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Post by dangermouse on Jan 1, 2016 17:56:28 GMT -5
Thought I would share some photos of my home track. When I decided to build this track (my fifth) I was looking for names and came across the actual Blue Ridge Parkway and decided it fitted with what I wanted for my track. I looked up 'Parkway' and in the US " it includes limited-access highways designed for recreational driving of automobiles, with landscaping. These parkways provided scenic routes without very slow or commercial vehicles, at grade intersections, or pedestrian traffic. Sounded just what I wanted a scenic place for recreation driving. The Blue Ridge Parkway seems such a lovely place, with some nice scenic elements. As I am also incorporating a model railroad in the space I might call it the Blue Ridge RR and use some of the scenic elements like the Mabry Mill and the old farm houses, Here is an early build/ planning shot with my chief router and foreman (dad) Overall track Some scenery Still some work happening cheers David
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Post by Chris Wright on Jan 1, 2016 19:54:36 GMT -5
Hi David The Blue Ridge Parkway Huh! Well here I sit with a corn cob pipe in my mouth in the foot hills of The Great Smokie Mountains about 20 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. A twisy scenic highway that winds it's way through Georgia, North Carolina and Tennesee over the southern range of the Appalachian Mountains. Also know as the Smokies. Ya'll need some white lightning whiskey stills, and a light fog over yon mountains, (they are called blue ridge because of the humidity in the summer), add some banjo music, (like in the movie Deliverance), some white water rivers, (like in the movie Deliverance) and watch out for Subaru STI's coming the other way,...oh and a few Rice Rockets, maybe an 18 wheeler stuck on a bend. A couple of hopped up Chevy Impala hooch haulers, some pit bull fighting pits, a gold mine or two, add in Some Cherokee Native Americans. Some rusted out hulks by the side of the road, great blue grass music, and you got it. No farm houses, just shacks occupied by the guys from Deliverance, (like in the movie Deliverance) with guns. Oh and no teeth. If ya be needun more help, just holler yall hear! (Said in my best hick accent, which is terrible considering I'm English). In all reality, it's a very pretty area of the United States, and the above humour should be taken with a degree of reality. It's a very desolate area. When the Olympics were held in Atlanta, they were bombed by an anti-abortion extremist by the name of Eric Rudolph. He hid out in the Smokies for over 5 years before he was captured. A lot of things are looking right on your track, just mist some blue on the wall scenic, add some streams, and some bears and a few deer and you've got it. And railway tracks with lots of trellises over streams and gullies.
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Post by Taffy on Jan 2, 2016 16:43:43 GMT -5
Hi, David,
your track looks great, no, it´s better to say: it looks "right"!
Where is the model railroad? Will it be part of the racetrack or is it a "stand alone"? And which gauge does it have? In Germany, we have the "Spur 1", which is 1:32. I had thought to incorporate a Spur 1-track in my racing circuit, but unfortunately there isn´t enough space for it.
What material did you take to make these green bushes?
Kind regards, Taffy
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Post by dangermouse on Jan 2, 2016 19:14:20 GMT -5
Chris thanks for the photos and info about the Parkway - I hope to visit and drive it one day. Taffy the railroad will be at the other end of the area - behind where I was standing to take the photo of the whole track. Scale will be mainly 1/48 narrow gauge running on 16mm track - ON30 - I will also put a loop of N Scale around the outside as I have a nice N Scale collection including the blue and white Bullet Train. I have a Marklin 1/32 scale train but it is huge. Because the ON30 track is the same gauge as HO track I can also run some of my HO Diesel Engines on it. (Before I got back into slot cars big time I was a train collector) This is where the railroad will be - about 3.5m long I have since removed the cross over bridge decided I wanted a simpler layout that would allow me to put an N Scale loop around the outside. Once up and running my focus will be on scenery rather than train operation. I like making scenery and running trains through it. Here are some of my engines: and some scratch builds This is the 1/32 engine next to my 1/48 engine.
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Post by David Mitcham on Jan 3, 2016 4:03:08 GMT -5
Hi David
Many thanks for posting the pictures of your slot car track; it looks excellent. The scenery is very realistic as is the track surface (how did you do that?). Do you just use polystyrene and some form of plaster for the rocks and slopes? I'm about to start on scenery for my own track so any hints and tips would be much appreciated. The trains look very interesting too!
Best Regards
David
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Post by dangermouse on Jan 3, 2016 18:51:04 GMT -5
Hi David
The track surface is a suede paint by company called Dulux (here in Australia)
The hills are made by soaking dish cloths (Chux) in a wet plaster mix and then laying them over foam or fly screen shapes.
The rocks are made with Woodland Scenics moulds.
cheers David
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Post by Taffy on Jan 4, 2016 5:04:45 GMT -5
Hello, David, this is very interesting for me, because in my youth, I started as a model railroader, too. And indeed, in N-gauge! If this were a railroader-forum, we could continue to discuss that.... You have very nice locomotives and wagons, and if you see my remaining rests, you may find some similarities:
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