The Saga of My Ever Shrinking Railroad
- Thread starter vsmith
- Start date
You got there ahead of me with the plan; I was just going to ask for one. Presumably the two upper levels are R 0.5 and R 0.25??? No wonder you need so many Mack conversions. BTW thanks for the recent reminder of one of them. I think the rest were on GSC - any chance of seeing them again too, please?
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
That could be a very long post, but heres the first Mack bash, mostly the combination of cold medicine and boredom one day when I was home sick, I wanted to see if I could build a reasonable geared steam tram out of a stock HLW Mack, this little bit of nuttyness was the result, its been all downhill ever since
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
The HLW Mack Whadahellizit line, part 2:
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit2 pic3.jpg < Link To
2nd: Scientific Toys cab, scratched boiler, tank, and bunker.
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit3 pic4.JPG < Link To
3rd: Aristo cab, Scientific bunker, scratched boiler
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit4 pic1 TooEasy.jpg < Link To
4th: a Proper Dismal, Scientific cab, USAT generator load
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit2 pic3.jpg < Link To
2nd: Scientific Toys cab, scratched boiler, tank, and bunker.
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit3 pic4.JPG < Link To
3rd: Aristo cab, Scientific bunker, scratched boiler
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Whadahellizit4 pic1 TooEasy.jpg < Link To
4th: a Proper Dismal, Scientific cab, USAT generator load
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
These are such a versital kitbashing platform , even without the body the drive is highly usefull
This is the first bash using HLWs Mack drive brick:
Scientific boxcar shell
Not a Mack but still shows what you can do in small locos if you try
Lionel cab, Scientific bunker, scratched boiler, using Aristo drive
Thats it for now, no plans for anything new, have more than enough stuff as is
This is the first bash using HLWs Mack drive brick:
Scientific boxcar shell
Not a Mack but still shows what you can do in small locos if you try
Lionel cab, Scientific bunker, scratched boiler, using Aristo drive
Thats it for now, no plans for anything new, have more than enough stuff as is
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
I guess I can say that the scenery is done, well for now:
You can see some of the scale "junk" in these pics, I have always found typical model RRs to way to clean and pristine for my tastes as almost every real railroad I ever have been to (outside of Disneyland) was always littered with junk and trash. So even though my layout is impossibly squashed and foreshorted till its almost infront of its own back, its still got mor detail than alot of other layouts I've seen
Its the little details that make this fun
Even got a short video of the layout to date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbM0pUP8_I
The train is a cheeser Lionel job I got on extreme sale for $30 at Big Lots, found out why as the drive was busted but it was fixable, so now I'm experimenting with seing what its potential is.
You can see some of the scale "junk" in these pics, I have always found typical model RRs to way to clean and pristine for my tastes as almost every real railroad I ever have been to (outside of Disneyland) was always littered with junk and trash. So even though my layout is impossibly squashed and foreshorted till its almost infront of its own back, its still got mor detail than alot of other layouts I've seen
Its the little details that make this fun
Even got a short video of the layout to date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbM0pUP8_I
The train is a cheeser Lionel job I got on extreme sale for $30 at Big Lots, found out why as the drive was busted but it was fixable, so now I'm experimenting with seing what its potential is.
Great set of new pictures, Vic; thanks for posting them. "Use every inch" seems to have been your motto, and it works! Just shows how far I've still got to go with my layout, which is still rather too neat. The Western figures are great, too. Wish they were easily available this side of the Atlantic.
The complete collection of loco pictures was also enjoyable. Thanks again for the reminder and ideas for other work. If I went European, that double cab tram would be a must have.
The complete collection of loco pictures was also enjoyable. Thanks again for the reminder and ideas for other work. If I went European, that double cab tram would be a must have.
vsmith said:
8th: LGB cabs and boiler. Sold
9th: another proper dismal, LGB shell, sold
10th: LGB Big Bird Express battery shell, sold
11th: another proper dismal, scratched hood
[align=center]I like that 11th dismal, proper bad a** rakish look that has the layout looks brill neat idea going upwards Vic ,
[/align]
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
I have to face a few facts?
?the biggest being that my layout is once again, proving to be too large for my given circumstances. I?m really getting tired of this but between the growing need for more storage space, family issues, my new interest in Marxism (Louis Marx) and the fact that even though its mobile, my layout still literally eats ½ the garage open space?I really can?t keep the layout as it is. I think these problems have been apparent since I took up the fixed layout and began building the mobile layout. Model train layouts regardless of scale, tend to be enormous space eaters. It was the primary reason I dismantled the bigger layout, and this layout is about as small as it can get using R1 track. It?s just that now as I?m moving more things around between the house and the garage that this cannot be ignored again. I don?t want to just drop out of LS altogether, so instead I?m looking at taking down the lower 5?6? part of the mobile and doing probably what I should have done from Day 1 of dismantling the fixed layout, and that is focus 100% on the 3? square micro layout, I never had any problems when that was all I had. I figure I can reuse 80% of the structures and 100% of the details and figures, the biggest issue facing me is the fact that there is still a sizable chunk of my roster that will never fit on the micro, so another round of sales will be coming up but I do plan to try and rebuild a couple of my favorites that wont currently fit. I seam destined to build micros. First thing to do is a complete photo documentation of the layout as is, then start test fitting structures onto the micro, get ready? I have a feeling this new layout is going to look insane before I?m finished with it. This is going to be quite a challenge?where?s the shoehorn?
Here I go? again?..
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Layout-Major_Downsize_Study.jpg < Link To
?the biggest being that my layout is once again, proving to be too large for my given circumstances. I?m really getting tired of this but between the growing need for more storage space, family issues, my new interest in Marxism (Louis Marx) and the fact that even though its mobile, my layout still literally eats ½ the garage open space?I really can?t keep the layout as it is. I think these problems have been apparent since I took up the fixed layout and began building the mobile layout. Model train layouts regardless of scale, tend to be enormous space eaters. It was the primary reason I dismantled the bigger layout, and this layout is about as small as it can get using R1 track. It?s just that now as I?m moving more things around between the house and the garage that this cannot be ignored again. I don?t want to just drop out of LS altogether, so instead I?m looking at taking down the lower 5?6? part of the mobile and doing probably what I should have done from Day 1 of dismantling the fixed layout, and that is focus 100% on the 3? square micro layout, I never had any problems when that was all I had. I figure I can reuse 80% of the structures and 100% of the details and figures, the biggest issue facing me is the fact that there is still a sizable chunk of my roster that will never fit on the micro, so another round of sales will be coming up but I do plan to try and rebuild a couple of my favorites that wont currently fit. I seam destined to build micros. First thing to do is a complete photo documentation of the layout as is, then start test fitting structures onto the micro, get ready? I have a feeling this new layout is going to look insane before I?m finished with it. This is going to be quite a challenge?where?s the shoehorn?
Here I go? again?..
http://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Layout-Major_Downsize_Study.jpg < Link To
Sad to see the bottom level go - it was my favourite, but at least you're very positive about the new developments needed. At least by re-using much of the scenic element, the changes shouldn't take too long - once you've decided what they will be.
I found having so much of the mk 1 C&S that could be recycled made construction of the new version a much quicker process than I'd anticipated.
Good luck.
I found having so much of the mk 1 C&S that could be recycled made construction of the new version a much quicker process than I'd anticipated.
Good luck.
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
Giles, thanks, in some respects its incredibly frustrating as this is the Nth time I've had to redo this thing, but at the same time its rather exciting and very challenging to try and integrate all that stuff onto the smaller footprint, but its something that has to be done.
vsmith
G Scale indoors, O Tinplate, Micro Layouts
The end for the "wedding cake" layout:
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Layout-Major_Downsize_demo_01.JPG < Link To
Months to build - Hours to dismantle. As of tonight the upper pizza has been safely set aside, all the track is up and the raised platform has been taken apart, the ballast has been the toughest stuff to get up, but its slowely coming together.
The foam has been kept aside, I will try to reuse as much of it as possible
http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Layout-Major_Downsize_demo_01.JPG < Link To
Months to build - Hours to dismantle. As of tonight the upper pizza has been safely set aside, all the track is up and the raised platform has been taken apart, the ballast has been the toughest stuff to get up, but its slowely coming together.
The foam has been kept aside, I will try to reuse as much of it as possible