I've been stuck in this "I don;t know how to finish Altoona" quagmire for what seems like years. Oh, wait, it has. But I', turning the corner on it. For a while, I've been dreading finishing the roads, but today, I was determined to get it done. And wouldn't you know it? I found a much easier alternative.
In one of the massive boxes of crap under the layout, I found two sheets of brown Creatology foam I'd purchased years ago. Turns out these foam sheets are the same thickness as Woodland scenics paving tape! So rather than do my roads out of plaster, I simply cut them out of foam. I used this for the parking lot under the shop powerhouse and the the road leading out of town.
In the town itself, I really took the coward's way out. I painted the roads directly on the base. It definitely passes the "good enough for government work" test. However, I did use a foam sheet to create a sidewalk layer for the buildings to sit on.
Doing the roads ended up crystalizing my needs for the town. I decided
to add one more building, a gas station. and that's it. After all this
supposed to be the outer fringes of the city. The city proper lives off
the layout.
I also applied more turf to some areas around the shop complex. Since it's industrial, I went heavy on the dry grass turf.
The last thing I did was mount the final section of backdrop to a piece of foam core board. All that's left is painting the edges black and it's ready for prime time.
Despite the work I've done, there's still quite a bit on the to do list. to wit:
-Wire all roundhouse tracks and turn table
-Finished the remaining mountains.
-Mount remaining backdrop section.
-Assemble final building
-Wire building lights
-Install street lights
-Ballast remaining yard tracks
-Finish turf
-Add trees.
-Add details
Once this is done, I can declare major combat operations over for the layout. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment