So yesterday, during the Super Bowl blow-out, I got to wondering if anyone has incorporated a football stadium or field into a layout. I couldn't find any, although I found a couple of baseball stadiums on layouts that had been used for football, too (Ebbets Field in O scale, Forbes Field in S), and one layout in Wisconsin that has a combined baseball/football stadium (depending on the season). And I found the gentleman above, who made a model of the former Giants stadium.
Anyone know of any layouts that have a football stadium? There are lots of layouts with baseball fields (mostly sandlots).
Anyway, more photos and thoughts can be found on my blog post (written as the game was underway) at http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-super-bowl-football-stadiums-and.html
John Longhurst, Winnipeg
P.S. As a Canadian, I don't care who wins; I was just cheering for a good game.
That stadium was 756 feet long, which would scale down to 8.7 feet in HO. That's an awfully large space to devote to a model that has nothing to do with trains. I did some math about the picture above. His scale was about 1:37.5, or a bit larger than O scale.
Some of the club modular layouts I see at train shows have sporting events. There's one that has a nice little league sized games, with appropriately-sized bleacher seats. My favorite is a corner module with a soccer game. It's actually only half the field, with the center line up against a mirror to provide the other end.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
That soccer field was at the Amherst show (too bad you were sliding downhill Mr B). Very well done from my viewpoint. I have the feeling little folks could see themselves, with their viewing angle.
Have fun,
Richard
That's why there are Z and N scales. If you like large scenic elements, a small scale is the best way to go. Unless you're building a diorama.
Enjoy
Paul
Or if one really wants to consume some space for sporting arenas there is the NASCAR Martinsville Speedway right off the main line of the Norfolk Southern. They re-aligned the track about 10 years ago so the speedway could expand. I always thought if I ever got wealthy enough I would have them drop in a siding so I could go to the races in my private varnish. Never really gave a 2nd thought to "modeling" it though.
Sure size is a problem, but did anyone think about the cost of building such a large structure? Not to mention the amount of time it would take. You could build a nice industrial area with lots of switching possibilities instead and would still have money left over for locomotives and rolling stock.
I don't know if it counts for what you're looking for, or as a "football stadium", but Minitiar Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany has a soccer stadium, with moving players on the field, stadium full of fans and flashing bulbs, and a "jumbotron" with the soccer game going...
Happy RR'ing!
Duane
I'm planning to put a little bit of a 1950's NASCAR dirt track on my future layout.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I have a small group of kids playing baseball in a vacant lot on my layout but that's about all I have room for... An N scale football stadium would be as big as my entire layout!.
Tracklayer
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
The largest town on my layout is big enough that in the era I am modeling(1950s), it likely would have had a minor league baseball team as well as an indoor arena. I quickly figured that even a minor league ballpark would eat up far more real estate than I could spare. I originally planned to create a low relief background structure for the indoor arena which while doable was still a little too ambitious for me.
The solution was to make both a backdrop structure. The internet is filled with such pictures but finding one with the correct perspective was the challenge. I soon found an arena that looked correct for the era. Finding the right ballpark took quite a search. The problem is that most of the ballparks in that era were downtown where it was difficult to get the right perspective. The photographer simply had to be too close to the stadium. Adding to the difficulty was I wanted a stadium that would double as a football field for the local university. I finally found a picture of Cleveland's old municipal statdium taken from behind the centerfield scoreboard and the far side of the parking lot which gave enough depth of field to make it acceptable. Since this was one of the largest major league ball parks around, I needed to shrink it's size to be appropriate for a minor league ballpark. I had to Photoshop out the cars that were of the wrong era.
Neither picture was very high resolution and I had to expand them to print across several sheets of paper which further reduced the sharpness, but since they are backdrop photos, that isn't a problem.
Here are pictures of the two sports venues: