unhooked

Finally the control panel is lit up. All the route options (turnout position and frog power distribution) are visible now.

This is the Standard gauge track crossing the metric inside the port These confgs come true only with handlaid tracks. The crossing now is part of the layout and it is operative. I will show you details of construction the next days.

All track in level 0 (the visible track) is handlaid. The reason for that was obvious. Firstly, In that scale (1:160) the rail profile was close to the prototype re the Station & yard area. \\-I did my research regarding the specific Station and found prototypical info about the track line, rail height, turnout dimensions, etc. So there were no way a Code 55 replicate the 15 cm height of the real track.-// On the other hand there were some track configurations in the prototype, a good example is the curved diamond in the middle of the layout, that could not be modelled with any commercial turnouts. All materials used in handlaid trackwork are Fast tracks and rail is micro Engineering Code 40. Bellow are a couple of hand made turnout, a crossover and the two big curves of the station.

Actually there were 3 railroad terminals (Subway is one of those) at the port near the ferries and one tram line. The one that I am trying to model here is no longer in use. Used to be the main train line to connect Piraeus and Greece with the rest of the Europe's railroad network. At the time we talk the layout is fully operational. One can build trains and dispatch 'em the prototypical way as there were operated back in the time.

The Great Sinkhole!

Unfinished Panorama

Awesome picture Neil. This is exactly the Loco I am using in my layout. A german Diesel Krauss Maffei locomotive. Do you have any other pictures of that era? It would be nice to use it as visual reference of the atmosphere of the era. Best Regards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icB2_MNIw8U

Track Plan & Staging Yard with Tech Specs!

It's been a long time. But in a period of almost 4 yrs I manage to construct with prototypic detailing the exact track plan of the station. Using Code 40 rail and handlay the entire trackline the outcome was outstanding. Below are some latest pictures but not the latest. There was a significant amount of cabling work underneath those tracks that I will post in the future along with details re the track drawing and building. Stay tuned! Happy new 2023!

After I transfer the blueprint to the ply I highlight the lines using a pencil. I prefer pencil than marker because changes are easy to get if needed. Simply erase the pencil line with a pencil eraser and re draw. To highlight the curves the nail technique and a strip of plywood or styrene or even a scrap strip of sheet metal can do a very neat job and allow for very smooth curves.

Thank you very much. Truth is that I wanted to lay track sooner but life had it's own agenda so my free time was limited. Best regards

...and here is the Servo Control of the turnouts.

I then convert the underside of the printing to a transfer paper and carry over the whole blueprint to the plywood. At that point the registration marks helps in order to precisely relocate the printing.

I then lay down the printings on the surface. Here is where the registration marks really for. I drilled very fine holes in the plywood using the registration marks as guides. Then I got some toothpicks which I broke em to half. I pinned the half toothpicks to hold the printings aligned. This is beneficial tip as I can keep the correct position for any future installation.

For financial reasons I printed the layout's blueprints on a 90cm height cylinder paper. This was the cheapest cylinder. You can print as much width as you like. In my case the drawing was transferred in to 2 sheets of roughly 90cm height x 300cm width. Below you can see in higher resolution the layout's blueprints after a few modifications. I tried to take advantage of the non printing space and fitted the outlines of the cork sheets that I subsequently wanted to cut. Note that I had already bought the cork sheets. These were 90cm X 60cm, 2mm thickness thin grain sheets of cork. To achieve a perfect overlap therefor to create the perfect match with these two printings I draw registration marks just like typographers do in order to match the colour separations in offset printing. These marks scattered all over the blueprint, act as guides positioning and re-positioning the printing in the upper surface of the layout.

Its about time to begin construction at the upper level, which essentially is the ground level. The stage wing (the part of the layout that acts like a scene break and hides the action from the theatrical background) it is a transition curve that links the staging and helix with the upper (ground) level. Practically it is a detail of the redesigned blueprint of the layout. The concept is to print the blueprint in 1:1 printer trying to maintain precisely the file dimensions. This is hard to achieve as most printers even the more professional ones have inaccuracy +/- 0,5 % This might not be a problem in small dimensions printing but when you go for a 3 meters sheet then you are 1,5 cm bigger or smaller. And this is a problem when you want to fit your layout around the room walls. The problem fixed by drawing a ruler in the file. Then we experimented with printings in the area designated by the ruler and we found the an horizontal upscaling at about 0,3% would give the perfect results.

Deck finished too Now the hard work!!! Stay tuned

John Thank you for your kind words Indeed this ship is the Hellas Liberty. I am trying to build the exact prototype in 1:160 Greetings from Greece

One step beyond! Bow Completed (Front) Stern Completed (Rear) Tools used

FYI

Ian Indeed, The port of Piraeus served by 3 railroad lines and 3 terminal stations respectively. Each line had its own terminal station. - The Peloponnese line (metric gauge serving Southern Greece) - The Urban, partially underground, line now part of the extended METRO line. This is the one you have mentioned in your comment and corrected Sir Douglas. - The Northern Greece (Larisa Thessaloniki - Europe) Line (Standard Gauge). The latter is the one I am modelling I ll come back with more info Best Regards

Ship building... ---->>

Coming soon I am very sorry for my delayed project but things happened in the last months that couldn't change. So here I go again on my own... Must make this ship model to fit in the port area. I am feeling happy I found some ship building plans to construct my model. be patient...

this is truly amazing This combination of colour saturation & tonality gives a unique atmospheric appearance. Congrats!!