New Christmas Tree Layout

[ginzokid]

Today I hit the lumber yard for some plywood, boards, screws, etc. I'm going to build a new HO layout for the tree. After last year's running it on the carpet, I decided I needed more work to do. Right. So, I'll post pics and reports as I go along. We are going to dismantle the dining table and store it in the basement for the season. That is the space I need for this layout. We don't feed anybody but us in the kitchen during the holidays anyway, so we don't really need the table. Well, gotta get started......

[taz-of-boyds]

I will.. But just the temporary stuff...  G Scale for the floor, and will try N on the table with the small radius streetcar track...

All the best,

Charles

[ginzokid]

Time to take down the tree and layout. It's sad when I have to do this but I have no place to keep the HO layout up and operating. So, it's back to the storage area under the big one until next year. Sniff......:_| 

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete,

I'm with you, gota put my little track + loco layout away too.  Blah.  But I may be retiring in April and have a bit more time on my hands, as long as I spend carefully, or something like that...

All the best,

Charles

[ginzokid]

Warning Charles. Once retired you may find out that you have less time for modeling. I wonder at times how I ever had time for work and a hobby before I retired. Now I'm so busy that I find I must designate certain times for hobby time or I am too busy.

B-)

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete,

I don't make any guarantees for myself about the time, for sure.  I do plan to keep an eye on myself, so to speak.  At least busy is better than sitting around saying; now what,,, now what...?

Thanks,

Charles

PS, with my poor man's center piece traction layout, I was having some fun with manual setting the f stop to as small as it would go to increase the depth of field:

I called this the Merry Christmas Interurban

[ginzokid]

I have seriously been thinking about trying to sell off my HO tree layout. Although I have spent many happy hours building it and especially the structures for it, I have now begun to think about doing a small N scale layout to replace it. There are not many model railroaders here but I know that the guys in the club we have might be interested. I wonder if $3000 is too high a price? The structures, which are all 1 of 500 limited Bar Mills kits, cost me over $2000 alone. I'm keeping the locos and rolling stock though. They are all G&D and collectable.

B-)

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete,

If you sell it make sure you write up some kind of product description listing each of the items and kit price and build hours.  At least then prospective buyers should be able to appreciate the base cost and the time you spent putting it together.  Besides the obvious visual appearance of your good work.  I think when things are put together nicely there is a tendency to not realize the effort and value behind making something look good.

All the best,

Charles

[ginzokid]

Trouble is that no one wants to pay for the building of the kits. I have sold structures before and didn't even manage to get a price that equaled the kit cost in the first place. If it is a limited edition kit, which most of these are, people will buy it unbuilt just for the investment.

I may look into donating it to some place and take a donation deduction on my income taxes. Soon I will put up an ad in  the hobby shop to see if there is any interest at all.

B-)

[dl85vette]

Good luck Pete. You'd think living in a city of 700K+ people that it would generate interest here,but no. Winnipeggers are notoriously known to be frikken cheap. So I'm not sure of your obstacles of selling special items on the Rock.  It's like these businesses in MR that advertise building custom layouts. Wonder how busy they really are?

[ginzokid]

Yeah. We only have 150,000 people here and can only find a dozen interested in our train club. Yet the hobby shop sells a lot of train stuff so she says. Actually it is the RC airplane crowd that keep her alive, that and her high prices for things.

Are you sure you want to go to the middle east to live? I don't care how much money you will make. You are still an infidel. And what about your CPP? Don't you have to stay in Canada 6 months of the year to collect CPP? How does that work?

B-)

Qatar and Dubai are pretty westernized and modern attitude, They have a lot of western people living/working there teaching at college,etc. people form Bangladesh and those areas still do the shit jobs.It isn't a drastic place to fit in. Qatar is the Switzerland of the middle east as everyone does their banking through there, and the citizens are happy. no uprisings like in Bahrain. no crap like Iraq or Afghanistan.. I stand more a chance getting home broken into, mugged/stabbed in Winnipeg than anything happening there. It's worth 100K year. and free house. I'm not where close to drawing CPP,etc, so may as well make a good income. By the time I get to 67 there probably won't be old age pension. or they'll raise the ages up again. \Can't say I'll enjoy hearing the mosque towers go off 5 times a day once again, but no worse than mormans and jehovas coming to the door and insult me on my agnostic beliefs.

Keep ya posted.

-- Edited by dl85vette at 04/14/2013 8:39 AM PDT

[ginzokid]

It's that time of year again. I repaired a hole in the tree layout yesterday and finished the scenery in a bare spot where I removed a structure. I wired in the lights of the last two buildings I built during the year and now I will clean the tracks. Then Kim and I will wrestle the thing upstairs and set it up.

I bought the last Fine Scale Mineature kit which was advertised in the December MR, Jamestowne Water Stop, which I will build this year for next year's display. Not enough time to build it before Christmas. Take a look at the MR for a picture of it or go to the FSM web site. Since this is the last kit he will produce I'm sure that many people are just going to sit on them. I am building mine.

[ginzokid]

Tree is up and trains are running. Tried to take some pics to show you but this crazy confuzer all of a sudden will not download the pics from my camera. Don't know why. Guess I'll have to go to the store with the camera and laptop to see if someone there can help me. I REALLY HATE Windows 8, or as they are calling it, the new windows. Did I mention that before?

[ginzokid]

Boo Hoo! My new steamer is too light to pull a full trai up the 2% grade. Lightfoot. So I had to resort to a diesel on the tree layout. I said it would never happen, but it did. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[taz-of-boyds]

Pete,

You will need to put the steamer up front with the diesel helper in the back.  That's what they do for the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad here.

All the best,

Charles

[ginzokid]

Actually, the 2-6-0 Mogul runs the overton passenger train just fine on the inside with its 15" radius curves. The outside, 18" radius, now has a double headed long freight train with two FA2 locos.