Hello everyone, I have been working on my layout for about 3 months now. Been asking alot of ?'s and have
had tremendous help from everyone here! now I am gonna try my hand at showing some pictures of my progress. Well here go’s nothing!
Looks to be coming along great. I like that open framed/ cookie cutter approach. I assume you will be having some deep ravines/ gorges as well as lowered portions of the scenery. What are you using for roadbed? Appears to be Homosote, but I see that square sharp edge which will affect your ballast profile. Do you plan to shave/ cut an angle on the roadbed before ballasting?
THANKS FOR LOOKING AT THE PICS! Not sure if I am gonna shave it or blend it in when I start my scenery. I thought I might try putting my cardboard strip right to the edge and angle that so my ballast looks normal.
Do check out ballast profiles as most will start to drop off just quite close to the edge of the ties. Cork roadbed is a good reference to use as it is close to most prototypes. There are many places where your roadbed appears to be too wide and has no “chamfer” to allow the ballast to “fall” downward to the lowered scenery.
JHINPA,
It looks like you are making great progress. I also use Homasote and as far as the ballast profile goes you can get the Homasote already cut with the profile. Check out California Roadbed CO. http://www.homabed.com. I have been using their products for years. I have some unused pieces that are 20 years old. There has been no discernible change in its appearance or pliability. The roadbed and yard areas where it was installed, in the late 80’s, has shown no degradation whatsoever. Check them out, you won’t be disappointed and it will save you a lot of work and mess, compared to cutting it yourself.
Glenn