Read about building a scene at the workbench to make it easier to get at everything-tried it, love it! It was a 22"x18" townhouse neighborhood that i wanted to have LOTS of trees-Shady Lanes Townhouses. I was able to wrestle 28 big shade trees amoungst 19 townhouses with no trouble, no leaning, no squishing other stuff. Since i'm moving soon, i don't even need to glue it in place on my module-just remove when time to leave and put in a big box. I love it! I'm already starting my next scene the same way. Curt
I do a mixture of this type of construction. I just scratch built an adobe-style church that was entirely constructed on the workbench. I mounted it on foam board and then "cut it in" to the surrounding scenery. It is alot easier to work this way, better light etc. Glad to hear it was a success for you too!! Happy Modeling!! John
This thread is very timely! I'm about to embark on finishing a model using a baseboard just as you have done. It will make it easier for transportation. Where did you read about this? Gary.
Sorry Gary, but i have about 50 back issues of Model RRer that i rotate thru the bathroom[some of my best reading gets done in there], and i have no idea where this idea came from. I built my first module on two pieces of that multi-layered [flat pieces of plastic with a corregated layer sandwiched in between] sign plastic. I used that because i got about 20 pieces 24"x24" that were used to advertise a Payless/cashways going out of business for free when the store closed. I turned the two layers so the corregation ran in oppsite directions to make it stiffer. It is a very "slippery" plastic, so i spray prime it first so paint will stick to it. It glues great with heavy duty hot glue-i use it a lot for scratch building projects. If thickness of the base is not important, i agree with the gentleman above that insulation foam board-1"-is a great material to use as a base as well. Curt
This way of modeling goes way back. I can remember my Dad when he setup “The” trains set for Christmas, he always the “scenes” in another box. I would watch him unpack and carefully place each module in its assigned place. Now that I am doing my own trains set in Foam it makes the whole setup easier. I cut an piece of foam the exact size needed for a specific area on the layout, wire it, and do everything before it goes on the layout. In the event I want to chage something, I just pop it up and back to the bench. It ahs worked well for me and now my kids are doing the same. Good luck
Saw a great idea along these lines at the NMRA convention. Build your building (or the whole block as this guy was doing) and a sheet of styrene. He cut holes in the bottom of the styrene for lights. Then took a second sheet of styrene the same size as the first with lights mounted on short and/or tall stalks to match up with the buildings. So on the layout there were holes for the wires, then the light "module" sits on the layout and plugs in, then the buliding 'module' sits on top. Since his layout was mounted high, the joints were easy to hide. Makes working on the buildings or the lighting easy to do at the workbench.
Hi Guys, Nice to hear that I´m not alone with building in small modules or pieces and then place it on the layout. I can show some examples of that method at http://medlem.tripodnet.nu/kri1938/rrp10.htm with the items: roundhouse, control tower, and chemical plant, or http://medlem.tripodnet.nu/kri1938/landscape.htm with a landscape demo module. Enjoy! -------- Helge SR&WF NARA member #5
You guys came up with a goody this time! I think I may have read something about this method carved in stone while I was in a cave in France. Wont buy that one? Well, I'm going to try your idea myself, if Helge, Curt and John say it works, that's good enough for me!
Interestingly enough, i happen to know that that cave drawing you saw was actually drawn on rock found OUTSIDE the cave, then installed in the cave upon completition! Amazing how far this method goes back. I was fortunate enough to have not glued down my townhouse community, so when i just moved into my new mobile home/ model RR home, i just picked it off the module and carried it lovingly in the front seat of my Jeep to it's new home-paid off already! BTW, it's great having a 70'x16' portable layout i can live in too. Curt
Hey Curt, all you need now is a siding to park your "Portable Layout-House" on. I guess if you had an automatic timer on your coffee pot, the train could blow the whistle to wake you up, couple on a tank car, make a run to fill the tanker. Meanwhile, a crack express is dashing toward the bedroom pulling flats loaded with a cup, saucer, and spoon, tanker of cream, and a condola of sugar. When your coffee arrives, you can send them all back to clear the track for twin BigBoys to haul the world's largest half-donut lashed to another depressed center flat car. Man it is really a tough life you lead! Mine brings me medicine, handkerchiefs, castor oil, and roll-aids. What a life. Don't retire and get old! At my age when I blow my whistle, the neighbors all close their windows, (they think I'm running my trains). My wife keeps asking me, "Isn't a steamer supposed to go Toot-Toot, instead of poot-poot?
Well Watash, what if i take your idea a little farther and purchase a 70' flatcar, build a ramp up to the end of it on my siding, hook up a winch and haul my mobile aboard whenever i want to take a trip? One small change to getting that giant doughnut on my RR is it would be delivered by doubleheaded GG-1Ds. Taker easy and keep steam alive. Curt
Curt, I was a designer for a company back in the 50's whose owner wanted to make a "House-Boat-Trailer". His idea was to have retractable wheels, so he could launch it onto a lake and have a houseboat. He had a boat architect design a hull 8' wide (hiway limit) by 40' with place for twin outboards. I designed the retractable wheels, and it looked and worked great. We patterned the superstructure along the lines of a Wheeler Cruiser. It was the show piece of the lake, until he sold it. Maybe the Navy would allow you docking room?
You read my mind Watash[course, what would you expect from a Texan-i went to college there and got smarter than i ever thought i could]. I have been seriously thinking about getting some kind of house boat hull that could have a deck constructed to hold my mobile firmly in some sort of shallow well-that way when the hurricanes come to the Keys, we could wincher on board, battener down and go out to sea 45 degrees oppsite the direction of the hurricans path and fish and model RR till things blew over. I'm serious about this-what's your thoughts? Curt [ 05 July 2001: Message edited by: rmathos ]
Curt, it is technically feasable, but the expense might be over-whelming at today's prices. You asked, and it is a pleasent thought, so here is what I know and think about it, besides that was early 1950's, and I'm 70 now. If you are going to be in the Florida Keys, how much time would you have to travel to your destination after you received the first alert? The logistics are a huge factor. Some big seaworthy ships don't travel fast enough to outrun a hurricane. ( I went to Texas City to bid on a cabin cruiser that had been a victum of Hurricane Carla. The owner had it tied along side a dock. He was out of state when the first alert came, so the boat was washed against the dock, knocking a 4 foot by 8 foot hole just at the water line. It sunk, and the insurance company had hoisted it out to dry, and was auctioning it off. My intent was to tow it up to west Texas where I lived at the time, and re-build it over time. I lost the bid, it sold for around $1,800.00 Cash. It was a 38footer, twin Grey Marine diesels, etc. Lots of work. I learned then that even though it was a $10,000.00 boat, the salvage value isn't much because restoration is almost all labor and time, and it would not be licensed sea worthy for ocean travel afterwards.) You have to get a Skipper's Ticket to operate on a river, like the Mississippi, even if you are a non-powered house boat. You come under a whole new set of inspections and requirements for that, and a permanent address, dock or property. You have to have a Mariner's Ticket to take a boat out on the open ocean, even in the Gulf. Your vessel has to pass Maritime inspection, and (at that time) there was no class to qualify a houseboat type vessel for seagoing use. It has to be registered by the Harbormaster and Country for a home port. This means the average mobil home can not pass any kind of seaworthy inspection. Lakes, yes, ocean, no. Sorry. Lets assume it could, for now. The mobile home is very heavy compared to how a sea worthy cabin would be built, being built on a steel frame with wheels, so the hull would have to be wide with high freeboard. Without going into the numbers, for a 16 x 70 footer, we are probably talking about 35 foot beam, 100 foot length at water line, and at least 16 foot freeboard. Displacement would depend upon over-all weight, and hull shape below water. The wave action could break the keel, so extra strength will have to be designed in to support the "Trailer" to prevent breaking the frame when the hull flexes. The whole thing could roll (list) say to starboard far enough for your trains to roll over off the layout, the the boat could roll back to port rolling the trains off onto the deck. Ocean water spray will coat all your trains with salt soon, so constant cleaning and oiling will be required. You may not have any time left for sailing away from the Hurricane! You got to save the trains! A friend who had a 64 foot Matthews Cruiser, had constant trouble just trying to keep his rifles and engines in useable order because of salt contamination and constant high humidity. But, not to be discouraged, you could hook on and tow the Mobile Home to an inland lake and not have the same problems. You might have to get a boating license and maybe a docking fee, but that might be all. I do not know about insurance. Some lakes will not allow you to live on the boat, and others require you to own the property you tie up to, if you live aboard. The one I was talking about was specifically built for both road and water, lake water, and only for week end recreational use. There were almost no restrictions back them, and no requirements, so long as you did not take paying passengers. It would not have been allowed on a navagitable river even back then with just two outboard motors on it. (You have to be able to go up stream to get out of the way of barge traffic, see?) Maybe buy a surplus boat, and build a layout down in the hull? You could live up in the deckhouse.
Thanks much for the insights, Watash. I guess the one thing i didn't think about, even if all the other variables worked out, would be dealing with the corrosive nature of the ocean air-love to smell it, but it is all too mean on metal! It will be tough enough to deal with in the Keys, but short of encasing the deck with a dome of plastic and having an airlock entrance, model RRing at sea doesn't seem very practical. Also understand about all that weight of mobile on top of deck being impractical-guess i'll go with having a hurricane proof house built and include an enclosure for my mobile-either that or get a surplus small tanker,hmmm...-sealed large enclosure... Curt
