If you are going to put plywood round the edge of a baseboard to protect the edges of hills etc, is it better to cut the ply and fit it to the board first, or carve the scenery and then cut the plywood to fit? I can see benefits to both methods. In the meantime I am going to take this 4x2 sheet which I just bought back to B&Q as it has a ruddy great void in one corner!
Stephen.
You should plan the baseboard first and the sides and ends should be part of the baseboard.
If you plan it correctly, you can have a stream/river, a railway crossing a road by a bridge.
Remember the landscape came first and the railway had to be adapted to go through that area.
To many people start the wrong way with a flat baseboard then add the scenery ie hills etc.
You should plan out your baseboard and you can have embankments, streams/rivers, roads etc.
You should never use the flat earth policy and always add trees
If you are only planning to build a factory situation, then the above wnn t apply.
Stan.
Quote from: Stan Williams on January 07, 2020, 16:54
You should plan the baseboard first and the sides and ends should be part of the baseboard.
If you plan it correctly, you can have a stream/river, a railway crossing a road by a bridge.
I have designed it to be on a valley with a stream running diagonally across, down from back to the front. There will be 4 layers of polystyrene at the highest point, going down to the bare baseboard at the front. The track will all be built on a plywood sub base at the level of the first layer so the stream can flow under it, and exit through a cutting.
The backscene is going to have to be detachable for storage.
What I can't decide is do I cut the retaining sides and back (which will be cut to match the cut polystyrene) first and then match the polystyrene to it, or make the hills and then cut the plywood to fit them?
Stephen
No right or wrong method. Sometimes your plans change which means the baseboard edges change! I've done both ways without any issues.
Quote from: Hobby on January 07, 2020, 19:39
No right or wrong method. Sometimes your plans change which means the baseboard edges change! I've done both ways without any issues.
Thanks, that helps :-) I will carve the hills first then add the sides later and fill in the gaps with whatever sculpting material I end up with.
I have a pretty clear idea of what I want so will start by carving out the hills as they were left by the retreating glacier (Its set in N Yorkshire), cut the trackbed out of 3mm ply and then hack the hillside away to make the track fit, just like Navvies would have done :-)
Other considerations are materials used, method and order of construction and how much the panels play a structural role.
For a small portable layout where weight is a big concern minimising the amount of material could be important and the profiled panels might be the actual baseboard sides and an integral part of the structure. In other situations they might be cosmetic and added later.
I'm still looking for a thin, light, rigid, tough, scratch-resistant, easy to cut, smooth material with a good surface finish in the sizes I need that is self-coloured in the shades I want, is easy to attach but also easy to replace if damaged and at a price I can afford, but until then, thin B&Q ply will have to do. :)
I remember my very first proper layout (in OO) in my early teens where I used hardboard sides nailed to the baseboard edges with chicken wire slopes covered in paper mache. It shrank as it dried and bowed the hardboard.
Making a cardboard mockup of the edges might help if you are not sure of the "line". It could serve as a template for both carving the scenery and cutting the profile pieces.
Quote from: GraemeD on January 08, 2020, 08:43
Making a cardboard mockup of the edges might help if you are not sure of the "line". It could serve as a template for both carving the scenery and cutting the profile pieces.
That's not a bad plan, thanks. I will keep that box from the new TV unit for now then. :)
I have decided to go modular to save storage space, each will be 30x10" and live in a Really useful box wrapping paper box. I would have liked to use the Chritsmas tree box, but they are more awkward to store and considerably more expensive.
The first "test module" is on plank of 20mm blockboard, coated with 1" of polystyrene and the track is on a 3mm ply bed. The sides will probably be more of the 3mm ply for now.
Stepehen
The Really Useful Boxes are just that. I'm a little surprised they have not been the basis of one of the several railway modelling competitions. You see no end of them at model railway exhibitions!
Quote from: GraemeD on January 08, 2020, 16:34
The Really Useful Boxes are just that. I'm a little surprised they have not been the basis of one of the several railway modelling competitions.
You are right they are really useful (I have well over 100) and they would make an excellent micro-layout challenge.
BRM did an 00 layout in a box this month and I liked that and went to get one from B&Q, it wasn't until I got home that I realized I had bought the next size down. Theirs was 120x28cm, mine is 88x25 and half the price. They didn't have the bigger one anyway and postage on them is silly so I will carry on with the one I have got, which is actually plenty big enough and easier to store.
My wife bought me a really nice book on modelling 009 and that suggested building in 2-3' modules that can be re-arranged in different sequences so I think I am going to go with that for now.
This first one is going to be a Inglenook terminus, in a fictitious Yorkshire village that used to serve the local farming community with a couple of goods sidings and small platform, but is now part of a heritage line. After that it will be another stretch of scenery with a fiddle yard, an engine depot with repair, workshop facilities, and visors center, a timber yard with visitors center and illegal moonshine still around the back, docks etc.. all in the same boxes I hope.
Ah well that will keep me going until Easter ;D
Stephen