The HO Central of Georgia Backyard Subdivision

[nickelplate759]

We made some progress this week.  We acquired enough lumber to last us a while, and then it was time to start building!

...
Maybe it's overkill, but it seemed like the easiest way to mount the layout is to install a belt rail that the layout frame will sit upon.  ...

I did that on my layout as well.

[chessie system fan]

Another section done!  This one goes to the right of the previous one.

[chessie system fan]

As shown in the Weekend Update, here is the corner mounted in place.  You can see the belt rail on the wall and the little blocks screwed to both the belt rail and the frame that hold it in place along with the angled legs.  The legs are painted the layout color now for ease of assembly. I also discovered that although my sectional frames are perfectly square, the room apparently isn't, so there will be little gaps here and there...



And the sections for about half the yard are built.  Here they are in position temporarily.

[davefoxx]

Good looking woodworking!  Kudos, Aaron!

DFF

[chessie system fan]

Thanks! We installed the next section today.

[chessie system fan]

Another section done!  The rear wall is now all installed.

[Jesse6669]

Looks good!  I'm kicking myself a bit about not drilling wiring pass-through holes between my modules.  Lesson learned!

[Cory Rothlisberger]

I learned the hard way to do that BEFORE attaching the top. Ruined a couple of forstner bits hitting screws I didn't think were there... 

[chessie system fan]

I'm drilling the holes before assembly to keep as much mess in the garage as possible. It's much easier to do the drilling that way anyway.  I'm also running a file around the holes, so no getting splinters when running the wiring through!

[chessie system fan]

I recently had time to do more work on my friend's layout.  I attached the yard return loop to the wall.



And today I assembled another yard section.

[chessie system fan]

I finished the rest of the yard framing yesterday.



And I did the framing on the opposite wall a while ago, but forgot to take a picture of it!

[chessie system fan]

Moving along, I've added the plywood top to this section. The grade rises 3/4th inches.



Because of the grade, that means the yard needs to be raised 3/4th inches. We used some wood scraps from the previous layout to do that.



Then it was time for the plywood top! You can see that I cut a hole for the air conditioner cord. When the unit gets replaced someday, that will be important.

[chessie system fan]

I've made good progress on my friend's layout recently.  He painted the backdrop sections and I installed them.  We chose to first do a white undercoat before painting the blue.  Prepainting the sections outside was a good idea. We'll touch up the screw holes later.





Here, the middle backdop section has been prepped, but the paint wasn't thoroughly dry yet.  We'll install it next time. You can also see the grades begin on the high line and low line.

[Iain]

The early CofG diesel paint scheme is one of my favorites.

[chessie system fan]

I've been doing projects here and there for my friend's layout. 

One project was weathering this Bowser boxcar. I had a lot of fun doing that. I used a mixture of Tamiya and Vallejo paints.

 

Another project was this little yard building.  It's a Walther's kit, but of European origin.  I changed out the wooden doors to a roll-up kind. This was my first time painting a brick structure. There's a few things I'll do differently next time, but I feel it turned out okay.