I am new to model railroading I am wanting to model in HO city sidewalks. I am aiming to freelance downtown Jersey. Any help for a newb would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help!
i used sheet bass wood and cut the expansion joints in with a razor saw. painted it with a grey floquil plus a touch of yellow. cracks are scribed with a number 11 blade and highlighted with a thin black wash.
grizlump
City sidewalks have to be wide enough to allow for steps and store/shop entrances (11/2 ft), walking space for minimum of two people side by side (5ft) and space at the curb for lighting, garbage cans etc. (11/2ft). This gets you to a minimum of 8ft. (based on a interesting discussion at this Buffalo, NY blog)
The Rensselaer Railroad Heritage Website (a paid membership site) suggests 12 inch x 23 inch Evergreen sidewalk sheets (part no. 14518) cut into scale 10 foot to 13 foot wide strips (their research concluded that 10-13ft is the prototypical width for urban settings. Alternately they suggested the Smalltown sidewalks (now sold by RIX). The illustration on the page shows 10ft width sidewalks.
PS
If unfamiliar with the Rensellear site, check it out. They have an accumlation of 50 years of student MR building, research, techniques etc. (now numbers 5000 web pages).
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
For my urban downtown, I started with a sheet of white foamboard. I cut rectangles of thin styrene sheet and glued those down where the sidewalks and buildings would go, leaving a slightly lower level for the roads:
Next, I poured my roads using Durhams Water Putty, mixed fairly thin. I smoothed it with a wet foam brush while the putty hardens, working it flat for about a half hour. Then, I colored the roads with a wash of cheap acrylic gray paint. When I was done, the roads and this layer of styrene were flat and even:
Next, I cut another layer of styrene. The outside dimension of each section matches the styrene pieces from the first step. I cut out an opening in the center of each section for the buildings, following the structure contours. This way, the buildings sit down inside the sidewalk pieces, eliminating light leakage under the buildings, and giving the whole seen a more "poured" look rather than having the buildings sitting on top of the sidewalk:
I used a slightly lighter gray paint for the sidewalks, to distinguish them from the streets. For both, though, I used the color straight - no mixing. That makes it much easier to touch up things later since I don't have to mix anything. I used a ruler and a #2 pencil to add sidewalk lines.
A lot of getting the urban sidewalk look right is the small details. I've got Walthers street lights and traffic lights, plus assorted benches, figures and fire hydrants.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Although, not a "sidewalk", I used Evergreen sidewalk styrene for the platform of this station. Several different size squares are avalable, this is 1/2"
For this cabin track I used sheet styrene scribed every 10 scale feet.
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
Thanks that will help me out a lot! I hope... My next question is what should my groove width be? I am looking at using Evergreen's sidewalks... And I just can't decide. If I use say, a 8 ft real world would the grovve width also be 8 ft? This whole converting sizes from the real world to HO scale is messing with my head. Once again thanks for your help everyone.
jammin.madridThis whole converting sizes from the real world to HO scale is messing with my head.
Go to your LHS and buy an HO scale ruler. This will solve your conversion problems. I get them to! If you do not have a LHS you can order from Walther's.
The ruler and an NMRA gauge for clearances are musts.
I have two or three. I put tape on one side so it doesn't slide around.
Bob
Photobucket Albums:NPBL - 2008 The BeginningNPBL - 2009 Phase INPBL - 2010 Downtown
"My next question is what should my groove width be?"
If you mean the expansion cracks, a scibed in with model knife would do it.
If you mean the spacing of the expansion cracks, then 4ft is a typical module size (2 per 8ft sidewalk)
The Rix/Smalltown sidewalks are great, economical and already have the joints scribed in them.
they also have driveway sections, don't they? (a bit harder to model well)
Don't overlook the two "Paving Streets" articles at the Trolleyville Schoolhouse with different pavement how-tos...
Part 1 http://www.trolleyville.com/tv/school/lesson6_3/
Part 2 http://trolleyville.com/tv/school/lesson6_4/
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Doc in CT they also have driveway sections, don't they? (a bit harder to model well)
Correct. Along with manhole covers and drains. I think you get 3' (actual) of sidewalk/pak for about $6.IIRC. I was gonna do my own from plaster till I bought some Rix.
Would you happen to know if they are compatible with the Walthers' sidewalks? (ended up with a lot of those via Bachmann Spectrum CityScenes buildings).
...page 2 of the PDF sneak-preview for Kalmbach's new "How to Build & Detail Model Railroad Scenes" has a nice diagram of a scale city street, driveway, manhole, sidewalk, etc.
http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/12249.html
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/kalmbachcatalog/12249spread.pdf
...details on a typical 1950s urban street setting.
Check out last month's MR how to build a small railroad town. The builder used .030 styrene for streets and simply doubled the up for side walks. If you want expansion jonts cut them in with a #10 exacto blade and a square, paint em up with aged concrete and you've got side walks. I am using the Walthers sidewal/street kits in conjunction with this method so I can have thedriveway cuts and curved corners etc. It's a very economical and believeable way of doing it.