Structure identifies the parameters within which the layout must be designed. It is broken down into two main elements: 3) resources available to build the railroad, and 4) layout planning.
Under the element Resources Available, the following areas are considered: 2) Skills/Experience.
Lance M in his blog lancemindheim.com. discusses the skills and experience factors in layout design and construction. His bottom line observation is:'If you haven’t built a complex layout before maybe you do a flatter, simpler one first.
Experience
Let's talk Experience first. Have you built any layouts before?
The modeling press has identified that a model railroader typically enter the hobby at two points in their lives, either during the teen years or at retirement. Those coming into model railroading later in the life do so with many more resources than their teen counterparts. On the surface that can seem like a good thing but, more often than not, it can be a case of the proverbial “having enough rope to hang yourself”. The sixty or seventy something retiree often has ample space and funds to commit to grandiose plans that he has yet to acquire the skills to execute. The teen has neither ample space or funds, nor has the skills to execute.
Lance suggests that the entry level modeler should warm up to the hobby by building smaller practice layouts first. Model Railroader magazine has always catered its articles on the beginner in the hobby. They recognize that early success and momentum is crucial when it comes to building passion for the hobby. On the flip side, hard to build elements can create construction quagmires that bog a persondown as they face one construction challenge after another. The key to success is to keep the first effort simple, something that falls together easily. The acronym KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid - is one of two signs currently occupying my layout room. (The other sign is - Think like a Short Line.)
As i indicated in my blog Layout Desig Process - Train Set, there are a number of layout design planning magazines and books out there that have beginner layouts already designed. I will admit that there were a couple of oval, figure -eight, and 'spaghetti-like' layout plans in my early years. I will also admit that they were short duration layouts - a train going round and round and round just got boring pretty quick and I 'graduated' to shelf layouts with less round and round and more industrial switching activities.
Lance has designed and built 4 small layouts that certainly are a cut above the layout designs of the 70-s and 80's . You can find them here. Lance's suggestion for a beginner layout would be: two inch extruded foam sub-roadbed base, Atlas code 83 flex track for the straights, Atlas 24 inch sectional track for the curves, and Atlas number six turnouts. I didn't have extruded foam available i my youth - plywood and homosote was subroadbed and roadbed standards at the time - but it makes sense today.
It was an article in the 1995 Model Railroader by David Barrow that caught my eye and set me on the modular course that I have continued to use to this day, and it certainly supports Lance's thoughts of beginner layouts. He developed layout benchwork that was minimalist in nature, easily constructed (and deconstructed) and practical for the growth of the modeler as he obtained skills and experience.In articles written over the years he advocated recycling of materials, tacking down rather than gluing down track and turnouts, not using ballast at all, no scenery, etc. Not unlike model railroads constructed in the 40's 50's and 60's.
Skills
My dad once told me that model railroading was like the skill trades - first you are an apprentice, then a journeyman and then if you choose to progress - a master in the field. And he was right. Model Railroading is a hobby that offers alot of modeling opportunities for all levels of expertise. Benchwork starts with a saw, a drill, a screwdriver and a level, progresses to Lgirder and then open frame. Trackwork starts with a compass, a ruler, tack hammer or glue dispenser putting down sectional track and turnouts, followed by flex track and improved performance turnouts to handlaid track and turnouts. Locomotives start with ready to run (RTR) models to kitbatching and then scratchbuilding Scenery starts with a flat surface painted with browns or greens and progresses to wire or cardboard mesh and plaster, and ends with plaster rock castings, sculptimld and static grass and hand made trees in a variety of techniques. As a modeler you choose the level of interest you wish to pursue.
In LTG #4: I said i wanted to improve my modeling skill sets in the areas of scenery, electrical, locomotive and rolling stock kitbatching, and structure building. I'm a journeyman in the benchwork trackwork and electrical aspects of the hobby and an apprentice in everything else. I'm going to use the National Model Railroad Association Model Railroading Achievement program to advance my apprentice skills and hone my journeyman skills to the master level. I look forward to kitbatching and scratchbuilding prototype locomotives, rolling stock and structures appropriate to my railroad modeling Scenery-wise im not as accuracy focused - grass is grass, hills are hills, trees are trees, and if i can generally model a scene so it looks similar to the prototype photo I have of my area of interest i will be happy.
If youre a beginner, the Golden Spike Award is a good start. I will use the NMRA Achievement Program as a guide to my skill progression. Perhaps I'll make it to Master Model Railroader - you never can tell !
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