A micro layout thirty years in the imagination, about 24 hours of build time using Bachmann's excellent Auto Reverse system. It measures five feet by four inches, and will neatly tuck into my compact hatchback for transport to train shows. It literally runs itself. About 95% done, got a few more details like a vending machine and such like before I call it done. Hooks on the topside will allow storage on the leading edge of my 4x8 layout. I am not particularly keen on photo-realism, certainly not a craftsman, the goal was to create a memory of a time and place from youth, in a land far, far away and long ago. Neither a great fan of urban decay, though some enlightened folks consider graffiti to be folk art. My association with it is of gang violence and rampant drug addiction, so I think we'll let that one pass for now. I used burned aluminum foil and scrap decals crumpled and wetted with super glue for HO scale trash, and some splinters from bamboo skewers. Obligatory grease stains from my daughter's paint set.
I really like it, and congratulations on making it a reality! I also have a subway dream over 30 years old (Frankfurt, Germany- lived there as a military brat from late elementary through Jr High so I'd travel those trains to downtown Frankfurt just about every week) With the advent of 3D printing I finally have the tools myself to make it happen. I'll be looking into that Bachmann system now that I see how you've applied it. Again, awesome job! -Mike
I also have a urban transit plan. I want to model the Philadelphia transit system, with elevated, trolley and subway trains. So I'm looking at three levels, the elevated rail, street and underground. I'm trying to figure how to model it. It looks like sections of your subway has a plastic covering to see thru. Its a good idea hat I hadn't thought of and if you don't mind I'll try to use it in my model. Good job.
acptulsa, I don't plan to run it in pvc. I'm just trying to find the best way to model it. The clear piping is interesting but like you said its hard to reach problem areas.
I don't blame you. Hey, everyone! Come see my invisible trains! Or listen to them, anyway... Yes. Chops has the advantage of wanting a micro layout. The tube is nice because it gives the feeling of the tunnels. The prototype (at least in London) is called The Tube, after all. Your three level layout sounds an interesting challenge. You could do worse than PVC pipe. Even after you cut a slice out and make it C shaped instead of O shaped (for viewing and access), it's strong enough to hang straight between supports, and gives you round walls to paint concrete gray. I can't think of anything right now strong enough to lay along the bottom to make the floor flat and attach track to. Most things would be too thick. But that would make a little conduit in the bottom for wires.
Certainly using Lexican would have a certain interest, like an ant farm, but the problem would be getting inside it. Now every thing under the track will be exposed, and not look very good. Putting stuff down an enclosed tube one will have the back of the subway wall and its adhesive to admire, and virtually everything else will require the skill needed to build a ship in a bottle. Hacking out a view port, as it was, allows for the the train to appear and disappear, much in the manner of a view break. In retrospect, my biggest challenges were procrastination and being able to cut a straight line. I suppose cutting a straight line could be accomplished with a specialized brace or even a jig, and/or an expensive rotary saw, none of which makes a lot of sense for the amount of specialized sawing I do. For this, I used a loose hacksaw blade and tried not to veer all over the place. As to procrastination, I had initially blew a wad of cash on a product by Heathcote. It might seem that Mr. Heathcote runs stuff out of his garage, and from the UK he sent me a motherboard and a whole bunch of sensors. Fortunately, the schematic was fairly simple, so even a blockhead such as myself could connect up the two dozen contacts in a series, but not until it was installed did I figure out, after several trouble shooting emails to Mr. Heathcote that perhaps one of the sensors was bad. During this time I had unwired and rewired the whole skunk works to see if perhaps I had mislaid a single strand, but no, Mr. Heathcote apologized and sent me an extra chip that was missing from the motherboard. By this point I was done in, and put it on FeeBay where it auctioned off for a dollar. Well, from conception to finished project it only took twenty years.