A simple set in a box

[BickfordWaner]

Hello,
I've been researching model trains for the past couple of weeks, trying to educate myself in a short amount of time about a huge and varied part of Americana. It's already a ton of fun.
Long-story short, my lovely girlfriend grew up working on model trains with her father. From what I can glean, they had quite a set-up in the baseman, HO scale.
Nowadays, we're apartment dwellers in Los Angeles, without the space or time (or funds) to rebuild a whole childhood's worth of fun.
I've gotten it into my noggin that for Christmas, I'd like to present her with a simple N-scale set, built into a box. I want to present something very "undeveloped", so we have an opportunity to work on it together. Obviously, basic N-scale sets are easy and plentiful, but the real challenge looks like it will be building it into a box or suitcase that I can fit it in and surprise her with.
I'm not very crafty and don't have the tools or finances to do anything too extreme, but I'd really like some advice on specifically building a small set into a box, or experiences any users have had doing so.
Thanks in advance,
Bickford

[Jim 68cuda]

Z scale would fit better in a box. Its alot smaller. I would suggest you consider a coffee table layout if you want to do N-scale. Find (or build) a coffee table with a removable glass top. If you're lucky, you might find one with a shelf for display a few inches below the glass top that can be built on. Then build the N scale layout under the glass top. If you don't want the layout to be visible at all times, then just get a piece of frosted glass to replace the clear glass when the layout is not in use.

Heres an example in N scale. http://craftsmanstructures.blogspot....le-coffee.html

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

http://carendt.us/scrapbook/linkindex/

'The Small Layout Scrapbook'

You will get lost in inspiration.

[BMR777]

A box or suitcase seems a bit small, however if you've got room for a coffee table that opens a world of possibilities.

Something like this is possible and would be a fun project, plus you get the coffee table as a bonus and it's something you can display out in public if you want and it's still functional.

The same coffee table as in the video is available here. From what I can gather, the bottom comes in 4 separate sections, so the only real modification you would have to do is get a piece of wood the same size as the bottom opening in the table and replace the one that comes with the table with the piece of wood, should be rather easy. Then you could get a starter set and lay some track and then you and your GF could work on the scenery, etc as a project.

Hope it helps.