Getting back to bussines. My outer track is back in operation along with 2 of my Dash 8s. DCC and sound working good [8D]
I’ve determined that no layout is complete without an “als general store” (hich I have on my layout- is why I noticed it on yours and so many others)
Looks good. I’m just wondering, will you add some more ground cover? Great layout for running trains.
I had one, but it was built as a first structure by the builder and looked horrible. It’s spare parts now.
Looking good! I love that dark blue CSX loco!
I agree. If you added some larger trees or free-standing hills/mountains, it would help a lot. They layout looks good, but it’s just so flat. Good so far, though! [8D]
I can’t believe it! Someone agreed with me.
Lol the Als general store has been in that spot forever. Ive considered hills for over two years, mabey I will get to doing that soon, as for the trees they are too expensive at my LHS now so Ive been looking for alternatives. Thanks for your responses!
Trees are not that expensive. But maybe you are poor. This really isnt a poor mans hobby. Sorry if I am sounding like a rich snob im not tho.
It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who uses Bachmann E-Z track! [;)] Looks good so far, BigBlue!
-Brandon
Aggro’s inexpensive, but nice trees: http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1/357925/ShowPost.aspx#357925
Hills can be done fairly inexpensely with scrunched up paper towels or scrunched up aluminium foil, covered with hydrocal and painted.
Other tricks is building scenery with foam scraps, cover with ground goop and paint.
Scenery doesn’t have to be hugely expensive, if you are willing to spend a little more of your time time to save dollars.
Smile,
Stein
I’ve seen tons of ways to make your own trees. To make hills, get some foam core from lowes. cut a piece to fill the space, then cut smaller pieces going in wards untill you get the desired hieght. Then get in an area which you can get very messy. Glue the pieces together in order of size(biggest on bottom, so on), then wait for the glue to dry. Use 100-grit sandpaper to round and shape all the edges. Trust me, it’s easy to get the hang of it. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, SPRAY PAINT THE FOAM. IT WILL DISSOLVE. Add scenery, glue down. I came up with that by myself, it’s easy to figure out. Good luck.
What you really need are some legs under that thing. I think everybody has had that Atlas yard tower too.[:P]
You don’t have to buy trees. I make a lot of my own, from stuff I find growing in the back pasture.
You can also use stuff from the craft shops.
Do a search on this forum for trees, and you can see how many free or cheap ways there is to make them!
Rotor
Yeah, 'specially for old guys, bending over or sitting cross-legged can hurt your back. I should know, my back hurts after about 30 minutes sitting like that, and I’m just 13.
No im not poor lol, its just that my LHS overprices everything. Ill look around my backyard and see if anything out there could be of use for trees. Btw I like that mountain Idea with the foam but what would I use as terrain on the hill? (If I was poor how could I have DCC and sound equiped locos running around all over the place lol)
HAHAHA wait till you get to 16 you can hardly stand. I am looking to get one of those motorized chairs. LOL [swg]
A big bag of lichen.
A couple small bags of different green colored ground foam.
A bottle of Elmers glue.
A bag of BBQ skeewers and toothpicks.
A cheap can of hair spray.
POOF! A whole forest for around $15.
First off, It looks like your off to a real nice start. One suggestion I would make that will help with your buildings is to go buy a couple of Testors Paint sets. Or just flat paints in the 1/4 oz bottles. And Give the buildings a coat of paint. If you can’t decide on a color, just paint it the color of the plastic, But painting over the plastic will help appearance HUGE!!!. I find adding about 5 drops of air brush thinner to a 1/4 oz bottle of your going to brush paint does alot to hide brush marks. If brush painting wood, paint in the direction of the grain so any brush marks looks like wood grain, if its any other surface, paint virticly so any brush marks look like wheathering.
now for a CHEAP PINE TREE CLINIC!!!
Go to Hobby Lobby, or any other arts and crafts store and buy a roll of your choice of green macreme cord. This will give you a life time supply of pine trees. Unbraid the macreme cord I run off about 4 feet of cord at a time to unbraid, once the sections are unbraid it, soak them in water, then clamp then down so they are streatched out stright.Taping cloths pins to the kitchen counter over night and streatching the cord between them will work. This will remove the “curl” that is left in the cord from being braided up. Also while at Hobby Lobby or other arts and crafts store, you want pick up a spool of green or black colored light florists wire. and some 1/8 and 3/16" dowels.
To make the tree. decide how tall you want the finshed tree to be. Then from your spool of florists wire, cut double this length plus half an inch. Then cut lengths of macreme cord approxamatly the width you want your tre
Layout looks to be about 4 feet wide, maybe slightly wider. How long is it (can’t see left side of layout in pics).
Permanent layout, or do you have to take it apart and stove it away all the time ?
How big is the room ?
If you can leave it set up permanently, try to put benchwork under the plate to raise the surface up to 50-57" somewhere - getting it up somewhere between elbow and chin level makes things look a lot more realistic.
If you can place it so you can walk around the table - either all the way around, or just one short end up against the wall, then put a backdrop running down the center of the table - at an angle down along the long axis of the table, so you get your industry on one side, round house on other side.
To walk all the way around, leave yourself 2 feet of open walking space on all sides. If you put the benchwork on coasters, you can push your layout into a corner and free up two aisles for other use when you are not ruinning trains.
Another alternative is getting it up on benchwork, and then saw out an operators pit inside the loops, put low backdrops along the outer edges of the layout (w/picture side inwards) and run trains from inside the pit. Will make your layout look a lot bigger - railroads are long but narrow structures.
An interesting example of such an around the edge plan is the Heart of Georgia beginner’s layout plan (http://www.layoutdesignservice.com/lds/samples/betterbeginnerlayout.htm)
Good luck with your layout!
Smile,
Stein
Its 5 by 11ft