The lighting is bad, but you get the idea… blank spots are for backordered industries (n-scale… what a pain!) and no, I have not fixed the god-awful yellow centerline yet!.. This is only about 1/3 of my layout. The rest wraps around into an intermodal yard and a place for a small town. In all, it’s about 11’ x 11’ L-shaped. This is my first attempt so any constructive criticism is appreciated!
Heya,
Nice pics. I dig your materials loading facility. Is the rest scenic’d or just this end?
I’m with you about the lack of n-scale stuff. The structure shelf at my LHS is about three feet long - compared to an entire wall for HO. I’m planning to scratch-build just about everything on my little urban shelf switcher. Should only take me about five years or so [:D]
That is some tall canary grass down by the stream [:)] I bought some similar stuff and had to cut it in half to work with 28mm wargaming figures - guess I’d have to quarter it for my n-scale layout (mostly pavement and gravel though, so I don’t need but a strand or two).
Keep up the good work!
M
[edit]Oh, and a couple more things. Those are some good looking rocks. Did you cast them or use found rocks? Nice work either way. Second, was wondering about the chain-link fence. Who’s the manufacturer on that? Looks good and I’m in need of some fencing. Thanks![/edit]
Very cool layout. [tup] Can’t wait to see more pics.
Excellent job - you should be very proud of what you have shown there. As for the yellow lines on the road - have you ever seen them perfect in real life ?
Yeah, I thought that the grass is a little tall… I’m gonna wait til the pond is fully dry to cut them a little. The fence is made by Miller Engineering. They’re a little expensive though… about $10 for two 10 inch-or-so lengths. The rocks are just Woodland Scenics’ molds. I’d love to figure out how to make my own whenever I get that kind of time. Also, I found 3-packs of Nissan 300ZX and 350Z at a LHS in Pittsburgh. I bought one of each but I don’t know who makes them. There was no marked packaging and apparently there is no serial # system either… I forgot to ask the owner about it. Anyone know?
Wow… first layout? Damn! That looks killer dude; you just shot up my inspiration and enthusiasm for my first real layout (today was spent playing with bachmann eztrack and my turnouts trying to flesh out a final track plan)
what did you use to paint your rocks? I’d be really interested in seeing some pictures of the unscenicked parts of your layout also if thats cool
I think you should be really proud of what you accomplished! That’s a beautiful layout.
Looking good ! Do you have a theme or location in mind that you’re wanting to replicate ?
I like the canoeists. trimming the grass is not a problem. The gravel/mulch/stone storage thing is interesting, I have never seen anything like it, but it is probably prototypical someplace. looks good.enjoy.
Very nice layout Jkroft, I saved some of the pics for inspiration. In the third pic you can see where you’re tunnels come out, I’m going to have something like that so thank you for those pics. Keep up the good work.
Wow, That’s your first attempt?[bow]
The only thing i’d suggest is some (more) weathering on your buildings, veichles, rolling stock and engines.
looking good. keep us updated on your layout!
Very nice, especially for a first layout. Better than many who are old pros.
Well, looks good in any case…and I’m sure you can find some 12 foot tall grass in real life. My neighbors have some decorative grass that gets at least 8’ by the time they cut it back each fall.
Thanks for the tip. It’s a bit costly but 20" is plenty so I guess I can spare $10 to have a decent looking fence [:)]
I don’t know who makes these but I’m finding that it’s real hard to locate decent modernish autos for n-scale. Buildings I can scratchbuild…Detroit rolling-iron not so much. My LHS has only a few and the Walthers catalog is dissapointing to say the least. I found a Mercedes SLK at my LHS and, when they took it out of the cabinet, it was missing the wheels and tail light (consignment item). I bought it anyway (I think he might not have charged me though) - and will figure out something. I used to have one of these and miss it sorely so I’ve got to have one on my layout!
Looking forward to seeing more pics!
M
I think it looks great. Theres some great looking scenery. I exp. like the NS!!!
I’m not sure what you are talking about. I don’t model N scale, but I have noticed that there are more and more N scale locomotives, rolling stock, track, structures, vehicles and scenery materials available every day for those who don’t want to scratch-build or kit-bach but simply want a plug-and-play layout (that’s not a criticism, I’m all for it, especially in N Scale). I’m envious of some of the vehicles available in N Scale. In some cases N scalers can get two nice vehicles for the price that us HO scalers pay for one. My guess is that about 20% of my LHS’s space is devoted to N Scale, 60% to HO and 20% to O and G Scales. That’s pretty good considering that N Scale takes up less space for the same merchandise.
Ray
I agree that there is more and more showing up for n-scale lately, yet it is still quite limited in my opinion. Much of Atlas (probably MOST) locos are transition era, as is most of the available structures and vehicles from other manufacturers. Kato makes great modern locos, yet lately it has all been western roads (need more NS!..). Modern rolling stock is plentiful, however production is limited and if you don’t reserve prior to release, you might as well forget about it. I disagree that vehicles are plentiful, at least modern ones. The ONLY modern cars I’ve seen around are Atlas’ Ford Taurus and F-150s (perhaps someone can prove me wrong!). Athearn makes some modern industrial trucks at $15 a pop and that’s about it. Even GHQ is expensive and Showcase miniatures are impossible to find! In fact, I can’t even find a modern semi-tractor to go with the 5000 trailers that are available! As far as structures go, Almost nothing is modern. I LOVE what Summit-customs has put out for HO… I hope they do more N soon. Walthers can produce some good kits, yet again they sell out way too fast. I’m 27 years old… I grew up with late model GEs and EMDs and Modern Domino’s Pizza and strip malls and such! If model RR manufacturers want to stay in business, I suggest that they move further away from transition era and toward modern era. (I actually may put this topic on a new thread!).
I agree. There is, of course, more and more stuff but very little of it is modern era. My wife wants trucks but all I can find, cab-wise, looks 1950’ish. In o-scale I see a big lovely blue Volvo cab. She says switch to o-scale but won’t authorize a move to an abandoned warehouse so I can have a layout. In the meantime I’m stuck with some nice modern trailers and no cabs. Something’s gotta give [;)] I don’t fancy scratching a Peterbuilt in n-scale.
I’ve had better luck with rolling stock and I have collected a few nice pieces. Plus my fictional modern MILW is still in financial straits so maybe they have a couple of boxcars with the roofwallks just cut off and the supports left to rust [:)]
Buildings, though, are few and far between. There are a lot of beautiful Walthers kits out there for HO but I don’t see a lot for N. Again, I don’t mind scratch-building this stuff, though, because I want what I want. I might use some of that modular wall stuff just to save time. Looks okay to me.
I would definitely like to see more modern n-scale. I also want sound…I know they can make it that small. [:)] Guess we’re getting off the topic, though. Let’s see some more layout pics!
M
Constructive criticism…hmm.
There are a few spots where the ballast looks a bit overdone. This is an all too common problem in the finer scales. A little more practice will likely clear this up. The color of the rock outcroppings are dead on, but I’d suggest a bit more shadow detail (maybe some diluted india ink wash). Perhaps this is just a trick of the lighting.
Some of the rocks seem to ‘float’ above the surface they are attached to. The vegetation does a good job of suppressing this, but the rocks still need to be worked into the overall shape of the land. By this I mean they should look like part of the scenery instead of being added to the scenery. This is a bit tricky. I solved this problem by attaching my ‘rocks’ first, then working the rest of the scenery in around it. Which, of course, is just the reverse of what most scenery books will tell you to do.
Now that we have that out of the way, let me just say: Holy Freakin’ Moly! This is your first?! I do believe we may have a model railroading prodigy here. Keep it up.
K.
Wow, this is amazing, just as good as other layout pics we’ve seen.
Keep it up! [8D]
That is beautiful, My hat is of to you. Makes me wish i could get started on my layout, still in planning.