I expect there to be plenty more installments over the next year or two.

He was out of town while I did it. I heard from his wife that the evening he returned, he couldn't stop looking at it.

Actually, I meant monotone. Monochrome means just one color, but can include different intensities of that one color. I could mix light and dark gray together for an extreme "salt-n-pepper" appearance and it would still be monochrome. Remember the old black-and-white TV sets of the 1960's. They were called monochromes even though they could display an infinite range of gray-tones. The trouble with the English language is that so many words have many different meanings.

The tone may be mono but the words are dynamic!

Well I certainly hope it ends up awesome when it's done. The client's words to me early in the design process were "I want a kick-butt model railroad". From the many comments received on this channel, I have to believe that we are on target to achieve that.

Great. Glad to be passing on my knowledge. Hope you enjoy your new railroad.

Maybe. I will reveal all at the appropriate time. Yes, his wife did come down to see how it was progressing a couple of times.

For months I have been trying to wrap my head around what the cost for this project must be. The size, scope, detail and labor has to put it well into 6 figures.

The plan always has been for the client to get more hands-on at some point. At the moment though, his business is keeping him busy and it makes more sense for him to go to work and earn money doing what he does best, while paying me to do what I do best. It's a huge project and there will plenty remaining for him to do when the time is right.

I've done a couple of ballasting videos in the past and expect to do another one in the fairly near future.

I hope so too but I haven't heard from the owner in some time.

The super-elevation can be done at any time after the track glue has set firmly but before ballasting. On my previous trip, I was running short of the correct thickness shims, so I left it until now.

I've run some trains but nothing that I would call an operating session. At the moment, the client doesn't have anywhere near enough cars out. I did run one local freight from the yard to deposit all the cars at appropriate locations around the paper mill. The next day, the client ran another train that collected them all and returned them to the yard. I suppose those two events could be called mini op sessions.

It's called "something blue" from Sherwin Williams, but there are a million other shades that will work. My choice would have been for something a little lighter.

That's exactly how I used to present most of my videos.

I shop at many places - wherever I can get what I need.

I didn't time the actual hours - maybe I should have. It was done over the course of about a week although not working on the scenery full time. Whenever I was waiting for something to dry, I just got on with another task somewhere else. My original intention was to calculate the work time from the total length of time-lapse video, but that didn't really work because of the editing required. When working on scenery full-time, I typically tackle somewhat larger areas (or two separate locations to alternate between). As a ball-park figure, I can typically complete an area of about 50sf in one week, provided all trees and man-made features are ready for installation in advance. Note that this is surface area, not plan area - a deep valley or tall cliff has a lot more surface area to detail than flat scenery occupying the same amount of layout area. As with many things, the bigger the area being tackled, the more efficient the progress in terms of sf/hr.

@@mpeterll got it - thx Peter. I was thinking of spending some time in your workshop to see how you do the scenery and work out the parts I should get you to do on my layout. Best Peter

​@@PeterTillman3 I thought we already decided to do exactly that. We'll spend a week or so building one section of scenery together and then you'll have a better idea of how to proceed.

@@mpeterll Yep - we did :)

The part of the railroad you are seeing here contains the helixes that connect all three decks of this multi-deck layout - allowing trains to climb all the way from the staging yard at 23" elevation to the upper scenic deck (not yet built) at 65" elevation. For a full explanation, watch the design video in my Missabe & Western play-list.

It's ordinary 1/8" masonite. The trick to curving it smoothly is to ensure that the sub-framing is correctly built so as to support it adequately, and to avoid joints on curves wherever possible. It is better to install a short length before or after a curve if it means that the whole curve can be in one piece. If I do have to place a joint on a curve, I ensure that I have a solid block behind it with lots of strong wood glue, temporarily clamped or screwed in place overnight so the glue is fully hard. Any imperfections are then treated with spackle, just as I did the backdrop in the previous installment.

@@mpeterll Thank you! 🙂

Layout builds are the part of the job I most look forward to - except the wiring. I love the benchwork, track-laying, and scenery. I think the scenery is my favorite because it's where everything comes together and the previous hard work pays off.

@@mpeterll Thank you for sharing your thoughts. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR