Having no room for a permanent layout I have to resort to being portable, something that I can put up for a couple of weeks or so and then back into storage for a while. Not happy with this kind of model railroading but it's either that or nothing. My first portable is a 4X4 layout with a few places for switching and even a passenger station. The thing that really excites me was to have an engine facility and a small intermodal area all impossible on the 4X4. So finally after 6yrs I decided to make something where those were a possibility, hence portable #2, a hollow core layout which easily holds both. Here's a few pics from start to almost finish.
That is FANTASTIC for a portable! Great work and continue the dream. Eventually you'll get your permanent layout.
Did you use Unitrack for this? It looks great, better than I have seen it look on other layouts. Did you modify it at all? (paint it or ballast it etc)
Yes sir, Unitrack on this one and the 4X4, really expensive but well worth it. I airbrushed the track with rust color and then ballasted and then hit the ballast with an airbrushing of weathered black . I pretty much like how everything came out and after adding some grass and weeds along the side of the ballast all down the tracks I was really happy with the look. I have a Mi Jack crane that I bought probably 15yrs ago still sitting unassembled in the box waiting to be assembled, never thought I would have a place for it, sure am happy I do now.
Yeah the main thing is to get the extra ballast applied in a uniform way rather than just scattered about. I used a thin piece of plastic about a half inch to three quarters of an inch away from the track about four inches long while gently applying the ballast .
Hi Thomas, Your portable layout looks great. I understand your dilemma, I too have a 24" x 80" Hollow Core Door layout that is currently setup in our spare bedroom. Mine can stay up until we get company, then it has to be stored in the master bedroom closet. The downside is our layouts have to be portable because of space constraints, but the plus side is we have a layout. I like your backgrounds, are they attached to the Hollow Core Door?
How are you doing your road's? They look really nice, and I am alway's confused about size for N Scale road's! Is it just paint, styrene, etc... and thanks!
The background scenery is just a photo backdrop and is attached with screws and comes off as does everything else except the track. I really like your scenery a lot, wish I could put some height in my ground scenery but I think I would have problems when it come time to place my hands to grab hold of the layout to move it. for this reason everything is flat. How do you move yours without damaging the earth scenery on the hilly section. I'm a one man show when it comes to moving mine.
Is a hard cover with carry handles an option? That's what I'm going to do with my 2'x4' layout, but since a door is a lot bigger that might add too much to the weight and bulk. I had a mishap moving things around the house and it ended up... a little bit flatter on top than it was meant to be. I only lost three small structures and a bunch of trees... I couldn't imagine picking the pieces up and starting over if that had happened to something door-sized, or if I'd had any actual terrain features to squish. The new/rebuilt one has to have some protection against my own clumsiness, or I'm through with layouts until I have room for something permanent. I should have thought of that in the first place.
The weight is a factor along with the bulkiness, I have to keep everything to a minimum while transporting from the garage to the spare bedroom.
My roads are .020" Evergreen Styrene sheet. For my roads I modeled 10' lanes, 20' total road size or 1-9/16" total width. I modeled 5' berms (3/8") using fine ballast. Common lane size today is a 12' lane, so if you're modeling a modern road you'll want a 24' wide road, plus 8' berms. The roads are painted Polly S concrete gray. Since Testors has stopped producing the Polly S line of paint, a couple of good substitutes are Model Master 4875-Aged Concrete and 4876-Flat Concrete. The roads are then weathered with a wash of isopropyl alcohol that has a few drops of black paint added and mixed well. Remember, several light coats of a wash are better than one coat. You have better control of the weathering with several lights coats. The lines are pin striping tape, but if or when I redo any of my roads, I'm going to try the try the Woodland scenics yellow and white Road Striping color pens. It was a little fiddly to get the pin striping tape to look correct on some of my sharper curves.
Thank you so much for the info, much appreciated. I looked on your media page and see a great picture, but was looking for a close up of your road's and parking area's Anyway you can provide some picture's, if you don't mind? I also have two bases 2' x 4' to form an L if need be, and the one for the L stores under the bed when not in use. So I guess I am a portable guy too. I alway's have to be ready to store them ( hide them ) if need be. Luckily I really never have too much, except the L
My buildings (except the gas station), trees, phone poles, signs and highway vehicles are all removable. The mountains are hard shell and are very strong but don't add a lot of weight The hill at the highest point is only 6" high and since the door is only 24" wide, it's very easy to pick up and move the entire Hollow Core Door into the closet.
It was actually between THERR Trailer and THERR RV. Always have to run trains ! THERR RV is alive and well...
