QUINNTOPIA IS BACK! AGAIN!

I'm back! This is a short video (really, it's somewhat pathetic as the intro is almost as long as the content. I hope you like the intro anyway) that sort of announces my return to Quinntopia.

I've been distracted. You see, I found this pinball machine for sale back in March.  I've always wanted a pinball machine. I got it cheap (about the price of Trix locomotive with a sound decoder) but it doesn't work. So for the past 9 months I've been restoring it and trying to understand how to make it work. It's almost done, but I missed my trains.

So there you go. Only time will tell to see if this is another famous Quinntopia false starts?

LAYOUT UPDATE VIDEO!

Here's a short video of the progress I've made on the layout so far...about 15 months into it! But I think I'm willing to publish a video as it seems like the next step is to start adding track!

CITY PROGRESS PHOTOS

A few images of the current status of the city.  I still have a few more LED-lit cars to add, and need to straighten some light poles (Wow! Its amazing how the camera can reveal the slightest angle) and lot's of details!

Above is the street that will parallel the passenger station tracks (it has a name! Its called the "Avenue of the Liberation of Quinntopia"! See my map here)...below is the area in front of the Metro Station...

 Another shot of the area that will eventually be next to the main passenger terminal.

The below photo should provide a pretty good idea of the layout.  Right now the City is sort of an island surrounded by wood, which will eventually be the tracks.

I still need to add more detail, but I'm pleased with how the Metro Station turned out. I still need to add a decoder to the second Tokyo Subway train so that trains will operate automatically in both directions/

An overhead view of "Minitrix Avenue" on the back side of the Metro Station and the recently completed "Gorham Building".

And finally, a street level view under the Metro Viaduct on "Kato Avenue"...

GORHAM BUILDING COMPLETE

Hello modellers!

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post. I've been busy!  I'll have a few more updates shortly.

I've been adding my buildings to the layout and arranging them, which also means putting together a few kits that have been sitting around.

I purchased CMR's Gorham Building several years ago (based on this actual building) and I decided to finally put it together. It's the ideal size for a certain spot, and decided it was time to get it on the layout!  Below is the plat where this new/old building will be installed.

The CMR kit is made of an interesting material.  It's a laser-cut sort of styrene or plastic. I actually really enjoyed putting it together. And while the pieces are all flat plastic, once complete they look really nice.

The instructions advise you to paint the structure after assembly, but as I wanted to use different shades of grey for the different layers, I sprayed them all beforehand and then glued after they were painted.

Interior detail was primarily limited the large ground floor entrance/lobby area.

I really like how this building turned out. in addition to lighting, I applied several coats of washes to really draw out the laser cut details that CMR puts on the pieces.

 More updates to follow! Thanks for reading!

IT'S DONE! LATVERIA STATION COMPLETE!

It's done!

And it only took a year!  Literally.

It was a year ago when I had my basic plan for how I would construct an early 20th Century style elevated metro/subway station.

Hey, these things take time!

Below are some photos picking up from my last post.  As you can probably tell from the photos, lot's of strip styrene....

 For the windows on the roof, I had some transparent Evergreen Plastics sheets on which I masked and spray painted horizontal lines to simulate window panes.  On top of this I glued pre-painted styrene strips.

 Of course now with the roof finished, I can start to enjoy the station area a bit more!

One of the many tasks that made the project take time, is having to complete various details.  The station platforms were built from scratch, painted, marked with pencil, and of course had people and various bits of details added.  Something like this can slow down actual roof construction for several weeks!

 Interior view with platforms..

 I almost did not have glass windows on the roof, but I knew that I would regret not being able to see the station interior from the top, plus I like a bit of ambient light coming out of the station!  So I'm glad I did it, but it was yet another complication to the roof project that added at least a month of work.

 So, with the station really almost done (Not true: Still a few more details) I can start working on the rest of the city and (believe it or not) actually putting down tracks for the 'main lines'!

Thanks for reading!