Designing a simple, basic layout

Webbo · August 03, 2015, 02:24:16 AM

Quote from: saddlers on August 02, 2015, 09:18:40 PM
A great help and thanks. But I find my lack of imagination the biggest problem. The locos works fine and all the wiring seems fine but its featureless. I want to build bridges, goods yards and hills. There is a multitude of goodies in the shops but I really need to start wit a grand design. I would also like to work out how to build ground scenery . My feeling is that I should have designed it all first before laying out the track. My plan is therefore to give my wife the job of drawing out a plan (goods yards etc) and then i can go to town. By the way, I think there is an "n" gauge magazine, if true, how do i get it? Do I "join" up?

Some run flat layouts and concentrate on complex rail plans or operations for interest. Others like running trains through scenery - that's my category. Steve, is what you are looking for the latter set-up with significant topography?

In constructing my scenery I adopted an experimental iterative approach. My basic track plan is a dog bone folded around three sides of a room. This plan was adopted because I wanted continuous running and didn't want a duckunder. Maximum width of the sides of the layout was fixed by reach and the need to return the trains at either end of the dog bone. The left hand leg of my layout I wanted to be hilly terrain so I put in some hills and pushed the planned track route in and out to travel through this terrain in a semi sensible way. This involved installing tunnels, bridges, cuttings and embankments.

Hills etc. are not hard to build once you've decided approximately what you want. There are a number of ways of making hills and other terrain and these are well described in various manuals, web pages etc.. I originally planned to use cardboard strips on a plywood frame all covered with plaster, but I quickly decided this was too inflexible. Now, I use Styrofoam sheets as the basic landform and cover this with plaster cloth and a plaster-type substance called Scupltamold. The great thing about Styrofoam sheeting is that you can cut it or add to it until you get the form you want (i.e. experiment with the shape). I too have a certain amount of difficulty imagining things beforehand.

How flexible are you with the track plan you have presently? Would it be better to start with the features you want to include and put the track through it?

Webbo

D1042 Western Princess · August 03, 2015, 07:59:30 AM

Quote from: Bealman on August 02, 2015, 07:29:17 AM

If you are painting, even a simple blue sky background is better than nowt. Use heaps and heaps of white. Start with blue at the top, making it lighter and lighter downwards, until at the bottom or near the horizon, it is amost white.

You are thinking of Australian skies, Bealman. For a typical British summer I would be inclined more towards grey!

paulprice · August 03, 2015, 08:04:20 AM

I use grey on my layout for the sky, living in the North West I wonder where I got the inspiration?

saddlers · August 03, 2015, 09:08:29 AM

Good idea, I'm away for a few days and will have a go when i get back. By the way, I know of this forum (obviously!!) but didn't realise there was an organisation behind this which I would like to join. I'll check the links and see where that gets me.
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/Smileys/NGF/thankyousign.gif

railsquid · August 03, 2015, 09:22:41 AM

Quote from: saddlers on August 03, 2015, 09:08:29 AM
Good idea, I'm away for a few days and will have a go when i get back. By the way, I know of this forum (obviously!!) but didn't realise there was an organisation behind this which I would like to join. I'll check the links and see where that gets me.
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/Smileys/NGF/thankyousign.gif

The NGS (society) and NGF (forum) are independent of each other, though there is a lot of overlap in membership.

saddlers · August 03, 2015, 09:25:55 AM

I hadn't realised that. I have now and will sign up for membership when i get home next week. Thanks for your help.

Bealman · August 03, 2015, 09:42:00 AM

Thanks for providing that point of info, Squiddy.

I guess it is easy for a newcomer to mix up NGS with NGF!

saddlers, once again, welcome to the forum, and there are heaps of resources available to get you going in this wonderful hobby.

Papyrus · August 03, 2015, 10:49:43 AM

I think it's important not to get too bogged down with this. Unless you are modelling a real location almost anything goes so long as it looks plausible. My layout is still in its very early stages - the track is down and the location of the station and canal are fixed. Anything else is subject to alteration. I have a number of buildings salvaged from my previous layout of long, long ago plus more recent purchases, and I will probably dot them about the layout and move them around until they look right. Looking at the real world also helps. For example there will often be shops near the station, even if it's only a newsagent. Take a few photos in and around railways to give you ideas to work from. If at a later date something doesn't look right, you can always change it.

Relax. Be happy.

Cheers,

Chris

D1042 Western Princess · August 03, 2015, 11:03:08 AM

Quote from: Papyrus on August 03, 2015, 10:49:43 AM
I think it's important not to get too bogged down with this. Unless you are modelling a real location almost anything goes so long as it looks plausible. My layout is still in its very early stages - the track is down and the location of the station and canal are fixed. Anything else is subject to alteration. I have a number of buildings salvaged from my previous layout of long, long ago plus more recent purchases, and I will probably dot them about the layout and move them around until they look right. Looking at the real world also helps. For example there will often be shops near the station, even if it's only a newsagent. Take a few photos in and around railways to give you ideas to work from. If at a later date something doesn't look right, you can always change it.

Relax. Be happy.

Cheers,

Chris

I agree with Chris, in particular that so long as it looks right is all that matters. For examples if building an LNER or BR(ER) layout set in Norfolk or Lincolnshire DON'T put a mountainous backdrop (

) or flat lands for a layout based in the North or West Scotland (

) and you should be alright!
It's the 'impression' which counts, not so much the detail.

P/S One important detail to watch out for in background scenes if purchased from a shop is the 'out of date' details which might need to be hidden by a building or clump of trees.
Example: Few people actually like 'wind farms' but they are now part of the landscape. They are 'acceptable' for 'modern layouts' but out of place for anything 'historical', even as recent as the 1980s in most cases. Look carefully for such out of place detail because if you don't find it the first visitor to your layout will!

Webbo · August 03, 2015, 11:15:15 AM

I think we have at least three different interpretations of Steve's original query running here simultaneously.

Steve, I forgot to mention in my last post - I share common ground with you as I also have a history with Trix Twin - yay!. I still have a couple of TTR locos that are running mentioning this at the risk of adding yet another variation on this thread.

Webbo

Bealman · August 03, 2015, 11:29:16 AM

Agree. Breathe the air, smell the roses, so to speak!

George

Biggy · August 03, 2015, 10:31:33 PM

I agree with all the above.
i always seem to start with laying track that I think will be interesting to operate and then try & squeeze buildings etc in after. But I enjoy it and its only for me so I dont worry.
My biggest fear is that one day I may finish my layout. then what would I do!!

lil chris · August 04, 2015, 01:58:21 AM

Do the same as me Biggy, dismantel it and start again. To be honest I had not even finished mine, but layout number two is in the planning something I did not do last time.

Biggy · August 04, 2015, 08:39:37 AM

QuoteDo the same as me Biggy, dismantel it and start again. To be honest I had not even finished mine, but layout number two is in the planning something I did not do last time.

Yes indeed. I have about six possible new layouts planned

Back to the main topic. I waited a long time before I started my layout when I returned to the hobby because I was not confident about my ability to build a good baseboard. In the end I just gave it. Go. They're not exhibition standard but they work So my advice is just give it a go. Also do visit exhibitions to get ideas and read up on real railways and you will soon have more ideas than you can use.

Newportnobby · August 04, 2015, 10:10:41 AM

Hi Saddler,
An easy way to get to grips with scenery is to have a look at the 'Woodland Scenics' tutorials on YouTube (just type in Woodland Scenics). Other scenic scatters, bushes, trees etc are out there but it will give some great pointers as to how to apply scenic materials.
This forum is also a great source of ideas and 'how to's' so don't be afraid to ask 'the collective'