I have been brain storming for a wile and now I need help figuring *this puzle out, I have a 34"x30" section (thats the only other part of my layout that doesn’t have track that has the trains on) and I’m trying to figure out how to set it up what to use and stay under $115.
Any help here?
*, its just a figure of speach
An area like that would lend itself to being a small town very nicely. You could run two roads that come to an intersection together and make that the center of town. A building at each corner would be the main anchors. Then a building or two in line with each of them would finish it out. I would use tall type buildings for the corners and the rest of the buildings could be smaller. Try to work it from large to medium to small size buildings as you leave the intersection. To add some action, you could install a working traffic light at the intersection. The roads would be concrete with sidewalks at the intersection and town buildings, then change to asphalt with no sidewalks, then to gravel. Brick building at the center and wood buildings at the ends.
I’m using DPM kits and some old IHC structures to do my city scene. It’s about 2’ x 4’ and should cost about $150 when I’m done.
http://www.dpmkits.com/
Rix “Smalltown” line buildings are pretty cheap too.
http://www.rixproducts.com/smalltown.htm
The Walthers Merchants row kits are also a very good value for the money.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?quick=merchants+row
I think those 3 sources are about as cheap as your going to find for descent looking kits.[2c]
PS-I got a bunch of the Rix side walks for my city and I’m REALLY happy with them for the $$$. You get about 3’ of side walk for around $4.
You didn’t specify the area or the era, but instead of plopping the usual DPM/Smalltown/Merchants Row brick building at an intersection (albiet I have thought of that myself), could you perhaps model the outskirts of a rural/suburban area? Put in the main road, then have just a few homes, a gas station (or two, across from each other of course), a small church etc - then you don’t have to model a scale Bikini Bottom (which for a small underwater town sure has everything such as industrial parks, airports, quarries, supermarkets, malls, etc), just some road material, 4 or 5 buildings (wood framed buildings ok here), and lots of grass/weeds/trees/etc.
Why a town? How about a cornfield?
http://www.dallasmodelworks.com/products/product_detail_accessories.asp?ItemNumber=BU-189-1202
Anybody ever seen one of these finished in person? Does it look as good as the picture?
A couple of things…
First, for the money, I like the IHC building kits that can be built into a firehouse, newspaper building, storefront, etc. I think they have about six variations of the same basic structure. Check their web site (IHC)… sometimes those are on sale really cheap. They are excellent for scratch building material as well. Plus you get lots of extra parts left over.
As to the layout of the town… one thing I learned when we visited DisneyWorld several years ago is that streets should never be straight for a long way. Put a little bend in them, have intersections at something other than a ninety-degree angle and end them in a “T” or a “Y” configuration. That way, you can’t see straight through your town; you always end up seeing a natural barrier which tends to let the mind think that there is something else “on the other side.”
Keep your viewing points in mind as well… don’t put building detalis where they won’t be seen. Save them for materials for more building.
Hope this helps; let us hear about your thought processes as you move forward.
dlm