Just a tip for those who may want to add a “Street Running” scene to their layout even after your track has been layed down. I tried following the method mentioned in “Building City Scenery” by John Pryke though the tracing was a pain so I figured out a quicker and easier way to cut the styrene sheets used to replicate pavement/concrete between and outside of the rails. In order to cut the strips of styrene between the rails on my HO scale layout, I first used one of those marking crayons (used by carpenters) to mark the top of the rails. Then placed the styrene sheets right over the rails and pressed down hard to imprint the crayon pattern onto the styrene and then simply cut, but remembering to cut to the inside of the markings in order to leave about a 1/16th gap for the flanges. I did the same for the for the styene outside of the rails but the gap isn’t needed since it doesn’t interfere with the flanges. The rails are then cleaned with alcohol wipes which removes the crayon pretty good…you can also mark the top of the rails with a pencil which is a bit harder to see but easier to clean. The styrene used is .020" sheets along with hobby sticks (little less than the depth of Popsicle sticks, the depth of the ties) to support the styene outside of the rails (since the styene next to the rails lies on top of the ties. So far I’ve finished 2/3rds of my street scene though I’ve bought out all of the .020" styrene sheets from the LHS. Hopefully once I get entire city finished I’ll be able to post some pics.
Best Regards,