I finally got my table done and and excited to start building. Tomarro i am going to bring the table up to the room and nail the tracks down. I need some help though.
What I want on the track is:
A farm
A mountain with logging and mining operations
A river or little lake
Those are the basic landscape things i want, the size of my layout is 4’8’ and is HO scale. Any ideas?
Thanks!! [:)]
I assume that you mean that the size of your layout is to be 4 feet by 8 feet. Since you want mountains with logging and a river or lake, I would suggest applying a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of 2 inch thick styrofoam. You can glue it to the plywood tabletop with liquid nails. Using a knife or foam cutter you can make you lake or river. Additionally, using another sheet of styrofoam, you can cut and build the basic mountain forms. This is probably the easiest for a first layout. You could use the “cookie cutting” method where you use a saber or skill saw and cut the roadbed and subroadbed using raisers for changing grades. Good luck and have fun.
Go to youtube and look up a series called " Model Railroad scenery using extruded foam". It will give you a good idea of what can be done with foam and how to do it… Do not use styrofoam. Use extruded foam. Styrofoam is a fire hazard and does not mix well with Model Railroading. Good luck.
Brent
Thanks! What if i put down that grass over the whole layout already [%-)] That could be a problem… Could i just put little patches of extruded foam in the places that are going to be elevated?
I suppose you could do that and then cut out your plywood for the river and lake. There are then different ways to go as far as filling the cuts in the plywood. You could use cardboard and plaster or glue in a piece of foam or a combination of both. Watch the series on you tube and at least you will have a starting point as to what you might want to do.
Brent
Awesome thanks!
“Styrofoam” IS an extruded foam. It happens to be Dow’s product made of polystyrene. All foam insulation is a fire hazard to some degree-check the data for whatever product you want to use. There are other extruded foams made of polystyrene (and urethane, for example). Don’t use beadboard-it is messier and harder with which to work.
Dante
hi,
between the tracks and the plywood you will need a roadbed. And when you want to model a river or lake your tracks have to be elevated.
But assumed all this is done, you have to take care your tracks are done very very well. Pulling and PUSHING with a long cut of cars, through switches, without any derailment.
Only after tracks and wiring are immaculate start thinking scenery.
Do you have a scenery plan? There is often more under the the tracks then above,
Paul
I understand now, but I have a problem then. How am i going to put a roadbed down when I already put that ready grass stuff down, and if I put a trim around the table…
Sounds like it is time to make a choice about the type of railroad you want. The tried and true railroad design methods really work well, so if you take a few steps back and start over, I think they will pay dividends later. I recommend some of the Kalmbach books that walk you through a railroad from start to finish.
And I strongly agree with the other poster about sold trackwork. Make sure your trains run flawlessly before starting on scenery.
The VERY FIRST lesson to learn in model railroading is: Never be afraid to rip out something that doesn’t work right and do it over.
Sounds to me, though, like you need to rein in your urge to do and get some plans together. A rough sketch or a detailed plan with both suffice. This will mean less rework later.
Don’t worry too much about tearing up or building over scenery. It’s cheap to do and better than trying to live with something that doesn’t work / look right. Since I hate “pink prairies” but use extruded foam for benchwork, I painted my benchwork dark green with brown smears here and there before I even laid any roadbed on my latest layout. I will be sculpting the foam for contours which will mean repainting, etc but I like the fact that the layout looks sort of scenicked already with no huge pink thing overpowering my den when you walk in.
Well if you have a mountain/hill then why not a waterfall into a pond or lake and the river running away from it? Maybe that could make it so you need a bridge, thus giving you a reason to rip up some track. Build a winding river and you can elevate with “truss work” along and thru the winding river.