 |
  |
        
|
|
|||
| |||
|
Design
While I was figuring out the layout of the track itself, I decided that if one train was good, than two would surely be better, so things got a little more complicated fast. You see, a single track is fairly easy to lay out, but a double track within a confined space requires some serious thought and planning. I decided that the base would be about 40 inches wide and about 22 inches deep. Because I didn’t want the tracks to have any switches or cross one another, I knew that I would be incorporating a tunnel and a bridge into my scene. This was OK with me, because I feel that EVERY train set should have at least one of each to be legit. So, after some extensive planning, I had figured out what I still think is a fairly nice setup. Now it was time to get physical. I had to build a base for the set before I could build the set itself, so I set out to build myself a good one. I like to work with wood, so I built my base out of cedar and oak. I used tongue-in-groove cedar boards that I bought at Home Depot, and some 3/8” oak plywood that I had left over from another project. I stood the cedar up on edge to make the sides of the “box” part of the base, so that the groove was on the top edge and could be used later for the cover, which I’ll make out of plexi-glass. There is even a hidden drawer for the transformer and the city lights controls. And after all, what’s a city if it doesn’t light up at night? Julie even found me a beautiful little choo-choo drawer pull made out of pewter online. It looks perfect!
The next thing I had to do was to create the foundation that the setup would be built on. I used foam core board and cut each layer separately. There would be three layers to my setup instead of just two, like I’ve seen most other modelers do. This was possible because of the very small size of the trains and the fact that they have very strong little motors. I used scrap pieces of foam core board to attach the layers together and keep them at the right angles and heights. Now I could see pretty much what I wanted, but had no further idea on how to get there from here. I did what we all do now – I went to the net. I found lots of very expensive ways to create my masterpiece, but none that I felt I could justify, or even master for that matter. I finally found a site like this one, where some guy had finished his set and had posted his details online. He had used heavy duty aluminum foil, and painted it afterward with a mixture of paint and sand. I thought that this was a great plan, and set out to improve on his idea if I could. Julie got me some really heavy tin foil, and I made the rocky mountain sides and things by crumpling it up and then taping into place with two-sided tape. Once I got it pretty much how I wanted it, I had to come up with the paint. I used patio floor epoxy paint because that’s what I had left over in my garage when it came time to start. But I think that I’d go out and buy some if I had to do it again and didn’t have any, because it made a HUGE difference in the structural integrity of the foil! I used very coarse sand that is used for filling between patio stones and pavers. You can get it at any home improvement supply place. I got mine at Lowes’. I used about 32 ounces of sand and a little more than 32 ounces of paint to finish this part of the project. When I was through, it looked like solid sandstone, and had become very tuff and felt like plastic to the touch. |
|
Members | Who We Are | Join | News | Contact Us | Services | Home Page | EAA Home Page | AOPA Home Page | |||
|
| |||
|
|
AHMTF |
||
|
All content, logos,
pictures, and videos are the property of AHMTF | |||
First, I needed to design a setup. I knew I didn’t want to expend a lot of effort on actually operating the trains. I just want them to be able to run at a realistic pace basically all the time. I don’t know very much about this side of model railroading, so I thought that I’d better keep things very simple.
