The Home and
Design of the RGW....
This Page
Currently Under Construction (Literally)
Train Room
(Shell) - Train Room (Interior)
- Layout Design
Layout Construction:
(click on pictures for full view)
October 2006:
As you will
recall from the April update, we decided to salvage the old layout. We
also made the determination, "Tis better to paint backdrop before benchwork
installed, than to break one's back leaning over the benchwork after. (Or for
you in Gila Bend, AZ, paint the backdrop first, stupid!)." Profound, I
know, but none-the-less, a pioneering breakthrough in backdrop methodology.
Well once we started the painting, we found that it wasn't that hard, heck most
of us learned painting in kindergarten, this is just an advanced version
thereof. To be sure, we revisited our guru, Bill Alexander, "isn't that
beautiful, just fire it in there!", but in all, it went much better than
anticipated. We had only one complaint, the corners had too much shadow.
The only cure, coved corners. So for those of you who have been
questioning our progress, this is what we have been up to.
The coving
process was started by cutting out curved forms from plywood stock. We the
affixed the forms to the corners with 2x2 supports. To form the corners,
we used 1/8" masonite with one side finished for texture. It was
determined early on (stroke of luck), that we could insert a PVC pipe within the
confines of the forms that would enable us to run conduit up the wall to
eventually provide us with a location for blue floodlights for night running
during operating sessions. You will note the pipe in the pictures below.
We will describe the floodlights in more detail another time. We
then cut the masonite to length and used construction adhesive to adhere it to
the forms, with a bead of adhesive down each vertical side to ensure lack of
movement. Temporary screws held it in place until dry.
Now that all
took about a day. What transpired next took weeks.
To say that
painting backdrop is difficult is one thing, but I say it doesn't hold a candle
to drywall mud. Frankly, if there were an easier way to have done this,
(aka hire it out), I would have in a second, problem is I was too stubborn once
we started. Coat after miserable coat of mud to ensure smooth edges and an
equally smooth transition to the wall behind, kept this phase alive for months.
But, as you can see from the pics below, we have finally finished the drywall
portion and repainted the wall the base blue, so that we can complete the
backdrop painting. There are also some extra pics of our backdrop status.
Other Updates:
2008
2007
2006
2005
