The Home and
Design of the RGW....
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Currently Under Construction (Literally)
Train Room
(Shell) - Train Room (Interior)
- Layout Design
Layout Construction:
(click on pictures for full view)
February 2007:
Backdrop painting continued on the
perimeter wall of the train room. As of this entry, we have completed as
much of the backdrop painting as we feel is necessary to move to the next phase
of construction. The painting is a combination of acrylic paints
applied by hand using conventional brushes and an airbrush. The acrylic
was thinned 50/50 with water for use in the airbrush. A small fan brush
was used to dab in the tree tops after the hillsides were painted in with their
base color. If you have any questions about the techniques we used, please
drop us an email.
As shown in the pictures below, the
backdrop covers approximately 300° of the room, with only the extreme NE wall
unpainted, as it houses the workbench and cabinetry. While it is
anticipated that additional painting will be necessary as we progress with
scenery, it "feels" right to move back into construction at this point.
Other activities completed thus far
include laying out the location of the NW and N wall table sections, as well as
the NW finger table. This was accomplished using a variety of tools, most
notably the Cadrail drawing of the layout which provided the coordinates for
reference points in the table sections. We used those points to mark the
floor and then played connect the dots with a long straight edge and a trammel
where curves were required. Once the floor sections were traced on the
floor, we laid down masking tape to simulate the front edges of each table.
An example of that method can be seen here.
By following the practice, we can determine well in advance if we have issues
with such things as layout design, spacing and aisle width. Trust me, it's
far better to spend the time playing with masking tape, than to build a table
section, only to find you can not maneuver around it.
We also reviewed the grades we have
assigned in Cadrail and then put them on the wall to get a visual taste of
the flow of the track. This gives us a sense of where table sections might
need to be adjusted to compensate for risers and it also gives us a quick look
at where the track is really headed and where we might want to adjust the grade
to ensure track reaches its appropriate destination.
In this
photo, you can see the grade lines we have placed on the wall.
Finally we completed the day by
determining where we will mount our hanging brackets for the NW and N wall table
sections. Our goal is not to have a single table leg along both of these
stretches of the layout. In our next entry, we will detail just how this
will all work.
Other Updates:
2008
2007
2006
2005
