Ian Holmes

Thanks for the comment Frank. I did a bit of digging on the internet last night and came up with this site http://div-energy.com/gallery-railRoad.php with quite a few pictures of propane unloading facilities the bright yellow tower in this picture though it wouldnt hide the hole in the wall might obstruct it. there are other interesting looking towers on the site too. plenty of food for thought.

It had to happen, a weekends hard work and some good progress made. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. Then the doubts started to come. It concerns the single storey warehouse, front left. The one that I planned to have the detailed interior in. I'm thinking it's not right for this small layout. Getting down close to the layout and looking at the close up views of other shots have caused this re-think. Take a look at these pictures below. All are lit in the same way... My feeling is that this end if the layout feels closed in by a dark lump. Perhaps things would be improved with lighting inside the building to show off the detail in there. So I experimented. What if I had a small propane storage facility there instead? Tank cars would make an interesting change from all the box cars that would be seen on the layout if the warehouse was there. Don't forget I already have a dedicated boxcar spot at the larger structure. I blocked in the idea with a couple of aerosol cans. I don't think one long tank alongside the track works too well. Yes, it certainly opens the left hand side more. But there's something wrong about it. Perhaps I just have it sited too close to the track. There would have to be an unloading point alongside the track this would push the tank further away from the track. An unloading tower could also be used to obstruct the exit to the hidden sidings. However, a couple of tanks placed at right angles to the track looks much better. This end of the layout now has a light airy feel to it, that right now I much prefer. So anyway, the warehouse might be history. It's too early to tell yet. More research into propane unloading facilities is needed, so I can produce a more accurate model of what I'd like to see there.

I've been busy this weekend. Saturday afternoon I ballasted the layout. A layout this small doesn't take much ballast and doesn't take long to do it. Then on Sunday brim full of confidence I set to and worked on the fiddle yards . Of course 'fiddle yard" is a very grandiose for what these will be. Just some plain baseboards with lengths of track fixed to them. Its all I need for such a small layout. However, once again my woodworking abilities failed me. Things like allowing for the thickness of the saw cut are lost on me. Luckily I managed to get away with it and come away with two serviceable baseboards 28" x 11". This kind of thing gets me down a bit so I decided to take a few pictures to: a) Cheer me up and, B) Allow me to take a good close look and see how things are coming along. You can't hide from the unbiased eye of the camera. Overall I think things are coming along well. From the roof of the main building this is the kind of view that the HVAC repairman would get The Genset is pushing a car towards the vending machine suppliers warehouse A view no-one but the layout operators will see. A boxcar spotted at the outside loading dock of the main building Another view of the Genset spotting the boxcar at the vending machine suppliers General view of the whole layout. The pictures did their job and cheered me up no end

So, you've bought your APA box and built a layout inside it. Beautiful it is. So you pop the lid on the APA to finish it off and Lo and behold your wonderful creation is plunged into darkness! But fear not those wonderful folks at IKEA have created whole systems of lighting suitable for the purpose. Strip lights, spotlights and LED's are all there to be used and like the APA box, reasonably priced. For my APA box I chose the INREDA 22" It comes with all the fixtures and fittings needed as well as a LED driver to power the unit. As it comes it is designed to be put inside a cabinet and come on when the door is opened. This light sensitive operation can be turned off by means of a small switch at the end of the unit. You will, however, also need to purchase the ANSLUTA power cord designed to work with the system. The first thing to do is work out which direction your light will shine and then screw the fixing plate inside the lid of the APA Two sticky pads and 4 small screws do that job. BUT the screws do poke through the thin hardboard of the lid. Now you know that you can go looking for shorter screws. I didn't find out until one of the screws poked my finger... Once the fixing plate is in place then the INREDA just clips in place and Bingo it works! The lighting is good from the unit and more than adequate for the layout inside but not quite good enough to cover the very top at the back Though a slight tilting of the lid soon changes that. (Tilting the lid was part of my plan anyway) There you go. Quick and easy and not unreasonably priced.

What Andy said. Kyle is pretty inspiring stuff even to those of us who don't model in 2mmFS. Ups and Downs are a way of life.

Thanks for sharing this great selection of pictures

the spoil heap is very convincing

Absolutely Kelly. I'm looking forward to trying a layout using smaller English outline stock in P4

Organise an exhibition and exhibit a layout at it too? You're putting a lot on your plate there. I know from my own experiences. Good luck! Ian

Thank goodness for American Presidents! Without them I wouldn't be gifted another day off work! So once again I'm making good use of the time off and working on the APA Box layout. Today I've done lots of little jobs. I made an abortive start on the fiddleyards, that got aborted when I discovered I didn't have enough 2 x 1. A case of not measuring twice I'm afraid. So after that I set to and sprayed the track, gave the ground a basic coat of earth colour, rounded the corners in the back of the box (so I won't have any corners in the sky later when I put the backscene in). Started painting the HVAC units and extractor fans and vents for the roofs and started messing around with the road too... Here's the results so far... 1. Overall view. I have to admit to being a bit miffed that I managed to spray a little track colour onto the APA box frame. I was going to leave the box its natural colour for the show. Still I'm sure the overspray will sand out. 2. View down the road to the backscene 3. Inside the small warehouse. Here you can get a feel for the effect I'm aiming for being able to see cars arrive through the open door. 4. The big structure. I must admit to being quite pleased with the way this one has developed. 5. My favourite view into the left rear corner Anyway, I've still got a couple more hours before wife gets back from work so perhaps I can get a bit more done

The website says 11lbs http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20078031/ So not heavy at all

The APA box goes together quickly and is very rigid. What I've done on this one is add a layer of expanded polystyrene topped with cork sheet to bring it up to the level of the box frame.

You can photograph to your hearts content as long as you don't use flash. I had my DSLR set at ISO 1600 to hand hold my shots. The image stabilisation on my Canon helped a lot too.

Safely returned from my trip home, recovered from Jet Lag and inspired by my visit to Pendon. This weekend I set to and did some more work on the APA box layout. Two of the three structures were ready to visit the paint shop for a coat of primer the third, and largest one still needed some work to get there. So I grabbed my scriber scribed some sheets of styrene to the pattern I needed. A long task, but inspired by what the chaps at Pendon do it wasn't really that difficult. With the third structure clad it was time to prime. Luckily it is unseasonably warm here in Minnesota this year so I was able to spray in the garage in relative comfort. The warmth would also be good for the paint finish too. So here then are a few views of what I have done so far today. This view shows how the perspective backscene is going to fit in. The road works quite well but I feel that the structure needs to be continued onto the backscene too. That's another Photoshop skill to learn then.. Step back a bit to see how the two structures on the left hand side fit in to the scene. Quite well. I'm very happy with the way they work. The small warehouse with the cut away open front will have a detailed interior (Pendon inspiration again) and you will be able to look through to the open door at the back to see a freight car arrive. Front right. The wagon view block will work very well though I'm on the look for a cheap Hi-Cube car to hide the exit to the fiddle yard better. Step back to see how the right side works. Being inspired by the Deltak facility, this structure is white, so once I'd popped some white on it I figured it was good to go. Got a few more couple of details to pop on later tonight when the paint is fully dry. This view also stresses the importance of getting a curve in the corner of the backscene. There we go then. Good inspiring progress for me.

Good luck with the P4 project. I've been amassing P4 bits and pieces over the past few year with the intent of starting a layout. But so far I haven't got very far.