Grand Opening!

I am happy to announce the opening of "L" Stop Liquor and Food, open 24 hours for your convenience, selling all sorts of food and booze. Plus, of course, lottery tickets.

I am just happy to have finished up one of the new buildings. The track and structure have been put back in place. 

The other buildings are still being worked on. To the left, will be the Dill Pickle Delicatessen (the sign is just temporary at this point) and the Plymouth Hotel for transients (both lifted from the Blues Brothers, or Van Buren and Plymouth Court). To the right, I haven't decided on what business to put in. I may to a record store to pay homage to the old Wax Trax store on North Lincoln Ave.

Still, the CTA is happy to have leased the storefront under the tracks. The business owners don't seem to mind the rumbling of the trains overhead. So far, none of the bottles have fallen off of the shelf.

Also, I've started home renovations (fixing the cathedral ceiling) and fixing drywall. But, I must make time for modeling, keeps things fun.

Several new videos ... and possible death blow to progress?

I've still been working on my new building:

Also, I've recently uploaded a couple of video to Youtube:

First ... some views of the progress made so far:

Second ... I've decided to finish some of the areas that didn't have scenery yet. So, I made a time lapse video of me taking down the structures. It illustrates how the track and structure is modular in construction.

And, as mentioned in the title, progress on the layout may be temporarily suspended for hopefully not too long of a time. I am embarking on some major home renovations, of which I get to do all the labor. Plans include:

• New kitchen (cabinets, counter tops and backsplash)
• New recessed lighting in kitchen (none there now), which means new wiring and switches
• Installing hardwood floors throughout the first floor of my house (approx 800 square feet)
• Repairing vaulted ceiling in living room (every joint cracked since I just had a new roof put on and the roofers did a LOT of pounding) and repairing some water damage (which necessitated the new roof). Drywall taping 18 feet in the air is less than fun.
• Lots and lots of painting

I hope to still be able to work when I can on the layout.

Cold day in January

Just a few shots from the Southport station. After the holidays, I finally ran some trains.

Passenger volume has been low, so no one has been complaining about the two car trains. They haven't been too crowded.

The lack of stairs (and a station house) don't seem to bother the passengers too much. Just watch that first step.

The buildings are pretty much now done, I just need to paint. I paint outside, so I'll need to wait for a warmer day.

I have started work on the drawings for my stairways and railings in Corel Draw.

Once I'm satisfied with the design, I'll send these off to have laser cut at hopefully a not too expensive price. 

Still working on buildings

With the holidays, there hasn't been a lot of time to work on the layout. But, I've done some more work on my three new retail buildings.

I still need to paint and add a lot of details, but I've been working on all three at once.

The three story building on the right/foreground in the above picture will be "cut" in half by the front of the layout. I will paint the "wall" that is even with the front of the layout black,

I am going for a look where the buildings are closer to the tracks for this section of the layout.

I still need to add the windows to the larger building in the background. I initially cut the openings for the windows and then add the windows next. This usually involves a large amount of filing and sanding. This makes for a tighter fit of the windows. I also have a fire escape to add to the back of this building.

Merry Christmas to all

Merry Christmas to all!

 

 

When I made this we had no snow, of course now Chicago is under a blizzard watch, so maybe it'll be a white Christmas afterall!

 

Thanks

The start of a building boom

To switch gears, I decided to start working on some buildings that will go along my short stretch of Southport Ave.  So far I've got the fronts done on two buildings and the shell of another. Just like the CTA, I decided to lease out the space underneath the tracks for a retail building.

Construction is pretty simple: brick sheets from the N Scale Architect (facades) or JTT (sides and back ... save some $$$), and Evergreen sheet and strip styrene.

I have also started work on the Southport station...

I always build the facade first, then the rest of the building. The sheets and strips are layered to give the buildings some depth. Small sections of bricks are also cut out to give the brick facades more relief. 

Inbound Platform is finally done

I have finally finished the inbound platform at my Southport station.

I still need to create the stairways and the station house. I am planning on having the stairways laser cut. I just need to create the drawings.

And of course I need to finish the ground underneath the tracks, the background buildings, and a whole lot more. One step at a time.