Back to testing deck heights.

With some valence lights up, I decided to put the temporary shelving units back on and see how comfortable things were with the decks at the planned 45 and 64.5 inches.

The upper shelf is 18" wide and the lower is 24". The Valance is roughly 24" wide, but varies some around the curve. I cut the Masonite to 9" strips, which seem to cover the bulbs the way they hang. I don't have a feel yet for how deep the upper shelf will be. You can see that I have several pieces of 4" foam leaning against the wall. I'm not sure if I will use that as benchwork, or save it for scenery.

I also haven't figured out a good way to connect the valance. For these two pieces, I just used roofing nails to connect the Masonite to the 2x3 joists I built the valance with. I'll probably go back to screws, but this was quick and the screws I had were too long. The problem is butting the pieces together. I think I need a good, solid piece to stitch them together. My first thought is to use a 6" wide piece of Masonite and glue the pieces with Liquid Nails, but I had very poor luck getting the rough side of Masonite to stick using Liquid Nails on my old layout. Let me know your thoughts.

Interviewed about the layout and section house

Some of you might be interested in hearing the interview I did with Lionel, Jim and Bruce on a Modeler's Life Podcast. It started when Lionel asked for photos of people listening to the podcast. I was out mowing and took this shot of me on the tractor in front of the section house.

In May, Lionel contacted me on Facebook to ask if I'd like to talk about the section house. I said that was fine, so I got on Skype and this is what happened:

Valance lights

When I operated at Dean Ferris' last weekend, I asked him about his valance lighting. He said he Googled Barn Dance Lights and said he was using strings of standard light CFL light bulbs spaced 24" apart. I found his source, and ordered 220 feet of lights with 150 sockets spaced 18".

http://www.noveltylights.com/25-White-Commercial-Grade-stringer-e27-Medium-Base.html

I picked up some 13W Daylight CFL bulbs at Home Depot for $19.99 a 12 pack. One string used two boxes plus one and got me just over half way around the peninsula. Somewhere I have a bunch of masonite cut into strips that I am planning on using for the valance, but who know where that is. I thru up a temporary piece of  Homasote that was 10" wide just to see how it looked.

May's big project.

I didn't get much done in the section house in May other than perhaps adding the most important accessory back. When I took out the toilet, I had decided to make a small power room in the closet between the two A/C units. Then it started raining. I didn't really want to go play in the mud under the building, so I hired a guy to move the plumbing. What should have taken a couple days wound up taking several weeks. Luckily we negotiated a flat fee, so I didn't pay him any more. The plumbing all works, but I still need to paint and do some more finish work.