I made background scenery using 1/4" sheets of plywood. After cutting out the silhouette, I build it up using foam. The base and the area it sits on is also made of the 1/4" plywood. Once I had the base of the mountain cut out, I set it in place on the layout, then drilled holes and inserted dowels.
I then built up the mountain using foam and plaster rock castings and attached them to the foam.
When I need to work on that area of the layout, I just lift the section out and set it aside. The dowels make it a snap to put it back in place.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
I once built a 5x8 and hinged it on one side, with removable braces to the base. It too was on casters. Wish I'd save pictures. Anyway, I could lower it to vertical (yes, everything had to be glued down or removed prior to the tilt) and work on the middle while sitting in a chair.
Mike
If your top surface is generally clean, open, and flat, and you'd like to fill it to make the whole look natural, maybe carve a 'mountain' off the layout with stacked foam elements, cover the foam with thin flocking and paint it, then add your ground foam and such. You'll end up with a long thin mountain, maybe only 7-10" high, but that's probably lots. Just situate it so that its axis aligns with the long axis of the benchwork.
Just because the table is there doesn't mean yu have to use it. Here are two 3' wide tables pushed back to back. On my last layout I found that the 3' reach was too much, so I got 15 of the monks to come up to the train room and we lifted the entire table and pulled it 2' from all of the walls.
On my present layout I put these table side by side to make a 6' wide table, but the middle is not used at all, and nobody will ever see in there anyway.
From the backside it looks like this:
From the front it looks like this:
Of course this is a layout that looks better in closeups.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I have placed my roundhouse turntable assembly on a piece of foam. The bench is six feet wide. I just unplug it and lift it out to my workbench to work on it. When finished I will tape up the crack around it and cover it with the appropriate ground cover. It lifts out in seconds and is solid in place when on the layout.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thanks everyone for the ideas. The large layout island is intended to be the first step and centerpiece of my layout which will hopefully have L- shaped wings coming off both sides when my wife gives me the 600 sq foot basement underneath our dream addition.
In the center of the island is a 45 degree crossing intended to be the union of the NYNH&H and the CNE in Canaan Connecticut. When I add the L branches I also want to Model the WYE triangle up in that area. So, yes there is Trackwork in the center of the table including turnouts and DCC Wiring. A creeper would be ideal fir this.
I like the idea if building smaller dioramas and placing them in position on the layout. It is sort of like assembling and disassembling the center landscape then reassembling it on the layout like a puzzle.
Again, thanks for all the input. These ideas are definately going into my MRR notebook.
If you can roll it out, then the reach is 30" from each side. I found with a 5'4" x 12' layout I could reach the center from each side with the layout being 36" high. Higher and I would have problems, but a simple step stool can extend your reach a little if the layout is high.
Another thought is that depending on what you're track plan is, don't scenic all the way to the center. Put a back drop 24" from the edge on each side and leave the center 12" as is.
Paul
Thanks Mel you're a good egg I like you.
Track Fiddler
Track fiddler Is that you and your layout Mel or is that the advertisement for the top side creeper you posted. (I just got to knows) - " Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry" I admire past conversations with you Mel I've talked to you a few times. You always get back to me. God Bless. Track Fiddler
Is that you and your layout Mel or is that the advertisement for the top side creeper you posted. (I just got to knows) - " Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry" I admire past conversations with you Mel I've talked to you a few times. You always get back to me.
God Bless. Track Fiddler
Just thinking out loud ,but kinda like Mike said. ''if'' there no track down the center, fill as mutch as you can with hills ,trees brush. Do it once and no real need to go back. You should be able to reach 24 to 30 in. to build some scenery,at last resort make puff ball trees and toss em
RR_Mel With old age dinging me pretty bad I went with a Topside Creeper, they’re a bit pricy but it really helps me get to the middle of my 10” x 14” layout. It extends my reach about 28”. My eyesight is not getting any better either and the Topside Creeper helps by getting my eyes closer to my scenery too. I bought mine from Micro-Mark many years ago when it was on sale and free shipping. Mel Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951 My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
That topside creeper is a pretty nice piece of equipment, has a nice price tag too... if you fancy yourself to be a carpenter you could make your own out of wood???
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
If it is strictly landscaping with no track to worry about, get some foam and work off layout, put it in place and blend the edges in. The edges should be much easier to reach.
I can understand your situation. So, what if you put a scenic divider across the middle ? It doesn't have to divide the layout exactly in half, since you still have reach from each end, that way your dealing with 2'6" on each "side", which would make it easier to get at.
There are a lot plans, quite a few done by the MRR staff as project layouts, that use this technique
I built a huge layout as a center island type, that never made it past the "plywood central" phase, because reach was not practical.
Just a thought.
Mike.
My You Tube
Hi Everyone,
I built a 5’x9’ layout table which I am very happy with. It is on casters so I can roll it out to try and reach everything. Well, now that I am starting landscaping there is the issue of reaching the center of the table. To compound things, I have a vision problem and detail work at that that distance is difficult. A rolling island table was my only option in the space. An around the wall U-shaped layout with a 2’-32.5’ reach visually would have been ideal.
Anyone, any suggestions onnhow to work on this type of layout in regards to reach? I was thinking m cantilever Gorrilla Ladder cresting a scaffolding over the layout but working laying down on my stomach above the layout doesn’t seem that appealing.
Sny suggestions?