Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[John]

I still have a few fit and finish issues, but so far, I'm very happy with the results.  I've done a lot of roads in styrene, which I also like, but I'm not convinced they're the best, at least not for this project.

Rule 1 certainly applies ..

[peteski]

That White Tower rocks! Sucks I missed out on it...


Jeff

Missed out?  They were always made to order - I think you can still get them from ESM.

If not, ask Bryan B. and maybe he will print one for you.

UPDATE: still available - see http://www.esmc.com/9150/Item9150.html

[Philip H]

I've actually got some 1mm foam I'm going to do some roads with as well.  when I do I'll post the link to the article I am following.

Where'd you get your paint markers - they don't seem to be leaping off the shelves at me in the store I frequent most.

[wm3798]

Ben Franklin in Easton.  They're re Marker ably good for this application!

[wm3798]

Added the street elevations to Boston Street and Linwood Ave.  Also laid in the yard tracks.





I still have to level the structures.  I plan to do that by cutting a 3/16 piece of plywood I have leftover from the kitchen remodel to make the basic block, then build up the foundations to street level using 1/4" foamcore and 1/16 balsa.  Some Evergreen sheet stryrene will provide the sidewalks and mask the joint between the street and the structures.  Of course, building up the blocks will include ridiculous amounts of detailing, weathering and lighting.


I left a channel between the foam base to run wires back to the two switch machines at the rear of the layout.  Once that's wired up, I'll laminate the black foam roadway to a piece of styrene for stability, then attach the whole thing permanently.  I'll have to get some N scale man hole covers to make sure DPW can get to the wires if they need to!



One of the photo angles I'm looking forward to teasing out.

Lee

[mcjaco]

I'll laminate the black foam roadway to a piece of styrene for stability,

The why not just use styrene for the streets??? 

I'm not digging the look of the foam.  I know it's a first past, but it just looks 80's N scale.

[wm3798]

...but I'm from the 80s!

If I was doing concrete streets, I'd be doing styrene.  I like the texture the foam gives me for asphalt.  Let's see how it goes.

Some styrene roads I've done previously...









That's a styrene deck on the bridge, and drywall mud roads approaching from both ends.

I'm a fan... don't get me wrong.. just wanted to try something different, and I suspect that if I hadn't said it was foam, there wouldn't be much said...

Lee

[eric220]

One of the photo angles I'm looking forward to teasing out.

Not sure how the Doctor will feel about being front and center like that.

[nsbob]

Lee:
Check out Dan Crowley's website.  I find he uses foam to make very realistic roads.  It involves more work but I like the results.  I plan to use this method for making roads for my layout.
 http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm

[mcjaco]

Lee:
Check out Dan Crowley's website.  I find he uses foam to make very realistic roads.  It involves more work but I like the results.  I plan to use this method for making roads for my layout.
 http://www.telusplanet.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm

Bingo. 

I used foam for roads on the layout I built as kid.  They looked too porous to me back then, and that's the feeling I'm getting looking at these.  The streets are going to be a major scenic element in this project (which I love), so I feel they need plussing.

[Philip H]

There's another foam road tutorial out there that calls for using tempra paint dabbed on to the foam - which is 1MM thick.  I have that one at home (and the requisite foam) and I plan to try it one of  these days.

[wm3798]

Thanks for that repost of Dan's work.  I miss seeing his stuff.  Anyone know if he's still active?

[Dave V]

Lee,

I'm going to call you out...but for something you do really well and most of us neglect.  You have a talent for the vertical.  By that I don't mean Malcolm Furlow-esque vertical (like how I tied that back to your comment in my thread? ), but vertical "on the flat."  Most of us would be satisfied to build a town at track level and be satisfied.  Your Boston St/Linwood Ave scene is marvelously realistic even at this stage.  That short little "retaining wall" (a glorified curb, really) is exactly what you'll find in eastern towns and cities where the track is flat but the town isn't.  Even flat isn't really flat unless you're in central Nebraska or the Utah Salt Flats.

I really like the "modernizations" you do to your DPM kit storefronts that scream PA/MD in the 60s/70s...but I think the real reason your work always looks like someplace I've actually been is that you add that extra element of the vertical.  It's one of those things where I probably wouldn't notice it were it not for the pervasive flatness the rest of us have (myself included)...your work just looks like the real world.

Good show, sir.  Good show.

[wm3798]

Gosh Dave...  I'm going to blush!

Lee

[OldEastRR]

 Most of us would be satisfied to build a town at track level and be satisfied.  Your Boston St/Linwood Ave scene is marvelously realistic even at this stage.  That short little "retaining wall" (a glorified curb, really) is exactly what you'll find in eastern towns and cities where the track is flat but the town isn't.  Even flat isn't really flat unless you're in central Nebraska or the Utah Salt Flats.

AMEN!
My construction technique is to install all the ROW (Homasote strips or whatever you prefer), shimmed as needed for designated grades, on a flat board the size of the scenic area. The object is to build the track just like a real RR would: concentrate on grading, cutting/filling, clearing and smoothing the ground where the track and any RR structures go, and nowhere else. Having no flat level "filler" everywhere in the scene helps me use different ground elevations where roads, buildings, waterways, etc would be. It's easier to visualize interesting options this way, like a factory spur on a low trestle because the building foundations are higher than the track grade (or in a depressed spur because the factory is lower than the grade).