Videos & Photos Videos How To Benchwork How-to Library: Designing a layout, Part 4 Sharing the project with others

How-to Library: Designing a layout, Part 4 Sharing the project with others

By Angela Cotey | November 20, 2018

| Last updated on November 20, 2020


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Host David Popp invites MR Contributing Editor Tony Koester to take a closer look at the collection of historic photos and maps. The two consider how to select and shape these references into Layout Design Elements (LDEs), which can be used to form an entire layout.

7 thoughts on “How-to Library: Designing a layout, Part 4 Sharing the project with others

  1. Thank you for the overview of connecting these dots.From the sandborn maps to the doodle paper, the observations are excellent!

  2. Wo, what an excellent series! So nice to see these kinds of interesting and somewhat unique presentations. They definitely justify my subscription! Please keep these types of videos coming: things on the fringe of what we might read in a magazine. It is so enjoyable to see you all discuss, share and work out ideas!

  3. Very good episode David and Tony. Finally got to meet Tony in person at the National Train Show in Kansas City and he is a wealth of information. And always good seeing you at Trainfest David.

  4. Over the years I have both disagreed with Tony’s ideas and shamelessly copied his ideas, but he is absolutely right about going back over photos. Any number of times when researching a project I looked at a picture that I had looked at for twenty years or so and discovered something I had never noticed before

  5. I haven’t noticed you mentioning anything about the scale for this project. When do you do you make your choice of scale? Are we to assume it will be HO? In this video you’re discussing what you can fit into a basement. The scale is significant for that. If it is N sale rather than HO you might not be required to leave out some things. If it is O scale, then much more will need eliminating.

  6. Great segment David and Tony. Good idea orienting the maps by the north arrows David, helps to create the overall picture of that track plan. Maybe you should try Sketchup as a way to show the various buildings, streets and trackage in 3D for the article. Thanks.

  7. To compress or not to compress; that is the question. I would suspect you might be able to do this in Z scale, and not have to compress too much. But are the things you need to run the layout available in that scale? The same question would apply even in N scale.
    Then comes room size. Is there going to be sufficient room to have both the depot, engine facility, freight house spur and commuter train storage or layover track? OK, so the depot may be smaller. There may not be a turntable.
    I tried to plot out in a given space the D&RGW’s track in Sargant’s, CO. I could, as a minimum get the depot and roundhouse/turntable, but not the wye nor the coaling track. Conversely, I could do the coaling track and maybe the stock pens, but none of the rest. I could also to the roundhouse/turntable inside the wye, but none of the other. Not even compressing things, nor using something smaller than #6 frogs. Hey, we’re talking turning K36’s and K37’s. C61’s are no problem.
    As someone said: “Back to the drawing board.”

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