well being an avid miniature model painter and war game enthusiast for so long I finally took the giant leap to model railroading at the tender age of 38! I just bought my first house and to celebrate I anxiously started to go to work on my first ever layout in my new garage!!!! I kind of studied lots of the aspects of model railroading and thought it would be cool to try it out! I figured I wouldnt have anything to lose and a new miniature gaming board to gain, hence N scale!!! Yea!!! So using foam board for gaming boards was always my forte I naturally started in that direction, but I soon discovered I could actually get more detail and texture using the plastic cloth. Since it gave me a great base with seams, I decided to cover the entire layout with plastic cloth and then a full layer of plaster over that. I heard of this technique using spray bottles to paint the rocks and stuff. I am definately gonna try it except i will cover the entire board with spray bottles of watered down acrylic paints I believe, since its plastered anyways and will give me a great base coat for either natural looking rocks or even grassy areas and such. If anyone has any input whatsoever I would definately like to hear it. Im kind of making it up as I go. I did all my research and now Im doing it my way so far, but still need to lay my cork roadbed, track, ballast etc, so I know Ill need the help for sure at that point. I am leaving pics to see my progress if they let me this time, since new member not sure. Thanks!
Welcome aboard.
Lots of good advise is available here. Just post your specific questions. You can also use the "search our community" function on the right side of the page to find previously posted answers.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
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Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
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Cahill
I find experimenting with different techniques a whole lot of fun in this hobby. Read lots, ask lots of questions and then make your choice's. In the photo below I used foam for rocks and plaster of Paris over cardboard weave for rolling hills on this part of the layout.
On this (unpainted) rocky cliff. It is heavy screen covered in cement, tile thinset, grout and a few other things I had left over in the bucket while doing renovations. I would finish what I was working on and take the leftovers into the trainroom and slop it on.
Don't forget to post pictures of your progress and good luck.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Welcome to the forums and to model railroading.
You say you have done some studying, so you may already have books on getting started in model railroading and on scenery. If you don't have them, I would suggest you get a couple. They make good references, often have more than one method and will give you a good start on model railroading terms, so that your questions are easily understood. Our host has books listed under SHOP above and your local hobby shop should have some available. (That is IF a local hobby shop is available.)
You will find you prefer some methods over others, yet may use several methods over a layout, as different methods work better in different situations.
As mentioned above, there are a lot of folks here ready to help you along.
Have fun,
Richard
Hi Cahill,
Welcome to the Forums,
Before we go any further here, I would like to know what part of the country you live in. That would make quite an important feature to consider before you lay out any amount of funds.
You have to have a usable space, not only in size but in conditions as well. You may have this all covered already, but we would like to know that you have considered this before going too far.
Hear from you soon We hope.
Johnboy out........................................for now
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Well Im in socal! As for tabletop its a 79"x33" n scale layout. Its based on the red rocks of Utah! I wish I could put pics on here, but havent figured that out yet!! I built up with foam and newspaer, plastic cloth on top, plastered the heck out of it afterward, painted several colors with spray bottles as per a technique I saw on you tube and a friend out of a local train shop, and now pinning and glueing my cork roadbed, not sure about the electrical, haven't done anything with that yet and dont have any track, control or wires bought yet. Could definately use some help on that!
Hey Cahill
Try this:
As has been said that to upload pictures you must create a host such as PHOTOBUCKET www.photobucket.com It is free. After you create your account you merely click on the upload button and then select the picture you want to upload from your computer.
Now you are ready to post that picture to your thread.
There are two ways to insert the picture. The way I like to do it is to click on the direct link box under the picture on photobucket. This automatically copies the link. Then you go to the thread and there is a bar across the top. One of the icons is green and looks like film. Click on this and a window will open with a box to paste the URL that you got from photobucket.
When you click on insert the picture will show up on the thread wherever your cursor is.
I try to have the cursor placed so that I have space above and below the inserted picture.
The second way is to click on image under your picture on photobucket and paste it in your post.
The first way you see the picture before you post and the second after you post.
It's your choice.
It sounds like a big deal but it is actually simple once you get the hang of it.
Hope this helps
I want to see those red rocks....remind me of Sedona
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
Ok so now I've done the photobucket thing and its great!! Very easy to use and heres my pics of my work to date
I liked your rock formations a bit better before the wadded newspaper, but it looks like you are off to a good start.
I'm a "reformed" wargamer as well. There are a lot of similar processes in this hobby, but a few differences as well - one of the best one is they can't change the codex on you and hose all your models.
Give me a shout if you have any specific questions.
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
Cahill, Since this is your first RR layout I offer the following suggestions. First, rule 1 is that it’s your RR and you can do as you please, it’s what you want and like. Your modeling of the rugged red rock country is impressive and shows that you have the skills to create great scenery. A lot of us including me find doing the scenery the hardest part of building the layout. With that said there are some layout procedures that make for a better layout. For example the track road bed needs to be laid on a flat and even surface. Grades are fine but the sub road bed must be suitable. Otherwise you are inviting unwanted derailing and uncoupling problems. Another thing to think about is that a track plan without a purpose can get boring. From what I see your trains will basically be running around through those beautiful rocks and canyons. Just a couple of thoughts but remember rule 1 above. Bob
Cahill,
Since this is your first RR layout I offer the following suggestions.
First, rule 1 is that it’s your RR and you can do as you please, it’s what you want and like.
Your modeling of the rugged red rock country is impressive and shows that you have the skills to create great scenery. A lot of us including me find doing the scenery the hardest part of building the layout.
With that said there are some layout procedures that make for a better layout. For example the track road bed needs to be laid on a flat and even surface. Grades are fine but the sub road bed must be suitable. Otherwise you are inviting unwanted derailing and uncoupling problems.
Another thing to think about is that a track plan without a purpose can get boring. From what I see your trains will basically be running around through those beautiful rocks and canyons.
Just a couple of thoughts but remember rule 1 above.
Thanks for your input!! You're right I created this layout not knowing exactly what was gonna go where! I altered it several times to accomodate enough track, but I did have some industries in mind just wasnt sure how to recreate them, but did wanna show them near my tracks. The plan at moment is to have the middle a logging pond, lol. Not sure if I can recreate a logging mill in Utah, lol, but I can always add a bit more trees and call it colorado. The plateau is really gonna be just for fun with an old west town, but I wanna add a quartz mining facility on the western edge of the plateau, just wont be a turnout. Im thinking also some coaling stations, I wanna do coal mines up in the small flat sections.
As far as the bumpy roadbed, I plan to fill in under the empty cork sections with clear silicone just to keep a solid base. I figure the track glued down to it wont cause any movement or wobble.Especially once the ballast is down to help secure it completely! Just not sure about the electrical components, I wanna run code 55 flex track. I have one turnout where the two tracks will come together then I wanted to do a switch right after! If thats too complicated I can keep the tracks separate or crossing where the will intersect!
Welcome to the worlds greatest hobby. After you get your feet wet so to speak you may find that your favorite aspects of the hobby change. The smartest thing it appears you have done is to build something small while you are gaining experience. On a positive note unless you decide to change scales nearly all of your hobby purchases can be reused on future efforts if you decide you want to pursue different designs in your track plan and layout. Enjoy yourself and remember you can get lots of answers on here, some of them quite good.
Cahill, as one who also models in N scale I very highly recommend that you redo the cork road bed so it is smooth and flat. with no quick transitions from one height to an other.
N scale is not forgiving of badly laid roadbed or track. Cars will uncouple if there are humps that the cars go over as one can drop to low. Or if the track dips to quickly.
I did not heed this and had to redo a lot of track before I could get consistent performance. At least of I have problens it is not the track work
Oh, yeah, have fun
Ken G Price My N-Scale Layout
Digitrax Super Empire Builder Radio System. South Valley Texas Railroad. SVTRR
N-Scale out west. 1996-1998 or so! UP, SP, Missouri Pacific, C&NW.