PHPaul

Nice work so far, David! That floor plan strikes me as a bit odd by US standards. It appears that the main door (what we'd call the "front door") opens into the hallway between the bedrooms. The only other exterior door I see opens into the utility room. Am I missing something here? EDIT: I re-read your initial post and see what appear to be "french doors" opening into the kitchen and living room. The garage is considered the "back" of the house?

Thanks, David. I spent the day redoing the wiring on all the lighting. Much like the rest of the diorama it got wired up as a temporary mish-mash and never properly sorted. Changed everything from breadboards and pins to screw terminals and soldered connections. Much more reliable that way. One of those things I've been meaning to do for literally years and just never had the urge/ambition. Adding the fire barrel on the far end of the layout from the power source finally bestirred me to do something about it.

Added a couple of hobos warming themselves under the trestle. Got some flickering nano-LEDs in the barrel to simulate the fire.

Frustration is a very rare occurrence when working on the diorama. Some of the larger bits (such as the scratch-built corn crib above) can be a tad tedious but overall it's far and away my most enjoyable hobby.

Details on that laser please?

Trestle structure complete. More detailing and some repairs to the scenery as I misjudged the placement of the bents a tad. Also gonna hit Fee Bay for some train-related debris to scatter around in the gorge and put some fire barrels on the trestle. Ordered some scale ballast to do the ties on the flat part of the scenery to the right of the trestle.

Not sure of scale, but the pleated section of bendable straws maybe?

Well, that went back in the "box" quickly. Much smaller overall and much more detail than the Corsair. Given that I was absent the day patience was handed out, added to the fact that I'm 74 with failing eyesight and arthritic hands, I put it away before I did something I'd regret. Maybe later...

Thanks! I'll post a picture of the completed trestle in a day or two.

I got that one for Christmas as well. I've built several ROKR kits and they're flawless. Good instructions, laser work is spot on, everything just fits. On this one, be aware that the seats are VERY delicate and the exhaust needs a little fiddling to lock together properly.

First trestle bent complete and installed. About 20 scale feet tall.

One of my grandsons got me this for Christmas. I've built a F4U Corsair from ME which is likely where he got the idea. To give you an idea what's involved, the item in the picture consists of three subassemblies, each with 2 or 3 parts. Fold to shape, insert Tab A in Slot B, fold the tabs over. My magnifying visor (and my patience) are getting a workout!

Thanks, David! Supplies to build trestles came in yesterday, first one about half completed. Hopefully a picture later today.

Mostly detailed. I'll add more vegetation and debris after the trestles are installed.

VERY cool! So much to look at, hard to take it all in in one visit. What scale?

What do I drive? Well, after spending the morning cruising internet truck dealers, it looks like I'll be driving my '13 Toyota Tundra for the foreseeable future. Which, really, is fine. Only has 71,xxx miles on it and I've kept up the maintenance. Just kinda had the twitch for a new one until I started checking prices. If I don't need the truck (which is mostly...) my '20 RAV4 gets the nod. With the fold down rear seats, it'll haul most anything volume-wise that the truck will and gets 33+ MPG vs. 17 on the truck. And, if it's a nice day and my right foot is feeling 16 again, I'll flop the top down on the '90 Corvette...

I added this long, narrow strip to my diorama several months ago as part of an overall enlargement. The shape was constrained by the available space in my hobby room. I've been thinking about various uses for it off and on for months. I've mentioned before that my most productive approach is to let things percolate for a while and eventually, something bubbles to the top. The end near the pond on the right of the picture is done with pictures posted elsewhere in this thread. I did start on a small hops yard (brewing hops, grown on vertical vines) near the pond and I'm still deciding if I like that or not. The remainder of the strip has been a head-scratcher. Part of the problem is that I really don't want another flat area as it's too small for buildings or fields, and just continuing the hills/forest seems like a waste in the "been there, done that" vein. Something finally bubbled to the top, at least for about a third of it. Several folks have mentioned adding something with a railroad theme. My initial reaction was that any actual train engines/cars would be out of scale unless I invested in VERY spendy "S" scale stuff, plus would be easily knocked off the diorama. Just not loving the concept. Then it occurred to me: Abandoned Rail Line! Always wanted to build a trestle anyway. So I grabbed the saw and hacked a corner off the two 2 inch layers of insulation foam I use as a base for everything. Carve random faces and levels into the result and cover with a layer of Plaster of Paris. That also gives me an excuse to indulge in one of my favorite processes, carving stacked rock walls. These are retaining walls that will act as a base for the bents supporting the trestle. While I'm waiting on the scale lumber to build the trestle, I can work on detailing and coloring the gorge walls. Debating whether or not to do a small stream at the bottom. Probably will.

I keep two: One for cut-offs of basic shapes - sheet, tubing, rod, etc. One for actual parts or 3D prints that wound up not being used. As John said, one or the other - often both - get dipped into on most projects.

Yes, I actually drew the pump up and printed it out. I'll look and see what's out there for u-joints. Thanks! EDIT: My 3D printer (Creality Ender 3) won't print u joints small enough. Larger ones like for a driveshaft are doable, but the pump shaft joints are about 2mm wide and it won't print that small. Not enough plate contact area. Possibly with a raft but then I'd likely destroy the print separating it from the raft.

Need shafts and pump for a PTO driven hydraulic pump as used on dump truck kits. 1:25 scale. Doesn't need to be exactly like this one as it's being retro-fitted to non-dump truck tractor to power a knuckle boom crane.

Here's the final decision on mounting the doors on the service body. All plastic, hinge pins spaced off the body with LRPD's - Little Round Plastic Dots - punched out with a Whitney punch. Outside trim locates them in the frame and covers any irregularities in the cut out. I thought I could live with the shorter door over the wheels, but I'm going to have to redo that. Had to redo the second door from the front as well, got the trim on cockeyed the first time.

Can't take credit for that Gary, I was gifted that truck as a partially built glue bomb. Pretty much all I did was clean it up, strip and re-paint it.

In case anyone is curious/interested, the "hoses" are made from this 28ga wire from Amazon Comes in various colors and a nice little dispenser box.

Mounted on the truck. Just a little plumbing left to do. Still working on doors for the service body. Not 100% satisfied (primarily due to non-scale size of components), but have pretty much exhausted my options. I'll post pix when I get one side finished up.

You're welcome Noel, glad I could help.