I have spent quite a bit of time lately working on a module, building the backdrop.  I used luan plywood for it, though in hindsight I think I should have used masonite instead.  The major reason is how flexible the tempered hard board (Masonite) is compared to the plywood.  I primed it and then painted it blue.

I hot glued the two tunnel portals to the backdrop and the roadbed.  The circuit board in the middle of the picture is the reversing unit.

I have been really busy lately, working on several different projects at once.  Most of the work has been on my home layout, the GOP (Get Out n’ Push).

I have completed most of the track, with only two switches left to install and the siding they support.  Wiring has been coming along slowly, in part through waiting for my NCE Power Cab, which showed up the other day.  I am also waiting for a reversing unit and a circuit breaker to complete the wiring.  So far I have installed three of the nine Tortoise switch machines.

I have also installed part of the fascia across the front of the module, unfortunately I was unable to get more tempered hardboard and instead used luan plywood.  I don’t think that this will work as well especially as it does not bend as far.

I ran a small switcher engine on DC power the other day, it was great to finally be able to run something, only if it was a couple of feet.

I have been really busy lately so I haven’t had that much time for modeling.

I have been working on this section a little bit at a time.

This picture shows how I have mounted the sub-roadbed (1/4″ plywood) and used risers coming up from the cross-members.  The major difference in this from the standard L-girder construction is that they usually use crosspieces at the top.  Hopefully omitting these do not hurt me in the long run.

I started to install the roadbed on the top of the plywood.  I used standard white caulking  to fasten the material into place, using pins to hold it until it set.  As you can see from the picture I have the switches setting nearby to check the angles for the roadbed.

After laying the roadbed the next step will be to start adding track.  I will wait until it is all into place before adding the top most layer of track, coming out over the reverse loop.

One of my recent projects was to start building the next module for my home model railroad, named the Get Out n Push railroad (GOP).  This module will start with a semi industrial area on the right, where it joins with my previous section.  In the middle I will be building a mill pond and mill, and on the left will be a logging scene above with a trestle lower down.

This picture shows the early L girder construction, over which I have laid cardboard to cut templates.  I used flex track to lay out my plan on the cardboard and then used them to transfer onto 1/4″ plywood for the sub-roadbed.

Here are the first sections of the plywood after being cut out.  The major difference between this table and the previous is that most of the other table was in plywood, creating a flat surface for my city.  On this one I want it to progress from city to the deep woods so I needed more flexibility for terrain.

The next step is to cut and install the elevation risers to bring the sub-roadbed to the correct grade.

The L-girder construction is very easy, relatively cheap, and very strong.  As you can see above I modified the basic design to create the odd shaped L table I needed.

Learning from my previous experience, I waited several days for the molding material to cure before removing the parts and the containers.  I learned another valuable lesson with these molds.  If you look at the mold on the left you see that it is very thick (to account for the thickness of the middle part).  I decided to mold some barrels made from previous casts, as you can never have too many.  The only problem was that it was very difficult to remove the parts.  The thickness of the mold should only be a little bit more than 1/4″ thicker than the tallest part.  Otherwise, the mold won’t have enough flexibility to assist in removing the parts.

One of the items I received from my wife for Christmas was this Downtown Deco kit, the Trackside Tavern.  It is a hydrocal kit, which allows for an incredible amount of detail to be molded into the walls.  I used white glue to fasten the pieces together, this worked well but was very slow.  I think for the next kit I will try epoxy cement.  I had to use the weight from the pliers to assist in keeping the walls straight while the glue cured.