hi, right now my layout in n scale is as follows, benchwork is up, plywood is down, foam is on top of the plywood, 2" thick, my kato track is down but not secured, my mind is blank, i am at alost of vision for my layout, no, i don’t have anything secure as to how it will look… at times i will stand in front of said layout and try to invision what my mind is thinking, but nothing. is this something all modelers go through or am i along in this. any sugestions will help or do i need to see the head doc…
First off, welcome to the club…
Secondly, inspiration comes from many different sources, from books to real photos.
David B
thanks for the input. i think my biggest problem is failure, not being able to get it running or getting the elect side to work, all i see when i look at it is nothing, and i am worried that the creative juices may never flow…
I would suggest trying different track configurations til you find one that works for you, do you have any buildings yet? if so try them in various spots, if not maybe some paper mockups of same, look at some track plans and see if any give you ideas, and most of all don’t feel like you are the only one who goes through this!
Chuck
Oh and P.S welcome to the tiny madness!
You don’t say what the track configuration is layed out, continuous loop, point to point, ??? Is it around the wall shelf or a table? Do you have sidings where industries could be with a town close by? What era? Location (northeast, Applachian, mid-west, southern, far west, mountainous, flat). Are yuinterested in operations or just runing trains?
Give a list of “druthers” that may help some folks come up with some ideas to break your stalemate.
Just some thoughts. I am working on a small 4x6. I wanted some hills and some place for the train to bring cars full of ? to be unloaded, then taken away. Since it is a continuous loop, I wanted some place for the trains to go away. I put up a scenic divider, where the train goes around one end will be a rock cut, the other end I plan to have it disappear into the forrest. A couple of simple busisnesses, oil dealer, feed store, lumber yard and team track near the station, with a road to town heading off the layout. This side has a passing siding and a couple of short stup sidings to serve the the busisnesses. The other side is a passing siding, so that I can have a train running each direction if I so choose. Also, behind the scenic backdrop I could add or take cars off to change the makeup of the train that will appear next to the viewer on the front side.
Like I said, give us some indication of what you have/want and we’ll see what we can do.
Have fun,
No,you’re not alone in this kind of situation.In a way,you are ahead of me since you already have a benchwork up but then,you’re out of ideas or maybe worse,you’re full of ideas but can’t make up your mind.I’ve done just the same for the last two or three years,wanting so many features integrated to my “dream” layout without sufficient room available to do so that I never really started drawing a plan until two months ago.Now,I am working on plan (eighth version I believe) and have a feeling that I’m going somewhere,although very slowly.I won’t have the roundhouse I initially wanted and most likely a much smaller industry than desired also but I’ll have the generous curve radiuses and the trestle I had in mind right from the start.Can’t wait to start building…
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=N+scale+layouts
Here’s a few thousand pages of N scale inspiration for you…
Okay, take some switches, curves, and straights, and start playing around w/ them. Eventually, you’ll find what you’re looking for.
You say that your track is down but not secured; if you have your switches in and your side-tracks in then now is the time to
I certainly hope that before you started this venture you at least made a rough sketch of where your wanted to go with your pike; if not then you did things backasswards! Now is the time to do this the reason being that the next step in the construction process is going to be scenery but you have to have some idea of just where structures are going to be placed before you can plop the highest ridge in the Poconos down in the middle of your 4X8 - or whatever you have.
If inspiration is the thing you need most then that can best be acquired by reading what others have done. Nobody is saying here that you have to copy somebody else’s layout. We all want to be creative but in various aspects this hobby is a hundred or more years old and most of the techniques in use are time-honored; layouts are all horizontal - I have never known a vertical layout that worked. Occasionally someone will discover a new material and develop new techniques of application but I will gee-go-guarantee you that twenty years down the road the wheel will be reinvented. What you need to do is examine what others have done and modify it to your individual use.
One thing I would recommend you do is go to some of Dave Vollmer’s postings here on the forum and examine the integration of his layout. He has done a masterful job of blending scenery and trackwork all on a 36" by 80" interior door. I have said on numerous occasions that model railroading is essentially an exercise in illusion; Dave’s integration of details gives the distinct impression of a layout with more real estate than actually exists.
As others have stated, you are not alone! I have a rough track plan sketched in for the lower level of my N-scale layout and know the general area I am modeling, but I am also stuck in the “What do I actually want to put on the layout?” phase. I am gradually making progress, and the following steps seem to be really helping me out:
- look at LOTS of pictures and videos of the areas you are modeling (or actually make a visit to the area if possible)
- select the “signature scenes,” or the scenes that really stand out and when you look at them you think “That would look GREAT on my layout!”
- start to visualize how the scenes would fit in on certain areas of the layout, for example this depot on the curved track would fit nicely over in that corner.
- repeat the process until you have all the areas filled in
One thing that really helped me get moving forward is I realized that not all of my scenes would fit together in the same order and orientation as they do on the prototype. For example, on my track plan, north is always to the left and south is always to the right. There is one town that just screams to be modeled, but if I modeled it north-to-south in a left-to-right fashion, all of the really nice features would be in the aisle of the train room. Originally, I just was resigned to the fact that I could not model this town. However, I finally decided that if I
My HO layout I’m pretty much running with the concept that I’ve been working on for years on paper and computer. Why is it taking so long? A lot of things external to modeling that took precedent in my life.
My N scale layout, while I have an idea of what I want to accomplish, and I have the basic benchwork done, the track plan is more organic, changing as it grows. I’m modeling CP Rail and D&H in a general winter scene. I’ll work on it when I’ve hit a brick wall on the HO layout. I have a basic track plan setup with double-sided tape (hey, it’s only temporary). A few buildings are placed around the trackage. I’ll run a train around and see how things look. Move some buildings around, run more trains, repeat. I’m not going so much for Koester-type operation in N as I am an overall scenic look.Yeah, it takes time, and I know some things won’t work.
No need to see a shrink - I think a lot of modelers do the old stand back and stare routine.
It’s not an uncommon problem so you are not alone.
Are there any particular scenes you might want to reproduce on your layout? Think of those and think of ways to connect them. That should give a start.
Irv
I went through this same phase on my N Scale layout, so not to worry. If your track plan is fairly firm you need to do what several have suggested and mock up your buildings and scenery to see what it will look like in real 3D. Also this will give you an idea if you are going to have any access problems which you might need to address. At the very start of this phase I used shoe boxes piled up for my moutains and small wooden blocks for buildings. After you have the mock-ups in place I would suggest you run some trains for a while to make sure you don’t have any track plan issues that you may need to tweak a little. I rolled cars around by hand at times just to see how many would fit on each siding and so forth. At this point I ran some 80’ passenger coaches (even though I plan to run shorter equipment) just to check clearances etc.
I ended up with my layout “inspired” by the D&RGW line between Salida and Alamosa ,Colorado in 1933. This led me to many books and websites of this geographical area and time era and gave me ideas for industries, towns and scenery. I’m a little bit of a history buff so I enjoyed this sort of research and it provided a lot of focus for my construction efforts.
I am using Kato Unitrack too, and found it great to design much of my trackwork by just laying out track pieces and rolling cars back and forth until I found what seemed to work best in the space I had available.
Best of Luck!
Mike B.
It’s not uncommon.
Check out and visit Dave Vollmer’s Layout and it is a example what can be done in N scale. So much so that it has provided me clues as to what I like and not like for my own road.
Sometimes a journey of scenery starts with a bit of grass, some trees and glue. Once you have one down you can then see if you want another one or three there.
I follow the KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid. That way if I make a mistake I can dynamite it and do it over.
Good luck!
With the track down & not secured, now may be the time to connect with the wires & try to run a train. Break in your locos. Break in the layout. Use your camera to make some roster shots of your equipment. See what you like/don’t like, then you have a plan for improvement. Don’t be afraid to try something else. Make a list for items you’d like to buy/try.