Frank53 wrote: This is just a couple of inches from teh wall:
This is just a couple of inches from teh wall:
Trust me on this Frank, I am very familiar with the work on your layout, as I have been using your work as inspiration for my own, and while I'm doing a rural landscape with 1 main street I know I can apply what you've done here in my layout. Thanks a million!
NewbieLady wrote:ATSJer,but I noticed you plan on having a figure eight on a very small layout. When I had a temporary layout on my 8' dining room table, I had a figure eight in the middle and had this problem: I like to run long trains, but if I did the engine would have run into the rear of the consist at the 90 degree crossing.
Yeah, I've pretty much scraped this plan #1 I'm modeling a rural landscape and this one is just too much. #2 length of trains.
Newbielady wrote: Also, can you reverse the train's direction with that layout plan? Maybe you might put a reverse loop in there instead. Just something to consider, and something I learned by reading this forum. Maybe someone else can chime in. Whatever you do, good luck!
If you notice, the figure 8 is actually two switchback loops that overlap one another, because the 8 attached to the mainline with 4 switches this allows for the turn around. This allows for longer trains, but you're right if I actually want to run the 8 pattern then the train must be fairly short.
one more view:
This building is made from the two extra walls from the yellow building shown above:
AST:
You can build an impressive cityscape in tight spaces, and please consider taking advantage of those dead corners. This is one corner of teh layout I am building:
This is comprised of one backdrop of the tallest buildings. This is enlarged from Walthers HO backdrops - cost about $10.00 - not including the work you will need to do in scanning it and then having it printed on large format paper.
The building fronts on each side of the corner are a different set of HO backdrops - also enlarged about 175%. That was $7.95, and you can probably enlarge those on an 11x17 copier at Kinkos and spray mount them to foamcore.
The yellow and green buildings are each an Ameritowne kit using only two walls so they are placed at an angle, creating a street that hits it's vanishing point in the corner. I used the two extra walls from the green building to make the five story add on which is to the left of the corner. I used the other two walls of the yellow building to make a corner building on the other side. The wto ameritowne kits were about $50.00 total. The streets are masonite coasted with drywall compound. Everything else is just scenery. You can make a corner like this for a couple of hundred bucks tops.
This is the opposite corner - built the same way, but I scratchbuilt teh buildings.
Here's my updated layout plans, as you can see open space is at a premium, this is why the store fronts appeal to me, because I plan on running them down the back wall and creating that as Main st, this will allow me to use smaller footprint buildings throughout the rest of the layout. Since I'm doing a mostly rural landscape it is necessary IMO to have more open space throughout the layout, the rural illusion would be ruined with a couple blocks worth of 6x6 buildings in the middle.
I've also been considering scratch building, but right now I'm not ready for that. Instead I am planning to do some kit-bashing with some of these store fronts. OGR had a good article on kit-bashing the Ameritowne sets, that seems to be something that I'd be a little more comfortable with. The thing that I'm curious about is how best to make some signage for the storefronts. For this I might use some balsa or hobby wood, but I'm not certain yet. Any ideas?
I've purchased three MTH buildings and they do have quite a foot print, but I have some space that they fill effectively. The other structures that I have are three store fronts (actually store backs)-I wish I had more of those.
You might also consider making your own. It's not that hard and can be done with hobby wood. Take a picture of a building you like, photocopy and enlarge it to the scale you need, lay that over the wood and tape it. Using straight edges and rulers and a ball-point pen trace the image on the wood below by pressing very hard on the lines and details through the paper. Then you can create your building/building front from there. It will involve adding layers in places and doing a few window frames, but it's fun and it will be yours.
I'm doing a great big Union Station in that way, and it is coming along. CTT had an article about how to scratch build structures that shows one method. There are many ways you can approach this.
ATSJer wrote: traindaddy1 wrote:Hi! Just curious. Why not Plasticville? Thanks.Because I'm planning a certain about of realism that Plasticville does not acheive. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being hi-rail) I'm shooting for a 5-6-7, IMO Plasticville is about a 3-4-5 which simply falls short of my vision.
traindaddy1 wrote:Hi! Just curious. Why not Plasticville? Thanks.
Because I'm planning a certain about of realism that Plasticville does not acheive. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being hi-rail) I'm shooting for a 5-6-7, IMO Plasticville is about a 3-4-5 which simply falls short of my vision.
I understand. Thanks for reply. Best of luck.
I think the Polly-S, or Polly Scale brand, water based paints will work also. It's a scale paint unlike Testors that will not fill the tiny little grains & details. I also like the Tamiya model paints, acrylic, found in hobby shops too .
Thanks, John
NewbieLady wrote:Hi! As long as you mentioned using building fronts, I'd like to suggest you take a look at Elfin Models. For anyone who's not familiar with them, they use Ameritowne fronts and paint them in about 50 different styles, both industrial and commercial schemes.
Wow, those are great! I really like the variety that they make. These are exactly what I'm looking for to run along the back of my layout. I also like the ability to purchase the front only, front + light box, or the full building. I'm really thinking that this is the way I'm going to go, at least for the back side of my layout. I think using those for my main street along the back side, and then using smaller buildings throughout the rest of my layout will really give some depth to my layout.
phillyreading wrote: Around mid September try Wal-Mart's Christmas department for buildings that are inexpensive and very close to O gauge, a little larger than Plasticville buildings but not as large as Dept. 56 buildings which can be purchased at Hallmark Card stores or some local hobby stores.
Around mid September try Wal-Mart's Christmas department for buildings that are inexpensive and very close to O gauge, a little larger than Plasticville buildings but not as large as Dept. 56 buildings which can be purchased at Hallmark Card stores or some local hobby stores.
Do you have link online for these at Wal-Mart? I'm looking for some other structures similar to Dept 56 for my Christmas layout, the store fronts etc are for my permanent layout.
Around mid September try Wal-Mart's Christmas department for buildings that are inexpensive and very close to O gauge, a little larger than Plasticville buildings but not as large as Dept. 56 buildings which can be purchased at Hallmark Card stores or some local hobby stores. For lighting I use miniture C-6 light bulb sockets that I buy at Radio Shack for about $2.00 each, you must wire these yourself and install light bulbs.
A local hobby shop in Jupiter FL was selling the Homies Fiquires for $1.00 a piece plus tax. I live near West Palm Beach FL if that helps anybody.
Lee F.
Birds wrote: Every layout needs one of these... a replica of the SPAM Museum.
Every layout needs one of these... a replica of the SPAM Museum.
My father uses Dept 56 on his Christmas layout, unfortunately my pockets aren't that deep I'm in the $20-$40 range.
kpolak wrote: Take a look at Valley Model Trains: http://valleymodeltrains.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1
Take a look at Valley Model Trains: http://valleymodeltrains.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1
Excellent site, that has just about everything, it has also gotten me thinking of some different ways of approaching my layout structures. I'm thinking about combining full buildings with building fronts to create a row of buildings, either that or I can use the back wall to construct building fronts to create a similar illusion.
It's been a little while since I've seen Homies in vending machines. And I used to be able to buy bubble packs of Homies and Palermos at Kmart, which was really nice because you knew what five figures you were getting. For about five bucks, it was still a good deal.
What really stank was when I'd come across a vending machine that had them, and I'd dig into my pockets and find I didn't have enough quarters...
csxt30 wrote:
The Homies people are great! A bit expensive, but a lot of fun! On eBay.
Kurt
csxt30 wrote: Here are some that I have & like very much !1. K-line smoking diner2. MTH McDonalds3. MTH Lemonade stand4. Atlas switch tower, kit is cheaper than built up one & easy to build !5. Rico station, forgot who makes it !! 6. Plasticville Police & fire stations. Just some structures available at train shows & hobby shops !!McDonalds !Rico stationAtlas sw. towe & lemonade stand to right. K-line diner. Comes with parking spaces also !! Thanks, John
Here are some that I have & like very much !
1. K-line smoking diner
2. MTH McDonalds
3. MTH Lemonade stand
4. Atlas switch tower, kit is cheaper than built up one & easy to build !
5. Rico station, forgot who makes it !!
6. Plasticville Police & fire stations.
Just some structures available at train shows & hobby shops !!
McDonalds !
Rico station
Atlas sw. towe & lemonade stand to right.
K-line diner. Comes with parking spaces also !!
The Walthers Cornerstone buildings have been made in O. I have one of the buildings. I think it's the Silver Dollar Cafe. They also made one called Melissa's East-Side Deli. They're old-style storefronts, like what you can still find in downtowns of small towns, or in older neighborhoods in cities.
I don't know if these Walthers buildings are still being made. I bought mine in 2004 or so.
MTH also makes some buildings along the same lines.
Lionel had its Lionelville line. It didn't sell as well as they would have liked, so those buildings got blown out for $15-$20 apiece (they originally retailed for $35-$50). At this point probably only the bigger dealers like Charles Ro have them, if anyone does. They were nice enough buildings. I bought the Lionel Kiddie City building and kept it in the box. The Lionel buildings were nice because the streetcorner buildings faced the opposite direction of the MTH, so you could put them on opposite ends on a line of buildings.
If it's houses you want, I think Model Power has a better variety of those than anyone else.
Price-wise, Model Power, Walthers and MTH are all in the same neighborhood, around $40 retail per structure, a little more for bigger buildings and a little less for smaller ones.
They have a great selection and a variety of pricepoints to choose from, so you can see what big ca$h buys too.
I think you might like the Atlas O buildings. They're on the site.
Hi ATSJer
What follows is a personal opinion only little mention of brands will be made because I have little or no knowledge of "O" brands.
You need
A station building I think you in the US call it a depot
A place of religious significance (all layouts should have one regardless of the right one for the setting)
A signal box and at least one signal
At least two houses
At least two stores
A factory or other line side industry
A RR owned freight shed
A phone box and mail box
plate layers hut
Phone poles
I believe Atlas might do "O" (but don't quote me) if so have a look at them their HO and N buildings are quite nice.
Those are the buildings I would look at having on a layout but that's me and it also depends on what space is available.
Others more knowledgeable will probably think differently to me but at least you now have something to think about.
regards John
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