Slicing your trains and structures in half

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Who models cutaways?

The most common cutaways are of a trackside industry along the
edge of the fascia that’s been cut away to expose the inside. This is a really cool technique if you love to super detail
interiors.

An alternate approach is to cut away part of a building such as a roundhouse or engine shed to expose the innards.

One cutaway technique I haven’t seen is that of splicing an entire train in half lengthwise to expose the freight
or passenger details and even the engine’s engine. You could try this with a problem engine. This would be really cool but
would require some engine blueprints.

I’m surprised that subway guys haven’t cut a tube in half lengthwise to show a subway tunnel.

About the only cutaway that’s really common is where the track ends at the edge of the fascia, it is cut, to indicate that it
extends. Same with a cutaway river or lake; some have even added fish and bottom plants in the cutaway view.

If you don’t like cutaways and think they are cheesy, you could instead make it more
prototypical by designing a building that is under construction so that the cutaway looks natural.

For a steam engine or even a diesel, you could put one in the shop with the chassis off. It wouldn’t be a true cutaway but
would show some of the guts.

Besides the subway dudes, if you have a tunnel, you could do a cutaway of that along the edge of the layout; perhaps add
a plexiglass window pane over it.

I’ve considered instead of using fascia, actually modeling the underlying strata: top soil, perhaps with a gopher tunnel,
then layers of rock, maybe an aquifer, possibly some underground pipes. I’m really amazed that no one has yet done this as
it would really be cool.

As you can see, the cutaway technique has many applications that could add some interest to your layout.

2

Most of my experience with this sort of thing is in building flats–currently I have only one completed, a warehouse on my shelf layout (where flats are more common than 3-D buildings.) There is interior detail, even though the building is only about half an inch deep. But because the model is of a packing plant jam-packed with crates of fruit, it looks deeper than it is.

I am currently working on another section of the layout, where a freight warehouse should go in between the track and the front fascia–I am trying to decide how deep to make the shelf in order to provide easy access to the track and represent as much as possible of the freight warehouse. I am contemplating using a technique such as the one you mentioned–building half the warehouse and making the complete interior viewable from the inside, with open doors to observe cars parked for loading in front of the freight warehouse. Obviously there is a lot of detail that must be included–roof stringers, interior walls, pin-up posters in the employee locker room, etcetera.

About cutaway trains: One thing I have seen isn’t really a cutting-in-half but rather exposure of the inner workings of a diesel: either a dummy or something powered by a SPUD or a PDT is attached to a diesel body whose hood is largely open, showing the details of the diesel motor inside.

One intriguing possibility for my prototype comes to mind as you mention underground fascia features: Sacramento, the city I model, is fairly unique in that much of downtown was elevated in the 1870’s in order to provide a measure of flood relief–smaller buildings were jacked up to the new street level, larger ones were simply buried up to the second story. In many places, this left pockets of “underground city” where stretches of sidewalk and other formerly ground-level features were still accessible. It isn’t a true underground zone like in Seattle–it is mostly bits and pieces here and there–but it creates some unusual attributes, like alleys in downtown S

3

I suddenly had visions of John Belushi and SNL doing a skit like “Samuri Hobby Shop” whacking things with a sword

4

Not exactly a cutaway but you can double the number of cars and engines on your layout by putting a different number or name on each side. That way if you have a dog bone layout it looks like an entirely different train comingback.

5

Jetrock,

Very interesting. Didn’t know that bit of history.

I like the idea of a freight warehouse. You could place some objects inside then paint a converging perspective to “deepen” the room. Also, perhaps add some angled pieces of mirrors to further increase the depth.

6

A fun place for a cutaway is the edge of the layout. A structure placed there would be a good spot to super detail an interior.

The train cutaway might be a little strange, would you cut through the trucks too??[:D][:D][swg]

I’ve seen the subway done, and its cool. I’ve also done a roundhouse with a plexiglass roof.

7

Not too sure how I stand on the cut-away building (although there was a good recent article in another magazine about using household goods for modeling - the author cut a Walthers car shop in half, modeled it in the process of being torn down, and created the resulting rubble using broken pieces of uncooked, painted lasanga noodles - rather effective too).
However, for ‘cutaway’ rolling stock and locomotives, you certain can model a scrap yard scene (take a passenger car off it’s trucks and put it on wood blocks, strip out the seats and windows, weather the heck out of it, and lop off some sections, adding a few guys with a welding torch burning off the side panels - or a engine with the rear hood with doors opened/removed (or remove the hood entirely), and the prime mover/electrical gear/blowers etc fully visible (and either rusting if the engine is being scraped, or primed and cleaned if it’s being rebuilt). This works, and doesn’t seem cartoony to me (like half a boxcar just hanging there -ala Stephen Biesty’s Incredible Cross Sections - would)