tmctiger

Layout: plan fo new layout

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2 hours ago, gotoAndLego said:

The only thing I'll add is that you should your layout should have gentle slopes as well as steep slopes.

Hi,

yes for sure different slopes would be great, but actually I have to less space for gentle slopes :sceptic: ...

BR, Guenther

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Hi All,

I have an update on my work for the layout. However it is just a digital plan how I planned to create the streets in my layout. On the following Images you can see the streetlayout for the left layout part (see layout overview in this thread). First I planned to go only with the actual street-baseplates from Lego, but then I came up with the idea of using brick built streets to be more flexible and of course to also fit the modulars easy into the layout (in my previous layout I built the modulars directly on the street baseplates which leads to some pain when removing them from this plates, this error I won't do twice).

So here we go with my streets:

small_streets_level_2_left_1.jpg

There is one thing I have to mention: the street consist actually of two modules. The one module consists of the boarders holding the modulars and the street in place which are directly connected to the street plates, and the other module, the actual streetlayer which only rests on the studless part of the streetplate:

The border module:

small_streets_level_2_left_parted_1.jpg

The street module:

small_streets_level_2_left_parted_2.jpg

And just one image which all the surrounding buildings:

small_streets_level_2_left_with_houses.j

As always any feedback is very welcome!

BR,

Guenther

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How difficult is it to modify the switching track the way you did? Do you have some special tools to do that? 

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25 minutes ago, Mestari said:

How difficult is it to modify the switching track the way you did? Do you have some special tools to do that? 

Hi Mestari,

actually it is not very difficult. You just have to work carefully to prevent placing cuts on wrong or similar. I just used a very a accurate saw with a lot of teeth per cm. And a scalpel (very sharp knife for finishing and cleaning the cuts - there a special tools for modeling). And I used a cyanacrylat based super glue to glue the parts together.

Bear in mind that you always have to modify a right and a left point together, since you need the cut away parts from the left one on the right one, and vice versa ... But modifying two points just take about 10min, a bit faster if you gained some experience after the first vie modified points.

Just let me know if you need additional info.

BR,

Guenther

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Thank you. I will have to see if I have courage to saw through my pieces when I have more than one each :)

I really don't like the geometry of the LEGO one. It is too limiting.

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2 hours ago, Mestari said:

Thank you. I will have to see if I have courage to saw through my pieces when I have more than one each :)

I really don't like the geometry of the LEGO one. It is too limiting.

Hi Mestari,

Yes the point geometry is extremely limiting, especially if you don not have a huge space available (this was my reason btw.). The interesting thing is, that when modifying the points you can always go back to the original geometry. Just add a 1/2 curve.

BR,

Guenther

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14 hours ago, kieran said:

I really like the idea of a second level, looks really good well done 

 

Hi Kieran,

thanks! :classic:

Yes I am also curious how this will work out in the end. But my opinion is that a train layout (regardless if Lego or a H0 layout) always needs some hight profile.

BR,

Guenther

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Been a while since I've viewed this thread and it's great to see that you are still progressing! Very nice street plan! It will be expensive to do but will be stunning when done. Good to see that you made most of the sidewalks 4 studs wide. Busy sidewalks will really make a layout and viewers will want to take in all of the small details. In the picture below you can see a skunk on the loose and other fun vignettes. When building your sidewalks, buy lots of part 87580 ( Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Groove and 1 Stud in Center (Jumper) ). Having a stud to stick minifig feet on is a life saver! Also, when ordering parts on Bricklink, always look at a stores minifig selection under the subheading "town". Many of those generic figures sell for just a dollar or 2 and you will need a bunch to make your streets look alive. 

24551348634_1fdb438165_c.jpgDSC01472 by Scott Roys, on Flickr

Thanks for posting your progress!

Edited by ecmo47

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12 minutes ago, ecmo47 said:

Been a while since I've viewed this thread and it's great to see that you are still progressing! Very nice street plan! It will be expensive to do but will be stunning when done. Good to see that you made most of the sidewalks 4 studs wide. Busy sidewalks will really make a layout and viewers will want to take in all of the small details. In the picture below you can see a skunk on the loose and other fun vignettes. When building your sidewalks, by lots of part 87580 ( Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Groove and 1 Stud in Center (Jumper) ). Having a stud to stick minifig feet on is a life saver! Also, when ordering parts on Bricklink, always look at a stores minifig selection under the subheading "town". Many of those generic figures sell for just a dollar or 2 and you will need a bunch to make your streets look alive. 

24551348634_1fdb438165_c.jpgDSC01472 by Scott Roys, on Flickr

Thanks for posting your progress!

 

Hi ecmo47,

thanks for your input! The point with the modified plate 2x2 with 1 stud in the middle is very good! In my old layout I didn't used it and therefore placing the minifigs was a pain in the a..! :tongue: I'll definitely use a bunch of them in the new Layout.

Yes you are right, the brick built streets will cost a lot, but since I did the "advanced" track ballasting, the street can't scare me any more :wink: ... It will be definitely cheaper as the track ballast. :sweet:

Good point also regarding the minifigs: though I have a lot already, I'll always on the look for additional ones; as you say: a town layout looks best when the sidewalks are crowded and mimic some interesting/funny situations.

Thanks and BR,

Guenther

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Hi Guys,

recently I had some time again to work on my Layout. Actually, now all woodwork is finished an I can concentrate now on pure Lego-building :laugh: ...

But let me show you how it looks now:

small_img_8614.jpg

small_img_8613.jpg

So you can see that now the third level is also ready and waiting to be filled with Lego. You can see also my latest addition to my rolling stock: a 60051 with an additional coach. I had to modify the train also a little bit to get more ground clearance below the train-cockpits. If you know the train, they are very low in vanilla version, and therefore I had problems going from flat track to the inclined track parts with this train.

What's next?

As now the third level is ready, I can fit the ground plates to the second level and can also start ballasting the track there. I have also already bought some parts to start with my brick built roads I showed in a previous post.

Another thing, I managed to get some additional space (1,4m x 0,64m) to build a train yard/fright station there. The point here is, that this section is removable and not fixed to the main table so that I can reach the window when necessary:

small_img_8626.jpg

And here is my first layout draft for the yard (I have also moved 7838 from its previous location in the red circle to the yard area):

version.1.6.0.jpg

Any feedback of this is very welcome. What do you like, what do you not like, what can I improve?

Thanks and BR,

Guenther

 

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Vöslauer Mineralwasser? Are you from Austria? :classic:

At the moment I am just astonished on how much space you have avaible. Besides that cut baseplate there is not a single thing I dislike. Keep on going!

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11 minutes ago, Capparezza said:

Vöslauer Mineralwasser? Are you from Austria? :classic:

At the moment I am just astonished on how much space you have avaible. Besides that cut baseplate there is not a single thing I dislike. Keep on going!

Hi,

Thanks and I am glad that you like it so far! Yes I'll keep on going, and I'll continue posting the progress here ...

@Vöslauer: Yes, very well recognized :wink: ... actually from the vicinity of Linz.

@available space: yes, but I had to wait some time for it until I was able to place my Layout there. And unfortunately there is never "enough" space for Lego :laugh: ...

@base plates: yes, but I for myself decided  that tracks and base plates can be treated as "Meterware" (in English: "bulk stock" I think) :sweet:... but beside these two things modifying Lego is a strict no-go for me!

BR, Günther

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Yeah, there IS never enough room for Lego. I'm moving to a new appartment next year but my wife already planned what to do with that extra room we will have... :cry_sad:

Funny, five minutes after posting here I read your thread over at Doktor Brick and there you mentioned your "Meterware"-attitude as well. Are those old lightgray baseplates or the newer ones? I certainly would have a problem with cutting the old ones, they will never come back in that lightgray colour. The newer ones are still in production though. However, as I am a 9V-guy, I have no problems with cutting those PF switches :tongue:

Greetings from Innsbruck,

Chris

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Just now, Capparezza said:

Yeah, there IS never enough room for Lego. I'm moving to a new appartment next year but my wife already planned what to do with that extra room we will have... :cry_sad:

Funny, five minutes after posting here I read your thread over at Doktor Brick and there you mentioned your "Meterware"-attitude as well. Are those old lightgray baseplates or the newer ones? I certainly would have a problem with cutting the old ones, they will never come back in that lightgray colour. The newer ones are still in production though. However, as I am a 9V-guy, I have no problems with cutting those PF switches :tongue:

Greetings from Innsbruck,

Chris

Hi Chris,

no worry :tongue:, they are brand new (light bluish gray for the 48x48 and tan for the 32x32, unfortunately there are no green ones any more). Cutting Lego which is out of product cycle would hurt me as well :wink: ...

BR, Guenther

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Enjoying your posts & updates.

Very inspiring! 

 

Edited by NickL

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Hi Fenestra and NickL,

Thanks and nice that you like my layout so far ... :sweet:

Perhaps there is a new update after Christmas ... I hope I'll find some time during the Christmas holidays to work on the layout  :classic:...

BR, Guenther

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My only question is with the levels how are you going to get to them to pose/build/play? Will you need to use a step stool? That seems to be the part I am not following. 

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Hi,

Good question! :wink:

First I have to admit, that this will be more a "model-railway" where the focus is on playing with the trains. So once built, I shouldn't have to fiddle around with the sections hard to reach. During the build process I start building top down (or better from the back to the front). The table itself is so sturdy that I can easily walk on it (at least on the lower and the middle level). Also the track with its ballasting is sturdy enough to step on it. I have only take care to not step on the point-switches.

BR, Guenther

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Hi Guys,

since my last update on this layout project allot of stuff happened and I can show you some progress on the layout.

First of all I completed the most left section of my city on the upper level:

small_img_9020.jpg

small_img_9054.jpg

You can also see that I managed to complete the brick-built streets in this part of the layout.

I made also good progress in ballasting my tracks. Now nearly 4/5 of the track is ballasted.

small_img_9031.jpg

As you can see behind the Emerald Night, I also started with the layout of the lower right city part. Now I have to design the brick built streets for this part in LDD. Meanwhile I'll continue working on the track ballast, hopefully finishing it soon (although there are some tricky situations coming up.

As always I am looking forward to get some feedback, critics and/or recommendations what I can do better.

And of curse, you'll find the high resolution images after moderation in my brickshelf folder here.

BR, Guenther

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Look´s like some great progress.
Also this is an very overwhelming project.
Looks very good so far. 

Cant wait to see what you come up with next. :classic:

KlodsBrik

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