# NEW PICS of My Indoor Layout



## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

a few pics of 1st section of my layout to get scenery and detail...

Still a few more things to do...

let me know what you think...

Also... What do you guys use for telephone/power lines? I tried some string from the craft store, I don't like it at all...


Philip


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## scooby (Dec 22, 2008)

looken good ,like the weeds around the tel/pole


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Philip

Here's a link to Dave Winter's topic on what he did.

*Model Making Forum/Topic: Telephone lines etc. Did I do the right thing?*


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Dang, thats good. 

Just how extensive was the rebuild of your layout?


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

When I moved 2 years ago, I just massaged my old layout into the new space... it was up against the wall and had many hard to reach spots...
Basicly it was a bunch of plywood tables bolted together... it was ok...

so one day while the wife was out working, I got out the circular saw and cut the benchwork in half...
I attached part of it to the opposite wall, and now it loops around the room, instead of being all on one side...

I changed the track plan extensively... now it has center access... it does have a crappy duck/crawl under for now...
I hope to fix that in the future with a lift out section...

so the other day I got tired of the Plywood express, and since I work at a school and we were on spring break...
I just let my wife know I was taking one day for train day...

And what you see is a days worth of work... detailing and adding scenery to a section about 6' long...

the background with the sky and clouds has been up for a few months... as were the rough plaster cloth hills...
the rest was all done on Thursday...

Philip


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

...'while the wife was out working'... brave man... 

All that in one day. I am impressed. 

I liked the grocery store you did a year or so back as well, so much so I am considering copying it (depending on how much space I have available once I rebuilt my layout again). When you posted that, you also mentioned a laundrymat and a flowershop. Made any headway on those.


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

no but I have the fire station done...

haven't finished the other building with the 2 stores you mentioned... hopefully soon...


Philip


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## NavyTech (Aug 2, 2008)

I would consider stripping the insulation off of telephone wire using that. It is copper and would be stiff enough


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## Andy Stobie (Apr 13, 2009)

What did you use for the rock ballast?


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Ballast looks like aquarium rock, it dont look like kitty litter, to big 

Nice pics, add some more please


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## lathroum (Jan 2, 2008)

Good Eye... yes it is aquarium rock... 

I'm working on a new section now... 
once I get it done, I will post more pics... 

Philip


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I thought about that but I ended up using kitty litter, it was a bit finer grade and had another unique quality, I could stain it! 

I did that by diluting acrylic paint and water in a bucket then dipped the kitty litter in a strainer into the stain and used a cup to pour the stain to saturate the litter, I then set it in the sun to dry, after a day it was ready to glue down, which I did by spraying a 50/25/25% mix whiteglue/water/rubbing alcohol onto it. worked great and its solid as a rock


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## dawinter (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Philip 

I tried to respond with an up to date photo of the material I use for 'wires' but the new and improved format won't let me. I'm sure it will all be functional in the near future. Never the less, the stuff I found that works the best is something they called button hole thread down at the local sewing shop. It was Fabricland for what it worth. Don't know if that's a semi local outfit or a larger franchise. 

The button hole thread I got is medium brown and comes in 1000 foot spools for about $7.00. It is light enough to look good and heavy enough to droop realistically. More important, it doesn't seem to collect dust and get all hairy. 

Could show you ore but like I said, the links are weird. 

Love the rest of the scenery BTW. It sure looks a lot more real with a little effort and will bring you a great deal more satisfaction. 

Thanks for the update. 

Dave


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## dawinter (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh yes! One more thing. 

And be sure don’t want to sound critical here. But you'll be kicking yourself forever if you don't find a fast and effective way of painting the brass rail. I was so intent on getting stuff running that I installed track - and detailed scenery - on large parts of the layout without doing anything with the rail. I regret it to this day and so now whenever I do an update for the web site etc I have to go to the effort of spraying the sections of track that are going to be in the photo. Not easy when everything else is done. Mask the foregrond and background and between the rails. Spray with rust primer. Clean the rail heads. Remove the mask without damaging things. Uggg! 

Just a thought. 

Dave


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## wildbill001 (Feb 28, 2008)

Upholstery thread comes in large spools as does thread for Serge sewing machines(I think that's the right name). I've seen folks also use black nylon fishing line. There is also tie-wrap wire, about 30gauge or so. Don't know how expensive that would be.

Bill


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