Scenery and Structures

Author: Robin Taylor, Guild Technical Committee June 2019

Most of us starting in 0 gauge now may have attended their first Guild event returning home with a RTR locomotive an odd wagon or two, some track and possibly one or more points.

We may have limited space considerations for a layout so at this point it may be wise to consider whether in the space available your interests lean toward an industrial scene layout enabling you to model low relief industrial premises as a back scene with a greater quantity of tracks and tighter radii point work in a limited space possibly utilizing some Peco Setrack items or something based on the more laid back country branch line termini / light railway of which there are many to choose from. This second option usually includes the opportunity to model the country scene with space for not only smaller lightly built railway structures but an occasional quaint cottage or farmhouse as well.

Suggestions and track plans as a starting point the Guild have always made available through their booklets on Small Layouts Volumes one and two. Volume three is in preparation. Other sources of track plans are available through the PECO Publications booklets or model rail press monthly magazines.

Basic landscape

Always remember the landscape came first, many years before any railway was envisaged. A railway company would engage a surveyor to map out the best route for the railway where possible keeping any gradients easy and with the least number of expensive and time consuming engineering works.

Having said that modelers often look for interest in their layouts scenery by including bridges, cuttings, embankments and of course often a tunnel or over bridge as an entrance to the storage sidings. Remember therefore when designing your scenery to imagine the location or hillside first and how the railway would have cut into it. Gentle rolling hills are fine or track work alongside reasonably level fields however remember earthworks whether they be embankment or cutting require a grade of one to one point five, i.e. for every 1.5 distance across the grade can only rise or fall 1.0. If the builder ran out of space then a retaining wall was required. In recent years examples of this can be seen often when we are stuck at traffic jams in motorway roadworks. Contractors squeezing in that extra fourth lane are cutting into the old 1.5 to 1 angle earthworks so in order to prevent slippage the earthworks are “pinned” with long steel rods inserted into the earthworks.

Drainage to roads and walkways is often overlooked. Most roads are slightly “domed” in the centre to encourage drainage to the sides. Often if the road is cobbled the cobbles in the side are placed 90deg. to the normal road surface ones to aid water flow re creating this in model form creates a more realistic effect. Cobbled roads take time whether it’s scored filler or individually cut card pieces glued onto a plastered underlay but any repetitive task is made easier by only doing a bit at a time. The best way often with a repetitive and boring task is to have a number of parts cut ready, possibly cut a number over 20 minutes or so before you go to bed then next morning make your coffee, put on the news and stick a few inches of cobbles into place before going to work. The task will soon be completed over a number of short days’ work. Do not forget the manhole covers and drain covers. They can be drawn out on an A4 sheet or reduced photographs of the real thing placed on one A4 sheet then photocopied many times, individually cut out as required then stuck in place. This sheet copied can then last you a lifetime. Dirt roads or tracks can be easier however do not forget some ruts in the road to the correct “gauge” for the traffic. Was it not the horse and cart that eventually led to the present railway gauge?

So a lot can go into the basic scenery and no matter how detailed your locomotives, stock and buildings it’s no good without the foundations to put it onto.

Buildings

Often certainly railway structures can be modelled with the aid of drawings and prototype photographs.. Cottages, factory’s and farm outbuildings often do not have a drawing you can use in each case the prototype is often too large to use in whole on the layout so has to be reduced to fit. Always keep the proportions the same, i.e. door size, windows roof angle etc. this maintains the caricature of the building. In railway structures often in particular in the case of goods sheds, main station building locomotive shed or signal box the length can be shortened, take a room out, a window or two out in the case of an engine shed or signal box and a satisfactory result is achieved.

The more modern buildings usually the railway or adjacent industrial ones are often well constructed using modern materials of the time creating uniform windows, doors etc. A1 size coloured card sheet can be purchased at most office supply or art shops. This can be layered to create strength or photographic mounting card, a foam board layered between two thin card or plastic sheets around 4mm thick can be instead used each covered with plastic or card embossed sheet to create brick or stone effect. Some makes of mounting foam boards can have one side skin peeled away to reveal the foam board, this can then be directly scored and worked. One advantage with this is that differing sizes of stone can be drawn along with repairs or building alterations done with brick or a different stone as is often the case with older cottages and the like. Older buildings also often have sagging roofs or bulging walls. This effect can be achieved using thinner cheap card similar to that used in cereal packets etc. this when used to create the basic structure glued with a contact adhesive can be covered with a paste made up from fine sawdust and watered PVA glue. This is palated onto the walls, the water content soaks into the thin card distorting it further but when set creates a chipboard hard structure representing a rendered wall covering.

Roofs

To create a sag in the roof thin cheap card is used fixed using a contact adhesive. Along the roof ridge a section resembling a Melon slice has being cut out sinking to around one centimetre in the middle then raising back to the ridge at the opposite end. This creates an oval sliced aperture along the ridge, pull together the middle and fix using again a contact adhesive. The roof can be then covered with individual stone slabs or slates using thin card or pantiles. Slates can be pre-cut or pantiles from thin corrugated card cut into strips of three or four corrugations wide then cut crossways at 45 deg. angles. Due to the 45deg. angle cut when the sections are placed on the roof they can be made to overhang each section located below them to good effect.

Windows, Doors Etc.

Many company’s manufacture windows and doors now for buildings in laser cut wood, plastic or white metal but always use a prototype photograph to create a cottage or building. If a reasonably accurate window cannot be found it can then be created using a bow pen and paint on clear acrylic sheet or with fine cut strips of coloured tape stick onto sheet to create frames.

Doors are also available from various suppliers but can easily made from card, plastic sheet or 1mm plywood which is available from many model boat or aircraft shops.

References