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Website News Archive: August 2008

30 August 2008

The website has another new online article: Bashing Brass Buildings. There's a backstory on how this came about, which I've detailed in a new blog entry. In other news, a new layout overview photo is up.

24 August 2008

The website has a new feature: The Layout Today provides a look at the whole layout at this moment in time. It's like a really, really slow web cam (one frame every few days or so), providing the visitor with a glimpse of the layout as if they were to visit my hobby room in person. If the layout's a mess, then that's the way you'll see it! In other news, I'm coming close to finishing the layout's second structure: the crossing shanty.

22 August 2008

Click to enlargeIn spite of a web host outage lasting nearly a week (!!!), I've managed to continue modeling, although the progress reports are now posted to a new web host. I've built the passenger station platform, which allowed me to ballast the foreground track at long last, which in turn allowed scenery-making to get under way. I've added a new Gallery image to show off the first greenery on the James River Branch.

16 August 2008

Click to enlargeHouston, we have scenery! With the revised support parts in place for the new and improved Naughtright access panel, I was able to begin—after what seemed like an eternity—scenery work (other than the cast-in-place rock that was done eons ago). On such a tiny layout, scenery can go quickly once it gets started, although there can be significant chunks of time spent fiddling with the areas around detailed structures such as the coal trestle.

After briefly flirting with a new scenery material, I returned to my tried-and-true preference of Sculptamold. I knew in advance that I'd need absolute control over some incredibly small, fussy areas, such as in and around the many retaining walls for the coal trestle and bridge abutments. The Model Magic material is much too firm and rubbery to achieve such fine placement.

14 August 2008

Click to enlargeNaughtright continues to morph, albeit in much more subtle ways these days. As the new access panel comes together (right), plotting the precise arrangement of buildings and alignment of streets has resulted in a few revisions. In particular, the Volunteer Fire Company got moved up the street to the next block, directly behind Spano's Service Station, owing to a shortage of space.

Originally this was a straight swap with Jim's Trains/Don & Stan's Barber Shop, but then the two shops wound up behind the tall Triangle Bar building. So, I decided to swap them with Emma's Cafe, which was originally next to the hotel, and use a new kit for the cafe—one of Miller Engineering's townhouse kits, chopped down to two stories. This will allow the hobby shop and barber shop to get much more attention, as they will be in clear view behind the low passenger station. The cafe didn't have much going for it besides a neon sign, so it won't suffer hiding behind the bar.

Another change is a final decision on Dick's Auto Salvage: it's in. I was bothered that the only available location for it was at the back of the layout. Silly me... for one thing, this is a very small layout, so nothing is further away from the viewer than about a foot; for another, it would be located along the side edge of the layout, which would afford virtually as good viewing as most anything along the front edge. And as for losing a house because of it, the space behind Second Street is deeper than I'd realized, so I may be able to work in a "mother-in-law house" (a small house located in the backyard of another house). Stay tuned...

9 August 2008

Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

Three steps forward, two steps back... Quick, what's wrong with this picture? It's not only missing the town access panel, but the supports for same. The warping issue came to a head as I was arranging the buildings for Naughtright, and wondering why they looked funny: nearly all of them were leaning, like the Tower of Pisa! The curvature of the panel—which had become something of a Frankenstein's monster—would force me to carefully shim the foundations for every building, individually, and that may not have been the end of the problem if warping continued. Thus, this morning I tore everything out, and then placed an order on the Internet for some Gatorboard. The lesson here is that it's just as important to use a warp-resistant material for relatively small access panels as it is for the layout as a whole.

4 August 2008

It was a long time coming, but with the latest round of changes to Naughtright, the East Theater design has finally started to come together. It will represent a mix of three structures: Miller Engineering Fire Engine Co. #2, Pink Elephant Car Wash, and City Scoop, along with a chopped-down neon sign. In other news, my "death match" product review generated a small flood of praise—as well as some not-so-glowing remarks from Micro-Trains' Joe D'Amato. Read all about it in my Editorial on Micro-Trains' Response.

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