Time to add structures

[kcoyle]

Hi,

I think I might have a dilema here, hopefully you good folks can help me out. I have laid my cork bed under all of my track and applied the ballast. I just picked up a copy of Walther's catalog to figure what building I can get. Looking at some of the photos where the hopper/car/tanker is right next to the structure for loading, it seems that the track is at ground level and not up on a road bed. One building that I was looking at has a shed that covers the trac for the car to pull into for loading. I am thinking that with the road bed in place that the hieght with the car may be too high to fit into the shed like part. I was wondering if I could use stryrene board or something to make bases for the buildings that need to be track side and then use joint compound or something to blend into the base of the platform? Any suggestions? Also, to remove some of the ballast for this buildings that have platforms that need to be ver close to the track, could I just use water to soften up the glue mixture to make it wasier to cut away the unneeded ballast?


Thanks for your help in the past,

Kevin

[Anonymous]

if the buildings are designed to fit with track at ground level, just put the buildings on cork roadbed as well, then the height will be perfect! As for the ballast, if you used elmers glue then drenching it with water will make removing it easier.

[challenger3802]

Adding the same height cork as you used for the roadbed is the easiest solution, I was faced with the same dilemma when I built both my platforms and the goods shed. The cork rasies the structures just sufficiently to be the correct height.

[image]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/Challenger3802/GoodsShed3.jpg[/image]
The main body of the goods shed is on the left and raised to the correct height using more cork (the same depth as the roadbed).

Ian

[orsonroy]

Cork or any other material to bring the structure up to track level works well, but I have a different suggestion:

Most model buildings come without one very significant thing: the FOUNDATION. Most model buildings look "odd" on layouts, becayse they're just plunked down onto the grass level, without any thought to realism. Most real buildings have a visible foundation. Modeling foundations is easy: just add a layer of strip styrene or balsa wood to the bottom of any building, paint it, and presto: instant concrete foundation.

[ctyclsscs]

You could try something like this too. I would build up the height using cork or other similar material as others have suggested, but if you set the building on that base, you have the problem of adding the ground cover without smearing it around the bottom of the structure. In the past, I have found it easier to build a "foundation" using strips of Evergreen styrene that the building can sit on. Then, after painting it grey, I would glue that to the base material you added and work the ground cover up to it. That gives you the appearance of a foundation that is actually set into the ground. It's easy to wipe off any glue or ground cover from a thin foundation than from the walls of a finished building. Then, when everything is done, you simply place the building on the foundation which is already in place with the scenery.

Just a thought.

Jim

[simon1966]

Artists foam board is the correct hieght to build up the location for a structure.

[kcoyle]

Hi,


Thank you all very much for the feed back. I thought I really screwed something up after I spent all of the time ballasting and such. I guess my next layout I will try some of the track at ground level.


Thanks again,

Kevin