Class5
I like the width of that main street. It is so tempting to fudge on the width of streets in order to cram in one more block or more buildings. I am not saying streets necessarily have to be scale width to look plausible on a layout, but they need to be convincing and this street is.
Dave Nelson
It's good to see that you learned how to post photos, and they show that you figured out how to make a good-looking town, too.
Very nicely-done!
Wayne
I will post some of my updates
doctorwayne That's a good-looking town, and a pretty decent size, too. I also like the tips you offered regarding getting more mileage out of kits, including using two walls from one kit to represent a background structure, and re-painting the other two to create another background structure that doesn't look like it ever belonged to the other kit. Your comment about photgraphing structures and printing them for use as backdrops is also a money- and space-saver. Very nicely done! Wayne
That's a good-looking town, and a pretty decent size, too. I also like the tips you offered regarding getting more mileage out of kits, including using two walls from one kit to represent a background structure, and re-painting the other two to create another background structure that doesn't look like it ever belonged to the other kit.
Your comment about photgraphing structures and printing them for use as backdrops is also a money- and space-saver.
Very nicely done!
I agree with Wayne. Great job.
Ed
Semi newbie HO scale modeler coming from the O scale world
My layout has a 180 degree turn around the end of an aisle where I located a number of roads and structures to represent a portion of a town. The tracks extend almost to the backdrop opposite the center of the aisle. The entire "town" scene is about 7 feet wide and a little more than 2 feet deep on each side of the aisle. The scene uses complete kit and scratch built structures, kitbashed and scratch built low relief background buildings, plus photo building flats against the backdrop.
Here is an overall view of the right half of the town scene. You can see the tracks where they cross the street at grade. The roundhouse in the right rear and the building with the truck trailers out front were scratch built to fit the space. The three story brick building against the backdrop and facing the road was kitbashed by using two walls of a single kit.
Here is another view of the same area from a slightly different angle. Note how the intersection in the foreground is mostly in the aisle. The angle between the two streets is very close to 90 degrees. Here is an overall view of the left side of the "town" scene. The low relief buildings on the left and the Foster Farm Equipment building are all scratch built. The remaining buildings are kits. The low relief building at center rear was kitbashed from the other two walls of the kit used to kitbash the low relief structure in the previous two photos. Note how different the two buildings appear due to different paint colors. Here is another view of the left half of the "town" scene from a different angle. As before, you can see the track curve as it crosses the roadway. One last (blurry) view of the photo building flats against the backdrop. I photographed the back sides of several buildings on my layout at three different angles (about 30 degrees to the left, straight on, and 30 degrees to the right). I printed out all of the photos and trimmed off all of the backgrounds. I then tried several combinations of photos until I achieved a look where the building flats appear to face a gently curving street beyond the backdrop. I then mounted the center two building photos on foam core board before cementing all of the photo flats to the backdrop. This made the center two buildings appear slightly closer than those to the right and left, further enhancing the idea of the curved street beyond. I hope this gives you a few ideas of your own!
Here is another view of the same area from a slightly different angle. Note how the intersection in the foreground is mostly in the aisle. The angle between the two streets is very close to 90 degrees.
Here is an overall view of the left side of the "town" scene. The low relief buildings on the left and the Foster Farm Equipment building are all scratch built. The remaining buildings are kits. The low relief building at center rear was kitbashed from the other two walls of the kit used to kitbash the low relief structure in the previous two photos. Note how different the two buildings appear due to different paint colors. Here is another view of the left half of the "town" scene from a different angle. As before, you can see the track curve as it crosses the roadway. One last (blurry) view of the photo building flats against the backdrop. I photographed the back sides of several buildings on my layout at three different angles (about 30 degrees to the left, straight on, and 30 degrees to the right). I printed out all of the photos and trimmed off all of the backgrounds. I then tried several combinations of photos until I achieved a look where the building flats appear to face a gently curving street beyond the backdrop. I then mounted the center two building photos on foam core board before cementing all of the photo flats to the backdrop. This made the center two buildings appear slightly closer than those to the right and left, further enhancing the idea of the curved street beyond. I hope this gives you a few ideas of your own!
Here is an overall view of the left side of the "town" scene. The low relief buildings on the left and the Foster Farm Equipment building are all scratch built. The remaining buildings are kits. The low relief building at center rear was kitbashed from the other two walls of the kit used to kitbash the low relief structure in the previous two photos. Note how different the two buildings appear due to different paint colors.
Here is another view of the left half of the "town" scene from a different angle. As before, you can see the track curve as it crosses the roadway. One last (blurry) view of the photo building flats against the backdrop. I photographed the back sides of several buildings on my layout at three different angles (about 30 degrees to the left, straight on, and 30 degrees to the right). I printed out all of the photos and trimmed off all of the backgrounds. I then tried several combinations of photos until I achieved a look where the building flats appear to face a gently curving street beyond the backdrop. I then mounted the center two building photos on foam core board before cementing all of the photo flats to the backdrop. This made the center two buildings appear slightly closer than those to the right and left, further enhancing the idea of the curved street beyond. I hope this gives you a few ideas of your own!
Here is another view of the left half of the "town" scene from a different angle. As before, you can see the track curve as it crosses the roadway.
One last (blurry) view of the photo building flats against the backdrop. I photographed the back sides of several buildings on my layout at three different angles (about 30 degrees to the left, straight on, and 30 degrees to the right). I printed out all of the photos and trimmed off all of the backgrounds. I then tried several combinations of photos until I achieved a look where the building flats appear to face a gently curving street beyond the backdrop. I then mounted the center two building photos on foam core board before cementing all of the photo flats to the backdrop. This made the center two buildings appear slightly closer than those to the right and left, further enhancing the idea of the curved street beyond. I hope this gives you a few ideas of your own!
One last (blurry) view of the photo building flats against the backdrop. I photographed the back sides of several buildings on my layout at three different angles (about 30 degrees to the left, straight on, and 30 degrees to the right). I printed out all of the photos and trimmed off all of the backgrounds. I then tried several combinations of photos until I achieved a look where the building flats appear to face a gently curving street beyond the backdrop. I then mounted the center two building photos on foam core board before cementing all of the photo flats to the backdrop. This made the center two buildings appear slightly closer than those to the right and left, further enhancing the idea of the curved street beyond.
I hope this gives you a few ideas of your own!
Hornblower
Thanks for your kind comment, Ed. All three of those curved tracks do indeed lead to staging yards.
doctorwayne Curved track all over the place here, and structures built or modified to accommodate them...
Curved track all over the place here, and structures built or modified to accommodate them...
Wayne,
That is really well done sir. Thank you as always for sharing.
There are many things I really love about that scene. I really like how two levels of track was worked in. Mainly the elevated track and viaduct. I am looking to do something very similar to this where I use buildings on a curve to hide the trains going into hidden staging.
MisterBeasley As others have shown, I also prefer to have the trains running through the town/city, not forming a hard line between scenes. This lets the trains "hide," however briefly, behind buildings, and makes the run seem a bit longer.
As others have shown, I also prefer to have the trains running through the town/city, not forming a hard line between scenes. This lets the trains "hide," however briefly, behind buildings, and makes the run seem a bit longer.
I also like this as well. I think it makes things more realistic if the trains "disappear" behind some structures as well. I think what attracts me to urban modeling is the opportunity to use more foreground to enhance a scene.
The use of backdrops or background flat buildings lets you extend the town scene into the back wall without commiting any additional real estate to it.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Class5I have a radius track in the rear in the corner of my layout and will have the town in the front of the track upto the edge of the layout, any thoughts or pictures on ideas and layout of streets and buildings would be helpful
I don't see anything too difficult about what you wish to accomplish.
Once you've tested your longest locomotives and rolling stock on that curve to determine the needed clearances, simply add the town in whatever form looks suitable to you.Your streets can meet the track at any angle you wish, and can cross the tracks or dead-end at them. Don't be afraid to alter structure kits to accommodate the curve, as lots of real structures were either modified to allow new tracks to be laid nearby, or were built after the tracks were in place, and done in a manner which didn't impinge on the tracks. This could include curved or angled walls, or chopped-off corners of structures.Your streets could all be parallel, or not, as best suits what you envision. I don't have too many houses on my layout at all, as there's simply little room for them after the railroad-related stuff and the industries which use the railroad are in place.
Here are a few scenes in which the tracks decided the layout of the towns through which they pass. (click on the photos for a larger view)
Not enough room for the whole building?...
...its street dead-ends at the curved track...
Walnut Street, shown in the first photo, crosses multiple tracks, but ends at a cross-street "suggested" at the backdrop...
...while the next street north, Liberty Street, dead-ends at the track, and also meets the "suggested" street at the backdrop...
North of that, in the same town, there's an area where there will be a residential neighbourhood...
...but it will consist of truncated backyards, with the backs of severely-truncated two-storey brick houses facing the tracks, and fronting onto an almost non-existant street, with structures on the other side of the street existing only as "flats". Everybody else in this town lives in neighbourhoods not modelled.
This unfinished scene, in another town, has some trackside industries (more than what's visible in the photo), and a "suggestion" of a downtown commercial district, consisting of depth-compressed structures and background flats. Other than the LPBs living above the commercial enterprises, every one in town lives "elsewhere".
I hope to have room for a small neighbourhood on the partial upper level of the layout, and do have several houses on-hand, but there's no guarantee that there'll be room for them.
This what I get:
404. That’s an error.
The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.
I don't see any place to sign in.
The OP just needs to read the sticky on posting pictures.
Mike.
My You Tube
Don't feel bad, I have a google acct and I can't see it.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
York1I'm unable to see what you've posted. It may be my browser, but did you post your picture on a site that can be accessed by this forum?
The link is to a sign-in page for one's Google Account, but since I have no Google Account, I can't sign-in.
This is a small city.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Are you trying to post the image directly? Check out "How to Post a Photo" at the top of the General Discussion
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I'm unable to see what you've posted. It may be my browser, but did you post your picture on a site that can be accessed by this forum?
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
Nope, all I get is the "404 Not Found"
I have a radius track in the rear in the corner of my layout and will have the town in the front of the track upto the edge of the layout, any thoughts or pictures on ideas and layout of streets and buildings would be helpful