As you walk into my home office / layout room, first thing you see is the intermodal yard.

I just got the Plexiglas up.  This keeps elbows, little grubby hands, and such from damaging the fence,
light poles, or knocking cars and containers to the floor.  Might reduce chances of setting coffee cups
and other beverages on that section, at least.

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I know... I cracked it.  Got a new piece of Plexi cut, replaced the cracked piece.  $8.  And they
cut the cracked piece shorter, losing the cracked spot, and it is mounted elsewhere.

How I cracked it... learn from this... I figured I would drill a small hole, then ream it larger so the
screws could go through.  Wrong!  When I drilled with the larger bit it grabbed and cracked.  
Lesson learned, just go with the correct size bit from the beginning and feed the drill through
slowly.  Drill against a wood surface and hold the Plexi down firmly around the bit.  No other
holes cracked with this method.

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The yellow lines are where the tires of the Walthers Mi-Jack Translift Crane will have to roll to
keep the other side approximately centered between the tracks.  Mi-Jack under construction.

That is excellent, nice work!

The intermodal yard's dispatcher's office is the front office section of the Micro Engineering
Truck Terminal kit.  The back of the office was closed off using a scrap of metal building wall
leftover from a Pikestuff kit.  Nothing is wasted here.

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I ran out of brass rod while making fencing.  I had to order more, which just arrived.  I'll make a
gate to go across the front of this industrial supply house's yard.

You can see mismatched ivory colored panels on the rear corner of this cornflower blue metal
building.  This building was storm damaged and the builder was just plain out of the blue panels.  
I'm sure they will paint them later... maybe.  The blue sections were faded and sunbleached by
spraying with a mix of 90% water - 10% acrylic white.  As soon as it was sprayed, the paint
bottle was removed from the airbrush, and most of it was blown off.  When it dried it looked
sunbleached.  The roof was dusted with streaks of black chalk dust.  Then all was sprayed with
two coats of Krylon Crystal Clear Flat... same as Testors Dullcoat, but a lot cheaper in the long
run.

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This is right by the door, and I'll get around to putting a drop in bridge there for roundy-round
running.  But this layout works fine point-to-point.

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Very Nice!!

This is just one side of the Cargill concrete grain elevator.  It's really 16 silos, you just can't see the
other side.  The center building is half of the big Walthers kit.  I made these silos from 2" PVC pipe
and some sheet plastic to cap the tops.  I built the corrugated head house from scratch.  The other
half of the center building is on another modeler's RR.  He scratch-built his loading shed from
corrugated sheet plastic.

The pipe down to the loading shed is 1/8" aluminum tubing with a coupler screw glued into the upper
end, and a hole drilled in the building.  On the inside is a 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/8" neodymium magnet to
hold it in place.  Not glued plastic, so it is easy to remove, replace.

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Note the old abandoned truck with foliage growing out from under the hood.  Got the truck on eBay.

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Back by the supply house and intermodal yard.  There is a light weathering on the 3-unit car, dust and
a little road grime.  The containers have yet to be weathered, but that's coming.

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Back around the room, to the engine house and maintenance building.  On the right is the Pikestuff 2-bay
engine house.  On the left is most of the Pikestuff Atkinson Maintenance Facility.  The side building of the
Atkinson was left off... but used elsewhere.

From left to right, caboose track, RIP track, maintenance, and two engine house tracks.  There will be
service islands for fuel, water, sand, and some spot light poles to be added.

Yes, those wheel sets on the RIP track will painted rust.

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And moving to the right from the maintenance area, the rest of the Atkinson building, cut down to one
story.  On the left side is crew quarters, hey, they have to get some sleep!  And on the right side, the
yard dispatcher's office.  I'll park a few cars and pickups around there.

Did you know there really is such a thing as sectional track?  They use it for temporary trackwork.  So
this is what I did with ends cut off the flex track.  I sprayed the whole pieces, ties, rail and all with
Humbrol 98 and then dusted with Rail Brown.

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Thanks, Hammer and Hangtime!  More to come...  hold on.

Pretty damn impressive OP

Remember the Micro Engineering Truck Terminal office over at the intermodal yard?  Here's the
rest of the story.  The truck terminal was split in half lengthwise, and made into the backs of two
trackside warehouses.  The loading docks are from Pikestuff.  Gray acrylic paint and some black
chalk dust applied with Q-tips.  The name Gotrox is from the famous "Railgoat" (noted SP/SSW/T&NO
historian and photographer), last name Gautreaux, from his rock band's name.  Used by permission.

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The next two buildings are made from one Pikestuff truck terminal building split lengthwise.  I
sprayed them with Krylon made for plastics (you can hardly find model paint in this town), which
works well.  Colors seen on local metal buildings.... getting away from the Pikestuff cornflower blue.

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I have a sheet of number decals to number the doors of those trackside warehouses.  The conductor
and engineer have to know where to spot the cars.

This building with the big Bull Durham ad was inspired by a building in my home town, an old bank
building on the end of main street which faces the old SP mainline.  It has been maintained in good
condition since the 30's or before.

I would like to BS you and tell you that I painted that freehand, but in actuallity, it's a decal.  The
first Bull Durham decal I found was too small, but contacting Dave at Dave's Decals,
www.davart.net he said it would be no problem making me a larger one.  It was applied
over JTT brick plastic sheet, with lots of Solvaset used.  The brick is printed with the decal.  The
sides were way too orangy-red to match.  They were painted with a mix of Humbrol 98 and 100.  
After drying, I slathered on gray acrylic, let that sit just a few minutes, then wiped most of it off
with a damp rag.  That left "mortar" between the bricks.  Then a little polishing with a plastic
polish took some of the mortar film off the surface of the bricks.  At this point the building was
assembled.  Some weathering powders blended it all together, so you don't notice much, if any
difference between the face and the sides.  At least it does not jump out at you.

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And the set dressing is important.

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See the piping from the grain elevator to the silos?  There is another rare earth magnet glued to
the mouth of the plenum, and each line has a coupler screw glued in the end.  A little sheet plastic
glued to the plenum hides those screws.  And it all holds the elevator in position, not falling over,
with no glue.  Why not use the plastic piping?  It has to come off, be moved at times.  Which is
why I didn't spackle the seams and screw heads on the backdrop... those are removable panels
which give access, when needed, to the windows.

And this in the back corner is a plastics molding facility based on a real outfit.  Again, Pikestuff
with the cornflower blue painted over.  The Pikestuff 3-bay firehouse in the rear looks like the
real building which houses a full machine shop in the left bay for die work, and the other two
bays house the big injection molding machines.

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Thank you, Young-un and Medicmandan!

Still more to come, guys.

The removable panel behind this section, just to the right of the plastics plant, headed over to
the Cargill grain elevator.  There is a door behind that backdrop panel.  Removing the fascia,
then 8 screws, and cutting the rail will allow that whole section to be lifted out with minimal
damage.  Replacing it, just solder or repair the track, dust on a little more Woodland Scenics
stuff, and it can all be fixed.  But in 35 years we have only opened that door 2 or 3 times.

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Yes, that's a bayou!  The "water" is Magic Water by Unreal Details.  It is only about 1/8" thick.  
A resin that is poured over a bottom of 1/4" Masonite (hardboard).  It was painted a sort of
olive drab I mixed while looking at the bayou a few blocks from my home.  As I adjusted the
paint color I let it dry on the pallet, as it changed as it dried.  When I got it right I took it home
and painted the bayou bottom.  The owner of Unreal Details told me to mix a little of the paint
into the resin to tint it, too.  Does not matter if oil based or acrylic, he said.  I did and it works
great.  Unlike Envirotex it does not get milky with bubbles, nor does it ever get brittle.  It is
dry to the touch, but remains slightly flexible which prevents cracking.

Once I added the fascia it really began to look good.  It takes your eyes off the ugly raw wood
understructure and you just see the railroad, like the frame of a picture.  The fascia is 1/4"
Masonite (hardboard, like the back of a clipboard) painted a dark mint green, Behr "Underwater".  
Some paint their fascia black (too dark for my taste) or gray (too bland), but I liked the green.  
I used plastic finishing washers and dry wall screws to attach.  The only green washers I could
find were OD, so I stuck them to a board with painter's tape wrapped sticky side out, sprayed
with Krylon "Hunter Green", a paint for plastics, which seems to stick really well.  Also, drilled
a bunch of holes in a scrap of plywood, stood the screws in the holes, and sprayed with the
same paint.  The match to the fascia is close enough for me.

I did not try to bend the fascia around the corners, just too sharp.  If you have more room, go
for it.

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This airboat was built for me by a good friend who has since passed away.

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Coming back around toward the intermodal yard.  Will be adding signals to the grade crossing.

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The gray building is "TranShip International" - shipping, receiving, transloading service.

And back to the intermodal yard entrance.

The guard shack was made by cutting the Pikestuff Yard Utility Building narrower.  I'll add
an AC unit above the window on the side toward the entrance road.  Some drop down
"stop here" arms will be added, some yellow painted protective posts on the sides of the
guard shack, and some stripes on the pavement.

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That piece of Plexiglas cut down from the cracked one?  That now shorter piece is screwed
across this 45 degree across the road leading to the guard shack.

Mi-Jack Translift crane kit under construction... I ran out of paint!  This Walthers kit is
molded in hideous orange plastic.  Most photos i find have the real Mi-Jacks painted
safety yellow.  I chose to paint with Tru-Color Railbox Yellow, but ran out.  Paint should
be here Tuesday or so.

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Set dressing brings it to life.

OK, will get around to that gate later.

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Remember the piece of Plexiglas I cracked?  Had a new piece made for the end of the peninsula.  
I had the cracked piece cut down, and that is it placed, as you can see in the above photo, across
the road by the guard shack.  Originally it was a 24" long piece of Plexi, and after cutting out the
cracked section, I got a nice 14" piece.  So it was not wasted.

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More set dressing.

I'll paint those wheels on the RIP track rust.

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Grass and ground cover... painted the ply dirt brown first.  Just some cheap latex.  Painted the cork roadbed
the approximate color of the ballast.  That way, light spots would not show through, and until ballasted, the
roadbed did not look so bad.  Next I painted the sides of the rails Humbrol 98.  Just the side you can see.  
As I would paint, I'd wipe the top of the rails with a thinner dampened rag.  The  Humbrol 98 is so close to
the color of the Atlas Code 83 brown ties that any that got on the ties is not noticed.  I ballasted before adding
greenery, that way ballast wasn't scattered all over the grass and ground cover.  That stuff goes everywhere!

For the first layer of grass, I painted on 50%-50% mix of water and Elmers white glue (buy a gallon, don't
bother with smaller quantities) and sprinkled on the fine grass turf.  Skipped the "earth" as I had the brown
paint down.  When that was dry, I vacuumed.

If you can operate a can of baby puke cheese to sprinkle on a pizza, you can do this.

Next the coarse turf was sprinkled on.  "Scenery glue" was mixed up from 70% water, 25% Mod Podge Matte
(which will not have any shine), with the rest a squirt of dishwashing detergent, and a splash of Kodak Photoflow
200.  You can buy that on Amazon.  This is both scenery glue AND ballast glue.  Also for ballast, apply it with an
eyedropper.  For the grass/turf, I dampen with a spritz bottle, spraying with water and a little alcohol as wetting
agent, then using a ketchup squirt bottle, like they use in diners, I dribble the scenery glue mix around.  I don't
try to saturate it all at once.  Watch, it will spread itself.  After 5 minutes or so, come back and get any dry spots.  
Turn off the lights and come back tomorrow, be pleasantly surprised.

Chunks of "foliage clusters" and other material as desired  I even sprinkled around little broken up twigs from
the birch tree in the front yard as deadwood.

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Great work! I would love to build a large layout in a few years once I buy a house; I've given thought to building part of the Old Lead Belt here in Missouri circa 1950-ish.

I'm assuming you're working in HO scale?

Very nice! I am finally rebuilding mine, bought new home with large 30 X 20 room to make a little grainger branch.

Keep posting more pics

Southern Phantom, yes, HO scale.

This room is only 11' x 15', originally an enclosed carport.  When we bought this house about 40 years ago
this room had been enclosed and had been kids' playroom.  We turned it into a bedroom for my boys.

Eventually all the kids were grown and gone, it was remodeled once again into my home office and layout room.

So, here it is.  I've crammed a lot into a small area.  No huge Rocky Mountain scenes with tunnels and bridges
over gorges, no wide open plains.  I looked out my door here along the Gulf Coast and didn't see mountains,
nor hills.  I model what I see here locally and in the region.  Not meant to be a complete operation with passenger
trains, big freight yard, all that.  But big enough for some simple operations.  More a series of little dioramas.  
It amuses me.

I got tired of hearing, "Why didn't you put in a helix and another layer?"  "Why didn't you..."  Whoa!  It's my
railroad.  Hahaha!

I see now I have accumulated way too many locos and cars.  The largest I should be running is a pair of
GP38-2's, GP40-2's, or GP60's.  Those 5-unit well cars?  Largest I can handle are 3-unit... and I should break
those down to doubles at most.  Really should have bought only singles.

But live and learn.  In 6 months or so I'll be making some people happy with my ebay sales, get some of the
stuff out of here I'll never be able to use.

Part of what makes the hobby great is learning and making things better.

2 tiered layouts to me just create more work. Your layout looks tight, I would put the simple look up there with Lance M's work

The detail is amazing. Impressive and thanks for sharing.

I model what I see... or at least am inspired by what I see.

For example, this was inspiration for the colors on the trackside warehouses:

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And this:

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was inspired by this:

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Also, the water tower painted behind the model is like the one here in town.

This scene:

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was inspired by this building on the end of main street facing the old SP mainline in my home town:

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These were also inspiration for my Feed Store scene.

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Long ago there was a siding here down along those two buildings.  The loading doors are
still there, but the wood docks and siding are long gone.

Impressive!  For the edges on your plexiglass, sand to 400 grit then "tickle" the sanded surface with a propane or Mapp gas torch to melt the sanding lines away. Direct the very end of the flame at a slight angle parallel to the edge and don't overheat and bubble the surface. Two minutes with some scrap and you'll be a pro.

Like "fire polishing" glassware in the chem lab?  I do that to the ends of lucite rods i use for lighting up locomotives to
make a lens on the end, for headlights.

I have a little handheld torch, with both propane and MAPP gas bottle here.  The glass shop had some scraps of Plexi
or Acrylic for sale cheap.  I'll get a few and practice.

Great suggestion!  Thanks!

You did an excellent job of capturing the look of those structures. Color me impressed!

Thanks for the kind comments, ASRM, and the rest of you guys.

During construction:

Painting roadbed and ballast color:

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Wet "scenery glue"... 70% water, 25% Mod Podge Matte, some liquid detergent and Kodak Photoflow.

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After drying overnight, Voila!

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As I said, if you can sprinkle cheese on a pizza...

Thought you would like this...

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Edit:  I'll leave the pickups, "high railers", clean.  The cabooses will be weathered once I get a
"round tuit".  The wheelsets on the RIP track will be sprayed rust.

A real GP40-2 has the EMD 645E3 16-cylinder, which is turbocharged, and is a very reliable
3,000 HP.  This prime mover is not turbocharged, and would be more appropriate in a GP38-2,
however I had no photos of the turbos and manifolding from this angle to use to simulate that
feature.  Perhaps later.

This is actually Walthers 567, a smaller displacement (but about the same physical size) 16
cylinder diesel.  Appearance, at least from this view, is very similar to the 645.

Awesome work OP. All looks amazing.

Working with the plexi is a pita sometimes

Would a step bit work? I think i used one last project.

What did you use as the base, framing?

Doing a shelf style layout about 2-2.5 foot depth at the most. Used foam before with good results but was in a wood frame.

Your ballast work is clean and nice looking, that is probably the one thing in the whole hobby I dislike doing.

Kudos on the EMD Engine view

Thank you!  I don't know about the step bit... just choose a sharp bit that is larger than the threads on the screws you will use.

I used 1x4's across the edge, and 1x4's.  The deck is 1/2" ply.  It is cantilevered from the wall, no legs but on the end of
the peninsula where the intermodal yard is located.

Would you like photos of underneath?

Thanks about the ballast comments... I hate ballasting, it is difficult, to say the least.

The EMD is not really the correct one for an EMD GP40-2.  The block is OK, but it lacks the turbocharger and manifolding.  
This is the Walthers Prime Mover kit placed in an Athearn GP40-2 dummy.  It would look more correct in a GP-38 or 38-2.
But it was intended for a scene where there was to be a prime mover replacement, with the blown engine sitting on the side.

You've got some very good skills with weathering details. Very realistic smoke stains and other worn effects.

A 2x4 ribbon was screwed, with long deck screws, into the studs.  Earlier this paneling had been down, replaced, and I made
careful measurements of just where the studs were located.  The 2x4's were placed so that the deck would be 50" off the floor
on that side, 48" off the floor on the other.  Reason?  The floor of the room is not level.  This used to be a carport, enclosed
before we bought the house.  There is a 2" slope to enable draining rainwater.  However the deck is dead flat, level, bubble
perfectly centered all the way around the room.  Yes, I even used a long straight edge and carpenter's level to make sure.

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There is a 1x3 ribbon run around the room 24" off the floor (on the lower side, 22" off the upper side).

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1x4's are toenailed (with deck screws) into the 2x4 ribbon.

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The weight of the deck does not rest on the 1x4's coming away from the walls, but on the 2x4 ribbon screwed to the walls.  
That's why only one screw is used to toenail those 1x4's.  Their main purpose is to keep the ply flat, and to have something
to attach to for the 1x4 across the edge of the ply (fascia) and the diagonal supports.

No nails were used in the layout... all deck screws put in with drill driver.  Ziippp!!!

Diagonal braces were added, notched to fit the lower 1x3 ribbon, with just one deck screw holding it there.

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And screwed into the 1x4's out toward the front edge.  The front board, to which the fascia is attached, is
also 1x4's.

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Scotchloks were used for connecting the feeders (22 ga) to the Buss (14 ga THHN).

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The 1/2" ply deck is screwed into the 2x4 ribbon on the wall, as well as the 1x4's on the front, this is
all tied together well.  You can tap dance on the deck of this layout.

This was the planned benchwork.  The peninsula that sticks out into the room is the intermodal yard.
There are legs on the end of that that are the only things that touch the floor.

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And across the doorway where there will eventually be a drop in bridge.  This is the track that comes up
beside Soap, Rope, and Dope.

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Layout check around the room:

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... and so on.  Cars do not roll away by themselves.

The peninsula (intermodal yard):

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The ply is totally flat, and also this is a coastal plain (like where I live) being modeled, it is not perfectly flat.  
I made some "mud pies" on wax paper using Cal Coat 127, a GREAT scenery material.  It is sold as an insulating
material for steam piping, walk in refridgerators, other industrial uses.  It seems to be a slow setting plaster-like
material with fiber and stuff in it.  Mix it up thick, and you can work it for about an hour.  It will be cement gray
at first, but eventually dry almost white.  Great for applying over foam for mountains.  There are more than a few
videos about using this material by my good friend Art Houston on his Youtube channel, arthurhouston3.  I learned
a lot from Art.  And Cal Coat 127 is cheap.  Two big sacks cost me about $30.  I have a LOT left over.

Also search in Youtube for Grande Pacific for his many videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG3lN6Wmfwo   Foam and Cal Coat 127 pt 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUAYd33qJOs   Cal Coat 127 pt 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2KhgoP5Oe0   More foam and Cal Coat 127

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnS_Ws3LXYE    Ballasting track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3s4x63wi1E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMLCqaKJyn0

So, that's Cal Coat 127.  Here's what I did, since I wasn't making mountains.

I made mud pies on some waxed paper.  These were 1/2" to 3/4" thick in the middle.

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Just pouring it on the ply it won't stick well.  (Edit - won't stick well to the painted ply,
but it sticks well to raw ply.)  So I made them loose, put some white glue on the deck,
placed the mounds where I wanted, and then spackled the edges.  After they dried I
did a little very light sanding around the edge.  Finally, painted over with the same dirt
brown latex as the plywood.

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Once the ground cover was sprinkled on, it gave a nice natural contour.

Some earth moving going on here.

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Let's do some backdrop.

I had to figure out where I wanted the horizon.  First I painted a band of light gray smoothly curving up
and down.  Then another color band, just a touch of green added, just a little lower, overlapping the first.  
The farther away, the more light and grayed are the colors.  This is due to moisture in the air.

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I mixed plenty of each color... I had a lot of painting to do around the room.  This is regular artist's
acrylics.  I used these little Rubbermaid containers.  They keep the paint from drying out between uses.

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Then two more colors, each darker, with the lowest, and therefore "nearest" color being the shadow in
the woods.  It is a dark green, almost black.  In fact, I started with black and added green.

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All of this was done, including the trees later, with this little 1" brush.  This brush also painted white glue
for the ground cover and lots of other work.

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You can't paint shadow behind trees after the trees are painted, which is why that had to be done first.

Now I'm ready to do trees.

An aside, I am not an artist... I learned to do this watching Youtube videos, some useless, some good.  The
artist I learned the most from was a guy in Australia that sounds like he's telling you how to change rear
brakes on a 1963 Chevy Impala.

First color.  Paint a couple, move over 6", or a foot, or two feet, paint another, or two or three.

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I did that by just dipping the tips of the bristles in the paint, and dabbing it tip on, stippling, onto
the backdrop.

Now a second color, and another even lighter color.  The lighter colors go where the sun strikes it.  In my
case, the sunlight was coming from the upper right.  You have to be consistent across all the trees.

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Then another set of colors mixed, for different color trees.  I painted those in at random.

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And keep doing the same, different colors, different sizes, mix them in at random.

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Later I'll make bushes and new growth along the tree line with ground foam foliage clumps to blend
the painted trees into the middle and foreground.

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Which eventually brings us to this:

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Nice! I like the brace idea. You have posted a ton of info. Now time to soak it up.

I used the same wiring setup on the previous layout. I think I will use the same again.

Keep up the great posts.

Thank you!

Discovered a problem and fixed it before it became a real problem.

The bridge across the bayou was an old bridge I bought that had come from an estate sale, already assembled.  It had been around
some years, never used.  I don't know how I didn't find this earlier, but I had been laying track, ballasting, scenery, other things, and
the cars were all still in boxes or wrapped in bubble wrap in storage containers.

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Turns out this is a well known problem with this old Walthers bridge, which has since been updated to clear double stacked containers.  
And it has been mentioned that this is a real problem on some of the northeastern US railroads, where they have to restrict certain
routes to single stacked only.

So that we didn't have to mop the roofs of the containers with grease, or let the air out of the tires, this is how I fixed it.  I cut out the
lattice truss across the top of the bridge, and put in a piece of Evergreen 1/4" wide I-beam.  The I-beam was first painted grimy black,
then airbrushed a spritz of Vallejo "Dirt", then a little Vellejo "Tan Earth", and when dry, glued in place.  Looks like it needs just a little
more weathering to match, but close enough.

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The I-beams actually match the rest of the bridge better in person than they show in the photos.

Maybe I'll stuff the bridge full of paper towels, cover the foliage and water with newspaper, and spray on a
little "Rail Brown" to blend it all together.  Well, only if anyone notices.

Logo from business cards make better signs than printing them from Paint.  Glued card to .020" styrene
sheet using Pacer Formula 560 "canopy glue", let dry, and logo cut out with scissors.  A little sanding to
get a more rounded edge in a few spots, then blackened the edge with a Sharpie marker.  Signs may
want to warp a little as the glue dries.  No problem, just gently bend back flat, then glue on.   Glossy
business cards make better signs than ones I print myself on card stock, but you do what you gotta do.

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And the Mi-Jack is finally done.  A difficult kit.

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The damned taggers have been busy again.

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These were not painted on freehand, but are actually decals.  I think these are all from Blair,
but Dave's Decals also has graffiti decals.

The curves in the intermodal yard were the most difficult.

The surface was rased to just above tie level with 1/8" sheet cork.

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Then either .040" or .060" styrene sheet (i don't remember which, but it came up nearly flush)  was
glued on top of the cork using Pacer Formula 560, aka "canopy glue" - in the RC aircraft part of the
hobby shop.  This brings it up to almost level with the .083" (code 83) track.

(Edit - This same method was used in front of the maintenance building, aka "car knockers shed"
and engine house on the other side of the layout.)

To fit around the curves a contour gauge was used.  Contour gauges are commonly used to copy
shape of molding.

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The shape was transferred to the styrene.

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Cut with a bandsaw, and fitted.

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And finally...

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Awesome!

That is amazing.

Read the whole thread and although I not a modeler I can appreciate the attention to detail and time you've put into this build.
Any estimate of how many hours you have into this?
Would it be possible to get a good video of things in action?
Great Job OP! And thanks for the thread.

Not a clue.

Thanks, FN64GR!

Video will be shot by a model railroader friend, but don't know when.  Not quite read for it to go public.  Have a lot of stuff
to clean up, move around, tidy up.  But hey, I'm using that stuff now!

I have to make and plant a half dozen or so trees, and finish laying two sidings and a mainline along 12' or so (see diagram)
over the desk and around to the door.  Not worried about the drop in bridge across the door for now.  Not much scenery, as
it's just a narrow shelf, 12" wide three tracks wide, so mostly ballast.  Hopefully by summer will have something on Youtube,
and I'll post a link here.

I've been weathering cars... and learning to use water-based acrylics.  The best by far solvent based paint, Floquil, was bought
out and killed off by Testors.  Now the factory makes spray paint.  As if there aren't enough brands of spray paint on the market.

So I don't really have reference to compare to as I am not into modeling and don't really know anyone who is, but when I first opened the thread and paged through the pictures (no I didn't read first the luddite that I am) it took a second to realize it was a model. That in itself is pretty cool. Very nice work, you are really very talented. It made me feel like I was in my grandmother's town in Iowa a bit.

Thank you, Adam... high praise, indeed!