Work progresses, albeit still slowly.

Here's a more-or-less overall view of the layout as of the end of December:

The blank part of the skyboard to the far left has been painted now. We started adding a ceiling to the room to control the dust and debris that falls onto the layout from above. The corner in the left distance is where we began. It's slowly expanding towards the camera and to the right. Before more benchwork is installed the ceiling will be put up above those areas. It will probably be a long time before the entire ceiling is finished, but it will be done a bit at a time until it's complete.

Here's another shot of recent work - the studs and mounting frames are in place for the backdrop all the way around to Casper now. The far corner in this shot is where I stood to take the previous shot. Ceiling will be done in these areas before benchwork goes up.

It's been five months since I posted. There's a good reason - I've had very little time or energy to work on the layout.

I've managed to put in fifteen or twenty hours since the last post, though, so I thought I'd go ahead and tell you what's been done.

I've continued the backdrop installation and painting. Here's a photo of the painted backdrop before I installed any scenery:

I also did some cheap-and-dirty scenery for some shots for my helix presentation, which I gave at the Mid-Eastern Region convention in Reston in late October. Here's an overall shot:

While the landforms are the final ones (except for cutouts for access to tracks behind the hill), the yellowish scenery and trees aren't - they were just for the presentation. There will be no trees in this area and the ground will be a somewhat darker tan/brown with sparse prarie grass and sagebrush sprinkled around.

I've continued adding to the backdrop, and the skyboard now continues uninterrupted past Thermopolis. The hill profiles only extend to the curve in the backdrop at the corner right now. I'm going to try to continue on with them during the Christmas break.

I finally managed to get a bit of time - about three hours or so in the past three weeks - to work on the layout.

I've completed the lower level skyboard extension around the corner into Thermopolis, and I've completed the backdrop about halfway through the corner. I've also started painting the backdrop - about 16 feet of it behind Glenrock has received the base tan color. I would have gone farther, but the additional sheet that starts around the corner into Thermop. hasn't been prepped yet (sanded / washed). Next, as my very limited time permits, I'll add additional colors to the backdrop and bring at least part of it towards completion. Should be interesting to see if I can come up sith something that isn't too amatuerish / cartoonish / pathetic.

Pictures next time.

It's been awhile since I posted, for a very good reason - I've had almost no time and energy to work on the layout. I've spent maybe two hours in the train room in the last two months. I'm hoping things will ease up and I'll have a chance to do some layout work soon. I'll post any significant progress when it happens.

Wow! How time flies! It's been nearly four weeks since my last update!

Work on the layout has been on and off. Tons of stuff happening at the borough - I often spend three or four nights a week on borough business. Add to that all the work on the house and I have little time left for the layout.

I've been continuing work on the scenery at Glenrock, experimenting with different lights under the upper deck. Incandescents work OK, but are a bit yellowish. I found a dimmable compact fluorescent, but they're eight bucks apiece! I have three, and they give a decent light. The CRI is around 82, so it isn't too bad, ajnd it's rated as 3200k light, so it might be workable. I'll have to install a dimmer and see how well they work that way.

Here are some of the photos I promised of progress on Glenrock scenery:

This is the stack of 1 1/2" foam that will go between Glenrock trackage and the backdrop before I started shaping it:



Here's the stack after I hust started smoothing the corners of the blocks:



And during the trimming process:



This past weekend was a very productive one for the layout. A friend (Walt) came over and helped me install the first section of benchwork for the upper deck! (this is a major milestone!)

Here's Walt drilling an anchor point for the threaded rod that will support the front of the second deck:



And here's the installed deck. Below it you can see the first sections of foam scenery set in place at Glenrock. The section between track and backdrop, shown above being built and carved, has rough carving completed. I still have to complete the shaping of that section to make the curves of the rolling hills more natural and accurate for the area:



And just to finish off the day's work, we started extending the backdrop past the opposite end of Glenrock and towards Thermopolis:

Work on building the scenery base for Glenrock continues. The first big section behind the track is stacked and glued up, and last night I started shaping it. Running a surform tool over the surface is a much easier way to shape the foam than cutting it with a knife or even a hot wire foam cutter, so I'm creating mounds of pink foam shavings! I'm a bit more than third done with the basic rounding and blending of the stack, then I'll start shaping the final rolling hilss and adding any basic feature shapes (like a dirt road, maybe).

Photos in a few days.