The original Boston Line BACK on track!

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

I have tested it with the chef, empire builder and the zepher and all work fine. Because it is JMRI that you are controlling with the phone the DCC system doesn't matter. This is one of the pluses of having the club layout in the warehouse of the hobby shop. I have not tried it with an iphone yet but have run it on new and old android phones. If you are using some older phones that are still being used as phones you will get some lag starting up the app but once it is running all is fine. The old phones i use are not longer used as phones and have had everything uninstalled so there is nothing else running. 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

A few steps forward this week:

Bought a 100 count of Atlas C55 flex. Will probably need about 300 more.
Organized tools, trains and other items into 30 gallon weatherproof bins.
Started leveling the floor with an angle grinder.
Lights are now live!

Oh and the plaster guys finished the ceiling and put in the wallboard:

Looking south.


Looking north.


Looking west.


Pump hutch.

I also tested some rope lighting. The LEDS are not very bright so this may only be useful to tint the conventional room lighting. During standard ops, I will need to have the barrel lights on. Sunset/twilight and dusk will use a combination of the barrel lights and LED ropes. Its not exactly what I was hoping for, but it should work OK.

Speaking of the barrel lights. These photos (looking north/south, the west end is not wired yet) were shot using standard 60W bulbs in the barrels. I plan on replacing them with 100W equivalent LEDs on a dimmer.

[Philip H]

Good call on the green board.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Yeah, I almost went with concrete board, but it was way too heavy and it's a lot more difficult to smooth joints. In retrospect I probably should have gone with blueboard as it is a little more mildew resistant than the green stuff.

It is really satisfying to see the room this close to completion. So much planning, so many contractors and it's finally looking like what I envisioned when we bought the house.

[C855B]

Yeah, I almost went with concrete board, but it was way too heavy and it's a lot more difficult to smooth joints. In retrospect I probably should have gone with blueboard as it is a little more mildew resistant than the green stuff.

It is really satisfying to see the room this close to completion. So much planning, so many contractors and it's finally looking like what I envisioned when we bought the house.

Now that you're done with the drywall I know you're itching to do more. Come on over to my place when you get the chance.   

[Philip H]

Blue board or full concrete board in a basement is probably overkill unless you are doing a shower or your sump fails regularly.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

More progress. Primer is down. Doors and trim are in and electrical is complete.








This will be one of the air supply lines into the layout room. I didn't want pipes all over the walls, so this looked like a good solution. The air compressor will be housed in the utility room:


As you can, the room was cleaned out and the electrical box was properly wired.

Next up: finishing the floor.

[peteski]

I applaud your approach Daniel.  It is so much nicer to build and then operate a layout in a fully finished room, not in some dark and grungy basement.  Good job!  You won't regret the extra effort you had to put into this project.  You are very fastidious person (this shows in your approach to even the small details, like the compressed air coupler).  Very nice!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Ok time for an update.

I sanded down the floor a little smoother. Nothing major, just enough not to make sure I won't trip over the carpet tile.

First up: Paint!
Started painting the layout walls sky blue:


The rest of the room will be this dark gray that has a touch of blue. That bright blue is a test of a conrail blue I had matched. I want to out a small painted Conrail emblem on this wall.


You might be interested in this product, it is the industrial version of Tamiya's awesome masking tape. This reel cost only $6 and should last me years.


Daisy, the dog we are babysitting this month, is testing some new LD tape lights. These are a lot more expensive than the initial rope lights I bought, but are much, much brighter.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

oops, forgot the Daisy photo:

[Santa Fe Guy]

I envy guys with basements and or rooms attached to the house. This is sure going to be some cool RR room.
Rod.

[GaryHinshaw]

oops, forgot the Daisy photo:

Good looking dog!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

She is on loan while her owners are in Thailand. Pure bred Shiba Inu. She has a very foxy attitude. Luckilly she gets along great with Stella, out husky.

We call the pair the Wolf and the Fox

[daniel_leavitt2000]

We have been focusing on the bathroom project for the past month, so not much has happened on the basement. Now that the bathroom is near completion, I am looking back at the basement.

So besides painting, the next obvious project will be adding lighting. As a few of you know from other threads, I have settled on adhesive backed tape LEDs in four colors: Daylight, golden white, orange and blue. This will allow me to simulate virtually any time day or night for the layout.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JQV6NNC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AAF37WJS3P6BT
A typical spool of white LEDs

This stuff can be mounted directly to the ceiling without much modification. I will need bus wires to handle the 5-10 amps for each color that the 105" of lights will require. I also need some sort of smallish valence to keep from blinding me while operating the lights.

So I was searching for wire clips and I came across this:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MLS4UTG/ref=pd_luc_rh_sbs_02_01_t_img_lh?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I got a crazy idea: What if the wire was attached using these clips to the ceiling and a piece of cloth was used as the valence attached to that wire? This would eliminate issues with curves, and smacking my head on the valence. small weights in the black cloth could keep the fabric taught and professional looking. Best of all, there is no holes to drill and I can reposition the lighting and valence easily.

[basementcalling]

Could the cloth idea in any way be a fire hazard if it's hanging from the electric wires if, God forbid, you get a short?  You could try hanging the cloth with Velcro, but either the hoop or loop part would have to be attached to the ceiling.