Something I've been going back and forth about for a while now is what to do about paint in the layout room. Should I leave it primer to start with and paint the backdrop area blue later, or should I paint the whole wall blue before bench work begins?
I went ahead and painted the entire wall before bench work. I determined the dividing line for above and below bench work and painted the Perfectly Blue above and Polished Aluminum below. I just made sure that the blue would go below the top surface. http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?attachments/img_0674-jpg.25225/
An idea I've been tossing around for a while now is an accent wall down the long hallway as you walk in the building. I purposefully kept all of the outlets, light switches and thermostat off of the right hand wall that only has the one door on it for this purpose. I'm thinking of painting it with a nice orange and white stripe to replicate our beloved Frisco locomotives. I did some hunting for a Frisco orange substitute for interior paint. I think Steelhead Redd is pretty close, granted that is from the independent retailer color wheel. There's another color close to it in the Lowe's color wheel called Scarlet Sun. https://www.valspar.com/en/colors/browse-colors/independent-retailers/red/steelhead-redd-v007-3 I'm attaching a rough diagram I drew up. Working with 9' walls, the top and bottom 30" will be Red/Orange, and the middle 48" will be white. I went even on the stripes, but I'm wondering if it would look better if I took a couple inches off the top stripe to even it up with the door? Let me know what you guys think.
The Scarlet Sun looks better on my color-adjusted monitor. You may want to consider something more involved ; the Frisco Coonskin in the red centered on the white portion of wall. The attached file gives relative dimensions on a background of squares for scaling. Another alternative would be a large vinyl sign (wrap) picture image of your favorite Frisco diesel and/or steamer instead of the red/white/red stripes.
I guess I didn't specify, I also plan on doing a large Frisco word mark in Eurida font so it looks just like the side of a locomotive. Well see how things scale out, but if there's room I may put up a coonskin logo or something. I'll have plenty of photos and display cases hung up throughout the rest of the building too
You could do the whole wall in black and yellow diagonal GP style striping!! That would make sure that everyone going inside is awake!!
It's possible that scarlet sun will be a better match, but I haven't had a chance to get away to Lowe's for a sample. I've got the "independent retailer" stuff available in town at least. I put together a sample image in MS Paint this evening, attached below.
My schedule has been so packed lately, I didn't realize how long it had been since I provided an update on the building. All of the Sheet Rock is on, taped, mudded, textured, primed and all but the accent wall is painted. Utilities have been run. HVAC is installed, but hasn't been fired up yet. The ceiling in the layout room finally went up Friday. Aside from some paint, we're down to doors, trim, lights in the layout room, some extra insulation up top and finally guttering. The building will probably be done by the end of the week.
The ceiling in the layout room is white sheet metal with ribs every 9". It's a good way to save money on big spaces. The other rooms and the hallway are all sheet rock ceilings because there wasn't room to work with the sheet metal in those spaces.
My builder first pitched it to me for the garage and back porch and I wasn't really sure about it, but like a lot of things on this build I just said I trust your advice and went with it. I like the way it turned out in all 3 places. I think the fact that it's a 9" spacing instead of a 12" spacing helps it not look like a barn.
Things are moving right along, we're right on track to be finished by the end of the day Friday. Here's a first look at the accent wall. I like the way it turned out. At some point I'll come back and add the lettering.
It's looking really nice Ethan! We'll have to get Rick to join us on a workday when you're ready to build benchwork and/or layout track.
There's a little bit left to do tomorrow, but things are basically done. Shelving went up in the storage room on Friday. 4 levels wrap around 3 of the walls. The room is too small to get the whole thing in 1 picture, but here's an idea of what we wound up with. An idea I just thought of this morning is I may put my computer in here with a programming track. It'll always be out of the way in here.
I think some mattress pads, blankets, and pillows. and those are bunks for visiting operators. Looking good Ethan. Can't wait for my next visit to the homeland to see it in person! -Bob T.
Believe me Ethan, you will want the computer for programming locomotives in the layout space so you can do Operations Programming for Speed Matching easily.
I had considered that, however I might go with the circle system you discussed here: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/dcc-speed-matching-circle.9286/ I've been kicking around the idea of setting that up in the closet as well. I'm thinking I could put it on a hinge attached to the shelving so it can be stored vertically out of the way when not in use. I would still have a separate piece of track for simple programing set up as well.
