Updates for mid-November 2015

I've decided to start adding some additional building to my Sheridan Road curve section of the layout ...

Still in process of painting the buildings

So far in this curved section, I've added a background apartment building flat, a warehouse type brick/concrete flat, a re-purposed apartment building and my grocery store.

A North Shore combine rolls past the still in construction apartment building.

A view of the whole corner.

A short while later additional painting of the buildings was completed:

Window details still need to be added and a full interior will be added to the grocery store building on the lower left

A little better with additional paint.

I've also improved the fluorescent lighting along my newest L extension module:

Light now shines more on the front of the structure.

It makes photography much easier and details on the structure seem to "pop" more.

Much better lighting!

After improving the lighting, I knew I had to tackle the white concrete wall behind the module. As this section of layout is removable due to utilities and a window, I decided to attached the backdrop to the bench work and make it removable.

I screwed 1 x 2 wood supports to the bench work (that just rests on cleats attached to the adjacent bench work) then using Velcro (for easy removal) just attached MDF panels to the vertical supports. The removable nature of the backdrop does leave a seam, but I'll camouflage that with a structure at some point. 

A view down the layout with the new corner buildings:

Shown in the above photo is a large white (actually styrene) building behind the Sheridan Road station. This is the core of a new brick and concrete structure that will act as a backdrop for the trains at the Sheridan Road station.

The core of the building is made of 1/4" plywood to which I attached the styrene. Larger styrene structures (this one 12" x 16") need lots of interior bracing. The plywood will prevent any warping. Also shown in this picture are my still uncompleted Island Model Works 2200 series cars. One of these days I will finish those!

And, fresh out of the paint shop is my Northwestern Motor:

Using Tru-Color paints, I was able to successfully match the colors of the trailer which was painted over 20 years ago (and not by me).

Paints used were:

• Rich Oxide Brown
• SP Daylight Orange
• Erie Lackawanna Gray