I've done a little work on the layout again . Earlier this summer I painted the concrete ties on my superelevated curves to look more like wooden ties , and did some weathering on the "wooden" tie Unitrack to kind of blend things together . Also added some more ballast to blend the Unitrack into the scenery . Also I've been working on building a locomotive shed . Here it is mostly finished . Just need to add window glass and some smoke jacks to the roof .
Looks awesome, Mike! Do you have some overall shots of your layout? I don't think I've seen it before.
Not only does the track look great, the scenery is really nice too. Looking at it makes me feel like I'm viewing your railroad on a nice warm June day which is great since in Illinois right now, it's barley pushing 26.
Thank you all for the compliments ! Hopefully in the near future I will I will be building a new base with wheels so I can more easily get to the rear side of the layout . Have a few new ideas...... and Noah here is a pic of the over all layout . It's just 38' x 96"
Finished the Loco shed today . Added the smoke jacks and window glass and finished weathering the roof . The walls are made from Foamcore board covered with Evergreen vertical siding painted red with a rattle can , and the roof is Evergreen styrene with masking tape cut into aprox. 3' wide strips and painted flat black from a rattle can . The windows are clear Evergreen plastic with the frames drawn on with a fine tip Sharpie .
Changed the title of this thread . I will be posting photos in the coming weeks as I make a few changes to my layout . Thank you Ken ! AKA BoxcabE50
Mike, super looking layout! It just goes to show that with some careful attention to detail with regards to ballasting and a bit of simple weathering, Kato Unitrack can be made to look pretty good. Unitrack is pretty polarizing amongst modelers, you either love it or hate it, there is no inbetween. But for N scale especially I find that it is perfect. In a scale where "bullet-proof" track is a must for reliable operation, its robust and reliable qualities are a more than an adequate trade-off appearance wise. Just take a close look at the pictures of Mike's layout and see how that gorgeous scenery and diligent attention to the track creates an eye pleasing scene, the track almost becomes irrelevant. Well done!
Thank you again for the very kind words ! I consider Unitrack as just a starting point waiting to be finished . Mike Fifer also does wonderful things with Unitrack , and Noah Lane's Unitrack is simply outstanding ! A couple paint pens will do wonders to weather the ties , then the ballast ties it all together with the rest of the scenery .
Ok I was finally able to construct the new rolling benchwork today and easily slipped it under the layout without any problems . Now I will be able to pull the layout out to work on the backside finally ! Next week I should have some progress photos , I hope.....
Your layout is coming along very nicely Mike. You really did an outstanding job of ballasting the Unitrack. Keep having fun with it. Shades
What ballast did you use if you don't mind my asking? I'm looking at AR&M "Kinzua" but despite the appropriate name for my location, I fear it might be too dark for the Unitrack.
