My neighborhood in N scale

meander

New Member
This is what i want to try.


layout.jpg

The green line is the road, the yellow lines are the high tension wires, blue is highway and the red is tracks. So since there is only one track, i could either modify it, and add more track or make it so that it is just to be part of a larger layout.

It would be cool to have a model of my neighborhood, farther down the road there is an underpass, very old, all stone, the train goes over it. maybe i could move it down closer so that it is in this section.

Probably too many houses there, ill probably just use a section of it.

What would be the best way to do this?

By the way, that is a sattelite photo.
 

shaygetz

Active Member
Selective Compression---choosing the elements that give the best overall effect---is one way. Another way, the way I model, is to model the area that best fits in a given space accurately, and move select landmarks---the family home, Grandma's Grocery store, etc.---into that area. In this case, the point where everything converges in the lower left would be where I would consider that. Nothing warms an audience to your hobby more than to be able to point to a model and say, "Remember that old place?"
 

meander

New Member
i think the hardest part is gonna be the high tension wires. any tips on how to do that?

will a topo map help with getting the terrain right?
 

shaygetz

Active Member
I'm not happy with any of the kits available, and scratchbuilding them would be out of the question for me. Because of their sheer size, what I would do is take my own digital panoramic type picture and incorporating them into the backdrop---using one or two N scale ones off in the distance for visual effect. A topo map would help, hills are probably the easiest thing to compress. By reducing their height a bit and steepening the terrain, you can get an effective model and no one would be the wiser.
 

Papa Bear

Member
Hey, Meander, that's an interesting idea. You could put this scene in a corner of your layout. I don't know how big a layout you are planning, but there are a couple of possibilities. On an "around the walls" layout, you could put this on an inside corner where you would be viewing it from "A" in the diagram below. On an "island" layout, you could put it on an outside corner where you would be viewing from "B". I would then use tree covered hills in the background for either approach. If you went with "A," you could put the highway in the background.

I would also echo what Shaygetz has said in that the important thing is to go for the best overall effect. You can't put everything in there, but you can go for the overall "feel" of the scene.

John
 

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Benny

New Member
Here is what I came up with:

Layout3.jpg


I naturally think in HO, so that would be a 36 inch radius going through, maybe a couple straigh sections in the middle. This would make this space about 3' by 3' up to 4' by 4 foot, if it was HO....if you kept it at this space, you would have a very well represented neighborhood, if you shunk it down to an 18" radius, then yo uwould be stuck doing what I would sdo to this space if it were in HO...

The best way for the high tension wire is probably as mentioned, put the pictures in the background, and then, make sure there are no buildings or anything bigger then a Shrubbery (!!!Suspense Chord!!!) under those wires.

The highway is pretty boring and straight, in HO, that might be a two lane road, with the road to your house all being single lane dirt...but you see, I AM from Arizona...but you do have the opportunity for a number of highway over/under passes, as well as a couple railroad under passes...the highway would be an under pass in the lower corner, and an overpass in the upper corner, which accomodates both the highway and the railroad AND the high tension wires, as those wire DO need so much clearence...which you may model as large poles with heavy strands three strand going up the pool on each side...for a total of eight wires due to the light wires on the top and bottom ofg the racks. We have them in Phoenix, though now many are being replaced with the single metal pole type that Don't fall over in monsoon season, anyhow, they are Large!.......The dirt road is a small stone bridge under the railroad at that point.

You neighborhood would feature your house and only the most poignant houses in there...why model the bland?

That is an open meadow, which works well in N...and the road Does have the poingant bend in it...you might focus on that spefiic area, as I am sure it has some extra little details, like road signs...

If this was HO, the main road would be a paved, perhaps only one lane instead of that divided monstrosity...either way, definately paved...the other road would be dirt...and the circle in your neighborhood would be nothing more then a circle around a farmhouse with barns and outshops on the outer circle, or it would be a house with a loop around it, or a volunteer fire fighter station...basically, that would be a lot with a half circle feature to it....ther eamy not even BE the center house, that may be a tree or anything of that manner...

And for another thing, if this was mine,...I might even take out the highway all together and make that a second rail line, going between two elevations, though that would be a little more difficult...it would be a diamond crossing (With a watchtower) in the upper corner...the highway would then be single or double tracks...there might be a station between the existing road and these tracks, serving the people that live in either direction...

My idea on the site...it is a very doable scenery divider, between say a large industry and a city...
 
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