In this Spaces to Places episode, host Gerry Leone tackles the final touches around the lower deck roundhouse area of his HO scale (1:87.1) Bona Vista model railroad. Gerry first focuses on adapting background buildings, before transforming an empty space behind the roundhouse into an authentic place, including static grass and gravel roads.
Want to see more of Gerry’s work on a classic, familiar format? Look for his Turning Spaces into Places Vol. 1: Rural Scenery DVD, available from the Trains.com Store!
Liked it all as always. I’m getting more and more willing to take apart whole areas of a layout to facilitate scenery, something I was never willing to do in the past.
Thanks! -jkelty
GO AHEAD AND DO IT, JOHN! You’ll really like the way the layout starts to look with some scenery!
Another informative episode as always. How about using an industrial smoke stack to temporarily hide the seam until you get around to your eventual fix? The Cock Robin Distribution Center (sic) appears to be a large enough industry to warrant a smokestack, and it could be easily removed later when you work on the seam.
Thanks, Artie! That’s a wonderful idea. As you can see, there’s already an industrial smokestack behind the building. I’ll just move it to the roof in front of the seam!
To me, the fine gravel still appears much too coarse. Proto gravel is usually one inch or less in size to provide an easy ride for the vehicles. Like the driveway at my house. Reduced 87 times, it would be more powder than gravel. Get an HO plastic car with plastic wheels, run it over your road. If it bumps, not good.
Roger, thanks for the comment and I totally agree with you — the gravel IS too coarse. But understand, we modelers are trying to create the IMPRESSION of reality as we look at things from 2, 3, or 4 feet away. We’re creating details that people expect to see, sometimes exaggerated, rather than a true reduction of 87 times. If the road were white powder it would look like dough from 2 or 3 feet away, and no one would say, “oh that’s a gravel road.” Look at the grab irons and ladders on your locomotives and cars. If they were true-to-scale, they’d be made out of 0.003″ wire and you wouldn’t be able to see them from 3 feet away. People expect to see mortar lines on brick walls, so the mortar lines are exaggerated on models to give the IMPRESSION of mortar lines, even though they’re a scale 3 inches thick. Without being able to see the mortar lines, it’s just a flat, red wall. So, sure, the gravel is exaggerated and out of scale. But when you look at it, you say, “Oh that’s kind an out-of-the-way area, like an alley.” It’s all modelers’ license, to create an impression and not a miniature re-creation.