Bill,
That Hiking Trail looks very prototypical and authentic. That could easily be a trail in the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana. Although I guess in Montana one would need a bear nearby
Very Nice.
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
As mentioned , a trail can take many forms. Decided here that its an accent to the layout so I wanted it to have a more visible look, at least on this section with color and texture.
with the modeling fibre base I just sprinkled the lighter dirt on section and misted with wet water. The adhesive in modeling fibre when rewetted wicks to the dirt to hold it firmly.. Can be vaccumed.
Bill D
model in O. the Western NY and Ontario Railroad
I saw a demo once where the modeler added a very light sprinkle of tile grout of the appropriate colour along the trail. He just used his fingers to do it, much like adding a pinch of salt when cooking. Less was more but did it ever add a dimension to the trail. It was the last thing he did.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thanks for all the suggestions! I started balzing the trail a few days ago and here are the results:
The trail is visible just behind the locomotive. Great for railfans! I used sifted dirt for the trail, held in place with Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement.
The trail leads past a camp site. The figures are from Woodland Scenics.
The trail's ultimate destination is this viewing platform for the waterfall. It's built out of strip wood with a Bar Mills fence kit used for the hand rail.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
In areas that see heavy foot traffic, the path will have a trampled down appearance; flattened out, mostly dead grass, with the unwalked on area being taller grass, weeds, etc.
Path to locomotive on static display
In this picture, the path is still wet. After it dries, then I'll be adding static grass to the areas adjacent to the path.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Hey GP9, I grew up near not far from Spartanburg and went to school at Clemson, so you're bringing back old memories. It's been 30 years, but Stumphouse Mountain was very popular back then.
One consideration is if you're talking a wild trail or a more groomed trail in a state park like area. Many of those are covered with bark/wood chips and even hard shouldered with old ties. One modeling project could even be a Scout Troop spreading fresh chips along the trail.
Speaking of outdoor scenes, MR did an article on the Murphy Branch back in the early 80s. There's a great shot in there of canoers on the river with the train right beside them.
GP-9,
Move a few miles North and you could do the Nantahala...Trains, whitewater, rafting, kayaking, hiking trails, people fishing and camping, bridges, banjoes(!) OOPS that last one was a couple miles south and west. Beautiful country, I'm partial to the Horsepasture River myself and the water in some of those streams is quite invigorating (read cold) even in the summer. Do you have a favorite rail line you are putting in this area?
Bob, from just up the road.
Modeling in N scale: Rock Island freight and passenger, with a touch of the following; Wabash Cannon Ball, CB&Q passenger, and ATSF freight and passenger. I played in Peoria (Heights).
trainboyH16-44 I have to admit, when I said my piece I was thinking of a different kind of trail than the others. I live in an extremely beautiful area of the world, which attracts a lot of people. Trails here are generally well defined, and many trails in the main (Bow) valley are 4-5 feet wide at the start, tapering to 3 or 4' once you get a few miles out. The kind I was imagining were from the side valleys (and Kananaskis country, for the locals) with single track, sometimes braided trails through more fragile alpine habitat. These have hard edges, are not particularly straight, and are generally going up a valley or along a lake. So, the type of trail you'd model definitely depends on the area you're modeling...where is your layout set?
I have to admit, when I said my piece I was thinking of a different kind of trail than the others. I live in an extremely beautiful area of the world, which attracts a lot of people. Trails here are generally well defined, and many trails in the main (Bow) valley are 4-5 feet wide at the start, tapering to 3 or 4' once you get a few miles out. The kind I was imagining were from the side valleys (and Kananaskis country, for the locals) with single track, sometimes braided trails through more fragile alpine habitat. These have hard edges, are not particularly straight, and are generally going up a valley or along a lake. So, the type of trail you'd model definitely depends on the area you're modeling...where is your layout set?
My layout is set in northern South Carolina (based priamily on Oconee and Pickens Counties). The trails in the state parks and the Sumter National Forrest are generally well-definied and about 18-24 inches wide. Some of them even have elabortate suspension bridges. The Naturalnd Trust Trail has such a bridge over Raven Cliff Falls. I'm actually taking a stab at modeling that too.
Go here for my rail shots! http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?userid=9296
Building the CPR Kootenay division in N scale, blog here: http://kootenaymodelrailway.wordpress.com/
On a previous layout, i had a "sheep trail". They're common where livestock is driven or herded daily along the same route from the barn to the pasture.
I made it by building up the terrain on either side with a little Sculptamold (about 1/16" high in HO scale), just enough so that the trail was noticeably below the level of the surrounding ground. Then I put down a small strip of dirt-colored ground foam in the trail. I covered the rest of the terrain with grass and low bushes, keeping the stuff nearest the trail very low, to simulate the incidental grazing that would occur as the animals moved.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
I'm agreeing with Fred again. Your trail will disappear and reappear as it winds through the woods. If it crosses a field, then it would show. Camp sites, some for tenting others with a built shelter and trail heads would have the trails going off into the woods. Some trails I have hiked had outhouses tucked into the edge of the woods near the camping areas.
Where it is seen, a narrow, really finely sifted dirt trail, with some of the ideas above, log or rock steps and small bridges should do the trick.
A simple, small brush stroke of color (yellow, red and white are the colors I have seen) on trees along the way would be your blazes. I have seen where trails cross rock faces that a sizeable paint mark on the rocks would be used, so it wouldn't disappear easily.
Good luck,
Richard
wm3798Oh, Chutton. You're so witty...
Actually, it is somewhat important to mention signage and blazes, because in the real world (at least in the North East US, hiking trails in state/local parks often enter and exit shared recreation spaces (like campgrounds or picnic areas), and so something is required to alert the hikers where the trail resume - now, admittedly you won't see blazes on a tree on a N-scale layout, but I recall sometimes they used metal plates w/ the blaze color, and you can see those scaled in N-scale.I hiked a lot around the Northeast during the turn of the century - I used to be a member of the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club), although I tended toward the slower hikes with less rock scrambling (I think pacing was numeric 1-5, and difficulty/terrain roughness was alpha (A-F?), with 1-A being a nice, mellow walk, and 5E being a forced march thru rocky, hilly terrain - I stuck w/ the 3C and lower).
Lots of small streams were crossed, usually a simple, short wood bridge with just stringers and wood planks across - usually no railings unless the bridge was 8ft or longer; really small streams, you'd ford, but since getting your hiking boots wet kinda sucks, usually flat rocks were in the stream to act as stepping stones. A paved/maincured trail (like in a municipal park) would usually have poured concrete or railed wooden bridges, but that more like a walk than a hike, and we'd use paved trails mostly to traverse to other, more 'rustic' areas of the park. To cross sizable streams/rivers/etc the trail would most likely use the nearest road bridgeMedium sized logs were sometimes placed across the trail at steeper slopes to hold back the dirt and act as a 'stairway' - in some areas, these were placed by dirt-bikers to clear obstacles, and were roundly hated by the hike leaders (usually kicked out of the way). Remember, the trail more or less follows the countour of the land - you're not grading for an Interstate here, so narrow paths go up along side riverbanks and down hills - you learn the value of a good walking stick.
And we were good boys and girls, and practiced Pack-In/Pack-Out - where the trail was more accessible to most people (e.g. a railtrain, or along the Old Croton Aqueduct), you'd find more garbage (mostly beer cans and fast food wrappers - I think you can figure the rest). Oh yes, in a co-ed hiking group of some size (10-30 people) that hikes for a number of hours, eventually you have a Separation - usually the women went forward and the men hung back and attended to natural processes - have no idea if you want to model this or not (note: this was done only when no Restroom or Portapotty was available - but these were pretty rare in the areas we hiked, so...)
Oh, Chutton. You're so witty...
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
N Scale, eh?
Well, first, you'll need to find the world's smallest paint brush - Trail Blazing
Under a thick forest canopy which discourages the growth of underbrush people can move around without having anything look like a trail. However, it sounds as if you want a `formal' trail if it leads to a developed overlook.
One thing which might be fun would be `rustic steps' (split logs set crosswise to the trail) at some steep spot.
Here in the dessicated desert, a `trail' is usually little more than a collection of footprints, sometimes bordered by a line of rocks.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with roads that aren't much better than trails)
Why not take some old right of way and make a "Rails to Trails" scene? I did a photo spread of a bridge on my layout following the location from steam days to the present time that ran in N scale Magazine last fall. Unfortunately, the final image didn't make it into print, so I'll share it with you here...
Since the bridge is very much a part of my 1970 era layout, I simply took a piece of styrene, painted it to look like a macadam surface, and glued on the handrail on the near side. A couple of people walking and riding bicycles, and it made a neat shot!
After the lights went out and the camera got put away, the time machine took us back to happier times...
Lee
The hiking trails I've been on in Montana are not that obvious, some of the shrubs may have been trampled down but there is still forest type debris on the trail--leaves, twigs, small rocks, and occasionally just dirt. But for the most part they are just general clearings that one can negotiate without a great deal of difficulty. Now, I'm talking about hiking trails one uses for a one or two hour hike and not something in the back country.
The scale and selective compression factors creep into this discussion. I assume you mean trail and not fire road. So 2ft wide in N scale is 0.15", a little over 1/8".
All you would see from above is a discernible break in the foliage, and possibly an earth color line visible in parts of the foliage break. This would fit in well with selective compression - you don't want a full scale trail revealing how selectively compressed the rest of your scenery is.
From a horizontal perspective, the trail would/should be masked nearly completely by the foliage, just as in real life.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
a hiking trail appears though out layout here. It takes on a slightly different look depending on its location. Don't have a fixed manicured edge.
Not quite the right light when I did photo, it runs along rocky edge of stream and between pines
I'd imagine the best way to do it would be to have ground foam built up on either side of a topsoil coloured winding through it, maybe braiding a bit. Don't forget to have it move along the terrain sensibly!
Yes definitely scape the ground foam away. Then go get some real dirt. Sift the dirt with a flower sifter at least 2 or 3 times, to get all stick/weeds/rocks out of it. Then for the trail, just apply some white (elmers) glue along the trail. Then pour the dirt on there, spread it out evenly. When it dries vacuum up all the loose dirt.
I use a lot of real dirt on my scenery. Good idea on the hiking trail, I might try that on my mountain.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
In addition to being a model railroader, I'm also a bit of an outdoorsman. As such I have lots of people doing outdoorsy things on my layout (hiking, camping, canoeing, etc). However I placed some folks camping on the side of the mountain but realized there's no trail for them to get there! I thought it would be cool to have a trail lead from the road, along a the lake and then up past the campsite to an overlook platform by the water fall.
What is the best way to model a hiking trail? It seems to me an easy way to do this would be to take a small flat blade screwdriver and scrape away some of the ground foom. What do you think. BTW, I'm doing this in N Scale.