Now the question will be… will those hidden staging tracks line up after reassembly!?!

This week I’ll start the diss-assembly for moving in about 2-3 weeks, just ahead of the “big” move.

Stay tuned!

While the layout is sort of modular, it was done so with the intent that’d we buy a house 3-4 years from now with space to accommodate it.  Right now, that’s all up in the air as we pretty much have to pick something in the next 2-4 weeks to move into (be it another lease or buy).

So with that in mind, there’s a very strong chance the layout will see a full diss-assembly if that “perfect” house isn’t out there right now for us.

You may have noticed a change in ground color too.  I ran out of my “red dirt” color and switched to an can I had from two layouts ago of ‘”tan dirt”.  I kinda like it better after using that red for so long. I might even re-do all the red with it.

Next up I began working on placement of structures.  I dug a few small items that’s been packed away for a while and placed it out on the layout.  I also got around to cutting out my background flats from Kingmill Enterprises.  Started placing them all out along the background of Elmwood.  Really does help fill the scene with them in place.  Once I’m happy with the look I’ll use some Elmer’s spray adhesive to attach them to the backdrop.

Work on the control panel is progressing t0o.  Here’s a look a the panel after I drilled all the holes.

I’ve since added the final overlay of the track plan to the the metal plate. Just need to cut out all the paper holes and put all the switches and LED holders in.  I also ordered the DTM30 controller board this weekend.  So we might see this thing in action in a few weeks.

And lastly, here’s a new overall view of the layout.

EDIT:  And….. there all gone.

The bridges are made from a NJ International Cantilever kit.  The targets are Red/Green 3-wire SMD’s.  The bridges were assembled by Richard @ Custom Signal Systems.  The wiring is common cathode.

I’m also going  put most of my Micro Trains Auto Racks up for sale to fund buying some more signals.  I’ll put a list together up tonight in case any readers are interested before they hit Ebay.

I believe they were already offering MR in the Kindle or Nook Store but this will push it out to more platforms for subscribers for an additional $10/year.

Currently I scan all my MR magazines to a PDF format for reading on Mac, iPad and iPhone, takes about an hour per issue and it’s so-so quality, so I decided to give it a whirl to test the waters.

After making the purchase at Kalmbach’s site, you’re presented a link to download the issue. They use Zinio.com for their content delivery system.

Once you create an account and login, you are shown your library os issues. Currently I only see the next issue. Would be nice if they offered back issues or something.

Clicking the thumbnail lets you read the magazine online. I then checked out the links for iPad and downloading offline on the right side.

The ipad link says:

             [quote]To read on an iPad, please install the Zinio Magazine Newsstand & Reader app from the App Store here. Once registered to your Zinio account, iPad-compatible publications will appear automatically in the library view.[/quote]

The Download for offline reading link says:

             [quote]You’ll need to install the free Zinio software. Have you installed it or upgraded to Zinio Reader 4?[/quote]

So first I downloaded the Zinio Reader 4 app for my Mac and signed into it.

You’re presented the same screen as above pretty much. There’s options to download new issues automatically if you want, as well as previous issues if you’ve been a zinio user for a while. Reading a magazine works the same was as the online viewer works. You can only print the current page you are looking at it. The option to print all pages (or even more than two) is disabled, making printing articles a time-consuming process. The Mac app saves the pages as two page spread SWF flash files so when you ‘turn the page’ there’s a few seconds of delay while the app loads and renders the SWF file.  I was disappointed that you can’t download an issue as a PDF file, but they do have protect their issues from piracy.

Next I downloaded the free Zinio iPad app. Upon logging in it again automatically downloaded the issue to the iPad. The happy is pleasantly zippy. Flipping through pages is instant. The iPad app downloads pages an individual PDF files, so there’s no rendering to be done here. (And no, you can’t grab those PDF files. They are encrypted.)  The quality of the magazine on my ipad is way better than the scans I do, so I like that aspect of it.

Overall though I’m not super impressed… probably because I already started scanning magazines to PDF format and I was hoping I’d be able to continue to use that format in some way rather than split it between two.

I sent an email with my thoughts to Kalmbach and they kindly cancelled the subscription for me.  It just didn’t met my needs for a “digital copy”, but if you’re looking into adding it to your subscription I hope this information is useful.

The first thing on the list is to get rid of the cone shape top. I pulled off the masking tape, cut and removed the cardboard strip webbing, and cut down the foam supports.

The 2nd thing was it needed to be more vertical along the tracks, more like a cut was made by the railroad to put in the tracks.  So I removed the tape and webbing from the bottom portion of the mountain as well.

Here’s what it used to look like:

The cardboard webbing is still pretty intact so I placed it on top the hill as I think already it’s beginning to look to better with the shortened, rounded off top:

In photo #2, I was originally planning on doing some tunnel portals here but think instead I’m gonna try and have the tracks just disappear into trees/foliage instead. An idea I got from the July 2009 Model Railroader article.

My simple but effective “Crumpled foil glued to cardboard and painted black” tunnel interiors.

Almost completely done with track work.  Just need to sand down a transition on the cork here, glue down the track, and drop some feeders and I’ll be done.  Then it’s on to ballasting.

And a look at my corner lake that I painted and sealed with caulking.  Added a rubber rock casting too.