G scale Pizza Microlayout - Tincan Junction

[Bill Wray]

I recently overheard a postal clerk tell somebody mail for Paris, France is often mistakenly routed to Paris, Texas because both cities have a postal code beginning with 75.

[Vitto]

Time for an update, well the fold downs turn out to be a real hastle in actual operations, way too much fiddling around with took too long just to get one side set up, so I just left them up, then the misses started fussing about how much room the layout took up and it did take up quite a bit of room so I did some pondering and reevaluation and eventually came up with this reworking

Revised right side with fold downs removed, back to original configuration:



Reworked front





Revised left side, fold down reduced in size and fixed in place



Revised left side new tunnel face



Still have a nice outside loop to run bigger equipment on but now have a fixed platform without the hastles of the folddowns or the space problems of the former layout. Plus I can use the outside track as a point to point for the LGB Auto reverser I have and have been trying to intigrate for a while now. This will be getting scenery very soon now.

[Vitto]

Well I tore up the layout today, no wait, that should be I tore everything OFF the layout, and then knocked it over, well tipped it on its side.

The reason for this wonton destructive behavior was so I could remove the 2” wheel castors and replace them with great big honking 4” castors. This was necessary as I have fairly large control joints in my garage slab that the contractor provided with ½” rounded edges, so whenever I rolled the layout around with the 2” castors (price effective at the time) when they hit those joints it was like they dropped into the Grand Canyon! And everything on the layout got a nasty jolt. Well I just got plain sick and tired of it so after a pricey trip to Home Despot, it was off with everything! It took more time to remove everything than it took to knock it over, replace the castors, and tip back upright. But the upshot is that that now not only does the layout roll over the joints with just the slightest of blips, it now turns and rolls with far less resistance, and the deck gained 2 inches in height!

BTW 99% of the stuff is back on the layout

[adrian]

G'day Vitto

I. also, have noticed that although small castors are cheaper than large ones they normally get replaced at sometime because of bad "rolling" and so work out more expensive in the long term.
Luckerly I have a hardware discount shop pretty close and they do have castors at a reasonable price.

Cheers
Adrian

[JoeCool]

Just last week I purchase a 5 gallon bucket of casters for $5. I have not inventory it yet but, there's a dozen or more.. nice heavy ones. Now that I have chester-drawer disease crawling under layouts to connect everything is harder to do. (that's where your chest drops over your drawers)

[dmaynard]

Round here we call it Dunlap's disease, its where your belly done laps over your belt.

Being a copier repairman I can attest to the differing quality of casters used on cabinets, not just size but rolling ability or lack thereof. I also agree that you generally get what you pay for, so spring for the better quality product when you can, but deals are nice too if its not a low price on low quality stuff.

[otherunicorn]

You know, if you'd done this in N guage......

[JoeCool]

N-Scale... well casters may not be the issue... but you probably would still have tipped over the layout from being... blind.

[G-man]

I beg to differ, you would not tip it over from being blind . A set of extra reading glasses over you prescriptions and you think you are working on G. It is all totally relevant as you  look closer at N and farther way with G. In the end they all look the same.   I'm working on a 3 track N micro 20" X 28". Pictures to follow soon. Soon as I can fine my eyeballs on the floor!!!    Having a great time at it though.

[Vitto]

Its been a while since I posted anything on this but I have been working on it

Some progress pics:

The mine completed:


Water tank finally painted and weathered


Gas station begun:


Beginning to get the scenery finished:


More pics as I work around the layout.

[Vitto]

Some more progress pics:

Cut out a section to add a trestle, its the last major Item the layout really called for.





I ran out of blue foam so I thought I'd try an experiment, using spray foam insulation mixed with what few blue foam peices I had left. The initial results were, we'll, quite scary!

After some, alot, of cutting, tweeking and using caulking in an almost sculptural way, its getting better. Paint will cover most of the odd looking connections

More pics as I progress.

[Emettman]

" The initial results were, we'll, quite scary! "

It's effective stuff, however, as your pictures show very nicely, especially for surreal rock formations (see below), though it's easy enough to trim to more orthodox forms. 

Two tips: if using it near tracks, cover them with masking tape or similar beforehand: excess can then be cut away without mess or fuss.
A plant mister or other spray cleaner bottle filled with water can be used to restrict "growth": a water film causes the foam to "skin" and harden faster,  holding back (but not instantly stopping ) the ballooning.

Keep up the good work!

Chris.

[Tommy Two Strikes]

Vitto,

That's going to be a very nice addition to your Pizza!! Like any good pizza there are plenty of "tastes and smells" to be experienced.

Tommy 2x

[Vitto]

The Borracho Steel Works in action:


The new steel high bridge over Borracho Gulch mocked up in the shops


In place, with additional plate girder deck sections on each side (cut up Lionel O gauge bridge)

More pics:


Track inspection:



The piers are 1x3 lumber w/ basswood sheets added to create a widening effect ner the base

Installation complete:


This is probably the last major piece of construction I had wanted on my layout, now just to finish scenicing the rest of it.

[JoeCool]

I have enjoyed following your project. Would show a overall picture of your layout. At our local shows I had built a 4.5' X 7' layout to mock the the 4x8 layouts, but in G-scale! We had a train station, tunnel, trestle bridge (that the train went thru,not across) a A framed bridge and a waterfall.

It was alot of fun building this layout, one thing different we use Lionel Gscale track mainly because it came w/ the train set. It's a hollow rail and light weight and at a great price point. We sold that layout w/o the trains, and then built a 8'X8' Gscale w/ 3 trains tall. the only place I room to build this size of a layout the basement at church. Very careful planing went into this layout. The day came to move it out of the basement and the top rail had to be removed to clear the door. We sold it at the show... just to big.