Man Cliff, That UTD storage is turning out nice. The gas struts are luxury! Very sweet.
Speaking of sweet, I never realized how big your layout was until seeing the drone footage. You’ve done very well. I love the way your mountains at each end look. It’s like looking at a map that has the terrain printed on it. That storage backdrop is going to add a whole new level of coolness, and I think Andy’s paint suggestion is perfect for it. Keep up the awesome work.
Thanks very much Randy! I’m pleased that you like how it’s going. And I appreciate your kind words about the layout, thank you sir!
After putting up a shade tarp, today was mainly forming the entry ramp roadbed.
The walls are doubled 4" strips of masonite, with overlapped seams, wired to rebar stakes. Before pouring, I’ll pull out the template plywood. It’s there to position the masonite and help keep its shape beforehand.
===>Cliffy
Cliff
Very nice form work.
Thanks Sean.
Today I did final prep on the form, such as removing the template, shoring up the masonite in a couple places, and laying the 3/8" rebar. And tweaking the masonite for levelness. It was kind of a steamy day, as the pics indicate.
Then the pouring. It only took 5 bags, so that was nice.
Tomorrow I’ll ramp the path to more easily cross the track.
===>Cliffy
Nice work Cliff!(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Thanks very much Joe!
Today was cleaning up the entry roadbed, starting by clearing the forms and doing some gravel fill.
I had been planning on doing an all-concrete walk-over ramp, but after looking things over, decided on an all-stone ramp. I had a bunch of flat-ish rocks. So I returned 3 bags of 'crete, and bought 4 bags of pea stone from the local hardware store.
Here’s a shot of the entry ramp from the under-deck area.
I’m very relieved that this step is done! I’ve been semi-anxious about this tricky area for a few years, so I’m very happy that the geometry and reality worked out. And my wife likes it, so it’s all good.
Thanks for following along,
===>Cliffy
I like the rock look, much better then plain ol’ concrete…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
That’s exactly what my wife said Ken, so you’ve just confirmed that I made the right decision, in agreeing that she was right.
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Nice work, looks great… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Cliff
Nice work on the stone approach!
With all the stone underneath you should have good drainage!
Andy Clarke said:
Nice work, looks great… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
I hate agreeing with Dad but it does look great!
one thing seems to be sure: Cliff is no goverment worker.
not only does this project look good, but he built it a lightning speed.
Hey my Brutha’s, many thanks!!
And Korm, thank you Sir! Maybe I’ve been trying harder because I’ve got some friends here who’ve shown interest in the project, haha! Also, I’m burning some vacation time… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Yesterday was my last vacation day on this project, so I’m back to work today. Kinda hard to stop, I wish there was some way to pay the bills by doing what I want (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
The day started with clearing out the final junk corner from beneath the deck, helping toads find a new home, moving more dirt to get things to the same level, and leveling out the gravel floor. This place was always hideous, dark and full of junk, spider webs and mud. Now, I almost want to put a picnic table down there, haha!
The bigger challenge though was negotiating how the backdrop panels should be cut, with my Better Half. As the model pic in my first post shows, the top edge is supposed to be undulating, and lower than the height of the stock sheets.
Being a design-engineer, I tend towards straight lines. However, my wife Linda, being an artist, and someone who dislikes this invasion of synthetic material, and who is also daily handling the weeding of the layout and caring of our “baby trees,” needs to be real happy about all this. So, we spent quite a bit of time on determining this cut line. Here’s a shot of the line of negotiation, which changed repeatedly.
And, here’s the cut version.
I wasn’t really glad to see the straight lines go (sniff) but WTH. And, the backstage area has much more natural light, which it (and the basement windows behind) needed.
Eventually this backdrop will have more going on, but for this season I need to move onto other aspects of this project.
Thanks for viewing, and thanks again for all the encouraging remarks.
===>Cliffy
Cliff,
It looks wonderful. Linda was right! I like the undulating line (my wife is an artist too). I have learned to go with her ideas most of the time. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Happy wife, happy life. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Can I have the parts you cut off???
That’s what I was talking about achieving with the roll of tin.
I like!
John
Can I have the parts you cut off???
Oh, um… (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
