The majority of my Google and YT searches lately have been something along the lines of "how can I make this so it doesn't look like a 3rd grader did it?" As I was watching yet another Luke Towan step-by-step on how to create something totally freaking amazing, for the first time I realized that learning this way is kind of a new thing... Up until maybe 10-15yrs ago, I have to imagine that things were VERY different, and you had to do a lot more trial-and-error to get something that looked passable, let alone good. Given the cost of scenery mats and the amount of time it takes to do anything once, I am oddly grateful that I have wanted to do this forever but am just now starting in this hobby. I mean, I put together model airplanes, rockets, and RC cars as a kid, but they all had pretty detailed instructions (and tbh, several still turned out looking like a 3rd grader did it ), nothing that had to be made out of thin air like this. I'm sure there are plenty of guys on this site that helped develop scenery ideas and techniques that are today able to be shared and available to us all, so I think the world owes you all a great big thanks. (was not 100% sure which board to post this to, plz move if it fits better somewhere else!)
> "if i have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" Issac Newton Yes, we have all benefitted from those who came before us. Not just 'How To' but tecnology and building materials. Starter Old but still out there: 4'x8' plywood sheet or ping pong table New: 2'x8' x2" thick foam. Mountains Old: Wire screen. Slightly newer: Cardboard / paper lattice covered with plaster strips / or similar Current: Foarm covered with plaster or scuptamold Could someone else add 'Electronics'
You will have to add the electronics. I know the rest of the old stuff but this computer stuff is something else. Old age must be catching up.
this one hit home for me, quite literally! My father had a bare 4x8 sheet of plywood with a single HO oval on it, a Hills Brothers coffee can (not even remotely painted, btw) cut in half and finned out on the edges for a "tunnel". It didn't come out often, but we would still play with it for HOURS when it did. I always knew paper mache over chicken wire for hills. Aside from that, the rest you just made up as best you could. I think that was what made the really well-done layouts at the State Fair and museums that much more magical.
One of the great things about being kids was that our imaginations filled in where our skills lacked. Poorly built scenery and models were wonderful to our eyes. It's kind of a shame that we lose the happy innocence we once had, where even a simple train set on an oval of track was the source of hours of good times. As I've aged into my 60s, I'm less concerned with perfection than I once was. Prototypical operation still matters, but my declining eyesight makes exacting detail of less importance. Or, perhaps I'm regressing back to a day when less was more.
One of the best aspects of having low vision is that my scenery looks fantastic! ☻ I have to ask my wife 'what color is this?'
That's why I built this "How To" layout for the museum. It shows beginners of all ages how to create a layout when you let your imagination go wild. Don't be picky with details. Just satisfy yourself.
Years go by and things evolve: First "layout", track laid out on the living room floor: First real layout, by my Dad, June 1974: Second real layout, by my Dad, December 1975: Time flies by, and third layout, of my own hands, right now: I learned a lot from my Dad, the manual worker, and my Mom, the artist. I wish they were still around to see this (my Dad would be drooling). And looking at how other do it in magazines and the Internet. And a heck of a lot of inspiration, illumination and improvisation. Best fun I've ever had. And there's still stuff to do!
First layout I had in 1976/7 was a double track oval by my granddad, he put all he could into it like: the famous tin can, this time painted and covered by a kind of gauze kind of painted green and white.... the can was placed on a curve on the external track only ... guess what, no train could run on the inside curve, also because he used the same tracks to make the curves (the inner one was 4 pieces of 36 deg. track instead of five, skewed just enough to make it look like a normal curve). Outrageous but it is still a scene that I cherish..... and my favourite grandparent! I ended up using the external loop only..... with my imagination running.... After that I said, Maurizio it will be up to you, and so I started..... and still it goes....
