The start of scenery

I bought a few plaster cloths rolls and it has been bothering me that the area so see here only had pink foam and paper. Since I was putting joint compound on the walls and making a mess anyway, I figured "what's a little more mess".

The three rolls I had didn't go very far, so I ended up buying a box of twelve. Plaster cloth is a lot easier and less messy, but I'm going to have to go back to the old way, since I have plenty of hydrocal and the cost for the plaster cloth is so high.

I decided to hit the top of the helix with some of the extra rolls of plaster. This area has the potential for a good railfanning spot because it comes around the corner at eye level for most of us. Just wait until the ground and tress are in.

More Lights

Before and after pictures of Wiscasset


Before and after pictures of Bath

New lighting for Portland, Deering & Yarmouth Jct.

I was happy with the first set of lights I received for Brunswick and ordered more. I turns out I should have ordered one more reel. I am about six feet short.

I spent the last two days running an auxiliary bus for layout lighting and accessories. When that was complete I put up the new reels of lights in the other areas that were needed.
One of the things that are different with this set of lights was that I needed to angle the lights a bit toward the backdrop. I had been mounting the lights on the front board of the upper level because the tape would be held with full contact. With upper level being wider at this point the lights were out at the very front. I placed a thin strip of wood angled at about 30 degrees toward the back, to allow the lights to shine a bit on the backdrop.


All of the light reels can be cut smaller and the cut pieces have a place to solder more wires on so the the cut pieces can still be used. I was told that soldering might not work, but I was able to do it and that means it can't be too hard.

Here you will see before and after pictures of the south end of the layout.