On To Next Christmas Present
(If any of Lukey's or Kenzie's older cousins are reading this blog... please don't tell them what they are getting for Christmas!)
Now that Kenzie's dollhouse is finished... "finished" meaning finished enough for Christmas... I'll add more details and more things to play with for future presents... now I am focused on Lukey's Christmas present.
Lukey's present will be a set of trains with some basic scenery. I came up with a plan which would make it large enough for any kids in the 3-5 year old range (actually, it would seem very big to kids this age) yet small enough to easily store in our storage shed or a spare room.
A bit over a year ago, I picked up a "metal train" series of cars and a diesel locomotive which is made specifically for children. The metal cars and locomotive make them a bit more sturdy for young, fumbling hands.
The company that manufactured this "metal train" series was going out of business and I immediately thought about Lukey and how he is still rough on everything he touches. I jumped online and searched for a decent metal locomotive, a few metal freight cars, and a metal caboose. Since Lukey was still too young for this type of thing at the time, I just stored these trains until now.
These trains are nothing fancy but this simply layout will be Lukey's train layout for now which will keep him from breaking Papa's big, expensive trains any further!
So, over the past year and a half, I have been collecting trains and stuff for Lukey's train set. This is the Christmas for Lukey!
I knew Kenzie's dollhouse would require much more time than putting together Lukey's present so I started with her Christmas present first. Plus, if I am going to give Lukey a train set, I had better have something big for Kenzie... the homemade dollhouse fit the bill for that present. Now that the dollhouse is finished, it is time to start on Lukey's train set.
Last night we headed up to Home Depot to pick up a single sheet of lightweight plywood and a sheet of 2" rigid foam. The plan is to shape and cut them to the size and glue them together for rigidity and then glue down the track to this contoured foam board.
I put this lightweight sheet of plywood on the car's roof rack last night and then topped it with the sheet of 2" rigid foam... strapped it down with five straps... and headed for home after some additional Christmas shopping (Monday nights are awesome for an evening out shopping and dinner... it was exceptionally quiet!).
Before long, we heard some loud vibration coming from the roof rack. We purposely avoided the highway so we could keep our speed under 50 mph but clearly that wasn't slow enough. I quickly pulled over to avoid roof cargo being snapped into pieces and subsequently flying all over the road (this has happened to us before).
I noticed that the flow of air was forcing itself in between the plywood and the sheet of rigid foam. The rigid foam and plywood were now looking like a set of lips separated in the middle yet they were perfectly flat and straight when I strapped them to the roof.
At the time, I could only think to use some cardboard from the packages we just bought to wrap around the front end of this roof rack cargo to block the flow of air... I put about four pieces of cardboard wrapped around the front end of both pieces and then held it in place with a cargo strap. We got in the car and pulled back out onto the dark, deserted road...
At around 35 mph, we heard more vibration and fluttering... it was probably the cardboard and the cargo straps but I didn't want to take any chances. We drove the rest of the way home at 30 mph. The trip from that point was slow but unremarkable from that point.
Today, I have already placed the train tracks on the rigid foam... laid out on the living room floor... now I need to mark where I need to cut it to shape... leaving room in one area for a future small town... cut into a mild dogbone shape with the center cut out like an odd shaped donut.
Right now, the tracks are placed on the full sheet of rigid foam... but, my railroads don't go around in circles on a big sheet of plywood like they are going nowhere... that is a silly toy... my railroads meander through scenes... this small railroad will meander in the shape of a donut.
Okay, my coffee break is over... I need to get back to working on the railroad....
Now that Kenzie's dollhouse is finished... "finished" meaning finished enough for Christmas... I'll add more details and more things to play with for future presents... now I am focused on Lukey's Christmas present.
Lukey's present will be a set of trains with some basic scenery. I came up with a plan which would make it large enough for any kids in the 3-5 year old range (actually, it would seem very big to kids this age) yet small enough to easily store in our storage shed or a spare room.
A bit over a year ago, I picked up a "metal train" series of cars and a diesel locomotive which is made specifically for children. The metal cars and locomotive make them a bit more sturdy for young, fumbling hands.
The company that manufactured this "metal train" series was going out of business and I immediately thought about Lukey and how he is still rough on everything he touches. I jumped online and searched for a decent metal locomotive, a few metal freight cars, and a metal caboose. Since Lukey was still too young for this type of thing at the time, I just stored these trains until now.
These trains are nothing fancy but this simply layout will be Lukey's train layout for now which will keep him from breaking Papa's big, expensive trains any further!
So, over the past year and a half, I have been collecting trains and stuff for Lukey's train set. This is the Christmas for Lukey!
I knew Kenzie's dollhouse would require much more time than putting together Lukey's present so I started with her Christmas present first. Plus, if I am going to give Lukey a train set, I had better have something big for Kenzie... the homemade dollhouse fit the bill for that present. Now that the dollhouse is finished, it is time to start on Lukey's train set.
Last night we headed up to Home Depot to pick up a single sheet of lightweight plywood and a sheet of 2" rigid foam. The plan is to shape and cut them to the size and glue them together for rigidity and then glue down the track to this contoured foam board.
I put this lightweight sheet of plywood on the car's roof rack last night and then topped it with the sheet of 2" rigid foam... strapped it down with five straps... and headed for home after some additional Christmas shopping (Monday nights are awesome for an evening out shopping and dinner... it was exceptionally quiet!).
 |
| HO scale... foam will be shaped and cut into a donut shape... this will be a lightweight, portable little train set... |
I noticed that the flow of air was forcing itself in between the plywood and the sheet of rigid foam. The rigid foam and plywood were now looking like a set of lips separated in the middle yet they were perfectly flat and straight when I strapped them to the roof.
At the time, I could only think to use some cardboard from the packages we just bought to wrap around the front end of this roof rack cargo to block the flow of air... I put about four pieces of cardboard wrapped around the front end of both pieces and then held it in place with a cargo strap. We got in the car and pulled back out onto the dark, deserted road...
At around 35 mph, we heard more vibration and fluttering... it was probably the cardboard and the cargo straps but I didn't want to take any chances. We drove the rest of the way home at 30 mph. The trip from that point was slow but unremarkable from that point.
Today, I have already placed the train tracks on the rigid foam... laid out on the living room floor... now I need to mark where I need to cut it to shape... leaving room in one area for a future small town... cut into a mild dogbone shape with the center cut out like an odd shaped donut.
Right now, the tracks are placed on the full sheet of rigid foam... but, my railroads don't go around in circles on a big sheet of plywood like they are going nowhere... that is a silly toy... my railroads meander through scenes... this small railroad will meander in the shape of a donut.
Okay, my coffee break is over... I need to get back to working on the railroad....
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