Not sure if I'm happy with the way my layout is heading. I know it's my first major undertaking and there is only so much I can do in the space that I have, but I'm not sure if I should at least tear it down to the track and start the scenery again. I would hate to start from that point and maybe I can change pace from here.
Happy?
- Thread starter J. Steffen
- Start date
J. Steffen, could you please elaborate a little more on just what exactly your not happy with on the scenery?
i have been in that situation before, and ended up redoing scenery:winki: , it wasn't that big a deal, sure it took time, but its a hobby:smilie: . without seeing pics, or knowing more, its pretty tough for us to tell you what we think:winki: .
:deano: -Deano
i have been in that situation before, and ended up redoing scenery:winki: , it wasn't that big a deal, sure it took time, but its a hobby:smilie: . without seeing pics, or knowing more, its pretty tough for us to tell you what we think:winki: .
:deano: -Deano
Is it the scenery that is the problem, or something else? As Deano asks, please provide more info on the problem, and hopefully we can help.
Andrew
Andrew
I took a quick look through the thread, and didn't see any point where you've identified a problem... 
Did I miss something?
Are you working from a plan? Do you have a list of what you'd like to accomplish with the layout? Did you look at and/or fill out the "Givens & Druthers" form from the Track Planning Layout?
For me, I took at least a year to come up with a plan for some simple modules...! It seems like a long time, and it's now been even longer that I have been working on them (don't ask hamr) but I am still extremely happy with the plan, and the proposed operations I will get out of it.
In your other thread, you mentioned mock-ups and so on for industry. How did that work out?
Andrew
Did I miss something?Are you working from a plan? Do you have a list of what you'd like to accomplish with the layout? Did you look at and/or fill out the "Givens & Druthers" form from the Track Planning Layout?
For me, I took at least a year to come up with a plan for some simple modules...! It seems like a long time, and it's now been even longer that I have been working on them (don't ask hamr) but I am still extremely happy with the plan, and the proposed operations I will get out of it.
In your other thread, you mentioned mock-ups and so on for industry. How did that work out?
Andrew
I haven't had a chance to mock anything up. Every time I head out into the garage, the wife throws a fit. The mountains and hills that I have going are making me wonder. Every day I travel through a pass on the way to work and think, "Hmmm, mine won't look anything like these". I guess I just need to move forward and see how they turn out.
When you see the mountains and so on, are you right up in them, or are they viewed from a long-ish way off? You're right in that you'll never be able to recreate the mountains in the space that you have. You can only try to create the right feel for the setting.
The majority of railroad miles are in flat, relatively open spaces, even (paradoxiacally enough) in the mountains. They chose the best pass available to avoid high construction costs. Sure there are routes that cling to river valleys, or the side of a mountain, but is yours one of them?
Here's a link to a blog set up by one of the guys in a local operating group. He models railroading the Canadian west, but there is not a single tunnel or "mountain" built on his layout, not even a grade on the mainline. It's all on the backdrop...
Lyon Valley Northern -> look for the entries on "backdrop".
Hope that helps.
Andrew
The majority of railroad miles are in flat, relatively open spaces, even (paradoxiacally enough) in the mountains. They chose the best pass available to avoid high construction costs. Sure there are routes that cling to river valleys, or the side of a mountain, but is yours one of them?
Here's a link to a blog set up by one of the guys in a local operating group. He models railroading the Canadian west, but there is not a single tunnel or "mountain" built on his layout, not even a grade on the mainline. It's all on the backdrop...
Lyon Valley Northern -> look for the entries on "backdrop".
Hope that helps.
Andrew
Aha! There's your problem. And, although I expect many folks on this forum can empathize, there's not a lot we can advise...
Naw, this a canyon that I go thru. It's about 20ft to 50 yards away. I think I'll just keep playing and see what happens.
Likewise as said above, I think your off to a great start. The neat thing about model railroading is that if your not happy with the way something looks, rip it out and do it again until you are. Something I have learned though, is that sometimes just a coat of paint will entirely change the way something looks. How's that for splittin' the fence?
I see you live in Hemet, and I take it you are trying to model So Cal mountain scenery. I would suggest if you haven't picked it up, get "Mountain to Desert-Building the HO scale Daneville & Donner River" by Pelle Soeborg published by Kalmbach. Pelle is an excellent modeler and has some suggestions in the book both for general scenery issues as well as for specifics to the Southwest that I think will help you to fix the scenery problems or at least see what the problem is rather than a feeling that it just doesn't look right.