January 12th, 2009

The first update of the new year! WooHoo! I am continuing to participate in the "winter layout party" on Trainboard, which I've been updating my progress there more than here, but here will have more pictures. =)
Since the last update, I've continued to fill all the screw holes and joints and just today I finished sanding down everything. This has been a monumental task, since there is so much backdrop to do. It has also made the train room a MESS! Filler dust everywhere! I also covered up the exposed 2x4's in the ceiling that go across the walkway with an 1/8" masonite cover box. The 2x4's became exposed when I knocked down the wall between the bedroom and storage room to make a large layout room. This cover has now been smoothed out and painted to match the ceiling.
I also finished what I purposed in the last update - puting in some PVC pipe at the ends of the peninsulas. After cutting the pipe in half, I cut some grooves in them so they will flex out a bit, since the ends of the peninsulas are not the same size as the standard PVC pipe. Once the screws are put in, the pressure will flex the pipe apart just enough to keep it pretty even with the ends of the backdrops. Once I got them to where they were close, I covered the seam with some filler, and sanded it down smooth.
The only thing left to do is paint the rest of the backdrops and PVC pipe, but it will take me a good 2 days or so to vaccume every square inch of the layout room to get that darn dust out of there. I can't wait till these backdrops are done so I can get back to working on the track!

 

 

Finished the upper level backdrop along this wall and still have one more coat for the lower level and a missed screw head to sand down.

 

 

Here is the PVC pipe cut in half and the grooves cut to alow the pipe to flex when installed.

 

 

PVC pipe installed at the helix peninsula

 

 

PVC pipe installed at the end of the yard/Bridgeport peninsula

 

 

Here is the before shot of the exposed 2x4's in the ceiling

 

 

I had some junk wood laying around from when I built my skateboard ramp, so I used it. 1/8" masonite is screwed to the bottom and side. The 3rd side will be installed "on location".

 

 

Installed, but still needs holes filled and to be painted.

 

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