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 Posted - November 16 2024 : 11:45:30 PM
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Laying in some "asphalt" on the trolley line in Armodilloville. I've used
different methods over the years, and paper overlays on cardboard
works out reasonably well. The Tyco Trolley Track, if you can find it,
is hard to fit and hugely expensive.
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Posted - November 17 2024 : 01:22:48 AM
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I love my trolley scenes, but man is it ever a pain embedding rails in the road. 3D printing segments similar to the old Tyco tracks has probably reached the point of viability. You could even do cobble stone inlays and then just finish around the tracks with plaster or whatever. Perhaps a project for the future....
I look forward to seeing how your road turns out!
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Posted - November 17 2024 : 11:42:37 AM
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The flangeways are tricky, to be sure. Since realism isn't the
standard, it makes it a little easier. 3D printing would be most
excellent, but I wouldn't know where to begin. I suppose
there are people out there that do it for a fee.
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Posted - November 17 2024 : 11:00:34 PM
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Some day (hopefully for any future layout I make) I'd like to try 3D printing road inlays for trolley track. It's one of those projects that would be a pain to get set up, but once the files are good to go the rest would be easy.
There's someone I saw a few years back who was selling a printed 'roller' for trolley tracks. You poured sculpt-a-mold (or similar) in to the space between the rails, then pushed this large roller down the tracks. It would simultaneously cut flangeways and imprint a cobblestone pattern in to the plaster.
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Posted - November 18 2024 : 2:33:30 PM
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quote:I love my trolley scenes, but man is it ever a pain embedding rails in the road. 3D printing segments similar to the old Tyco tracks has probably reached the point of viability. You could even do cobble stone inlays and then just finish around the tracks with plaster or whatever. Perhaps a project for the future....
I look forward to seeing how your road turns out!
Originally posted by DaCheez - November 17 2024 : 01:22:48 AM
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There was somebody on Shapeways who made street sections. All you had to do was slide the rail into the slots in the pavement. I believe they used 9" radius curves for the street corners. You can also buy jigs to build your own 9" radius streetcar switches and crossings.
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Posted - November 18 2024 : 4:45:14 PM
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My BOTW is this feed mill. I wanted a feed mill for the layout and didn't have much room, so I copied the general layout of an old feed mill in Chadwick, IL. The basic structure is made of cardboard backing from note pads. The siding is scribed file folder cardboard, and the roofing is heavy paper embossed into corrugated roofing on a plastic model of a corrugated roof.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - November 18 2024 : 5:42:25 PM
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quote: quote:I love my trolley scenes, but man is it ever a pain embedding rails in the road. 3D printing segments similar to the old Tyco tracks has probably reached the point of viability. You could even do cobble stone inlays and then just finish around the tracks with plaster or whatever. Perhaps a project for the future....
I look forward to seeing how your road turns out!
Originally posted by DaCheez - November 17 2024 : 01:22:48 AM
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There was somebody on Shapeways who made street sections. All you had to do was slide the rail into the slots in the pavement. I believe they used 9" radius curves for the street corners. You can also buy jigs to build your own 9" radius streetcar switches and crossings.
Originally posted by jward - November 18 2024 : 2:33:30 PM
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That sounds like what I had in mind, I'm not surprised someone's already done it!
The feed mill looks great, I never would have guessed it was cardboard.
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Posted - November 20 2024 : 1:52:11 PM
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| That feed mill is astonishing!
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Posted - November 20 2024 : 2:54:06 PM
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quote:
The feed mill looks great, I never would have guessed it was cardboard.
Originally posted by DaCheez - November 18 2024 : 5:42:25 PM
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Thanks. Years ago, Model Railroader did a project layout based on the Milwaukee Road's "beer line." They used a real array of very specialized brand name products that I would lampoon as follows: "We used Pola sidewalk sections fastened with Woodland Scenics Pola Sidewalk Cement." There's nothing evil about that and if they enjoyed it more power to them, but by time I'd read the article, my pendulum had swung the other way. I went through a short rampage of building things from materials that were candidates for the recycling bin. 
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - November 22 2024 : 12:25:13 AM
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| Ha! I understand that most products are designed to fill some specialized hole in the hobby world, but so much can be made with generic alternatives. Sometimes it's nice to see layouts built from scratch, versus the same structures and parts over and over again.
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Posted - November 26 2024 : 6:10:50 PM
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SCSS has real talent. So hard to get it right, takes an exceptional eye and
a steady hand.
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Posted - November 27 2024 : 07:40:09 AM
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quote: quote:
The feed mill looks great, I never would have guessed it was cardboard.
Originally posted by DaCheez - November 18 2024 : 5:42:25 PM
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Thanks. Years ago, Model Railroader did a project layout based on the Milwaukee Road's "beer line." They used a real array of very specialized brand name products that I would lampoon as follows: "We used Pola sidewalk sections fastened with Woodland Scenics Pola Sidewalk Cement." There's nothing evil about that and if they enjoyed it more power to them, but by time I'd read the article, my pendulum had swung the other way. I went through a short rampage of building things from materials that were candidates for the recycling bin.
Originally posted by scsshaggy - November 20 2024 : 2:54:06 PM
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Your experience with Model Railroader mirrors mine. I found their articles and project railroads to get less interesting over time. Eventually, I stopped buying the magazine. I still look at the magazines from say 1965 to about 1987 though. Your layout is much like mine. Our layouts are not welcome in a world where everything promoted is either plug n play, or long straight tracks built around the outside of the room. My current layout features handlaid track laid on matchstick ties, sharp curves, and steep grades. I, too, prefer the old ways.
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Posted - November 27 2024 : 1:16:13 PM
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Great Scott, I can scarcely conceive a hand-laid track. I can't draw a crooked line, and even
my set track looks like Chicasha Junction.
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