Chicken or the Egg theory of layout construction???


A

AllenB

Member
As I sit on my couch with graph paper trying to design my layout, I've come up with what I think my track plans are going to be. Then it dawned on me, I know the dimensions of area where buildings will sit around the track plans, but what if I cannot FIND ones with the dimensions that I need (for example a mining operation, turntable/roundhouse or train station)? (I'm not good at nor do I want to scratch build). Should I purchase buildings first and then plan the layout around those, or should I just do my best in finding the right buildings that fit into the correct spaces?
 
maybe make a list of the building you want to have, with their dimension and footprint, so you can play tetris with them and arrange them to fit nicely with the trackwork ?
 
If you know the scale you're working at with the graph paper, you could cut out building footprints and lay them out over your plan to see if they fit.
 
This was an issue for me as well. I had a few key structures that had to resemble the city I live in and am modeling. Those were picked out in advance while the track plan was conceived. Then I laid the track and had to find structures that would fill out the rest of the scene while fitting into an existing space. I spent a good amount of time looking at structure kits to see what I wanted. This process actually bogged me down for months. In the end, I kit bashed quite a few kits to come up with what I wanted since the exact dimensions weren't quite right out of the box. If you have key structures in mind, I would find the dimensions and plan the track around it if you can. The rest can be customized to fill out the layout.
 
Secondhandmodeler said:
This was an issue for me as well. I had a few key structures that had to resemble the city I live in and am modeling. Those were picked out in advance while the track plan was conceived. Then I laid the track and had to find structures that would fill out the rest of the scene while fitting into an existing space. I spent a good amount of time looking at structure kits to see what I wanted. This process actually bogged me down for months. In the end, I kit bashed quite a few kits to come up with what I wanted since the exact dimensions weren't quite right out of the box. If you have key structures in mind, I would find the dimensions and plan the track around it if you can. The rest can be customized to fill out the layout.
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Thanks all! I agree, it is going to bog me down a bit until I can find exactly what I need, especially the larger structures. I have a good idea of what track work I need so I can still start construction on the benchwork at least.
 
AllenB said:
Thanks all! I agree, it is going to bog me down a bit until I can find exactly what I need, especially the larger structures. I have a good idea of what track work I need so I can still start construction on the benchwork at least.
Click to expand...

Id start the bench work, put the key buildings down, then plan the tracks around em, and last use other buildings to fill what ever voids you may have in your city/town. Im 99 percent sure youre going to have to kitbash or custom make some structures which really isnt hard at all unless youre doing a detailed prototype.
 
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