trendy train model

Showing posts with label Infrastructure. Show all posts

Thursday, April 9, 2015

"A little bit of each... Blood, sweat and tears."

As the summer weather of 2013 took hold, the basement grew warmer and messier. There was no shortage of sweat during some of the heavier work and there were more than a few bumps, cuts and bruises. But somewhere along the way, it dawned on me, "For crying out loud. What if Dave and Ted were pulling my leg! They wouldn't do that, right?... RIGHT?"

Paranoia aside, I was actually progressing well unbeknownst to the two trouble-makers. They had no idea that I had actually embraced their bold suggestion.

Awaiting some final tweaks from the electrician, the framing is complete, including an unusual, but necessary configuration around the lolly column immediately against the entry. The floor still needs some work, but that will be completed after I sheetrock.

An obligatory sheetrock photo, with floor tile in place, awaiting molding and then priming and painting. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's the finished product with the television moved a few feet over. It's OK, but most importantly, it was not a change that would one day come back to haunt us as a detriment to selling our home. It looks 'logical.'

A view from the layout side awaiting final trim work.

A finished view shows a cleaner entry than the original corner one.

Not too exciting, but a part of the project I was not looking forward to and rather pleased how it turned out.

Carpet trimmed out, tile cut and glued awaiting grout, sealing and molding.

"One step back for two forward." That's what I kept reminding myself throughout this process. Once done, I was thrilled and certainly glad that I did it. But then I remembered that there was some work to do 'closing' off the former entry. Oyyy.

We'll look at that project in a few days, but tomorrow is a special treat in our 'Friendly Fridays' segment. See you then.

-30-??

BONUS: RHETORICAL QUESTION OF THE DAY...

True or false? The author is thankful that two friends cared enough to offer their honest opinions and is most appreciative of their advice.
?

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

"Mr. Gorbachev... Tear down that wall!"

I was excited to have friends Dave Olesen and Ted Pamperin visit to see the layout's progress. Things had been going very well with construction and I was pleased with my overall timeline. Tally ho. Onward and upward!

I'm not certain about their political leanings, but Dave and Ted were a couple of Ronald Reagans on this day. After assessing the bench work, discussing track configuration and talking about potential operation we adjourned to a local pub for lunch. It was here that they convened their modeler's intervention.

They gently confided that each had independently come to the same conclusion. My current entry was not ideal for a myriad of reasons and that I should consider 'moving it' to the television's location! "Consider it my ass," I thought. I ordered another round of drinks. "Make mine a double!" (I was having beer).

The central part of the finished basement was my TV lounge. By that evening my wife sensed I was rather glum over the visit. She advised that I should heed whatever constructive criticism I may have gotten from such veteran modelers. Really? Hmmmmmm. Guess that's why I already had marked the floor with some painter's tape!

Growing more curious, I marked the locations of my bench work and a lolly column, giving me a 24" opening for a new entry. Of course that's exactly where an electrical outlet and a cable connection were located. I wondered if there might be any surprises behind the wall.

I opened a small hole that could easily be patched and was encouraged to only see vertical elements including all wiring. This was good. I was pretty accurate with my locations, but I was approaching the point of no return. What to do?

As if there was any doubt once this seed was planted, I moved forward only to find that which I feared... horizontal wiring, PLUS a buried electrical box. This would require calling in a professional at the expense of time and money.

Meanwhile, here is the layout side pre-demolition. Not only would the bench work need to be altered, but I had to change the lighting and valence, plus match a tile floor to a carpeted one and a dropped grid ceiling to a sheet rocked one. But I just want to run trains!

Here's the breakthrough, but I quickly realized that cutting out the base plate without damaging the adjacent floor surfaces would be very tricky. But I had no choice other than to proceed as the electrician would soon be on his way.

That's about all I can bear to post for now. We'll pick up with the conclusion tomorrow and see some re-construction photos. And as my wife, the lovely Senior VP proudly said, "Hey, you didn't screw anything up and no one got hurt."

-30-

BONUS: RHETORICAL QUESTION OF THE DAY...

How often did the author think of his two mates during this task?

A) Every day B) Every hour C) Every minute D) #*@%$#&*!@

Monday, April 6, 2015

"A deal I couldn't refuse... Jersey style."

Lighting the layout room was proving to be a real challenge because of it's 6' - 3" clearance and tight ceiling grid that crisscrossed with the ceiling joists. Drop-in lights for the 24" square grid system would not clear the joists above, while recessed cans would not provide much of a 'cone' before reaching the layout surface about 24" away. And any kind of surface mounted fluorescent fixture would only exacerbate the potential for head knocks. Plus two years ago, LEDs were still a bit of a mystery to me, so I was flummoxed.

Enter fellow Jerseyan Ted D'Iorio. "Pssst, have I got a deal for you," he whispered one dark dreary night. Looking to limit the damage from purchasing something he wasn't going to use, Ted offered a 48' long string of Party Lights that I could have at his original cost. But he would throw in 24 CFLs for free. Done deal. Now I just had to design a mounting and valence system.
??????
?

I utilized the grid ceiling system's clips that typically are used for holding flush-mounted lighting fixtures. I routed out 1" x 3" strips that would hold both the Party Lights and hardboard valence to accept the clip. I then carefully followed the bench work edge around the room and peninsula. A close-up of Ted's contribution is below.

The Party Lights which are typically used for outdoor events have their own mounting ears, but I opted to use cable clips for easier installation. The sockets are spaced at 2' intervals. I bought a second 48' length online to complete the required run around the room and peninsula. They are not made to connect together like Christmas lights. Each is plugged into a ceiling mounted outlet that is hard wired to a light switch.

Here's an overall work-in-progress view looking back at the entry. The lighting is installed onto the 1" x 3" support awaiting the attachment of the 8" deep 1/8" fully tempered hardboard valence. I'll prime and paint the interior side off-white while the exterior side is getting a deep charcoal gray

Viewed from the entry, we see the valence and its shiny bolts (something for rivet counters to count). They were eventually replaced with smaller ones and painted to match the valence. But wait, somehow the peninsula backdrop was fabricated between this photo and the one above! We'll take a look at that more closely in the next few days.

Uh oh... small problem. Looking down each side of the peninsula reveals the mounted lighting and its wiring. I'm not thrilled with the aesthetic. From what I've seen at other layouts, this is a typical condition that isn't easy to avoid, but I did want to minimize the visual impact.

I repositioned the lighting mounts from the inside edge of the 1" x 3" support to its flat face and then mounted a 4" deep interior valence to hide the black wire while still getting maximum lighting. It's an improvement and probably all that's warranted.

I'm very pleased with the quality and color of this system. The 40 CFL's that I used are almost all 14 watt (60 watt equivalent) except for a few corner locations where I used 19 watt (75 watt equivalent). All are 5000K and nicely gray down the backdrop which is much lighter in person than it appears in these photos.

But this bullnose peninsula backdrop is not working for me. Wonder if there will be changes in the future? (Hint, hint). But for tomorrow, an exciting Shakespeare tutorial! I know I can't wait.

-30-

BONUS: RHETORICAL QUESTION OF THE DAY...

True or false? A more efficient, less expensive and nicer looking lighting system will be available shortly after the author has completed the installation of this one.?

Thursday, April 2, 2015

"I report to absolutely no one... Almost no one."

As the household's Director of Real Estate Acquisition and Development, I supersede all family members, including pets, with the exception of my wife, the Senior VP of Real Estate Distribution and Utilization. And while she has little interest in spending time in our lovely remodeled basement, the Senior VP still only deemed a 15' x 21' dedicated room as, "the place for the trains."

I considered various footprints through sketches, full-size brown paper templates and a 1" = 1'-0" study model. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel and with such givens as easy reach-in, ample aisles and maximum point-to-point run, I settled on the trusty around-the-walls-with-a-peninsula design in a single deck format. I would live with the annoying entry gate if final staging plans mandated it.

Building the study model actually helped me brush up on my eye-hand coordination for modeling purposes since it was about 35 years since I was actively involved in the hobby! The door on the back wall is the entry from the main basement area and is immediately adjacent to the stair. The door along the side wall goes to a 4' x 11' walk-in closet referred to as the wine cellar. It holds everything but wine.

It should be noted that when six railroad friends visited to help with potential track arrangements, their undivided attention chaotically turned to the adjacent spaces. They scattered gleefully like pre-schoolers at an Easter egg hunt. Their identities shall remain confidential... for the time being.

The areas that caused such bedlam included a fully finished 8' x 21' laundry room, a semi-finished 8' x 24' utility room, a 4' x 11' walk-in-closet and the 15' x 35' man cave. That large area houses my home office, television lounge and modeling work area. But alas, these six models of decorum were no match for the Senior VP who naively showed little appreciation for either staging or dispatch.

The dedicated room was fully finished including a dropped ceiling to minimize dust while still providing access to plumbing and electrical. Because the ceiling joists were only 6'-5" above the floor, the system grid was installed as tight as possible leaving a final clearance of 6'-3". Not great for some of my guests, but livable for me at 5'-11" and shrinking fast.

???

The room was neatly sheet rocked and prepped for the layout with a ledger strip located 42" high to help hold the bench work as I installed it. The temporary brown paper valence was positioned as I experimented with some lighting ideas. The hard porcelain tile floor only looks unforgiving for aging backs and knees.

That's it for now. More later this weekend on the Old Main Line's route across Maryland and the 20 mile portion that I'll be modeling. But tomorrow, we'll be bringing you something completely different. Stay tuned.

-30-

BONUS: RHETORICAL QUESTION OF THE DAY...

In truth, the author recognizes that the lovely Senior VP's decision is:

A) Very appropriate B) Very wise C) Very fair D) All of the above????