Posts

Showing posts with the label present

A Few More Photos of Lukey's Model Railroad

Image
While my health is recovering today, I'm taking it easy. I get easily bored whenever I am in recovery mode so I pulled out my camera in an attempt to shoot a few more photos of Lukey's model railroad.  I suspect this little model railroad will take a beating once Lukey starts playing with it... the same holds true for Kenzie's dollhouse. Needless to say, I'd like to have as many photos of these two gifts in their 'new - never been used' state.   Yesterday, I added a bit more shrubbery and weeds to the model railroad. I do believe it is detailed enough to hand over to Lukey now.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos... Train station on one side of the layout right in front of the jacks to connect power. I added some weeds and shrubbery to the foreground here.  Uphill, to the right above the concrete retaining wall, we will eventually build a small country town... The small combination freight depot/train station located on the opposite side o

A Productive Few Hours of Artistic Fun!

Image
I've had a few hours of productivity spread out over the past few days  (this stuff does take its toll on my spine so I only do things like this in short spurts)  and it reminded me of how much I truly enjoy accomplishing artistic and creative things like this project. It has been fun! I really should do this more often.  It is time for lunch... past time, actually... so that is all I will accomplish on this project until tonight perhaps. Next up is some lunch, a shower and a long nap! When I head back to this project tonight or over the weekend, it will be time to add some smaller details and some additional vegetation. It's looking good at this point though and I'm enjoying building it!  It makes me wonder why I don't do stuff like this more often... Oh yeah... we don't have the room just yet!  It really has been an outstanding day!

Carving a New World

Image
I truly wish that I could say I am "carving a new world" in the real world but I am really referring to Lukey's Christmas present... a model railroad. I have begun the next phase of creating this little railroad world... I am transforming a flat terrain into a three dimensional world by carving the flat, blocky foam into rolling terrain, rocks, hills and ditches.  This is an exciting time because I begin to see the world I have locked inside my head as I carve, scrape and shape this new world. It is also incredibly messy with chunks of foam flying (not quite like Edward Scissorhands but messy enough) and clinging to everything. Then, when you move and cause a disturbance of air, these foam chunks blow around the room. What a mess! (Bending over on the floor isn't helping my spinal injuries either!)   Anyway, I just wanted to add some more photos showing this process... I hope to have this entire little railroad world carved before bedtime. Now I need to go sh

More Progress on Lukey's Railroad

Image
Before I went any further on building Lukey's railroad Christmas present, I needed to add a couple of power feeds from the track to a jack panel to connect a transformer to this basic layout. I started drilling... then cutting with a kitchen knife... this was a relatively easy task... This may look like a culvert but it is really where my power panel will be located... I will be able to plug-in the appropriate transformer here using banana jacks.   Once I had the power feeds in place, I was able to glue down the track. This track that I'm using is an HO sectional track by Atlas called True Track. It comes with a plastic roadbed already in place. This saved me some work but the trade off is that is doesn't look as realistic. That being said, for this project, this track is just fine. After setting the track/roadbed down in the wet glue, I placed a newly bought 30 pack of beer on the track (believe it or not, I bought this 30 pack with this project in mind) ... this

Update on Building a Railroad

Image
I ran out of supplies yesterday while building Lukey's Christmas present... his little railroad. This slowed down progress but I needed a serious rest and some recovery time for my health anyway. Before running out of supplies, I cut a 1/4" plywood base to be glued to the bottom of the foam I had cut and shaped previously. I laid down some heavy duty plastic in the living room to protect our carpet and then applied an adhesive to the plywood... then carefully placed the foam in place on top of the plywood... I placed books on top of the foam to apply pressure while the adhesive dried and cured. This morning I was able to move the books back to the shelves in our bedroom. Unfortunately, I was out of supplies at this point and needed a run to Lowes and Home Depot before getting any more accomplished on this railroad. So, here are a few more photos (in addition to my previous blog posts with photos) showing the process of building Lukey's little railroad... Marking