or 6 feet in 1:48.

I've also thought about converting to On3, but can't justify it from a cost/benefit perspective.  All that work on the locos, and new wheelsets and trucks for every piece of rolling stock, just to make the track 3/32" or so wider, and prevent snide comments from the rivet counters...  It doesn't make that much difference to me, but I fully understand that it's important to others.

Excellent questions, Nevin, welcome.

Manager

Bachmann never comments on future releases, whether they are new models, or new paint schemes on older releases.  They are better than the CIA at keeping secrets.

The best solution is to do your own lettering with decals or dry transfers.  There are some decal makers on Ebay who are doing some very creative things specifically for On30.  And there's nothing like a new coat of paint, some decals, a layer of dullcote and some weathering to get rid of the "plastic toy train" shine.

Manager

Quote from: El Loco on September 03, 2009, 08:37:52 AM
Good point! Nowdays when you see a modern day RR they don't look like a bunch of dingy mud balls rusted to all getout.

Well, I do recall spending a few hours in an Amtrak coach, wishing someone would have washed the mud spatters off the outside of the window.  No rust, though.

And I do recall how sooty the locos were on the D&S.  Perhaps it's partly a matter of the railroad's philosophy, or the crew culture.  Also a matter of fuel.  The D&S is all coal, glorious coal, while the Redwood Valley and the Disney Lines run on oil.  The Eureka & Palisades #4 runs on wood, and I'm sure that helps it stay clean.

Back to the 4-6-0 -- I've got mine almost ready to weather, and the general approach will be to keep it clean.  This is a new loco, recently purchased to pull the main passenger train, so it's going to be in good, but somewhat sooty, condition.


manager

My weathering for locos has been fairly simple.  Starting with the stock Bachmann paint, I add decals, dullcote where needed, and then airbrush on some light gray for mineral deposits, earth for dust, and an overall control coat of grimy black, just a bit.  The real expert on loco weathering is John Pryke.

However, at some point I may start repainting all of my locos, with a more shiny finish.  Over the weekend, we visited the Redwood Valley Railway in Berkeley, CA.  Their locos are working steam locos, and it was interesting to see how the weathering really worked.  Sometimes in the electric train world, we have to make an effort to avoid the "plastic train" look, but we often overdo it.  I was struck by the shiny metal on the tender sides and boiler, and at some point, I need to find a way to achieve that same metallic sheen on my models.

In terms of the 4-6-0, it represents one of the newest additions to the roster on my imaginary little railroad, so it will accordingly be rather lightly weathered.  It's all about realism, and has nothing to do with the fact that my wife doesn't like the trains looking all dirty.  No, that's totally irrelevant...

Manager

John, did you buy the Climax with the Soundtraxx Tsunami system pre-installed?  Those units aren't wrapped, and they are bigger than the Tsunami chips that are sold individually.

Manager

Cass Scenic Railroad... I didn't make that connection, but I like it!  My C.S.R.R. is one of my own inventions, purely fictitious, located in the Southeast US, and mostly a collection of rolling stock waiting for a place to run.  The Cass sounds like a great place, though.  Gotta make it up there some time.

Manager

For more info on micro-layouts, some of you might not have found Carl Arendt's excellent website, frequently updated:
http://www.carendt.com/

As to the question of why... Why use such small curves?  Well, because we can.  Because it allows for the construction of highly portable mini-layouts.  Because mini-layouts are cute, and are often real crowd-pleasers at shows.  And because they drive some of the prototype HO guys nuts.

Manager