forgive me if I overlooked it, but how did you make/where did you get the harbour backscene/backdrop? It looks great, although I'm not 100% sure of the scale of the nearest ship, it looks a tad bit too large (out of scale), being an ex sailor myself....

Koos

torikoos Wrote:forgive me if I overlooked it, but how did you make/where did you get the harbour backscene/backdrop? It looks great, although I'm not 100% sure of the scale of the nearest ship, it looks a tad bit too large (out of scale), being an ex sailor myself....

Koos

The backdrop is from a German company named JoWi ( http://www.modellbahn-hintergrund.de/jowi.pdf ) I did use N130 and N131. It is actually more the harbor of Hamburg (I raised up close to the harbor and did play a lot there) than any US harbor. The bridge is well known.
I remember (living close to the black forest now without any salt water ) the ships being very tall standing at the pier. The backdrop shows ships that are less than 50 yards away. The tracks are on the pier immediately in front of the water. But I may should have cut the backdrop at the button by 1' to get the ships even closer.

ps. having a closer look I agree, the green ship is to large. It a small vessel going in the north and baltic sea only. Don't know the English name in German it is called a "Kuestenmotorschiff" in short "Kümo" (? coaster ?).

I really like your layout,

what are the dimensions of the layout?

AlcoRS1 Wrote:I really like your layout,

what are the dimensions of the layout?

It is at all walls in a room about 13' long. The north yard is about 1' wide and the south yard 2' wide. The east and west side are 4* wide connections with hatches for entrance and balcony door only.

faraway Wrote:

torikoos Wrote:forgive me if I overlooked it, but how did you make/where did you get the harbour backscene/backdrop? It looks great, although I'm not 100% sure of the scale of the nearest ship, it looks a tad bit too large (out of scale), being an ex sailor myself....

Koos

ps. having a closer look I agree, the green ship is to large. It a small vessel going in the north and baltic sea only. Don't know the English name in German it is called a "Kuestenmotorschiff" in short "Kümo" (? coaster ?).

Yes it's a coaster indeed, in dutch its a kustvaartschip. (that's where I'm originally from :-) ) . I'm familiar with the type, although I never sailed on them, they are quite small. Those bridge windows are about 1meter to 1.50meter in height depending on the size and design, so that gives you a bit of a reference. The other ship is no problem, it's a larger type, and it is sitting further away,it appears to be some kind of bulk carrier, in fact with the distance it doesn't matter if it is not quite to scale, it either seems a little closer or further away. Yet it is very well done, and I like how you've blended the backdrop and the layout together! Koos

Reinhard, I like your storage container. It would probably be owned outright by the company using it. The typical price of a used dry container is only $2500.00 or so. The only examples of used containers being leased that I have seen are companies that buy used refrigerated containers and lease them out as extra cold storage facilities usually to grocery stores. It is common to see them in back of super markets from a week before Thanksgiving to just after New Years Day. The stores use them to hold frozen turkeys for holiday dinners.

The Christmas gift from my wife arrived yesterday. It is a fantastic beautiful model and It's is shorter than two Genset ... Must be a switcher, what else should the engine be on an ISL Might be not very reasonable but beautiful...

" I'm not 100% sure of the scale of the nearest ship, it looks a tad bit too large (out of scale), being an ex sailor myself...."

....But still not that far out, for a backdrop.......and, it looks like 6' to 10' of "extra freeboard" because they are running light, having discharged their cargo. The height of the bow of my 127' coastal freighter is about 12' above the waterline. it would go to about 18' above water, empty. Those ships look to be larger ( 180' - 250' ) than my little coaster.

The size (height) of the coaster is one point but the height of the pier is the other point. The piers in the harbor of Hamburg used for "real cargo vessels" (at least 10.000tons) are so high the coaster would be mostly hidden. Another point is the tide. I have no idea about the tide at the US Pacific coast?

Here an example at a very low pier: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_GfGUIgDKNCU/RyAfHk...G_0081.jpg
This a more mature pier: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...achter.jpg

Fast Car's photos of buildings places close to but not at the edge of the layout ( http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q166/...0002-2.jpg ) inspired me very much to give it another try.

The old left hand foreground


has been wiped out out today and prepared to become home of some industry building. The track became straight and shorter to give more space for the buildings. The first part will become a parking lot because the track in front of the turnout is the programming track and need free access.


That should have been an easy task to be completed within an hour or so.... The old ground was mainly made of sand and white glue. I did use a brand (UHU) since several years but changed the brand (Ponal Express) about one year ago when the store changed. I did never notice any difference.
I learned the difference the hard way today. The new brand is not water dissoluble! I read the bottle in detail and it says the glue can be cleaned up with water as long as it is fresh but not when it has set... I had literally to remove a layer of concrete from my layout

The raw building boxes have been made and put on the layout


That is the view of the left hand layout from my standard position sitting in my chair.... have to think about it..... :?:

Nice big structures there, and it gives the feel of the prototype with buildings on both sides of the tracks.

Definitely realistic! I always like seeing your photos looking down the track line. You do such neat and clean work but use subtle weathering that makes things look real!
Ralph

Reinhard and his enthusiasm and modeling skills have been a great addition to the forum and I certainly take inspiration from him.

Thank you both for the kindly words.
I am just sitting in front of the edge of the layout and "learn" to live on the wrong side of the buildings... You might smile but it is a psychological issue for me to know the tracks are there but they are hidden by the buildings and that is fine as it is...
I will detail the buildings over the next days and try to get used to the situation. I wish I could because it is really prototypical as fast car designed it.

ps. Finishing the buildings will be a problem this times. It is freezing outside and my spray cans do not like to operate in that environment. It might take some time until we get at least a wormer day (e.g. 5° over freezing point) that permits doing the paint job on the balcony.