A base for the Mt. Lowe layout

The layout on the base mock-up.

Before starting on shooting layout glamour photos I thought I'd finish building the mockup for the base. Who knows, maybe this will become more than a mockup and be the actual base.

Trefoil base plates are rough cut with a Japanese handsaw.

When I set aside base construction last year I had the three tubes cut out and covered with that wood grain contact paper for a 70s Radio Shack look. The trefoil tube arrangement supported the layout quite well.

Marking the location of the bearing on a foam plate.

Sometime last year Galen suggested mounting the layout on some sort of bearing so it could be turned around for better viewing. I was intrigued by that idea, but I had to resolve a few problems before it became viable. First was the layout had a power cord sticking out of it for plugging into a controller. If it were to rotate, the layout couldn't have any external power or control cables coming out of it. In keeping with the 70s vibe I decided to build in a battery powered controller to solve that problem. With the benefit of hindsight I'd probably make use of an external wireless controller in future projects. 

Plate edges were shaped with a rasp and smoothed with a sanding block

Then there was finding a suitable turntable bearing. The one I eventually settled on is a bit of overkill as it's rated to support a 750 lb load (!), but it cost less than $30 and had the diameter I was looking for, so the decision was easy.

Exposed portions of the base plates are painted with black acrylic.

For awhile I thought I'd use plywood or chipboard for the base's trefoils, but 1" thick foam sheets that are used for house insulation won out. The load to be supported is minimal (I should weigh the layout, but I'll simply comment that it is "quite light" ) and this material is good enough for supporting light loads like those often encountered with micro-layouts. It's easy to work with too. All I ever use is a small handsaw for rough cutting, a rasp for final shaping, and a small sponge sanding block for smoothing edges.

Transfer tape was used to bond the turntable bearing to the foam plates.

Finally, in the mockup spirit, I decided to bond the bearing to the foam trefoils with transfer tape. The tape provides a surprisingly strong bond. I've used it extensively in layout construction, so I thought I'd use it here too to make construction quick and easy.

Top and bottom plates have been bonded to the turntable bearing.

The bottom of the base panel that rests on the floor has a some anti-slip material bonded to it. Again, I used transfer tape for this. The part I haven't figured out is how to attach the layout to the tubes. If someone bumps the layout, it could take a heartbreaking tumble. Of course, if the layout were attached to the tubes the whole thing could still be tipped over because it's rather top heavy. I might need to add some weight inside those tubes to try to make that harder to do. Well, that's what experiments and mockups are for: finding out this sort of stuff. 

Anti-slip material is bonded to the bottom of the base

Well, that's basically it for construction. The tubes were stood on the base and temporarily held in place with good, old duct tape. Here's a video of me 'taking the base out for a spin':

I see a few things that need to be fixed, so it's back to the workshop for me.

The Brandywine Transit Co. and Me

After writing the post on the genesis of the Mt. Lowe layout, the project that took 10+ years from desire to finished layout, I got to thinking about how long I've been thinking about building a layout inspired by the TTC's streetcar network. So far it's been 50 years! 

From very early on I've been thinking about a TTC layout. Maybe from around '74 or '75, I can't say for certain other than when I saw the May '75 issue of Model Railroader at the local smoke shop newsstand with The Brandywine Transit Co. emblazoned on the cover I thought maybe this was the project to tell me what I wanted to know about building a streetcar layout.

It turned out I was rather disappointed.

So fast-forward 50 years. I went searching for information about The Brandywine Transit Co. online. There was almost nothing, but there were the usual AI findings at the top of the search results. They were rather sketchy though, not to mention pathetic and misleading. I decided to go and look up the BTC articles in my old magazines to properly get an idea of the big picture, and do a little reminiscing. The feel of the paper and the odour from the pages was enough to induce some mild time travelling :-)

I was surprised to find that the series was much longer than I remembered. There were 15 articles altogether from the May '75 issue to May '78. The first 10 dealt with construction of the layout, and the last 5 showed how to build some buildings and rolling stock. Here's the list:

May ’75: Part 1: Building the benchwork and plotting the plan

July ’75: Part 2: Beginning the tracklaying and overhead construction with the hidden interurban laps

Sept ’75: Part 3: Continuing with the tracklaying

Nov ’75: Part 4: Modeling the streets and sidewalks

Jan ’76: Part 5: Wiring the city division

Mar ’76: Part 6: Building prototypic controllers and wiring the interurban division 

May ’76: Part 7: Carbarn construction

Aug ’76: Part 8: Passenger terminal construction

Sept ’76: Part 9: Overhead wire construction for the city division

Oct ’76: Conclusion: Catenary construction for the interurban division

Feb ’77: Build a block of stores

Mar ’77: Old-time gas station

July ’77: Trolley-stop luncheonette

Feb ’78: Build a modern block of stores

May ’78: Build a trolley work train

I should also mention that there's a brief biographical note about the series' author, Walter R. Olsen, in the Aug '72 issue. He was an up and coming star at the time. Among other things he had written a popular series on how to build an N scale layout in a coffee table, called the East Glasstop R.R.. It ran in MR from Dec '70 to Apr '71. The biography also contains this rather interesting quote: "I don't care about operation at all. Once a layout is finished I usually run it only for visitors until it is torn up to make way for a new one." I'm more-or-less of the same mind, except for the tearing up part - ok, I have done that, but I like to think it's the exception and not the rule with me :-)

The BTC and series is a master class in how to properly build a traction layout with 1970s model railway technology and methods. I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say it was one of the best layout construction series MR published in the 20th century.

So why was I disappointed? 

In retrospect there was nothing wrong with the series. The problem was with my expectations. In Toronto the streetcar system was and is a fully operating, modern day transit system. The BTC was a somewhat old time system set in 1949 and wasn't urban. As well, it was too advanced and expensive for teenage me. The fit wasn't there.

Once 1977 and 1978 rolled around model railroading was slipping to the back burner. I had other things to do and other interests. These days I have the elements for a TTC inspired layout and some experience. There might be a fit now.

The old bank on Bank houses a new business

The prototype of this old bank model that I started in October and November 2017 and finished in February and March 2019 (!) has a new business in it. 

You may recall that the photos I shot and built the model from were taken in July 2016 when the building was up for sale.

July 2016

It's quite a deep building even though the facade it presents to the street is rather compact.

July 2016

It's so long that I had to do some serious compression on the model so it wouldn't overpower the layout I was building at the time and fit into the overall scene.

In 2017 the building housed a furniture store.

September 2017

The building is now home to the Sofia Vintage Motor Café. I heard they were having some sort of showcase preview event there last Sunday, so I walked over. I also learned that the concept of the place would be vintage, with a vintage car or two inside while one drinks one's coffee. So, coffee and vintage cars, I couldn't resist.

It's now the Sofia Vintage Motor Café

While I was walking there I noticed an unusual number of Porsche 911s converging in-and-around the area. When I got there I saw why: many, many high-end cars were parked nearby and on display. Obviously the word had gone out; the place was mobbed. There was a line-up to get in and get coffee and hob-nob. I don't have the patience to stand in lines at the best of times so I took a pass and will visit again during a regular weekday. I'm very interested in seeing the interior and sampling the coffee!

That deep side has plenty of room to show off cars!

I'm glad to see the old bank is being used for a new business and I wish them well. 

In the spirit of this new business, if I ever stage another layout car show I'll be sure to include this little old bank.

Done

Friday afternoon, while I was in the workshop installing the final trolley wire support arm, I had a feeling come over me that the layout was now done. Done in the sense that all the things I wanted to appear on the layout were now in place, the trolley ran, and the layout could be shown to civilians in the right setting. 

The old saying that a layout is never really done I can see applying here even though I've declared the layout done. There'll still be primping, tuning the details here and there, and maybe even adding some minor ones. And there's the stand that needs finishing, but it's the stand.

So, it's done.

Genesis of a Micro-Layout

This layout has been a long time in the making. I first had the idea of building something inspired by the Mt. Lowe railway back in 2014 after a stay in Pasadena. However, I had no idea how to proceed.

In the spring of 2015 we visited the Los Angeles area again and I was able to hike a portion of the Mt. Lowe trail in the San Gabriel mountains which runs along the old roadbed of the Mt. Lowe railway. Bad weather and scheduling constraints prevented me from hiking the entire route.

Throughout 2015 and 2016 I toyed with the idea of building a Mt. Lowe inspired layout in N-scale. Strangely enough as a test piece for the layout I built a model of the railway's observatory. Nothing else came of that layout idea.

It wasn't until January 2020, just before the pandemic, that I was able to return to Mt. Lowe and resume hiking the trail. Again, I was only able to hike part as ice and snow made the trail a bit too risky for me. Near the end of that trip I caught what we now know as covid-19, but at the time no one knew exactly what it was. I had a miserable flight home and from news reports we watched I expected to be quarantined when we landed in Montreal. That didn't happen, but I was so sick I stayed home for about three weeks.

In the fall of 2023 after reading a few interesting pieces by Bill Schopp on trefoil shaped layouts in some old Railroad Model Craftsman magazines a light went on in my head and I finally had an idea on how to build a layout that captured what I wanted to express, and wouldn't take years and years to construct. By this time I had also dabbled with micro-layouts for a few years. My experiences with the Loonar Module and the Centennial Experimental Farm had opened my eyes to other forms and approaches that could allow me to express things I previously found inexpressible.

Instead of starting with an observatory I wised up and started the layout by building a trolley inspired by Thaddeus Lowe's personal trolley. The scale was S and the gauge 9 mm. It took a lot of thinking before I settled on that scale and gauge. Things like how I could build a viable trolley from commercial drive units, support tight curves on the layout, deal with steep grades, availability of figures and scenic accessories, provide adequate clearances, and so forth factored into the decision. By starting with the trolley this gave me a vehicle to test grades and curves to see how steep they could be on the layout, and assess what sort of clearances and dimensions I'd need. This was very important, so much so that I'm thinking of writing a future post on general trefoil layout design principles and the necessity of testing designs with rolling stock.

In June 2024 I finally made a serious start on the layout. By the end of June the track was installed and the trolley could run along it. And, you may not believe it, but the area of the layout's footprint is 4 square feet, the upper limit on micro-layout size. 

Building up the terrain was a long process. The big new technique I learned on this project was casting rock molds from latex and later using them to create the layout's rocky terrain. The mountains' basic form though was built up from styrofoam sheets. By August 2024 the final shapes were starting to emerge; by September the shapes were defined enough to begin solidifying the mountain structure and do final shaping with spray foam.

October 2024 was more-or-less dedicated to surfacing the mountain with Cel-U-Clay, making use of the latex rock molds. Creating the mountain surfaces was a big job and continued well into December. I kept working on the mountains into January of this year, but by this point I was wrestling with painting the mountains as shaping them was wrapping up.

You know, for a guy who considers himself a structures guy, I didn't start building structures until February. I started with the station at Poppyfield Flats because it seemed the simplest to me, and then went on to build the lookout at Inspiration Point, and then what I considered the most difficult structure, the Circular Bridge. The last structure, the Observatory, was almost an after thought to help sort out a design problem, unlike the observatory on the ill-conceived N-scale layout which was the first thing I built. 

Amongst all the structure building there was a considerable amount of tree 'manufacturing'. 

Later, much, much later, I built a simple passenger car for the trolley to pull. 

Interspersed amongst all these significant projects was a lot of detail work. There was construction and installation of trolley wire support poles and arms, trolley wire installation, tree installation, layering on of ground cover and bushes, and lots of odds-and-ends work that is too persnickety to write about.

Again, much later during construction, in August, I changed my mind on how the layout should be powered and controlled. At first I merely provided a power jack for an external controller to plug into, but came to think the controller's power cord would inhibit play. I then scratchbuilt a battery-powered controller into the side of the layout so it would have stand-alone power and control. On a future project maybe utilizing some sort of wireless handheld controller would be better.

Now, all this may make it sound like I had a master plan right from the get-go and simply followed it to the end without any hiccups. I did have plans at the beginning. I wouldn't start a project like this without them, but once I got started there were lots of detours, changes of mind, conundrums that left me stumped for awhile, times when I just stared at the layout and thought about its design, mistakes, fumbles, and realizations about things I'd do different next time. Many of them are documented in the posts that can be found stamped with the Mt. Lowe tag. Some I'll take to the grave :-)

What's Next

Taking photographs to capture what's in my mind's eye is on the horizon and could last for a few months. Then there's the lead up to Christmas. I want the layout to be looking and behaving its best so I can show it off during the holiday season.

The Future

?

Dante's Staircase

Where once stood a proper stairway and winch,

now only remnant remains, 

against which a measly ladder leans, 

that leads to a string of metal steps and

a drooping chain handrail. 

Ascent is not for the faint of heart.

Planning discussion while awaiting the trolley

The Elgin Jazz Club Revisited

A couple last songs before closing.

It's well over 10 years ago the Elgin opened for business. The last set of photos taken there date back 9 years when it was located at the corner of Sinatra and Ocean Blvd on the Lost Ocean Line.

As I've been playing with layout design principle #1 I decided to dust off the Elgin, rearrange the figures, and try taking a photo or two. One of the uses of the Taronna layout will be to stage scenes for photographing so I figured I should try out that aspect while designing it. 

To create the effect of a spotlight on the singer I made a second roof for the Elgin from a sheet of 0.060" thick sheet styrene. I drilled a 1/8" diameter hole in the roof over the spot where the singer stands and set an LED flash light on top. The photos were taken after turning off all the room lights.

That roof isn't permanent. It can be swapped with the original whenever the picture taking mood strikes. Other buildings might get a similar treatment to open up other photographic possibilities.

Designing continues.

Experiments

Three A4 test layouts (from r to l): hand bent 9mm gauge loop; HO gauge loop; 9mm gauge loop using rail bender.
Yes, that's E. L. Moore's Yard Blacksmith Shop on the middle one.

You may have noticed that posts are way down this year. As well as working on the Mt. Lowe layout I've been doing some experimenting, but haven't been posting about it. Ok, well, the Moon Mail Madness diorama was an experiment I eventually posted about, as well as some thoughts I had later on the subject of dioramas and little layouts, but not so much on other layout related stuff.

Sometime in late winter or early spring this year I got interested in building a little loop layout on an A4 sized area, which is rather common in European model railway 'circles'. I wanted to give it a try. In the previous photo, and the following one, you can see my first attempt (it's the layout on the right): a 9mm gauge loop, curved by hand, and Transfer Taped to a thin stack of foam sheets cut to A4 size. I also ballasted the track.

I was also experimenting with layout heights.

Locos run alright around the loop, but the loop itself seemed like I used the outline of a lumpy potato as the guide to bending the track. I assure you I didn't! I first drew a track plan in my Leuchtturm1917 notebook (it's A4 size), pinned a piece of track down, and tried running a loco over the loop to see what would happen. It worked just fine! 

Using a Leuchtturm1917, 215 x 315mm, notebook as a track planning & testing tool!

But, I didn't like the shape I obtained by just hand bending the track. I figured if I was going to be serious about developing layouts with sinuous track plans I needed to buy a track bending tool, so I bought one of these Rail Rollers.

The YouTube channel Narrow Gauge Shop has a number of videos showing how to use a rail bending tool, and I watched just about all of them. The video above is one particular example that I found quite helpful, but I recommend browsing the channel as it's full of informative and interesting stuff.

Lumpy potato no more! An A4 loop of 9mm gauge track bent with a rail bending tool.

Even after my first attempt at track bending with the tool, it produced some quite decent results. As you can see in the photo above, not bad radius conformance, and there appears to be no residual stress in the rails that has to be fought against during installation as there was when I hand bent the track - that's what makes it lumpy.

And here it is!

I was also doing some experimentation with base thickness as I talked about in an earlier post. For this second attempt at an A4 loop I made quite a tall base from foam scraps. At the time I was inspired by the mid-century styling of the Clairtone stereo products and I started to wonder about building a little A4 layout whose base resembled some sort of wood grained piece of audio equipment from the 70s: a pair of wood gain ends with black wood sides, retro-styled control knobs and toggles, and so on. 

Definitely not pretty in pink.

It could still happen. For now though, I simply painted the sides black because the pink hurts my eyes!

The E. L. Moore inspired layout experiment in bending 16.5mm gauge track.
This is the middle layout in the opening photo.

After those tests with N-gauge track I tried my hand at bending some HO-gauge track to fit on an A4 area. I had in mind an E. L. Moore themed display making use of his Yard Blacksmith Shop. It would be some sort of Flyer and Coach repair area with a loop of track for testing rolling stock. That 'wooden' circle is a stand-in for a small turntable which allows repaired rolling stock to return to the mainline. On a 'real' layout I'd have a functional turntable - I think I could somehow squeeze one in. 

A first attempt at a more sinuous track plan for a wilderness retreat layout.

By this time I was feeling confident in using the rail bending tool and decided to try something a little more adventurous with 9 mm gauge track. In the back of my mind I have a layout idea for a wilderness retreat with a narrow gauge line that connects a house with a wood lot and a dock, with the basic track plan being something of a bent dog bone. 

Although I'm happy with the overall shape, the centre section needs to be a bit longer for what I have in mind. If I go forward and turn this experiment into a layout I'll explain why in a future post.

Experimenting with Taronna designs using salvaged Alta Vista TC modules

All this experimenting got me thinking again about the Exploratorium and a post from 2022 on how the principles it promoted for exhibit design could easily be applied to layout design. In their exhibit design pamphlet that I reviewed in that post I took their list of 10 exhibit design principles and substituted 'layout' wherever 'exhibit' appeared to see if the resulting modified list made sense. It did. Looking at it again though it seems to make more sense to substitute 'micro-layout' for 'exhibit', 'fellow modellers' for 'staff', and 'viewers' for 'visitors'. Here's what the new list, a list of micro-layout design principles based on Exploratorium exhibit design principles, looks like:

1. Basic research - just plain tinkering around with something for the fun of it - is an essential part of the micro-layout development process.

2. Micro-layouts are designed and developed by people who are interested in the phenomenon to be displayed.

3. To some extent, all micro-layouts are collaborative: many people make suggestions and contribute ideas.

4. The first stage of micro-layout design is the construction of a full-scale working prototype.

5. Micro-layout builders are responsive to comments from viewers and fellow modellers, testing layouts at many stages in their development and allowing reactions to shape the layout.

6. Micro-layout builders pay attention to aesthetic nuances, noticing what is fun to do, what is beautiful, what is intriguing.

7. Generally, micro-layout builders try not to restrict a viewer’s choice.

8. Ideally, viewers should be able to see the inner workings of a layout and make discoveries about how the layout works.

9. Most micro-layouts are set up on table tops, so that viewers can gather and use the micro-layout together.

10. Micro-layouts are often constructed of inexpensive materials, scrap, and found objects (or junk).

The fit is pretty good. These ideas don't seem too bad for micro-layout planning.

Another salvaged Alta Vista TC module awaiting experimentation.

Planning, design, experimentation, are all bouncing around in my mind these days. My 'ultimate' Toronto streetcar layout hasn't escaped their clutches :-) I've been mulling over how to proceed with that layout, the so-called 'Taronna' layout, for quite awhile.

I have in mind a small coffee table sized layout featuring Toronto landmarks that have significance to me, streetcars, a below grade subway station, and a bowling alley! It would be a huge project. I came to my senses recently when I realized it could take 3 or 4 years to build - maybe more knowing me. I want to build something much more doable on say a 2 year time horizon, but still try to incorporate the things most important to me. 

So, in the spirit of tinkering and experimentation I've pulled out the modules I salvaged from the misguided Alta Vista TC layout and have begun playing with them to see what I might come up with design wise for Taronna. I want to see if moving models around on the modules triggers any ideas. I've drawn little sketches of a possible layout, but I'm thinking maybe the full-size 'sketch' approach I took with the Moon Mail Madness diorama is the better way to design it: basically, applying Principle #1 of the Exploratorium guidelines.

3rd and last salvaged Alta Vista TC module waiting in the wings for design duty.

Well, that's the report from 30Squares Labs. I'll let you know if anything catches fire, but until then we'll crank up the time machine and go back to when the King of Spain was living in Taronna, er, Toronto:

Crossing the Circular Bridge

Testing continues now that a lot of the scenic work is wrapping up. I need to give the track and trolley chassis a good cleaning. There's a little bit of stuttering and hesitation during the loop. So far so good though.

Six Seconds in the Mountains

Shot during a test run of the trolley and passenger trailer. I've removed the trolley's overhead pickup pole on this run. The trolley is just leaving the Circular Bridge and is heading for the stop at Inspiration Point.

27 Trees

Layout cranked up to nearly the ceiling.

When I work on my little layouts I do so at a standing desk that I've put on wheels, equipped with a 2' x 4' hardboard top, and has a crank so I can move that surface up and down. It comes in quite handy when it's time to add scenery as I can crank the top surface up and down as well as turn the whole thing to various angles since it's on wheels. This allows me to get a variety of views while I'm adding things.

Over the last few weeks I've been adding trees to fill out the scenes. There're 27 in total. Funny thing is back in May I thought I had made too many trees! Turns out I was right and wrong. I had a few too many tall ones and not enough small ones, so I had to make some little trees to balance out the scenes.

The other side.

These days I'm adding rock debris and shrubbery. At one time I thought I would put in the effort to accurately replicate chaparral found in the region, but I've given up on that and decided to keep with the more simplified and somewhat abstract look I've started with the trees. I'm focusing on size, placement, and colour instead of fidelity to 'prototype'. 

Adding shrubs and other foliage is taking a surprisingly long time. Ok, I'm the problem because as usual my method is to add a bit, have a look, add a little more, take a break, look again, and so on - my standard operating procedure on this layout. So, you can see why it's a long process :-)

An overview of Amy Bennett's work

I stumbled across this new video of a lecture by Amy Bennett overviewing her work soon after I posted my diorama and micro-layout design notes where I mentioned her work was an inspiration. The entire video is worth watching, but she has some particularly interesting insights into HO scale and lighting. As well, there are many interesting quotes, but for diorama-ists this one is particularly insightful: "But I never try to accurately recreate a place. Reality is just a jumping off point. It's much more fun to be loose and responsive to the model making process."

Design notes on bases for dioramas and micro-layouts

Base for Moon Mail Madness diorama after Cell-U-Clay had hardened.

I thought I’d spend a little time writing down my thoughts on how bases for dioramas and micro-layouts should be designed; well, maybe I should back off a bit and say these notes are about how I like to design bases. I think about this topic from time-to-time and it popped into my mind again after participating in the recent scale model show held here so I figured maybe this was a good time to put some notes together. I don’t claim any originality or universality here. No doubt many modellers have gone down this road too and touched on many of the same ideas. I can’t say that these notes apply to all situations; your mileage may vary :-)

I used the models to sketch on a big sheet of paper how each would be positioned on the base.

Ok, let’s move on to the first topic. These notes aren’t in any particular order, just what pops into my head as I write.

The arrangement went through several iterations; this one is close to the final

Inspiration: MacRae, Smith, Bennett, Adams, + ...

To me a diorama isn’t just a few objects or figures set on a base to show off a model in a more favourable light as implied by the show’s flyer, which noted that for their purposes we’re looking at a diorama when the following condition is met: “As soon as ANY [JDL: All caps theirs] objects are added to the bases other than the model, it will be classed as a “diorama””. To me a diorama, in the context of scale model work, isn’t simply a collection of objects, but is a model display that tells a story. The story is the primary feature and the models support the telling. A few objects or figures on a base accompanying a model isn’t a diorama, it’s simply a way of displaying a model to best advantage.

From time-to-time eye level views were assessed as the arrangement was iterated.

I’m much inspired by the dioramas of Bruce MacRae, especially his Wine Tasters diorama, as well as the scenes constructed by Michael Paul Smith, Amy Bennett, and Kim Adams. 

Now the work of Smith and Bennett aren’t dioramas in the sense that scale modellers use. Smith created what could be considered temporary scenes for purposes of photographing them, and the temporary scenes Bennett builds are for creating paintings from. However, the key here is they both use models to create scenes that tell stories. 

The objects Kim Adams makes are closer to that of classic model making diorama-ists, but the content of his work is very different. His stories are often ones of exploration into alternative possibilities of our physical world, not just highly detailed reflections of it.

But, the connecting thread running through the work of all four artists is that the centre of interest in their dioramas isn’t one or two particularly well detailed models, but stories. 

Scraps of foam sheet to be used to make the base.

In the model railroading world, E. L. Moore is my main influence. Not everything he built centred on a story, but a lot did. Over the last few years I've been impressed by the layouts shown in the French magazine Voie Libre. Ok, yes, this has an air of shameless self-promotion since a few photos of the Loonar Module appeared there in 2023 in a micro-layout feature, but in my defence I submitted photos there for a couple of reasons. I was impressed by the small layouts they'd written about over the previous 3 or 4 years, and I had never seen a layout set in a Canadian scene by an actual Canadian in their pages! I wanted to fix that injustice :-) The rest is history :-)

I quite enjoy all the layouts Voie Libre has featured, but I especially like the work of Bernard Junk and Detlev Horn, notably their layout called The Island.

Continental Modeller is also a good place to see innovative layouts. And, yes, yes, more shameless self-promotion, the Centennial Experimental Farm layout appeared in its pages this year. 

All I'm saying is that there's a lot of interesting work going on in the wide world of model railroad layouts

Tracing template was cut out after finalizing the arrangement.

Shape: Base Shape Helps Story

The footprints of many dioramas and small layouts are simple geometric shapes: squares, rectangles, circles, and ovals. This is quite understandable as these are readily obtainable in the form of pieces of wood, picture frames, display plaques, and so on. I’ve come to think though that the footprint should help tell the diorama’s story.

Sometimes foam sheets were glued together to make suitably sized pieces

I didn’t really understand this when I built the Loonar Module. I used 2’ x 2’ by 1” thick insulating foam sheets for the base because they were easy to buy at the local home renovation store. But, I wound up building a round island on a square lake! It turned out ok, but if there’s a next time the base’s footprint will reflect the story since water isn’t square :-)

Later, when I was building the Centennial Experimental Farm layout I could have just gone ahead with a rectangular footprint for the base, but I thought it more appropriate for the base to be rectangular at the Carling road end since the road was all straight edges, and rounded at the streetcar return loop at the farm end. There it matched the graceful loop of the track, and didn’t present dead corners to be filled in as it would if this end was also square. So, curved lines at the natural end, and straight edges at the urban end.

A layer ready for cutting out with a hand saw and knife.

The Mt. Lowe layout is where I’ve really started to apply the ’base shape helps story’ principle. Mt. Lowe had several scenes that I wanted to capture, but they had to be somewhat separated from each other. The trefoil seemed to help realize that desire with its three prominent lobes, each providing a separate scenic area. Thinking about the trefoil’s scenic potential a bit more I realized its footprint actually allows for 7 scenes: the 3 lobes, the 3 concavities connecting the lobes, and the aerial view, which in this case is a mountain top observatory.

Lots of scraps and foam dust after cutting out the pieces.

With the Moon Mail Madness diorama I took the principle further. As you can see in this post’s photos I designed the base’s shape as I used the models to sketch out the story; both developed at the same time. And what is the story? It’s a slice of life in the lunar postal service: two lunar postal workers meet at a crossroads and one takes a photo of the other as he begins to remove letters from a mailbox :-) I thought the base’s footprint should match the shape of the road intersection to emphasize the crossing. Also, why make the base square or rectangular and have to deal with dead space that needs filling? The only external limit on the footprint was the show’s specified requirement that all dioramas had to fit in a 2’ x 2’ area, not be a 2’ x 2’ area, which was no problem fulfilling.  

White glue holds the stack together. A rasp and sanding blocks used to form the final shape.

Presence: A Subtle Call to Look

Over the years I’ve come to like thick bases for dioramas and small layouts. 

A lot of dioramas and small layouts I’ve seen present the viewer with a decent top side model and scene set on a thin, platter-like base. Sort of like a meal that has been put on a dinner plate. Some might say, well it’s the modelling that’s of interest and not what it’s sitting on, much like it’s the meal that’s important and not the plate below.

An anti-slip mat was cut and glued to the bottom of the base.

To me though a diorama or layout is a complete, integrated object; a type of three-dimensional sculpture. A diorama doesn’t consist of a good part (the model work) that is to be enjoyed and an irrelevant support part (the base) that is to be ignored. The base’s footprint helps to tell the story, and its height helps to command you to look at that story by establishing the diorama or layout’s physical presence amongst all other objects that vie for a viewer’s attention.

This is another idea that at first I didn’t fully appreciate. The Loonar Module’s base is 3 foam sheets thick because I wanted it to be quite rigid and strong. Mission accomplished. However, looking at the result over weeks and months I felt the thick base gave the layout a solid look that I quite liked. It seemed like the island actually was rooted in something, not just sitting on something.

Anti-slip mat trimmed to fit the bottom of the base.

On the Centennial Experimental Farm I deliberately made the base height about the same as what I thought the tallest tree would be. It seemed odd to me to have big, tall trees (completely to scale regarding height and canopy volume) sticking out of a base no thicker than a pizza box. It didn’t seem balanced. It didn’t seem substantial.

However, like the Loonar Module’s base, I painted it black because I didn’t want the base to draw attention to itself. Its job was simply to say “here’s a story” and bring it to a viewer’s attention, not be the story. The base is to be the strong silent type component in this object we call a diorama: it provides structural support, it’s footprint provides narrative support, it’s height makes a call for attention and visually balances the models, but it tries to do all this in a subtle manner, not calling unnecessary attention to itself. 

The mailbox rise is glued to the base. Note commercial vac-formed crater to the right.

Moon Mail Madness violates the subtly principle a little with the inclusion of the postcard. I thought it would help the overall story, and it tries to be subtle while doing so. Sometimes on layouts that are structured like framed paintings instead of sculptural objects you’ll see a lot of labels, stickers, photos, warnings, awards, and other ephemera attached to the surround. That’s all too loud and distracting for me. The layout needs to speak for itself. Likewise, dioramas need to speak for themselves. They shouldn’t need any supporting documentation or ephemera hanging around trying to divert attention.

Crater glued on. White glue spread on foam prior to applying Cell-U-Clay.

Materials: Sheet Foam

I use foam sheets for my bases because they are lightweight, strong when laminated, easy to cut and shape, and low cost. I learned a hard lesson when I built the portable Lost Ocean Line layout from wood. It became too heavy to be very portable by me alone. Other materials can certainly be used. Foam sheets aren’t some magic one-size-fits-all solution, but I’d say put the wood back in the rack if it isn’t completely necessary. If you’re using wood for decorative reasons, that’s a different story.

Spare Moonscope wheel was used to roll in tracks.

On the Loonar Module I sided the base with sheet styrene to give it a smooth finish. I’ve subsequently learned that isn’t completely necessary. Smoothing the foam sides and then painting them with an artist’s quality acrylic will produce a decent finished surface. Although foam sides may seem a bit rough and soft after shaping and smoothing, the acrylic paint acts as a binder to solidify the surface as well as provide colour. Think of the paint job as applying a surface binder that just so happens to have a colour, which is black in my case. 

After 2 weeks of curing, cheap acrylic paints were used to colour the surface

Eye Level: An unresolved problem

I’ve always thought that the conventional way scale models (plastic models, train layouts, doll houses, every category really) are shown and displayed is odd. I think the best way to view them is at eye level because, usually, that’s how we encounter their real life counterparts. Yet, models are usually displayed so that the most common viewing angle is from above. I understand the practical reasons for this, but it doesn’t do justice to the models and the work of their makers. By setting out models on tables of conventional height only small children get the best views :-) 

Maybe conventional tables augmented with some sort of leg extensions would do the trick for model shows. Combined with showing dioramas or layouts with thick bases, this might almost solve the eye level viewing problem. Or maybe not. If you’re a long time reader here I’ve tried some experiments to fix this issue over the years, but haven’t been satisfied yet with the results. 

Ready for adding the models.

These aren't likely my final thoughts on the subject. They simply capture a few aspects of my current thinking. 

Oh, and before I run off for coffee, Sheperd Paine's book How to build Dioramas is always good to consult. Maybe I'll dive in again while coffee's brewing.

Awaiting the show.