I’ve had a busy week so haven’t got a lot done but have put up some backdrops and wired up the track under the eaves. I’ve been using hardboard to cover the plywood that’s all uneven. So far so good but I’m still deciding how much of the grade up to cover.
You can see the progress so far below. The right side curve hides the track going up the grade. It pops out behind the buildings to the left. Unfortunately it is 6″ up so I am not sure how to hide it yet. I might use an elevated walkway between buildings so I can run trains hidden from open view. The height is just too high to look realistic. The brown tape is my attempt to mask the join but it is a little bit wrinkly still so I will fill it.
The left side still needs the upper level doing but you can see where it starts by the horizontal batten across the chimney breast. The white grade is a 3% Woodland Scenics polystyrene riser which is the start of the run up to the upper level. In front of it is the main yard with the turntable to the left. The yard front is going to be on the water’s edge like New London, Springfield or Cedar Hill. If there is water by the aisle then the back should be the city.
Here’s a close up which shows the 24″ curve which is the minimum for non-mainline track. I’m unsure what to do with the corner – whether to hide it or to have buildings etc in the way. I am going to do the backdrop along the chimney breast in front of the hidden track but am unsure whether to curve it round like the other side… I thought the first bit would be ok as I want it to be on a bit of a stone embankment like in the Park Avenue, New York. That would mean tall building fronts along the back like in New York.
This shows the height of the grade track as it runs up into the upper level. The NEBISCO buildings on the left will drop down as they are too high at the moment – it’s jacked up because of the tortoise motors but will be dropped down so the tracks are at baseboard level.
Since then I have filled the screw holes and am hoping the bend joint looks better once sanded.