Making a small layout using Rokuhan track. I was inspired by the HO layouts by Dad made when I was young and the recent N scale layout my Dad made for my son. This will be my first layout from scratch so comments are welcome. I want it to be really light and portable so mounted it on a foam core posterboard base and 1/2" plys of foam for the layout. I couldn't find the pink or green foam core at Home Depot so settled with styrofoam, although a bit messier due to the styrene balls it seems to be forming nicely. To do: 1) finish contouring the hills with a cutting blade 2) glue everything together using liquid nails 3) foam putty to smooth out the hills 4) layer of plaster 5) base paint: heather grey under the roadbed, blue water, mixture of grey/green/brown everywhere else 6) road paving using woodland scenics kit 7) grass turf application using woodland scenics kit 8) realistic water using woodland scenics kit 9) holes for track cables, and laying in the track 10) trees/foilage/people/cars/boats
Hi. Looks good. May I suggest a more rigid baseboard than the one you are using. 1/2" foamcore or Gatorboard would give you a much sturdier platform. It is easy to work with and can be totally water-based construction. Jim
I agree....1/2" or even better 3/4", 1", or 2" XPS foam board (the pink or blue foam board available at most home improvement centers in 4x8 sheets that are easily cut down to smaller size) will be a much better choice. Also, those small radius Rokuhan turnouts have very limited capabilities. Hopefully you aren't planning to run the majority of Z locos/rolling stock through them. Anything from the Rokuhan "Shorty" family should be fine though.
It does look good though. What I would do different is make the river go off to the left through a cut through the mountains, and use a couple plate girder bridge there, then I would consider a Rokuhan turntable on the right and build a smakk servicing yard there. Also I would add a crossover between the inner and outer loops. Either way, you can build it up however you like, and modify it later as desired. That's the beauty of building your own layout, you can build your miniture world however you like.
Been working on this build lately. I did increase the base to thicker foam core and also changed out the outer loop turnouts to curved R195 turnouts as my GP-38 wasn't able the make the R55 turnouts without derailing. Working on the water next.
Stayed up late last night spending some more time on the layout. First time doing the realistic water, it's been quite fun to see it come alive.
Hi grymg, indeed, wonderful how soil and green make it come alive! Must 've been a fun night. Love the water inlet, however the mountainspring does look a bit too much like a waterslide park, if I may say so.. Maybe dull down the blue a bit? Check out what Steffen B did with kitchenpaper to create a nice river. Matt
Here she is with the trains running! I'm planning on doing a reset on the lake, needs more blue and I agree the hill runoff needs to be worked on. I also said I would leave it at just mostly a scenery build but I couldn't help myself and placed an order for a dock, silo, people, cars, boats and other trackside details.
Thanks, I mounted it on Elmer's 36" x 48" tri-fold foam display board. I just kept it folded in and glued the layers together for more strength.
Congrats! You have completed your first scratchbuilt layout in less than a month! Now that it is done, you will come to realize that a layout is never really done. There are a million things you can do next. You can try you hand at scratchbuilding some detailed trees, weather the bridges with bits of rust, add street signs and lamp posts, etc. It just goes on and on.