Three scenarios exist in the layout that I want to explore. My six to nine sample is based on one end of the layout and last night I worked on this. Sticking to the same six inch wide shelf and HO scale, standard gauge, parameters it reruns those first points and adds in unique elements from the other end of the line.
This layout, like Coy or Victoria, will live on top of a bookcase. As such, it inherits all its structural needs from its habitat. Think about a puzzle and how you don’t need to build a structure to support it, that’s what tables do, and the interlocking nature of the puzzle aligns it so you can build the picture over enjoyable glasses of wine, delicious slices of dark fruitcake, and in the company of those you share your life with. Sorry, we started talking food and I forgot where we were going.
My series of sketches suggests the layout’s base needs to be an inch and a half thick to accommodate variations in the scenery and also layout hardware like where the wires go or the mechanism to operate and power the three turnouts.
On six to nine this thickness is a lamination of three layers of half inch foam. Here I am planning for the wiring. Instead of a solid base I’ve used two strips of half inch foam to create a race wiring can be tucked into. This should be plenty fine to chase wires through the layout then trace along the base of the layout. I’ve tried surface mounted wiring before and we still don’t get along like we could.
There are two tracks in this scene. In this narrow space I think this contributes a texture-like variation that’s interesting to look at and their treatment will be different. The focal point should be that siding and its finish will be generations of spilled loads. Though prouder, albeit in elevation only, the grass that blankets the front track is both an expression of my vision but also intended to mute the presence of the track itself so it visually extends (“invites”?) the grass area in this scene and the layout looks less track-heavy.
My kind of Agile approach is here. Everything was done in one session by adapting methods that are compatible. I’m not doing this because I’m in a rush to catch a deadline I’ve been pretending didn’t exist. Making a model railway is something I want to do. That sense of “want” is synonymous with a need to express a creative energy invested (consumed?) into this and once I start to work I want to keep working and not be interrupted by, well, anything other than my beautiful family or resolutions borne of red wine’s seemingly high evaporative nature. As I suspected earlier, that same glue-paint mix I used to bond the layers of paper towel (McDonalds napkins) to the foam base was perfectly fine to start layering basic scenery textures into immediately. I have added more jute fibres, just now, and they’ll brush out into something nice in an hour or so, which is fine, because I have some real world adult things that need doing anyway.
Like coffee
Categories: How I think
Prince Street 
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