Beginning stages of planning my layout. First layout ever.

[6axlepwr]

I am at the beginning stages of planning my layout. The first step is getting the height. Due to a feature in my room, the height of the layout will be no lower than 55.5" off the floor. That puts it on me at mid chest height. That puts me just slightly looking down on it. Not a lot, but definitely not looking up at it.

I do have a question though.

I want to shadow box it in. Meaning I want to put a roof on it. I was thinking 18" off the top of the layout. That should give me room for decent size trees, buildings and still be able to reach into the back just in case of a mishap.

So would you say that is a good height for the shadow box or maybe a little lower. I will be lining the inside fascia of the shadow box with LEDs so I can turn the room lights off and run with the LEDs. The front Fascia of the shadow box will be a few inches lower than the underside of the shadow box. So the fascia will be lower than the 18" off the layout frame.

Looking for some guidance here from those that have built layouts.

Brian

[Scottl]

I just put 24" backdrop boards up for my layout and I think that is too high for a shadow box style of layout.  18" gives you lots to work with and given what you said about height, it will avoid you looking into the valence directly.  That seems more immersive to me.

Always great to build a first layout!

[ednadolski]

I'd suggest building a simple mockup with a few cars/tracks, try a couple of variations with different heights, reach-in depth for regular operational and maintenance stuff (coupling, uncoupling, re-railing, operating turnouts, and cleaning) to see what work best and feels optimal for you.  I put my N-scale shelf at about 58" from the floor (I am 6' tall), but it is only 12" deep and I want a close view so I can see the details, keeping in range of my tri-focals, which I wear all the time anyways.  (Side note - even tho my glasses have three focal ranges, there is a 'dead band' in between each range where the focus is less sharp, so try to avoid setting myself up to have to transition between viewing ranges.)

WRT shadow-box lighting, my own opinion is not to have it coming from (nearly) straight overhead.  It can create harsher shadows (esp. for pics) and we rarely view real trains with the sun at the zenith.  For me something between 30-45 degrees seems to work best, tho of course it is entirely a matter of preference (mockup could be handy here too).  At lower angles the front edge of the upper fascia has to project out more, just so long as an operator or photographer will not cast shadows onto the models.  I'd also suggest using more LEDs than you think, and putting it on a dimmer so that you can adjust it as desired.  Color temp of the lighting is a preference, I use 5000k, and a higher CRI (like 90 or more).

Do you have a preference for the layout depth?  With N scale a greater depth can create a greater sense of space, and I like a little more distance to the backdrop, so that I am not seeing either brush strokes (for a painted backdrop) or the grain of an image (photo backdrop).

I also find that a layout near shoulder can use lower volume settings on the sound decoders.

This is a quick (cheesy/shaky) vid that shows the general viewing look that I was going for: (sound is a live mic, with a stationary subwoofer)

HTH,

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, I'm excited to see what you build. If it's half as nice as your equipment work it'll be exquisite.

[6axlepwr]

Max depth is 16". I could go down to 14 though and probably make it work. minimum depth is 12", but I might be able to bring that down to 10" or even 8". I like the 12" minimum because it gives me more to work with. So far the track plan is working out really well with the space I have. It is motivating me a lot.

I am teaching myself SCARM right now so playing with depth will help me learn the tool. All of the track will be Atlas code 55.

[Cajonpassfan]

What Ed said, the Nadolski one Nothing beats mock-ups ... and yes, I'm exited too, the other Ed

My upper deck (main deck) rises from about 43" to 65" with 55.5" about half way up, at Cajon station. I don't know how tall you are, or your friends, I am 6'1", and I learned that the higher I go, the less depth I need for effective scenes. I don't have the shadow box effect except for one area, see pic, but there I like the lower edge of the valance just below my eyeballs (to screen out the glare).The scene there is only about 16" deep, and it works well.

One more thought: valances are tricky. They work beautifully in controlled settings with defined points of view, like along one wall. In a larger room, with peninsulas and dead end cul de sacs, they get to be complicated, with the back sides often exposed, ruining the effect. Mocking it up is the way to go!
Good luck, it will be fun (and exciting) to see where you go with this.
Otto K.

[bbussey]

I have 18" between the table top and the bottom of the underside of the "roof", to which LED lights are mounted.  A 4" fascia that will hide the lights from direct view will leave a "viewing window" of 14" high.

[Rossford Yard]

Agree on the mockup.  Things always look differently in the real world vs. a plan on paper.

I like the 55" benchwork top and have had layouts that high (my current layout is at 38" on cabinets, looking ahead to an older me, so making it a "rollaround" layout, with wood floors and rolling office chairs.  For now, I just operate standing and looking down, but your height is to me (at 6'1") almost ideal.

The deeper the scene, the taller the shadow box should be.  Also, if you are modeling grain elevators or other tall buildings, the height may be affected by that or those.  I personally always found 18" to be just a bit too short vertically, but I know many people have done just that, maybe even down to 16".  I prefer 20-24".  Also, if you are 6'1", obviously the top valence should be at least 74" above the floor, to avoid noggin bumps and 75" would give you an even 20" for the scene.

[LKOrailroad]

53" rail head, 18" view port, in a standard 92" height basement room. I bucked the trend of painting the lighting valance black. Made the isles feel cramped and claustrophobic. Lighting panels solves the look under issue mentioned prior.