John Layout photos

[Janbouli]

Going well John, the building looks good, your water looks great, keep it up.

[JMancuso]

Cuz,

Almost visited your neck of the woods. I was over at NSB Friday night for date night with big (nerd date) plans to go to Barnes & Noble after a nice dinner with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket. Luckily, I remembered it was race week in time ...that could have gotten ugly (for you all -Daytona Speedway is directly across the street and a Nascar event is significantly larger than a major college FB game).

Anyway, Mod Podge couldn't be easier or neater to use. I love the results also. Although, in my most recent layer, there seems to be an effect that almost looks like seaweed. I'm pretty sure it's microscopic air bubbles, but I'm not really sure. I blobbed it on pretty thick to simulate wave action on this most recent layer and I'm wondering if that caused it. It's not necessarily an unpleasant effect - but I worry about accidental chemical effects and what they might do next. I've got more layers to do, I'll keep an eye on it. BTW, I've found that additional layers (I've got 4 or 5 on it now) definitely gives a "deeper" effect. I should also mention that I painted an irregular color mix a la Dave Frary which looked great once the Mod Podge kind of blended the patchwork. It was subtle to begin with, but the final appearance is very natural color-wise.

Thanks for following along. Hope to meet you one of these days...John

[Rail and Tie]

This is a great looking scene. I always have a softspot for water and harbour scenes!! Nice work!

Could you describe the boat in the foreground of the bottom picture in your post? Who makes that?

Darryl

[ACL1504]

I was at John's this past weekend and got a few more shots of his layout. We had a Northern Butty Group meeting at his house. He has some fantastic looking scenes on the layout. Here are four I took. The big blue structure you see is the one Reading Bob did a thread on! It's a fantastic looking structure on a fantastic looking layout.

I really like how John finished his water front with the Mod Podge.

mancu1.JPG (219.44 KiB) Viewed 504 times

mancu2.JPG (192.47 KiB) Viewed 504 times

mancu3.JPG (223.34 KiB) Viewed 504 times

mancu4.JPG (227.2 KiB) Viewed 504 times

[roughneck]

I agree Tom, great layout and you did a perfect job with the photos. So how many divisions do you have of the SBG? I know David Workman would like to start a really northern division Keep up the beautiful work, both of youse guys.

David

[ACL1504]

I agree Tom, great layout and you did a perfect job with the photos. So how many divisions do you have of the SBG? I know David Workman would like to start a really northern division Keep up the beautiful work, both of youse guys.

David

Cuz,

I guess we have two divisions! Orlando and North Orlando, but the same six guys!

Tom

[JMancuso]

Hey Everyone,

I've been laying low for a while due to lots of work-related stress and demands. I've hardly noticed the layout all around me for a few weeks. Today, I fired it up and was thrilled to see the double-headed freight cruise slowly and steadily around and around with hardly a stall. It appears I need a creative kick in the butt and destruction always does the trick.

I'm thinking about re-working the middle section of the layout scenically. At first, I thought about ripping the whole section out and going from the benchwork up, but laziness prevailed and I think I can re-do the feel of the area without dramatically altering the structural integrity or even the mainline track arrangement. It's a stretch of about 3' x 6'. The scenery in this area is not up to my own standards and I've decided I can never have enough waterfront. My main influence here is the Wharf RR that I visited at the Bar Mills headquarters. There are several photos of this Sn3 layout on the Bar Mills website. I'll post a couple below.

Also, you can be sure I'll try to work in the little trestle/turnout that Art Fahie gave me when I visited Bar Mills. As long as I'm throwing it all out there...I'm intrigued by the idea of a little "Nolan's Cove" influence as well. My nose is deep into the notebooks, clippings and back issues at this point and not a grain of Woodland Scenics fine turf has been uprooted as of yet. But, generally when I get an idea that I'm excited about...things happen fast.

Feels good to have the MR blood pumping again. Stress is a reason to embrace the hobby, not abandon it.

John

[gnatshop]

Feels good to have the MR blood pumping again. Stress is a reason to embrace the hobby, not abandon it.
John

John, a better philosophy couldn't be had!

The real world moves on, but in model railroading, we have control over the pace and evolvement. Plus, we have a magic
time machine that lets us redo what we don't like about the past.

I agree with you - I love waterfront scenes! I just find too many structures that I like and already have more than enough
sitting on the shelves to eat up most of the real estate I have left, plus a future planned small expansion.

In hindsight, I should have gone with N Scale to fit everything I have in my head in. But, naww, the old eyesight and shaky
hands say I've got my hands full with HO Scale!

Keep up the good attitude and great work!
The real world will take care of itself, regardless of how much you worry about it!

[jlgrove]

..beautiful pics of a great layout....and to think it's N scale.....

[ReadingBob]

Feels good to have the MR blood pumping again.

It's good to see you posting again John and I'm glad the MR blood is pumping again. I'm looking forward to seeing whatever changes you decide to make. A little more waterfront never hurt anybody. I think.