HEre are the pictures of the start of my around the room shelf layout. Sorry for the mess and the lousey shots I am not much of a photo taker. After I finish laying out the plywood I plan to cover it with 1/4 or 1/2 pink foam. As you can see in the one shot I have a support pole to deal with and I am still working on my plan for that little problem. Any suggestions?? All advise or critisism will be condsidered…
Fire away gentlemen or as they say Flame On!
I like it! Similar to my around the wall plan.
Just one observation, if you don’t mind: Is the layout high enough for your vantage point?
It’s something so many of us don’t think about . I think Tony Koester mentioned this a few years ago in an MRR issue.
I saw a layout years ago in which the top of it was a little over 4 feet off of the floor instead of the typical 3 and 1/2 feet. The viewing perspective was so cool! Instead of getting the common “police helicopter’s” view, the modelers had a very nice “eye level” view of the railroad and scenery. It was like looking from a scale 4 story building instead 400 scale feet in the air as so many of us are accustomed to. A passenger train blasting by at 70 scale mph looked so much more impressive at this level! Trains seem to look bigger.
Just a thought. Heightwise this is how I’m planning my layout. Nice thing about office chairs is that most of them are height adjustable!
Peace and keep up the good work!
Antonio,
The pictures are kind of decieving I am 6’ 6" tall so I was taking the picture from a high vantage point the top of the shelf after foam will be 48 1/2 inches my nephews are short so I wanted to keep the height down for them my old layout was 54 " off the floor good for me not good for my back since I always had to lift them up to see.
keep it up looks goo so far!
nothing to flame about here , it looks good !
i’m going to be watching to see what you do with that pole , since i have one of those in my layout area too
before you go any further paint the sky and backdrop with hills etc… you will have problems later… just paint a backdrop that is not too “outstanding”… when you have painted the sky paint the post the same colour and it will blend in… is the train room sealed against dust thru the floor boards… if not do it now then paint it use a facia to hide the lighting… keep up the good work…peter
before you go any further paint the sky and backdrop with hills etc… you will have problems later… just paint a backdrop that is not too “outstanding”… when you have painted the sky paint the post the same colour and it will blend in… is the train room sealed against dust thru the floor boards… if not do it now then paint it use a facia to hide the lighting… keep up the good work…peter
Once you paint the backdrop, walk a round the pole and paint it the color of the was directly behind the pole. Do it from where you will be watching the trains so that the angle is right for you. IF you’re an artist, you can match the building structures as well. plants some trees around it to hide the base.
I have a pole to deal with too. Two inches from the main. Could be worse.
I am right behind you. We just got completely moved into our new house with a bigger basement. I am going with a similar design , but I have to make mine portable because we are military. I guess 5’x3’ modules should be good. Anyhow, looks great and it is more motivation to get off my butt and get to work.
Smitty
I have a suggestion for the pole. It may require some revision of your track plan. Could you paint it up to look like one of those tall industrial stacks of the early-mid 90’s, like those around Sudbury, ON, or other spots in the US unkown to me?
In my case it IS worse. There is a water heater sitting right in the middle of my main line and the leads to the coal mine. I planned to move it to a better and out of the way location “someday”. Someday came a few weeks ago when the heater sprung a leak and had to be replaced. Called the plumber from the local HVAC outfit and he said it couldn’t be moved to where I wanted because it’s not power vented as it should have been since the knucklehead who installed the furnace put in one with a power vent. It’s against code and he said legally he is prevented from hooking the two up together to the same chimney. So I can only move the water heater a few feet left or right, but that won’t do me any good.
So I’m STILL trying to find an acceptable work around for this with this area of the layout!
Very frustrating and disappointmenting!
Looks good, I wish My layout could be higher than 30", my dad said I couldn’t block the windows, I was going to make my layout 4 feet high and have two vallies infront of the windows but that would have been complicated for me…maybe next time.
Well I have just spent the last 2 hour looking at solutions for the pole and have thought of 3 here they are in no particular order.
Paint the pole to match the scene and sky as previously posted above.
make a hill to wrap around it and have a tunnel go between the wall and pole.
place a larg hole in the top of the grain mill and have the pole exit the roof.
Ok guys which is best here??
the pole is 3" outside diameter and not moveable.
the ceiling is not fiinshed yet as I am kind of backwards in my work and like most people I am so far behind in getting projects done as the honey do list was long and has priority. I am going to be installing the ceiling soon before I get any scenery done. As well I have several Florescent light fixtures to hang.
Will,
You could treat it like a scenic divider. Have your backdrop bow out and curve around it, carrying the same them as the backdrop. Similar to just painting it, but this would somewhat hide it.
Although for me, I like the mountain idea - a BIG mountain! Keep us posted, as many of us have some form of blockage in our layout rooms.
David
I will be posting pictures of my progress along hte way so that oters might learn from my missteps,
I think for me and some others it will be " A begineers Guide to the light at the end of the tunnel"
Stay tuned for the birth of my layout.
I also have to go along with the mountain idea and paint the pole above it sky blue. The scenic divider would be my second choice.
REX
Looks really good so far. Don’t worry about the height, my layout is about the same and I’m 6’9"!
As far as the pole you could paint it sky color to disguise it (same color as backdrop) and build a building around it. DPM makes some very good modular parts that I used to make a fairly large three-storey warehouse (at least that’s what I’m calling it until I figure out somehing else)
The mountain is another good Idea. John Allen did it on his third G&D layout The Devil’s post pile on his layout was built around a load bearing post that held up his house’s second floor.
Good to see you finally are getting around to the layout. I had a similar problem with a pole. Mine was in the middle of a 6x8 penisula. I thought about a mountain but decided against it because I wouldn’t have any room for sidings. then i realized that this layout isn’t going in any mags or anything special so i’m just leaving as is.
Tomorrow i pick up my bridge kit it my track from the hobby shop and I’ll finally hav a complete loop. Started in some scenery and will be getting some buildings for my birthday. Then after some clean up i feel comfortable having people come check outu my layout. If you ever need any help I’d be more than willing just give chuck a call a tthe shop and he’ll send me the message.
good Work so far[tup]
Andrew
Andrew,
Thanks for the offer I will most likly take you up on that some time. You will have to post some pictures soon for us to see.
Guys keep the comments comming I am taking notes and will continue to post the progress…
Will–looking forward to pictures of the construction as it progresses. It sounds like a really good height for working (mine starts about 44", and I should have raised it a couple of inches). I like your pole–you could turn it into the world’s tallest water tower or grain silo if you want–I’ve got this hunker of a water heater to contend with, and I don’t know HOW to disguise it, so we’re in the same boat, friend.
But glad you started. It seems that once you finally start, you just sort of get carried along with it, doesn’t it?
Tom [:D][:D]
