General Discussion (Model Railroader)

andrechapelon wrote:

Hi, my name is Andre and I have a warped sense of humor. It's been 3 days since I created my last pun, 2 days and 3 hours since I wrote a twisted limerick, 23 hours and 12 minutes since I told the joke that ended with a line about a frog in a blender and only 5 minutes since I quoted Marx. That's Groucho, not Karl.

ac:

Humor is reason gone mad.

We have a mad poet at work who chalks limericks on the forge furnaces and supplements the assigned equipment numbers with comic nicknames.  These are largely unprintable.  The most recent verse involved a man from Nantucket.

One thing to keep in mind, when using trees and other elements to make a small layout look big, is to keep the trees and other elements small.  While real trees do come in a range of sizes, a small hill that looks acceptably forested with small, bushy foliage and small saplings might look pretty ridiculous with 100-foot pines on it.  The same goes for buildings - small or compressed structures help a small layout look bigger than it is.

I think were also overlooking the obvious. An N scale layout of a given physical size can support a lot more scenes than an HO one of the same size which can support more scenes than an O scale layout, etc.

Regards,

Charlie Comstock 

BCSJ wrote:

I think were also overlooking the obvious. An N scale layout of a given physical size can support a lot more scenes than an HO one of the same size which can support more scenes than an O scale layout, etc.

BCSJ:

Even so, the same tricks apply to all scales, whether you want to make a 2 x 4 Z layout or a 12x20 G layout look bigger than it is. Often people pick a small scale because they have a small space.  Sometimes people like the detailing possibilities of a bigger scale like O, even if they don't have a lot of room.

Autobus Prime wrote:

BCSJ wrote: I think were also overlooking the obvious. An N scale layout of a given physical size can support a lot more scenes than an HO one of the same size which can support more scenes than an O scale layout, etc. BCSJ: Even so, the same tricks apply to all scales, whether you want to make a 2 x 4 Z layout or a 12x20 G layout look bigger than it is. Often people pick a small scale because they have a small space.  Sometimes people like the detailing possibilities of a bigger scale like O, even if they don't have a lot of room.

Autobus, that's true. But in a larger scale (O or especially G) the additional detail and sheer size of the buildings can result in a different types of mini-vignettes. For example, you could leave the doors of a depot open and have vignettes of the operators office, the baggage area and the passenger waiting area. These wouldn't be terribly visible in N scale but would be easily seen in G.

Charlie Comstock 

BCSJ wrote:

Autobus Prime wrote:  BCSJ wrote: I think were also overlooking the obvious. An N scale layout of a given physical size can support a lot more scenes than an HO one of the same size which can support more scenes than an O scale layout, etc. BCSJ: Even so, the same tricks apply to all scales, whether you want to make a 2 x 4 Z layout or a 12x20 G layout look bigger than it is. Often people pick a small scale because they have a small space.  Sometimes people like the detailing possibilities of a bigger scale like O, even if they don't have a lot of room.  Autobus, that's true. But in a larger scale (O or especially G) the additional detail and sheer size of the buildings can result in a different types of mini-vignettes. For example, you could leave the doors of a depot open and have vignettes of the operators office, the baggage area and the passenger waiting area. These wouldn't be terribly visible in N scale but would be easily seen in G.

BCSJ:

You bet.  In G you could probably have readable letters and working telegraph equipment.

Dave--

Of course, you didn't tell anyone that that hollow-frame door you built your layout on came from the front of the hangar that used to house German trans-Atlantic airships, LOL! 

Seriously, I had NO idea you layout was that size--I really thought from your excellent photos and modeling skills that your N-scale layout was HUGE!  My hat's off to you--you've really shown me what craftsmanship and attention to detail can do to set off a really GREAT layout. 

Tom