Tying up loose ends… for those following my Miami NW 22nd St layout

Well the original idea for this blog was to charter my build of my Miami ho layout before it went to exhibition.
That exhibition came and went and the layout was built in time. It received some really good comments. So for those who are/were interested here is a batch of photos taken of the layout on the day of the exhibition before the doors opened.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments. There are more photos if people would like to see them. The layout still exists and is available for exhibition if any one is interested.

A fresh start…

Well its been well over a year since I last posted. So I thought it wise to give the blog a make over and start over. I’ve decided to keep track of all my modelling projects and some real life railwayana on this blog, so your going to see a mix of US HO modelling mixed in with my British outline modelling to P4 and now my new endeavour US On30 Narrow gauge modelling!

More of all of these topics to come over the next few days and weeks.

Trucks

Well I missed the postman yesterday but I’ve managed to pick them up from the sorting office this morning. I’ve managed to get all of my shipments from the States without any stinging handling fees this end which I’m pretty chuffed about.

Anyway my Boley fridge vans have arrived, hopefully I can get some more of these including a flat bed or two. However Boley have stopped licensing them so their supply if very limited so if you get a chance to get hold of some then go for it before its too late!

I have photos of these not great quality but taken this morning.

These will become the Domingo produce vans, i haven’t decided if I’m going to repaint the cabs yet, maybe but again not before the show.

I’m hopefully going to be able to recreate the Ford cargo reefer out of a Herpa/Reitze model, I can get hold of an add on fridge unit for above the cab a nice little repaint and that should compliment the Boley quite well.

Well happy trucking…

Changes and goodies…

Things are moving on apace now, which is a good thing as time is getting more critical as the layout is due for exhibition in June.
The good thing is lots of goodies keep dropping through the door, although the couple from the US are still to arrive. I’ve had an issue getting hold of ME turnouts, even ME themselves had run out of stock, although I’ve been told they are on their way but I’m looking at the middle of May for them to arrive in the UK which is obviously not an option so thanks to a great company in the UK who are the importers of Shinohara trackwork and turnouts. I had 2 code 70 turnouts arrive this morning and they look great. However they are quite DCC UNfriendly more of that to follow when I wield the soldering iron to sort them out.

Check these guys out if you want more info Scalelink The site is quite a goldmine.

Lots of little resin detailing items have turned up from Unit Models. They look really good and photos will be up this week.

Well thats the goodies out of the way for the time being.

Changes. I’ve changed my mind again on the front right hand side of the layout again, gone is the plan to model Jesse’s auto shop as I’ve decided against the white building and also I couldn’t work out how to fit it to the location on the junction properly so I’ve chosen to model Domingo Produce Corp. (See below) Its a great looking building to model if you like shoeboxes with platforms ( like me ) and the reefer trucks out on the sidewalk will make a great addition to the plot. It also shows the location the layout is set in quite well.

Domingo Produce corp.

The perfect way of setting the layout!

Boley truck models have come in handy to model these reefer trucks but again they’ve had to come from the US but a good deal on US ebay has come up trumps. Photos to come when they arrive but not expecting that for a while.

With luck and some good weather the photos of progress will be uploaded this week or weekend.

Thanks all for reading.

Slowly but surely…

You know when you have so many plans and the actual time to do them you don’t alway end up getting anywhere near what you want to do done. Well thats me at the moment, I know there is a deadline looming but working odd shifts at work including night shifts get to you after a while, (recovery time isn’t as good as it used to be!)

Any way work has been going on regardless of my lethargy, the boards are built although legs need to be attached but the layout is sat upon adjustable trestles Clicky clicky

A very useful piece of kit that seems to be having a good impact on small exhibition layouts, they fold up very nicely but can be bulky if you use more than 2 or 3 of them. I have 4 of them in my workshop where they come in very handy.

The backscene is painted, its only painted pure white whether it stays this is way is another matter although at the moment I like it but it may be changed down the line. The lighting pelmet is all attached and the lights will go up tomorrow.

The plans were laid out on the boards today and although the boards looked huge when the plan was put over the top makes it look compact but quite open which is what I was aiming for! woohoo. This means that I can get the layout outside in the sunshine (fingers crossed it lasts) and take some progress shots. The P2k GP38-2 put in its first appearance too although I’m lacking in freight cars must get some in.

The only problem I have at the moment is that I ordered ME code 70 #6 turnouts back in January and I’m still waiting for them, there being ordered for me but its been a while now and I may well have to build the point work myself, I’m more than happy to scratchbuild these but the problem there in is I cant seem to find anywhere that sells copper cladding/ PCB board the right size they’re all designed for 4mm 00 gauge layouts, although the nearest I can find is too thin but could be packed with plasticard. I’d try using rail spikes but I reckon that would be too much hassle.

Jesse’s

After trudging around googlemaps and bing I think I’ve settled on the view breaker on the front right hand side of the layout, I’d gone through so many different decisions but none of them looked right as I wanted the entrance to the business to be on the Avenue and not of 22nd St. So when looking at the western end of Nw 22nd st on google I discovered the perfect building which I thought would be great to model as well as quite simple. I like nothing more than to keep things simple. So what is it I here you shout before you hit the back button.

Well its Jesse’s repair shop on the junction of 22nd st and 22nd Ave. Googlemaps has it listed as Espana Body shop, but if you drop down into street view this is what you’ll see:

Front view of Jesse on 22nd Ave

View of the sign at Jesse's repair shop

This should be a good little project and the space thats available on the layout will allow me to model this to pretty much scale dimensions. We’ll see how I get on with white walls.