I am just starting into model railroading and will do my first (and probably all other) project in N gauge.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who currently has the High Sierra layout from American Plastic as I am most interested in it because it provided the type scenery I want to use for this layout (the Drango D&RGW). I would appreciate any comments you might have as to the quality of the product, easy of working with it, problems you have encountered and you overal evaluation, i.e., on a scale of 1-10 where would you place this product.
First let me say Welcome. This is a great hobby. I do have some questions though. Why not build your own? Design it the way you want. Build your own dream, not somebody else’s.
I understand time constraints and so forth. I’m working full time and then some, going to college full time, and have awife and two kids. I understand time constraints.
Money, please, I understand that too. Remember, I’m a student with a family.
Now I’m not knocking anybody or their product. The point I’m trying to make, and maybe I’m not doing such a slick job of it, is that the creating process is half the fun. Don’t miss out on it.
[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome] First of all welcom to your forum. Were all glad to see ya, this is your home to ask a mulitude of questions.
Second of all, LOL I have no clue of what your refering to but have an idea its a locked in layout that may not be easy to change later as you get into this fantastic hobby
Perhaps other members will give you better solutions. I think I would wonder over to your local hobby shop and ask questions and check out the books, and look at all the other options that will fit into the square footage available.
What im trying to say is there are several ways to build a layout,
Thanks to both of you for your replys. I agree that building my own layout would be the better choice and allow much more freedom. The reason I am considering this particular layout for now is basically two-fold: 1) I want to place this on in a coffee table and the 30" x 48" layout area is jsut right for what I want and I do like this design. 2) I would like to get something up and running on a fairly quick basis and this precast layout would allow for that as well while still being able to “somewhat” modify if if I desire to.
I plan to later build a more elaborate layout from scratch and will do it in sections as I can afford to add on.
Basically, the Hight Sierra gets me up and running and meets my immediate needs.
rhparis,
First off Welcome [#welcome] to the forum. I say if the precast layout is what works for you right now Do It and have fun. You mention coffee table layout, I have one done Civil War, started with Hobby Lobby figures, found out they weren’t painted and after painting all 250 LP things got out of hand. River, bridges, Railroad and to stop dust home made poplar/ glass enclosed coffee table built without manmade fasteners. Enough chit chat, have fun however you do it
I really don’t know much about it, but do you know what it’s made of. If we know that we might be able to tell you some of the advantages and drawbacks of working with that material.
This trackplan is a mirror image of the HIgh Sierra layout. The inspiration for this layout came from the original trackplan of John Allen’s Gorre & Daphetid. The High Sierra layout reversed his trackplan, I reversed it back to the original form.
This layout is made entirely of foam insulation board, most of which is 2" thick. I considered buying the High Sierra but decided I could save a lot of money building it myself (and also allow myself the opportunity to reverse the trackplan). I did save a lot of money using foam construction. It took longer tp build than the pre-formed layout, but I had a lot of fun in the process. Foam construction allowed me to build the base and basic landforms in less than 2 weeks. Track-laying took another week. Basic scenery took a few more weeks. Since then, it’s been a process of adding more scenery and some details.
I highly recommend that you save money by building your layout from the ground up rather than buying the pre-formed layout base. You will gain valuable experience in construction and have a blasr doing it.
after looking at Terrain for Trains and the links to completed layouts , and with your ‘givens and druthers’ i’d say go for it , take photos , and post them here as you make progress .
