Well...
- I "cleared" out the room with my wonderful wife's assistance.
- I determined the height of the layout. My yard originally was at 54 inches. This height is all the rage as it promotes realism and yada yada yada... It made it difficult to reach across the yard to clean track and make adjustments. After some thought -- the "base" height of the new layout will be 48 inches. This will make it easier to work on and easier for the grandchildren to view.
- I selected the base sky color. I'm using Benjamin Moore's "Nevada Sky". The technique I'll be using is the one described in Dave Frary's "How to Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery - 2nd Edition." At least I think I am -- the 3rd edition is scheduled to arrive Friday.
- Since the room is a converted screen porch -- the floor isn't level. Therefore I measured 22 inches down from the bottom of the windows -- this gave me a level starting point. If you look real close at the pictures -- you may be able to detect the pencil lines showing the base height.
Next step -- get the sky painted and the yard back in place.
