Hello all, new here from Tucson, AZ. I am in the process of procuring a 4'x8' sheet of plywood for my first official layout in N Scale. I will be searching for the latest and greatest in DCC since I have not been too involved in the hobby since high school and I am sure a ton has changed!
Hi New Guy, Welcome, happy to have you on board. You're right, a lot has changed in the past 20-30 years, especially in N-Scale. Sorry, I assumed you are older than you actually are. Most of us didn't get back to modeling until after our kids finished high school, and our wives "allowed" us to have one of the spare bedrooms...LOL
I'm "only" 25, my dad and I were supposed to build a layout in our garage...we got about 60% of the way done and unfortunately it just kind of fizzled out. I still have a ton of stuff left over from that adventure, and did not want it to go to waste so I figured I would start now. 4x8 is a good size for an N scale layout and I can move it relatively easily if I have to. Thanks for the welcome!
Welcome to TrainBoard! If you have not already acquired that plywood, you might also consider the popular "HCD" (hollow core door) concept. Yes. Plenty has changed in the time noted. Quality moving well upward, especially.
Welcome aboard, elbaldwino. Hmm, you have Baldwin in your name--family name? Or fan of Baldwin locomotive works?
Family name is Baldwin. Spent six years in the Marine Corps and got stuck with the nickname baldwino...so elbaldwino turned into my usernames on a lot of forums haha.
Welcome to our gathering, Marine. Good to have you with us. In addition to the HCD suggestion, you may also consider modular (NTrak or TTrak) formats for the ease of portability. Poke around a bit and you should find some inspiration!
The wood has already been procured :-( I have looked at doing ntrak as well and will likely build a module once I've practiced on my layout. I will be making a build thread down in n scale land in the next couple of weeks. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Thanks for your service in a tough time to be in the military . Welcome to TB and the world of N scale . It will be all you hoped for and more !!! Semper Fi Marine ! ( I can do that my brother is a Marine, I was in the Army ) :teeth:
I'll go ahead and second that one, welcome indeed :-D The guys here are right, HCD is a great place to start, but what you're doing is still an excellent way to do things. The important thing is you're not biting off more than you can chew, it's small enough to be portable, but big enough to allow you a large canvas upon which to work. My first layout back in '11 was HCD sized, which was soon scrapped in favor of my current 4'x8' layout, and I am very happy for the extra space: wider minimum radius for better looking trains, more room for scenery, and greater scene separation. I look forward to seeing your build thread, as I'm sure others are!
A build thread will most likely be started this weekend, I have the 4'x8' installed on folding legs and have a track plan picked. Thanks for the warm welcome folks!
