One of the great planning fall backs is, when stuck, just copy the prototype. I’d been struggling with one aspect of composing the foreground structures. Specifically, if I put a row of foreground structures end to end on 50th street it would be difficult to see the background structures. The solution? Remove every other foreground […]
Category: Model Railroad Design
Damn
Damn. The last thing I wanted to do was have to modify the bench work. After a few days of rationalization I swallowed the bitter pill, realized I hadn’t made it deep enough, and added an extension which adds three inches to the depth. In the continual quest to be more effective in our […]
Urban Backdrop Transitions
The transition from layout to backdrop is dicey even under the best of circumstances. Moving from a three dimensional flat layout surface to a two dimensional backdrop surface perpendicular to the eye, typically leaves the viewer with the subconscious nagging that “this just isn’t real”. If we are lucky we model a rural area and can […]
LAJ Prototype Map
Here’s a map of the prototype area I finally chose to use as the basis for the LAJ switching layout. It took quite a few hours of (enjoyable) virtual rail fanning via Google Maps and Bing Maps to finally settle on a location. I’m satisfied, however, that I’ve finally found an area that embodies the look […]
Scene Composition
How do you learn how to compose a scene? It’s a very pertinent question and one that was asked by a visitor that dropped by today. It was also a hard one to answer because it’s more art than science, more of “I know it’s right when I see it” sort of thing. Scene composition […]