Cartoon Wednesday

 

Modeling a Model Railroad - Calling it finished

This is a rare event for me, actually bringing something to completion! While there are certainly things that could be tweaked, its time to set it aside and contemplate actually starting construction of the benchwork. There is likely to be some full sized experimentation with this as I contemplate whether to use blue/pink foam, plywood or some kind of hybrid combination of both (leaning towards this). 

So here are a last few pictures of the finished product (still contemplating whether I should just glue to the two modules together at this point.

The back layer.

The front layer

Modeling a Model Railroad - Looking at the Layers

With the main elements in place (the creek and the viaduct). I want to take a look at the skyline. I have to do this in layers first the back row, which contains the majority of the freight car spots, and the front row (which contains fewer car spots). Right now I'm only concerned with the heights of the actual models, I'll deal with the backdrop later.

First from the left side; the creek module. I want to keep the buildings tall near the creek, to increase the vertical element. The discussion would be around the building on the right side of the creek being right up against the bank or allow spacing for an alley or narrow two lane road (leaning towards space for a road my self).

Then to the viaduct side (note that the viaduct will not be nearly as massive looking as it looks like here). Again tall buildings around the viaduct to enhance the vertical element. I really like the angled industry back in the right hand corner.

And a look at the whole.

Then its time to take a look at the foreground buildings.

Creek module again. Buildings are shorter to give some visibility to the buildings in the back. For operations, I intend to make these buildings removable with foreground car spots marked some how.

On the Viaduct Module things are much the same with the front right corner being a team track in an empty lot.

And another look at the whole. Being able to remove the foreground buildings will make operations easier and provide more interesting camera angles.

Cartoon Wednesday

 

Modeling a Model Railroad - Nearing the End

At this point I think the model is almost done. At this point the modules are defined and some color has been applied, particularly to the backdrop. I am tempted to add some mountains in the distance since I am considering changing the orientation and the viewer would now be facing west rather than east back towards Denver. I think that's something I'll work on later, if at all, blue sky will have to suffice for now.

First the viaduct module

And now the creek module. I opted for the creek to add a little diversity to the scene.

This should be close to the actual viewing/operating angle.

And a bit of elevation to see the colors. Still bothers me that I managed to torque the viaduct module out of square.