Update

I'm still trying to figure things out.  Have been reading a lot of books and magazine articles.

I started working on another Sn3 car, one of PBL's new 6300 series flatcars.  These are the latest from PBL and they include a lot of really nice improvements on their kit like the 11x17 full color blow up of car assemble and other niceties like rubber brake hoses.

I think the combination of simplified parts and improved diagrams/pictures have made it possible for this to probably be the best I've ever assembled all the under-body detail parts.

I've been trying to do the "weathered wood" look on the styrene deck.  Making plastic look like wood is tricky.  After 5 layers it's still not quite looking right.  It looks a lot better in the picture than it does in real life.  In real life it looks both too dark and a weird green color.

I'm using some of the new colors in the "Model Masters" line that Testors brought over from the now discontinued Floquil and Pollyscale lines.  The "Roof Brown" color seems to have a lot of green in it, so I might end up having to mix some custom colors to get it to look right.

In other news the basement is coming along.  A major milestone was reached: the drywall is up!

Here's the shot of what it looks like as soon as you get to the bottom of the basement steps and look to the left:

And here's the view looking back at the stairs.

Standing in the space trying to visualize a railroad in it, in one sense it feels small but in another sense it feels really big.  Big enough that I wonder if I will have the time to fill it with a narrow gauge layout or not.  Narrow gauge is really my first pick, but I've yet to actually get a successful narrow gauge layout off the ground.  The modern shelf layout was more successful in large part I think because of RTR equipment.

To be fair RTR is available in narrow gauge:  Blackstone for HOn3, PBL for Sn3, and AMS for On3/On30.  It's just twice as expensive (retail on a Blackstone RTR tank car is $65; a PBL RTR tank car is $70, and an AMS RTR tank car is $50).  Contrast that to a Proto 2K or other detailed HO car which is in the $25 to $35 range.

As I've mentioned before, "A layout's theme is much less important than the time and money on hand."  A built and working layout is better than a dreamed, plan, and not-built one.  I know from experience it would be better to make a compromise earlier on and build something I enjoy, than to rigidly stay with something that never materializes.  What I haven't determined yet is if I can stay with Sn3 and see it through to a successful and working railroad.  I've still got a few months to figure that out so we will see.

I think the way for me to know for sure is to pick one or two themes I'd like to do, and build a really small module of them, trying to do all the trees and scenery for it.  At least then I'd be able to see how well a concept would play out.