Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The Straco Layout, Part 40 - A New Angle

Read all the installments of the Straco Express layout project here.

This post -- and its subject -- are actually a foreshadow of the next.

Regardless of whether a person's layout is super-realistic or toy-like in appearance, a large G-gauge outdoor garden layout or a tiny Z-gauge layout stored in an attache case, one thing remains true -- it's never completely finished.

And that's turned out to be the case for the Straco Express layout. Purely by chance I ran across an amazing selection of six new old stock Nomura vehicles. I happened to win the bid, and suddenly, I had too many cars for the already overcrowded streets of the layout.

So I spent some time outlining various options with painter's tape and arrived at the solution you see in the photos. A new side street feeding into the main road. It should provide enough space for the increased traffic.

I used the same technique as before (see: Part 10 - Paving the Pegboard Paradise), and am pretty happy with the results.

When my purchase arrives, we'll see if I provided enough space, or if I need to add even more roads. A situation that strangely mirrors the challenge of many state transportation departments!

Total cost for the project:
Layout construction:
  • Pegboard: $4.95
  • Flathead Screws: $0.40
  • Molding: $2.49
  • SilClear: borrowed from a friend
  • Green Paint: left over from another project
  • Wood Screws: $3.60
  • Felt Pads: $1.99
Power Pack: $5.90
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29
Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99

Vehicles:
  • Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00
  • A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
  • Taxi: $2.99
  • Ambulance: $2.99
  • Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
  • Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
  • 1950's sedan $2.99
  • Line Mar Pepco Truck $8.50
  • Line Mar Bond Bread Van $8.00 
  • Line Mar Fire Engine $4.95 
  • Line Mar Dump Truck $12.99 
  • Line Mar GE Courier Car $10.98
  • Nomura red Sedan $5.00
  • Nomura police Car $2.52
  • Nomura lumber truck $3.48
  • 6 Namura vehicles $16.99
  • Orange sedan $10.99
  • King sedan $9.95
Total Cost: $150.90

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