Healey 36,

I think your display is great but I particularly loved your step by step pictures as you did the build. This is the kind of thing that inspires me to drop everything and run to my craft table! Thank you very much for the inspiration and for the time and effort you put into sharing your creation.

And just curious... does your "pen name" arise from a love of sports cars?

Barb Healy

Hi Barb,

Thanks for the kind words. Howard had suggested a few pics; I just took it a bit further. It was a fun project. Hope folks like yourself get inspired to build/craft some stuff. I look forward to seeing others' projects and displays as I draw inspiration from them as well.

Yes, the username draws from the love of roadsters in all forms, going back to high school. Many have passed through here over the last 40+ years...currently we have a 1967 Austin Healey Sprite (and a 2001 BMW Z3):



Wish they got out more...

Paul

Paul,
This is extraordinary!!!!
Well done!

I also love the car as well. My love is early 60's Mopars. I have a 1960 Valiant V200 and a 1963 Imperial Crown.

Regards,
Lee

It was a fun project, Lee; wish I'd done a bit more design work before I started - I might have been able to head off a few of the problems I ended up with. I'm gonna make another one eventually (if not this year, certainly next). This one went into the bin after the holidays, so at a minimum, I gotta build another to keep the wife happy.

I remember the early 1960s Plymouth Valiant well...it has that blister on the boot-lid that looks like a spare tire. I often wondered if that was actually part of the design for the spare's storage, or just a decoration in the sheet-metal, kind of an homage to the days when spare tires were carried at the back for all to see. Now, the Imperials were just lovely automobiles. We had a neighbor when I was a kid that was a huge Chrysler/Plymouth fan and I recall his lust for an Imperial. Unfortunately, he was a rather frugal college professor, so he never fulfilled that dream. I think a Plymouth Fury was about as far up the food-chain he ever got. He did eventually get a first-gen base Plymouth Duster, though, which was a really neat car.

Anyway, I'm a sucker for a two-seat rag-top. Wish I had more space in the garage.

Paul

I had posted a similar recap of this project over on one of the toy train forums, and a few folks expressed disappointment that I hadn't built the revised version in time for Christmas 2024. I think some folks were interested in seeing how I change it up (or possibly how I foul it up, again, lol). Anyway, apologies to any that await Rev. 2. There are a lot of irons in the fire at the moment, but as soon as workbench space opens up, we'll get going on this. There were components of the first I now wish I'd hung onto, but I didn't, so a fresh start is required. Not a problem.

Paul...

We're waiting...patiently waiting...

As a matter of fact...I for one would like to see the tree stands that other forum members use...especially older, vintage ones...antiques...etc...I'm pretty sure they're out there...I've seen one that a forum member uses with a feather tree...I would like to copy it...it's on my list...somewhere...

Howard...

Very very impressive!!

Howard wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2025 11:37 am We're waiting...patiently waiting...

I'm not feeling it...yet. I think I'm going to hold off until the end of summer before I start thinking about construction of Rev 2.0. I'm kinda wishing I hadn't chucked Rev 1.0 in its entirety...some of it likely was reusable if I'd been able to get it apart.

No worries...it'll be early September before we know it.

Okay, first day of Fall, gotta get cracking on this if it's going to see daylight by Thanksgiving. A lot of irons in the fire right now, but we need to bump this to the top of the project pile to see if we can get it to work. Rev 1.0 turned out to be proof-of-concept. I made a punch-list of design foul-ups, so hopefully Rev 2.0 will address all of those.

The biggest problem with Rev 1.0 was the tunnel was too dimensionally tight, i.e. trains had difficulty getting through without scraping against the liner. I was warned by a number of mates that looked over my design saying it looked rather tight, that I didn't account for the car overhang, but I ignored them thinking I knew better. Whelp, I didn't, so we're looking for solutions.

A number of folks said the easiest approach is not to include a liner in the tunnel and slightly expand the interior supports. That would work, but unlined tunnels look lousy to me, so for now, I'm sticking with the notion of a liner in some form.

Now, on the big basement layout I have a tunnel and it has a liner, but the liner only extends the first 8-10 inches...the rest of the interior is open. There's no clearance issues (at least none I've had yet). This design would work for the tree stand, but for some kid looking in there at ground-level, it's not gonna look great in the headlight glare (and who are we building this for anyway).

An alternative would be to go with an end-to-end liner, just expand the portal and support width by roughly 50% (estimated, haven't tested that yet). The curve would remain a 27-inch diameter, accommodating both three-rail electric and two-rail clockwork track. It would basically require adding an inch on either side of the track in the first design. That might be enough additional clearance.

Another thought...keep the portals relatively tight, but widen the interior footprint. Running on a curve all the way through, I'm not sure that would work. I could make the whole thing a bit larger and include a half-straight section of track at each portal, but it's already rather large.

Alright, so if you have any thoughts, post 'em. All are welcome. I'm running to the lumber yard for supplies in the next couple days (don't need much)...hope to have a plan put together by the weekend. Gonna try to formalize the plan this time around, a bit less of a stream-of-consciousness approach.

We'll see how it goes. More when I know it.

healy36…

Here’s my two cents…I like your partially lined portals with greatly expanded interior…paint the interior flat black…I’d even consider using cheap, grade school tempera paint…if my memory serves me correctly, it has a very non reflective chalk like finish when dry…

I know what ever you come up with will be superior to anything on the commercial market…please post work-in-progress photos…

Howard…