One design principle that I try to adhere to is to think about the routes that can be travelled through the layout's space so people can get to the various areas. It's related to using sight lines as a design principle that I discussed earlier this year.
I like to have the roads, tracks, sidewalks, trails, and so on mapped out and understood how they connect up the layout's areas. As I'm working on that I try to make sure these things have fairly realistic dimensions as they're being laid out. The roads can't be too narrow, the walking gradients can't be too steep, and so on. Thinking about these things helps me keep the scenes within the realm of possibility. I often think getting the routes through the space physically right is more important than detailing, well, at least as important.
Shown above is one such route map. It isn't the only one of course, but thinking about it helped me a lot in developing scenic possibilities.
Don't hold yourself back from expanding the layout... in between those 3 lobes. The track is so very close to the edge... everywhere! If you filled in the 3 gaps into a curved-point triangle instead of a 3-pedaled clover, maybe it would be less... contrived?
ReplyDeleteWell, part of the idea here was to see what could be done with a trefoil, and to see if a 4 sq ft one, a max sized micro-layout, was viable, but maybe when that isn't so top of mind with me I may take your suggestion and fill in the gaps.
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