I am at the stage with the A&N that I am working on towns and such. I have EVERY book that MRM has on buildings and such what I need is some ideas as to HOW to layout the actual town as far as supports and different elevations. My major towns are doing well but the little places are getting to me. What I have looks like a TOY TRAIN so far!!!
I thought I saw an article about this subject so that all your towns are not FLAT. This is what I understand:
1. Use foam core as a base for all buildings, like a foundation.
2. Use Guide blocks on them to locate the building each tine you clean it or update it
That is it, are you stacking foam or using risers for roads or just setting the foundations and building the roads ans such to match. Dumb question but I am a little lost.
I don't know your exact situation, but here are a few things that I've tried when it comes to laying out towns and elevating structures.
If you have a flat surface, like plywood or foamboard, it's fairly easy to draw out your streets with a marker and then work upward from there. If your streets are going to be sloped, then you do need to make separate pads for each building, raising them as you go up the grade. I've used foamboard, pieces of Masonite, Gatorfoam and other materials for the pads. If you go up fairly high, then you pretty much need to use small blocks of wood or foam under the pads to raise them up high enough.
I usually start with the streets. Depending on what I am making the streets from, I might cut out some strips of Masonite or thin plywood to serve as a base for the streets. I then raise the street using strips of wood or small blocks to get it to the desired height. I might then cover that material with a strip of sheet plastic for the finished street surface.
Then, once the street is roughed in, I make the pads for each building. I do that after the street is in, because you now have something to work from. Also, because then I can butt each pad tightly up against the street or sidewalk so that there are no huge gaps between the buildings and sidewalk. You'll also want to butt each pad tightly against the one next to it as you go up the grade. It can be a lot of trial and error, but it's worth it in the end. It's kind of like fitting pieces to a puzzle except that they're not all on the same level.
Another thing to keep in mind is, if your streets slope, then part of each pad will be visible as the foundation of your building, so you will probably want to make sure they're neatly cut and painted (or faced with some type of brick or stone material).
I don't know if this makes sense or helps, but it's how I've done it.
Now if you are working on a open grid, it becomes much more difficult because there is no place to draw a street plan to work from. But I won't go into that right now.
Jim
Jim that is PERFECT that answers where to start and MAKES SENSE. I was trying to drop buildings then fit streets. Now I get it, Thank you!!