August 14th Update: Planning, and Modules, and Scenery. Oh My!

Sneaking in time around the edges of my real life items seems to be working out nicely. :) I've been making use of time before work, time at lunch, and I've even been heading down to the layout space or working upstairs after the kids go to sleep - sometimes that's rather difficult, however, just due to it being hard to ramp up into something at 9pm.

That being said...I got some stuff done.

More Work on the Background Modules Section

Like it says on the tin, I got more work done on my background modules, knocking out the last in the series about 90%. 

Again, these are pink foam pieces that drop into the back area of the layout. They are at a slight angle to increase what you see from the front of the layout, so I've been building up bases for some of the buildings to sit on.

I used styrene for the roadway ramps leading up to the buildings.

A round of painting and Woodland Scenics foam later and things were looking pretty ok.

Styrene sidewalks need to be weathered and dulled a bit, but you get the idea. :)

And then the details, wherein lay the devil, of course. :::grin:::  These are the things I love. This is a good start, but I want to do another round of detailing and the like on this modules in the near future.

The folks in the yellow suits are back. What are they doing, exactly? They seem to be in a few different places....

Bus area with a few passengers

A friendly wave and some repair work on the roof

And, in it's place at the back of the layout....

More Details and Scenic Work

I finally got around to addressing the front area of the layout. As I pointed out in my latest update video, it's one of the first areas I saw walking into the layout space, so seeing bare foam board and the like was sad. :) I started in on my MORE GREEN! plan and got the main pad area of the Shizuka Historical Park in place.

Note the whiskey - the benefit of working at night instead of during the day! :)

The additional greenery in the front along with the improved Historical Section is making a huge difference to me. I'm much happier with how it's looking overall.

Some ground work being done outside the park.

First round of scenic materials at the back of the layout space

I'm loving the green!  Things are starting to resemble some of my reference photos.

reference

reference

Other Items in Play

I got more work done on my styrene crossing. I just tossed some scenic materials at it. It needs another round of weathering and scenics.

I'll be addressing more of the yard area in the near future. I'm doing a test right now - two layers of paint seems to be covering the wood grain nicely. I'll be doing a mixture of painting and ballast in the yard. 

I have to say, actually RUNNING my trains has been fun. When the tracks are clean, the trains and trams are running rather well. The other day, the girls came down while I was getting some Sunday hobby time in and they loved seeing the trains running around. My five year old was THRILLED to actually run one of the trains herself. The smile on her face was fantastic. (( No photos of it - I was too busy actually being there in the moment! ))

 

Things are actually starting to look like...a real space. A place you could actually go an visit. Yes, that's a happy thing for me. :::grin:::  I'm living out a dream that I've had for years and years. From happy thoughts to the layout my Father built for me when I was ten years old, to  purchasing the Kato Unitram set and running it on two dressers in my small place in San Francisco, to making more purchases and splitting out the layout between a space at my office and the spot at home, to finally having everything all together in one space and functioning....it's amazing and I count my lucky stars every time I see it.