MARCH 10, 2016 Detailing Makes All The Difference!

Ah, yes! Upper right corner you will see Santa supervising the construction of the wood shutters that will be applied to the overhead Train Station. See all those little scraps below? Welllll, they are not! They are being glued to the doors! That's it!

Oops! Cut my fingernails that morning and having a hard time. Had to revert to Karen's tweezers to glue and apply the tiny pieces.

FEBRUARY 28, 2016 Back to Detailing

These are the finish trim for the column supports for the passenger train. I don't know what got into me, this is the cleanest my cubicle has been since I started this project!

FEBRUARY 26, 2016 Moving Along Now!

These photos just show more clearly what we discussed in the previous post.
Still a long way to go!

  

FEBRUARY 25, 2016 HUGE FUN!

   Okay! It's taking shape enough to walk you through the spaces. Top left building is the Train Station with the passenger trains running through it above. The 3-story building running below the train station is the receiving area for materials with the freight train running between it and the Toy Factory in front of it and on the same level (which I currently have my hands on, here).
   The trusses spanning the two towers support the plaza above and span the freight train track below. As a side note, the picture with the light shining on it on the shelf to my right is a photo of me (when I was Senior Historical Architect, National Register, Southeast Region, National Park Service Department of the Interior in the 1980's) standing with one of Seargent York's sons who managed the State Historic Residence of Seargent York.
Another side note, all of his sons were named after presidents--great way to pass on values, I say.

FEBRUARY 24, 2016 PRESSING ON!

below the table: A stack of salvaged pieces from the 2015 structure that the tree stood on. FYI: Never throw out anything! I repeat, anything! If you study the pieces below, you will later see how several of them will be incorporated into the new finished product. (Just like the clerestory in the photo to the right, which was salvaged from the scuttled tree platform.) Refer to 2015 Blog and you will discover the salvaged pieces as previously used.

 

FEBRUARY 23, 2016 GOT IT!

Got It, pretty much says it all. This was a design that I knew could grow and develop into what Santa told us when we sat with him and discussed his visions for the Toy Factory and Train Station plaza (so to speak!).

FEBRUARY 8, 2016 Progress!

The main attraction to the hobby is the diversity of tasks you get to do. This one is the process of color coding wiring and soldering. FYI: Keep fingers away from hot end of soldering iron!

   
    

   

FEBRUARY 3-4, 2016 And On It Goes! Such Absorption!

It didn't take long at all to realize that if I didn't label every single wire, not I nor anyone would ever be able to hook this up! Thanks to Karen for her patience in creating all of the sticky labels.

 

 

FEBRUARY 1-2, 2016 No, Not Done Yet!

Now that the plan was established, we had to hire the electrical contractor (Richard) to map and run the infrastructure wiring (glad I didn't need to use a shovel!).

    

   

    

YEAR TWO January 2016!

First Off—After The Fact Drawings!



   A new Wiring and Track Plan for the NOW THREE Trains: The Polar Express, The Polar Freight . . . and The Canadian Pacific! And a Platform Assembly Plan!