The Empire

[Zephyrus52246]

I will do the same for the extension of the street from the town over the mainline. 

Jeff

[deemery]

I wouldn't worry too much about having the parking lot area match the street paving.  Those would be done by two different contractors at two different times using two different mixes.  Just be sure to do some dark asphalt filler between the street and the parking lot (and use that stuff to mark/fill in cracks in the asphalt mix on the street.)  

dave

[GPdemayo]

Looks good Jeff.....you're supervisor looks like a tough task manager. 

[Zephyrus52246]

Yes, Dave.  I think the parking lot and street don't need to match, but I wanted the intersection, which will be barely visible, and the lead in road  to be close.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Yes, Greg, she's a tough one.  

Jeff

[Jerry]

Great scene Jeff.  I think the supervisor is taking a nap on the job!!

Jerry

[Zephyrus52246]

Yes, Jerry, she does sleep a lot.  

While working on the road into the scene, I need to place the track for the siding.  I got out the buildings to test fit this again.  The flop house is used to block the hole in the wall that the trains pass thru.  It looks OK from the front, but the side is not really working here.  Also, to get it high enough, the road reaching it will be too steep. 

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

So I think I need something taller and wider.  I have some DPM modules, but I think they look better as background buildings.  I've been interested in using the ITLA scale models modules as well.  So I downloaded their module sizes (each section is 3" x 9")  and started measuring.  A 3 x 12 building does a good job of blocking, again from the front, but needs a bit of an extension to work.   So I cut a single 3x9 piece and it works pretty well here.  I added a couple of trees at the edge of the town street, and this helps even a bit more.  I'll probably just add some dirt and a small rise here and plant a couple of trees, making sure they clear the long passenger cars. 

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

The building even blocks the hole from eye level if you're right up against the layout.  I suspect I'll add a angled back wall to fill some of the void.  I'll leave this for a few days and see if I still like it before ordering the ITLA modules.  I have another spot on the layout I thought of using these as well.  I'll go study that spot while this sits. 

Jeff

[Janbouli]

Love the street scene Jeff.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Nice progress, Jeff.

A few things that spring to mind:  The Larger ITLA building might not scale well against the smaller city structures and kind of look out of proportion.  Where do you envisage this road you are talking about going?  While we are talking about roads - how do you see the city block connecting with the rest of the layout and the larger 'imagined' world?  I like to get some coloured paper and cut out road pieces and mock them up in position.  Remember - those roads can lead your eye into the various scenes and from one scene to another just as well as track can.  I consider them a core part of design.  Have you considered the flop house on a slope - with the back track side on a retaining wall next to the track and the front at the lower level?  Does it need a road, or would pedestrian access suffice?  If so you could easily add steps on the far side of the track and a pedestrian bridge crossing the track, hiding the track's disappearance into the backdrop with the aid of some carefully placed greenery.  You could also bend a one way road to the left (from where you have the tree placed on the road) and then double back on itself to cross the track.  This should gain sufficient height to cross the track with a one way road bridge.  This is what I would imaging they would do in the prototype if road access was needed.  Anyway - just thinking out loud.

Cheers, Mark.

[jerryrbeach]

Jeff,

Have you considered extending the mountain slightly into the triangular space behind the flop house?  I think that might help to hide where the track enters the backdrop, as the tracks would be somewhat hidden in the cut. 

I do like Mark's suggestion for a retaining wall to elevate the structure you are using to help hide the backdrop opening.  I think that would act similarly to placing the track in a cut.

I also wondered if you had considered curving the spur serving the feed mill to follow the curve in the main line track.  That would allow you to move the coal silos further back to a spot where they, too, would help hide the hole in the backdrop. 

[Zephyrus52246]

Hi, Mark.  Thanks for commenting.  This morning looking at it, I realized it does look too big for the total scene.  The road to the flop house was to go between the silos and the low building on the right.  The town connects to the road in the picture 1785 above where the white gatorfoam passes the little blue building.  this will go straight off the layout.  

Jeff

[Zephyrus52246]

Thanks for looking in, Jerry.  I originally thought about extending the hill as you suggested, and may go back to that thinking.  Curving the track was something I never considered.  I will try that out tomorrow as I'm at work today.  Maybe a not so huge structure at the end of the siding where the flop house is now would work, with a hill behind it. 

Thanks for the input and ideas, guys, I'll play with this over the next couple of days. 

Jeff

[GPdemayo]

You're right about the structure being large Jeff, but I remember going through small towns in the midwest and those businesses usually dwarfed the rest of the one and two story buildings in community.....just a thought.