If it’s a shelf layout, you’ll want to put some thought into how to fool the viewer into thinking that there is more there than there really is. You won’t have room to model full-sized buildings, so both a good backdrop and building flats are important. Use a few foreground buildings to help create the illusion of depth, and be sure to include lots of trackside detail. By focusing on flats and backdrop, you will also save some money because you won’t have room for those uber-expensive large-building kits.
If at all possible, go visit a city that has the kind of rail service you want to model and wander around near the tracks. Bring a camera. Take lots of photos of things that appeal to you.
In cities, the part of town near the tracks tends to be the dumpy, scruffy part of town. There will be older buildings, refuse, junk, trash, abandoned and burned out buildings, empty businesses and dirt. For much of the time period you want to model (60s through 90s) this sort of urban decay is commonplace. It makes for sad social conditions but great modeling.
Well, one of the best ways to figure out how to do it is to look at other examples. Some will show you what to do, others may show you what NOT to try. [;)]
I know that the time period is different, but the concepts are much the same. Dirt, grunge, signs and bilboards, people doing stuff in mini scenes, and so forth would all be the same, just change the styles and product names. Even the archatecture would be the same for a lot of buildings. Take note of some of the little details like broken fences, ivy on the sides of buildings, etc. These little details are what gives a scene life and provides interest to the eye. Look for things that draw you in. Study how that effect is created. These types of things can be replicated in any scale and any time period.
If you’ve not got the money even to buy one book, how do you plan to build a layout? I’m not saying you must go out and spend a fortune, but even doing scratchbuilding and using “found” items, you’ll still need well more than the cost of a book to do anything… I think you’re well advised to invest now in one book, even if it means delaying the start of building. You’ll learn and do things the right way the first time (in the long run, saving beaucoup dinero)
One thing I’m doing with my little town, is trying to avoid having streets that run along the layout edges. If they’re slighly angled (say 30 degrees), the scene looks more interesting.
To see how a building will look before I build it, I sometimes tape the walls together…or build a mock-up from cardboard.
Another tip, is don’t worry about the backs of the buildings. That is, if you can’t see it, don’t worry about detailing it. For example, I have a bus garage that only 2 walls can be seen–only the front and left wall are visible. As a result, the rear wall is painted cardboard, and the right wall has minimal detailing. I threw the unused rear wall and windows into my parts box.
DPM modular wall sections are awesome for creating low-relief buildings. Very little cutting, and most of the wall seams are hidden.
If we are talking a truly realistic, major downtown urban center:
Read my posts under “Metro Layouts”, currently on page 2 of this site.
Expect to spend at least a grand or more if the city occupies any substantial layout space (for example 3x12 in HO 2x7 in N). To be convincing, such a scene must occupy quite a bit of space and contain a minimum of 40-50 buildings, plus two dimensional paper ones glued, or painted, on the backdrop.
Don’t attempt a dense, highly urban scene until you have several smaller, detailed layouts under your belt…it’s a huge, costly undetraking if you want to do it right.
I want to spend the money on track and buildings, but we do have 1 book by atlas, however i don’t know if my dad will pay for many books and my money is split between this and saving with a little going to a few other projects. what i’m trying to do is absorb off the fourm and save my lawnmowing money this summer, BUT i have a news flash! it’s winter!!!
I Soooo get the desire to buy track, buildings, etc. Heck, I moved, tore down one layout and don’t have my new one built yet, so what did I ask my wife to get me for Christmas? Wood? Supplies? Foam? Nope. Locomotives. We all have the same “want” versus “need” dilemmas…
But that’s exactly my point – the less you have to spend, the more important to spend it wisely. Would you rather put all that sweatily-earned lawnmowing money into buildings that turn out not to work for you? What about buying a bunch of track then discovering that for your city scene you really want rails embedded in “concrete” streets, and that the roadbed-attached ez-track you bought won’t work for that, and you could have bought a lot more flex track that would work (and for less money). The problem is that you don’t know what you don’t know…
Even worse, what if you buy a bunch of stuff for modeling a cityscape, then find that’s not what you want to do in the end? Woulda been cheaper to buy a book and then say "geez, this isn’t for me,
N_trains: A model railroad will cost you, on average, about $100-150 PER SQUARE FOOT. Spending $15-20 on a book won’t break your budget–and some education will give you a lot better idea of what you actually want to do, and may end up SAVING you money because you’ll learn how to scratchbuild things you otherwise might have bought, and you’ll avoid buying things you don’t need.
Check out your local public library–many libraries have at least a few books on model railroading. Photocopy pages you can’t live without. And hey, ASK your dad if you can spend some of this layout money on books. Ideally, see if he’ll agree to take you to a model train show somewhere and look for used-book dealers–often you can score model railroad books for CHEAP (like $1-2 each instead of $15-20) because they’re used or have some wear. Those shows are also good places to get cheap building kits (if you’re going to model a built-up area, you will ned MANY kits, so the cheaper the better!) and rolling stock. Most model train shows are during the winter, because the hobbyists are stuck indoors and lots of new model railroaders get their start after a Christmas present train set.
And yes, it’s winter–but if you have a snow shovel, you have a way to earn a few bucks until things thaw out enough to need a mower!