# The BunkBed N Scale Special



## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

This is what I have going so far. I'm kind of undecided as what the finial track plan will be. 
This was my game plan but I think it is to much switch work, for my son. 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/mrfwhole1.jpg
I'll think I'll try something along these lines until we make the jump over to DCC around Christmas time. 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/untitled.jpg
right now we are both having fun - short vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mOoYFaJXkY&feature=feedu
Hopefully next week I can start on some rough scenery.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Xnats,

I like it! Very creative to use a bunk bed deck as a layout spot. Redefines fun in the bedroom!

Smart move to simplify the layout for DC, eliminating the reverse loop complication.

Have fun!

TJ


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## Russell (Dec 11, 2009)

I liked the youtube video. There's something nice about listening to a father & son having a moment together.

Nice Kato Amtrack set. Too bad about the 'sick' freight train though .

Like TJ, I can see the wisdom of avoiding the reverse loop with a young boy, but I wonder how difficult the wiring for it would be with Unitrack?

Cheers


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Thanks guys. I'm not to sure how hard it would be (reverse loops) with the UniTrak. I'm more worried about melting the plastic beds while soldering. I've been playing with trains along time but setting up a real layout I'm still a noob. Just when common sense should work, it does not. Then I have to listen to my wife poke fun of my wiring job/poor landscape and my skills of being an Electrical Inspector for my State's DOT :laugh: I'm still debating on what to do. I'll be hitting the LHS tomorrow to see what they have, parts wise. Their N Scale section is pretty small. I need insulators, switches and tons of other stuff, it stinks starting a new scale from scratch. Then again it is sure fun doing guy things. My daughter just spent my money on clothes when she was that age  wait that has not changed


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

Coming along great - Its gonna be really nice - I sure know what you mean by small N scale supply at LHS. Best Wishes - Steve


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## NS_Fan_2010 (Jan 24, 2011)

that was a pretty nice video


Gives me an idea for my little uncles mom when she wants to get rid of the bunkbed he has lol


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## BrooklynBound718 (Dec 23, 2010)

Great video with you and your son. I also liked those track plans you posted :thumbsup:


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

It seems I drifted off to designing on the fly now 
I was thinking I needed my foam deeper in depth, in case I wanted to landscape more in detail. I fiddled with hand made shims to get the back portion on the track to resemble grades of a mountain. The only thing I found for sure, is my love of ugly, pink, dense, hard to carve foam, sucks. 
I was out with the family and stumbled across a LHS that I never knew was there. The place was dumpy, but o-boy what a treasure spot of a find. The place was filled with old Athean Blue Boxes, post war Lionels and stuff from a day when I wish I had 3 dollars to buy that shinny tracker trailer to add to my train set. 
Any how, I bought 3 rolls of Woodland Scenic plaster cloth for like 10 bucks and 2 tractors for mere pocket change. I was off to the Home Depot for more cheap foam.
The not so nice 3/4" pink foam was cover with nice and cheap 3/4" nice foam. I started making a tunnel and am pretty happy with it's looks for now. I placed an order for the remainder of the track I needed and the woodland scenic ramps. At 6 bucks it is so much worth the price to be able to place, glue and go. Hopefully everything will be in by Thursday. This weekend if snow stays away, I'll be able to get some work done. 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/m_007.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/m_010.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/m.jpg


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Xnats,

Tunnel progress looks EXCELLENT ... nice contouring and integration of the portal.

I hear kids' laughs already!

TJ


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## jutta777 (Feb 9, 2011)

Xnats said:


> This is what I have going so far. I'm kind of undecided as what the finial track plan will be.
> This was my game plan but I think it is to much switch work, for my son.
> http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/mrfwhole1.jpg
> I'll think I'll try something along these lines until we make the jump over to DCC around Christmas time.
> ...


I love those layouts, are they N-scale and what size are those layouts ?


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Thanks. It is a N Scale set up and the size is a standard twin bed. It came out as a 38 5/8" by 75 1/2" inside the frame.
This is the finial design layout I hope. I added cars to show what it holds. Still waiting for track to show up though 

Gray cars are 65' gondolas

Orange cars(#15 thur #21) are 80' Passenger Cars
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n153/rt3395/N Scale Stuff/trackandtrain-1.jpg


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Seems everybody is trucking right along, while I'm futzing around 
Here is where we stand, right smack in the middle of incomplete :laugh:

Made up a few of these.
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/l_004.jpg

got the valley under construction
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/l_006.jpg

got some painting going on
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/n_017.jpg

poor craftsmanship can always be hidden with trees 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/n_018.jpg

planning goes a long way. Seems I failed that department, got a big hill and no way up or down. 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/n_019.jpg

Got the Head inspector testing out operations. Trying to make wiring bullet proof and kid proof, lol. Something should be coming in the mail to allow multiply trains to run together 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/n_024.jpg


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I like the head inspector on the job.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Some have more time then others.
Your coming along nice.


Also some mountains are not assessable by vehicles, though some trail scooters will fit in nice.
If not put a campfire scene up there with some hikers camping out.:thumbsup:


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Xnats,

Is that painted-sectin vertical rock face hand carved/made, or is it glued-on plaster rock molds? If the latter, very nice ... if the former, fabulous ... very realistic looking.

Cheers,

TJ


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Just got the wiring back under the table, no more dead spots from throwing points:thumbsup: Each loop is its own block with 4 feeders each. 
The head Inspector is tough. There are no track delays or speed restrictions. What ever I'm doing I'd better do it fast cuz CSX is heading somewhere 

I used the woodland scenic molds, bought 3 to try out with a jug of light weight hydrocal. The molds are well worth the money, I wish I bought two more to spice things up. The hydrocal is a waste of money I think. If memory recalls right, the carton only made about 6 rocks. Granted the finial product looks snowy white and is supper lite in weight. Lets face it, it is a rock that is getting painted a dark color lol. I painted about 20 rocks just trying to find a color scheme I liked. A bag of plaster was cheaper, filled a 5 gal bucket and I still have some left. After being disappointed with the hydrocal, I was hesitant on buying their liquid pigment. I just used Walmart .99 cent acrylic paint and thinned with water. I have to give Woodland Scenic a big :thumbsup: on their molds. Much easier then carving by hand.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for the info / clarification ... nice work!

TJ


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## CNW 1518 (Feb 21, 2011)

Great idea!!!

those looks like lots of fun


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Still not a lot going on with us but we are running DCC  

Tried my hands at road making. Lesson learned, spackle does not make a good road when installed in one lift.

Using plaster was much better, then again I did not get to involved with the road, since we have gone Digital. lol. Hopefully I'll finish the little stretch across the front this weekend.

http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_003.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_004.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_006.jpg


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

Lookin Great Man! - Steve


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Great idea with the bunkbed. We have 2 of them????? Cool video too. He is hooked. Makes me want to try N scale.:thumbsup:


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

What a weekend. We got our Digitrax Zephyr Xtra on Friday. After everyone was in bed, I stayed up and put decoders in both our engines. The Kato P42 was by far the easiest. The Atlas Dash8-40C on the other hand needed some shaving work on the body in order for the decoder to sit properly. 
All excited lol, I was testing the decoders out first thing Saturday morning. Yeap, they ran like crap. Cleaned down the track and both engines. Well they ran better but I was not impressed at all. The Atlas was making more noise then it has ever have? I just set that one aside and played with the Kato. I was very disappointed with the way the lights flicked, running at slow speeds. The engine would stall at certain spots unless I ran it fast! I was like wtf! I was hating DCC on the first day. 
I totally bypassed all the outer track and wired the full 3 amps into the my inner loop. The Kato ran better but the lights would still flicker. I fiddled all morning with different things to improve performance. I started noticing that if the engine stalled, if I tapped the track it would start up again! If you remember back, I wired up feeder track by soldering 20awg to the bottom rails. I must have used regular rosin core at the time.  It seemed if I kept pressure on the track all worked fine 
Back to the work station and this time I made sure I used the good silver bearing rosin core and wired up about 20 uni-connectors. I got them all hooked up and Bingo the Kato P42 was running like a champion 
That means I spent the rest of the weekend stripping all my old wiring and doing the unbearable. I took ever single uni-connector, took it apart, soldered a lead to it and re-assembled them back onto the track. I did little over 120 of them  Did I mention I hate soldering because I'm not that good at it hwell:
Now what happens when there are over 120 little wires hanging under the table? You guessed it, I got wires everywhere underneath. That will be another day straightening that mess up  
The Kato was still running like a champ and talking about supper slow speed. The speeds are far slower then what I could do wired on DC. Now the Atlas; shell on, shell off, decoder out, decoder in, the only thing left to do was chuck it at the wall at high speeds  I had to take a break so I worked on the main road coming in on the layout.
The road was looking good and drying so I started back on the Dash 8-40c. I stripped that little guy to nothing and reassembled it, but the noise was still there but fainter. I finally determined it was the flywheel rubbing and filed the frame a hair. After the third filing session, all the noise was gone, only the lite hum of the motor purring :thumbsup:
Glad the weekend is over, I need work to take a break from trains lol :laugh:At least I can honestly say we are now running DCC and both the engines are running supper smooth  
I attached some pics. During the week I was playing around with trees. 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_009.jpg 
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_010.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_011.jpg
http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_012.jpg


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Xnats,

Looks like you're having fun!

I thought I was looking at little grey Lego pieces there for a moment. What are those plastic pieces below the wood board in your third pic? Are those part of the uni-connectors you mentioned? I'd be curious to see more detail on how they work.

Thanks,

TJ


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Looking good! Wow sounds like fun???  :laugh: I model HO and have no experience with N but do you need a feeder at every connector? I have gathered that for DCC a feeder is necessary every 3 feet and solder your track connectors. I have wired my layout like this and DC runs great! I don't know about DCC yet. I will find out next weekend though. My system is on its way to be delivered Friday.


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Xnats said:


> Still not a lot going on with us but we are running DCC
> 
> Tried my hands at road making. Lesson learned, spackle does not make a good road when installed in one lift.
> 
> ...


Roads look good. I did the same and tore them out a day later. Partially because I didnt like the brittleness and my layout took a different direction. ADD i guess. I dunno??


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

lol, the weekend was no fun. Maybe today will be, I'm betting it will just a train running day, after work that is 
TJ the silver rail joiners snap into those little gray pieces, which in turn, snap into the plastic roadbed. Very nice system Kato came up with until you try and make it better, lol.
Pumper, I've read so much about supplying power to the rails for DCC, there are so many mixed feelings. I bet if I went back and re-did my original supply tracks I did, everything would have been fine. I had those spaced about every 3 feet. I'm not fond of doing stuff twice so since I started ripping track up, every piece of track is now wired. I think it would be safe to say it is no different then using flex track. There it would be every 3 feet lol. As for the road the plaster is holding up to heavy truck traffic, over sized matchbox cars and has survived me leaning over the thing all weekend. There is plaster cloth underneath plus I use toothpicks as dowels. I was going to use Type N mix but feared that would have been to brittle. The road is only about 1/4 inch thick. 
Off to work to read more about trains lol :laugh:


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Yea I hear ya! I hate doing things twice. Well things like that.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Well I've finally determined why nothing gets done on the layout. One can not make progress if he plays with trains all day  On that note, not much got done this week either, dang trains running all supper smooth and slow on DCC :thumbsup:
The weekly progress. I'll have to slow done a bit, don't want to finish things to soon:laugh:


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Dude! Lookin' Awesome! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

Look's Great Man! I sure like your whole setup! Steve


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Since folks are talking politics but not everyone enjoys that stuff here is some train stuff :thumbsup:
The gang out RailFanning








A big hole in the ground 








Wait is someone fixing this hole 








These nice folks are talking about trains; or are they?  to be continued. 








Someone has gone and done it now :laugh:








You can stay here and watch the glue dry, go check in on Steve's layout or go back and talk about crappy lawmakers someone voted in. Ya'll come back now ya hear


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

I prefer to talk trains and check out your thread Man - Way to Go - I gotta try some water too! - Keep us posted - Steve


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

I like the way your pix show the progress Stan - What kind of goo did you make your water (or what is that if I am wrong?) with? - It looks good and swampy which is just what I need! - Steve


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

I still need to order some water. I think I'll just grab the WS stuff from our LHS.
The bottom I tried to make dark, like WS suggest. I did not want black though, we'll see how it comes out. The color is just black and Bark Brown acrylic. Like you, I mix little dixie cups of plaster. I tried to thin this batch more then usual so it sipped into all the little holes. Hopefully I have no leaks, tomorrow will be the test, lol.


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

Nice - I get it - I shall check out our LHS "HobbyLand" and get the appropriate item and try to prep the areas as you have.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

For some reason I can not seem to edit my post anymore  I have been changing back to [url] so pages load quicker. O-well
Nothing got done during the week do to my wife having car troubles and work being supper busy. Thursday we ended up buying a new car :ohwell: so much for the train funds too :(
My son has been so bummed out the whole week, he has not been able to run trains. Last Sunday I taped off the track to put in a crossing but never got it. I got a little time in today so here is the latest updates. Trees that I had pre-made got attacked by the cat :mad: At least she got sick from the hairspray and foam maybe she won't do it again. I'll be using her to clean up the mess the next time :rolleyes: I sort of rushed through things but it looks ok, I'll see how well it holds ups. Even got the pond fixed, boy was that, EasyWater hard to get out, lol. Hopefully I'll get some more done tomorrow. 
[IMG]http://www.modeltrainforum.com/gallery/files/3/7/0/0/b_050.jpg


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## BrooklynBound718 (Dec 23, 2010)

Looking good, Xnats. I like the house with the addition in progress. I bought a couple of N scale trucks to park by freight house today. I think I change my track layout every couple of weeks, lol...


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Lol about the cat eating your trees! Looking good! Stan what are you using for your roads?


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## Steve441 (Nov 24, 2010)

It's coming along great Man - Especially with your time constraints. New car is good - staying safe most important for your family Stan! Your layout will "fall" together nicely over time the way its going. Your trees look very good (and roads) - I want to give those trees a try before I buy any more pre-made ones. Keep up the good work Stan!Steve (Our cat and dog both passed from old age last year - I miss 'em both)


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Xnats,

Layout progress looks GREAT! I especialy like that little pond. And the rocky area look extremely realistic ... excellent work!

Re: editting posts ... Admin recently imposed a time limit on editting posts. We had a situation recently where a member or two went a little off the deep end on the after-the-fact post editting thing, so trying to keep that in check a bit now.

Cheers,

TJ


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Many forums have a 24 hour time period on editing posts, which is reasonable IMO.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

I spent all morning shaving down my road crossing, seems I was a tad to high with the road for the trains to pass hwell: Now I have to go back and do a skim coat of plaster to level everything out again. Maybe next week though, we are running trains again with no track slowdowns or stoppages 

CP I have been staying with plaster for the roads. I pour is extra soupy and give it a quick float with a piece of cardboard.

TJ takes for the heads up about changing the edit procedure. That was a mess you mentioned, glad it got straightened out :thumbsup:

Steve sad with your pets. We always seem to have a collection of something. My wife has this thing if a pet dies, she is done with them and will never will get anymore. A few months later, you guessed it, a new pet joins our happy household. We might actually be considered rich, if we did not have so many vet bills to pay :laugh: We have a dog, cat and 3 fish at present and they are all old too.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

tjcruiser said:


> Xnats,
> 
> Layout progress looks GREAT! I especialy like that little pond. And the rocky area look extremely realistic ... excellent work!
> 
> ...


Xnats looking good.
My Moms house with animals is the same way, I went over to bury one of her pets and we walked around for an hour looking for a spot to dig!

She has a 100' x 75' back yard and somehow remembers where every fish,cat,dog,bird,hamster are buried from 1950!

As I was burying a large dog every spot I picked over lapped another burial spot!
It was a 100 that day! I got fed up and dug where my thrown shovel landed! 
It turned out that it was a free spot.(just a stupid fish was there)hwell:

A time limit to edit!?
Why weren't we informed?  We the people.

I sometimes go back and fix spelling mistakes on old,old posts.

What is the time we have to do it now?

What else is new?
I see the lock police are busy too.

Maybe a sticky thread on NEW changes would be appropriate?


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Xnats said:


> CP I have been staying with plaster for the roads. I pour is extra soupy and give it a quick float with a piece of cardboard.


What type or brand.  Sorry to bug but I have tried roads once before and ripped them out.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Sick'em Ed :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

CP it is plaster of paris. I bought a bag for 10 bucks at HomeDepot that filled a 5 gallon bucket. A working mix seems to be a 1 part water to 3 parts plaster. A soupy mix for me is a 50/50 mix and it pours like water. It is a lot like concrete, the extra water makes the finial product weaker. The roads seem to be holding up to my son though. I just need to find some tougher grass and cars


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## concretepumper (Jan 2, 2011)

Xnats said:


> Sick'em Ed :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
> 
> CP it is plaster of paris. I bought a bag for 10 bucks at HomeDepot that filled a 5 gallon bucket. A working mix seems to be a 1 part water to 3 parts plaster. A soupy mix for me is a 50/50 mix and it pours like water. It is a lot like concrete, the extra water makes the finial product weaker. The roads seem to be holding up to my son though. I just need to find some tougher grass and cars


Excellent! Thanks Stan.  I will have to pick up a bag next time I'm there.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Me and my wife work for a Siberian Husky and Malamute rescue group.
If anyone needs a new buddy I can hook them up! I have 4 that are keepers, they got stuck with US.:laugh:
A poodle, A red healer, A Siberian husky, And a malamute! 
I have one foster Siberian that's hopefully getting adopted soon.
I have one Siberian that's in the witness relocation program.
I have 4 more Siberians and 1 malamute on their way here.
Two of them are all the way from Alaska! Seized lot of 150 that were neglected because of the economy falling apart.
The insanity never ends, but we love it!
People say are you ever worried about break ins at your place... NOPE, But I do get tired of picking up the people bones though!

Stan, Your layout looks incredible keep up the great work, and yea you got to keep the trains a rolling on down the line! I love the rail fans!!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Re: edit limit ...

Admin discussion on the topic is ongoing. Current (but not final) edit-post time limit is 24 hours. (It was shorter, but I asked for a longer window.) If any of you have thoughts, we'd welcome them. I'll emphasize that no final decision has yet been made. When that's done, I'll see that Admin posts a notice to all.

The goal is not meant to detract from productive post edits, but rather to quell "heated after-the-fact" attempts at rewriting history, so to speak.

Regards,

TJ


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Stan you need to get some crossing gate up on that RR crossing before those crazy truck drivers get run over!:laugh:


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

lol Sean this whole mess started with that request from my son. I allow him to watch railfanning on youtube. After a few clip he always seems to find the crash scenes. Low and behold after watching videos he'll head to the train table, fire it up trains and have close call events one after another  This is apart of our daily life here, beside reading/looking at train magazines. He was doing real accidents until he lost his trains for a week, you would have thought the world ended or something that week :laugh:
Low and behold I refused to spend 30 bucks on the set he picked out







. I have pretty much fixed all of the few vehicles that we have, along with poring extra glue on scenery that he plays around. He is gentle with things and he tries real hard but this stuff is tiny and built like junk. Well my wife ordered the crossing gates for his Birthday, so I had no choice but to get a section ready :laugh: Those pics will come in April  I have a bad feeling I'll be rebuilding arms on a regular basis hwell: but the signals are coming


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

My grandson's favorite TV show is Wipeout, so I'll have to watch him like a hawk with the trains as well.  :laugh:


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Ok I've played with the realistic water and think if one follows all the directions it would work very well  
I poured the first 1/8" lift as soon as my son got out of bed Sunday. I put a fan on it right away and after lunch it seemed fully cured :thumbsup: Mistake two I made :laugh: should have waited 24 hours.
I poured the second lift and was like perfect it was full (see first pic) I let the fan run all night then this morning  (pic two) it shrank. I did read about shrinkage too hwell: Now I have shrinkage cracks right through the middle times 2 because the first lift did not settle 
Now (pic three) clearly shows my first mistake. The directions say to paint the bottom a dark solid color to show depth. We'll I thought I knew more the the manufacture and wanted a realistic looking bottom. To bad my poor art skills look worse with a supper gloss finish on top :laugh:
Tomorrow morning I'll pour a third lift and see what happens. At 20 bucks a bottle this one is staying no matter what and there is half a bottle left


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## jonyb (Mar 20, 2011)

Nice work so far! Bunk bed idea is cool....


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