Check out my HO Layout "The Hackerville & Wing it"

This is my first real attempt at a layout. No one ever sees it but me (other than the wife who just rolls her eyes) so i figured id share it here. I have a few slow months into it and some scenery done. I'm only a rookie modeler and i'm learning as I go so hopefully it comes out decent. I may upload a few pics if theres any interest.

Heres the track/layout plan which is already built:

Cool looking trackplan. Should be a great looking layout

It looks bigger than my first apartment.

Triker wrote:I may upload a few pics if theres any interest.

Post some pics when you get a chance!

Ok heres a few. I will add a few more tommorow.

Couple of rants I have:
I am all done with "kit" buildings. I built a few on this layout and it always take me like 3 hours to put one together and i always screw something up. So for now i've bought a couple of used already built buildings off ebay. I found its cheaper anyway.
I originally had the layout 4ft wide from the wall, which is was way too wide. So i tore up everything and made it 3 feet which is were it is right now. Even at 3 ft its a little difficult to reach the back, but i'm stuck with the width right now. Maybe my next layout i will go with 2 feet.

Few more pics of the unfinshed section and a bonus pic of me at the bottom just in case you wondered what i looked like.
Fyi the layout is basically flat other than the spur in the last pic which goes down at about 3%.

The roads look sweet! With a face like that you must get all the ladies!

Triker wrote:I am all done with "kit" buildings. I built a few on this layout and it always take me like 3 hours to put one together and i always screw something up.

No one gets it right the first time. Building kits takes patience and time, you dont need to rush to finish them right away.

Your layout looks nice! Looks like you gave some thought about how to lay out the roads and village scenes.

-otto-

Very nice layout! If it helps you any just remember that HO-scale kits are a lot easier to build than N-scale kits! That was the biggest hurdle for me to make when I switched to N-scale years ago.

Good luck with the layout!

Like that neat little spur to the brick freight station that crosses over a street on a bridge. I'll have to keep that idea in mind.

Yup, I'm using tables that are 18" or 24" wide; all is within easy reach.

Yeah I regret the 3 feet. I originally had an additional 7'x1-6" peninsula in the center of the room, but it ended up being to claustrophobic so I removed it. If I had my outer tables at 2 feet instead of 3 it may have actually worked. The 2x4 duck under is driving me crazy. I need to try and make lift out or something.

Few more updates to the layout if anyone's interested:

I got tired of ducking under the layout to get into the room so i built a lift out. I have about a 1/16 to an 1/8 gap betweeen the tracks at the liftout, but the train go over without issue. I had to shim the tracks a bit in spots to keep the track height even. Here is an edge: I wasnt sure how to tackle the problem of getting current running thru the tracks on the lift out. So I bought some steel shims and ran some wires from track to the shims on both the lift out and vice versa on the stationary layout. In theory i was hoping to just plot the lift down and power would flow thru the shims to the lift out. Well it doesnt really work. The steel in the shims really doesnt (maybe because its stainless??) pick up the current to well. I think i should(and probably will) have used coppper shims. As of now all i do to keep the power flowing thru the liftout is push it a little to one side so the rails from the liftout touch the rails on the table.

I like the accessability of your layout. I keep a step stool to get to the far reaches of mine, so I know how nice it is to have everything within reach. As far as your electrical bridge is concerned, the real McCoy's use some sort of a "tongue" arrangement which usually drops in place and makes a physical connection when preparing for operation. You might experiment with that. I've seen it done successfully on layouts and it is a common practice with overhead as well. Keep up the great work and keep us posted !

Triker wrote:Couple of rants I have:
I am all done with "kit" buildings. I built a few on this layout and it always take me like 3 hours to put one together...

Depending on the complexity of the kit, it could take you three days... three weeks who knows. It takes time to carefully cut out all the parts, make clean fittings, wait for things to dry, paint carefully, etc. Of course, if you don't enjoy putting buildings together, then finding buildings already built is one way to go...

There are electrical plugs available you can use to get power to your liftout. They are called cinch plugs, and are available with different numbers of pins. Check electrical supply stores. Some hardware stores might have them and maybe Radio Shack as well. You can have them simply dangling under the liftout and have to plug them in separately after you put in the liftout, or you can get surface-mount ones and mount them so they will be aligned when the liftout is put in place. I would recommend wiring the liftout so when it is removed there is unpowered track for a couple of feet or so on either side as a failsafe.