06-30-2009, 12:58 PM
tv_man Wrote:I may have to drop the idea of having a highly portable layout as scenery might get too high to turn the layout into one big box as was the original idea. Adding some more MDF and making two boxes would still be fairly portable in case of moving somewhere else eventually.
Depending on the type of scenery you are planning, there are ways to keep it portable. If you are wanting big mountains, you can make mountains in 2 pieces with removable tops that are carried in a separate box. If you put in a dirt fire road at the joint with the joint behind a small drainage ditch, the road will tend to hide the joint. Another trick is to put in trees and bushes to serve as view blocks for the joints. It looks like you modules will be more urban. The easy way to make them more portable without compromising the size of the buildings is to make the buildings removable. Model the foundations as part of the modules and just fit the buildings to the foundations. For instance if the foundation is open in the center and there is a styrene lip around the inside of the building that just slips inside the foundation, the foundation and lip will act as a key to locate the building and the seam won't be visible. Another trick is to put the lip on top of the foundation but just inside the footprint of the building and the building slips over the lip and rests on top of the foundation.