Those are great data points, thanks Rooster. I’ll check out the Duration further.
John, ya kill me! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)But in the off-chance you’re serious, you could contact your local steel supplier and get prices on sheet steel coils. Various widths & thicknesses available, and you might be able to buy by the ft or lb.
Moi?
Well yes some what, but I just stretched my layout’s legs and there’s too much length for quotes! I feature worn rusted iron/steel objects as props to suggest industries past… on line it’s hard to find cheap easy to rust rolls of tin, galvanized sure …(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
No shiny here, hanging by a thread is more accurate…
John
Cheep tin, oh yea I have some of that. It came wrapped around bathroom cleaner and spray paint. Just puncture the empty can, on the side not facing you. Then, when the pressure has all been let out, cut the thing open. Cheep tin-plated steel.
This is one of 4 mountain ranges around Tucson, this is the Catalina Mountains as seen from Vail.
Dave, I have 11 -14’ long sections …
Add a red sunset for Purps …
John
You just said cheep tin. You didn’t say a boatload of cheap tin.
About the gas springs. For the record, I had that approach in the back of my mind, but mostly discounted it because of the geometric constraints and masses involved. But, since Rooster egged me on, I’ve been pecking away at the puzzle for the last two weeks. Especially since last weekend, when I had to lift the things a number of times.
BTW, I first experimented with pulleys, and that would work. But since they take space, and tend to clutter things up and take time, I kept going back to a sprung-from-below solution.
Whether I use gas springs, automotive struts or some home-grown approach to guided conventional compression springs, I needed to first see what room I could carve out. And here’s the picture.
If I squeeze all the tracks to the opening side, and allow for 6" spacing, it looks like there will be enough space for the lift springs.
Here’s the resultant track arrangement.
I found some Suspa springs with 130lb force. 2 per section would bring the lift force down to around 25 lbs.
More later…
Cliff
Another option would be some automotive hood hinges with springs. From something with a heavy hood like a 70’s or 80’s domestic vehicle.
You could bolt another 2x4 on the inside and set the hinges on there. You could probably get them a bone yard for next to nothing.
Thanks Rooster, I’ll keep that in mind. I already ordered 1 set of the gas springs, so we’ll see how they do. Specifically, I ordered these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MUY6YW
More expensive, but they have the extra force needed. If I did the calcs right. 
I got back to the backdrop this weekend, and here’s how it’s looking at this point.
The opening in the middle will be a double-door, and the wonky panel at the far left will be a hatch to get at the entry track. Both are waiting on some T-hinges, which I need to modify a bit.
Here’s the interior,
Well, that’s about it for this weekend. Cheers,
Cliff
Great looking Cliff, and it seems if you want to double your covered storage, you can just extend the train barn further down past the door, eh?
Jer
Wow…honestly Cliff …just thinking photo opportunities I personally would leave the blue alone and just paint some nice heavy white cumulus clouds on that backdrop .
Nice storage. That will surely help with set up for running and keep the trains out of the weather and safe.
jerry bohlander said:
Great looking Cliff, and it seems if you want to double your covered storage, you can just extend the train barn further down past the door, eh?
Jer
Hey Jer, and thanks!
That “exposed” platform is for setting trains up and working on them, so prob not going to cover that. Also, there’s a future helix that begins from there, and wraps into the basement… if my wife will give me permission someday 
Cliff
And thanks Dave, I appreciate that.
Rooster, another good point. Since I suck at photography, that’s not my usual emphasis. But I get what you’re saying, so I’ll have to factor that in. Thanks.
Cliff
I kinda disagree with clouds… 95% of the time, when folks just add clouds, it looks fake… I think I would rather do what Jane did in the basement… Put a lighter blue towards the bottom, then a medium blue, with the darker blue at the top… Makes the sky look more natural, like in the picture John posted ^^^ there…
Like this:
Cliff:
Have you considered protecting the area below the deck from dripping water? I have used corrugated plastic panels, such as these from Home Depot. I attach them to the underside of the joists with an appropriate slope for drainage to keep the below deck area relatively dry. Depending on the my needs I will sometime place rain gutters along the outside edge to channel the water away.
As others have stated, “looking good”!
Ah a secret helix, eh Cliffy? You certainly have lots of ideas up your sleeves
Jerry
Wow Andy and Jane, thanks so much for that. You’ve really changed the way I’d have imagined the painting. Now, it would have been easy for me to just type “Thanks, I’ll consider that.” The fact is, I wrote a whole paragraph about how my wife (the artist) and I are trying to see this thing. But I decided to delete that conversation for the present. Regardless, I want to say thanks very much for that big insight.
Hi Mark, glad to know you as something more than “HH”. Yes, I’ll be putting in corrugated ceiling panels, and gutters / downspouts. Eventually; maybe next year. Thanks Habby.
Jerry, if you tell Linda about the secret helix you’ll never see my laser level again. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
===>Cliffy
This weekend I was able to finish up the remaining box and backdrop details, beginning with fitting and installing the center backdrop doors. The top latch was oversized to give more stability to that unsupported joint.
Here’s how they look like when open. The hinges were oversized to make the needed bend that permits 180-degree opening.
The entry ramp will poke through the vacant triangle under the stair.
It’s a tricky space behind there, so I made the last backdrop panel a door as well.
Back to the boxes, this morning I installed a test pair of gas springs.
These are 135lb springs, so 270lb force total. I did my best with the calcs, but I was very relieved to see that the pair does just fine. Here’s a quick vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrqg4qF9E90
Actually, they work a little too well. Maybe the wood has dried out some, don’t know. So I’ll use 120lb springs for the other two boxes.
Thanks for viewing,
===>Cliffy
