ModelRailroadForums.com is a free Model Railroad Discussion Forum and photo gallery. We cover all scales and sizes of model railroads. Online since 2002, it's one of the oldest and largest model railroad forums on the web. Whether you're a master model railroader or just getting started, you'll find something of interest here.
Thanks. I do them on photoshop and have them printed on glossy vinyl. A matt vinyl is then laminated to that and the whole stuck on aluminium sheet .... corners are 6" radii.
regards
JdF
My home thats a fantastic looking layout, spent many happy hours in old mills, how long did it take to make all those terraced houses, scalescenes by any chance???
Very impressive work, John. Must be nice to have a client in Dubai. How big is the actual layout? It looks like it goes on for miles. And how the heck did it get to Dubai in one piece?
The layout was 10ft X 4ft with an extra table to allow the loop at the right hand side. The layout went in a bespoke crate and arrived just fine.
regards
John
WOW, That's a great looking building. Cotton & Fabric mills are always huge. I spent a lot of time in some over the years around Covington & Conyers & Athens, Ga. I have some pics I'll post on here later of a building in Ga. that was turned into apartment buildings last year. The mill was built around the early 1900's & has water running thru the bottom of the building to power generators that supplies electricity to the whole building & then some.
That had to take some time to put all of those buildings together in scale. Love to see those old buildings in miniature. how long did it take you from start to finish & did you already have plans or had to make them yourself?
I am interested in how you achieved the misty effect on your background. It looks stunning.
I have been working on painting the background for a large layout for some time now. After painting portraits for twenty years it is certainly a challenge.
I take my hat off to you. This is a wonderful layout. Congrats.
I can see the advantage of using photoshop everytime I load my palette and look at the blank background. I use photoshop to give me ideas. It's been a great tool to overlay a photo of rolling hills/farms/industry etc over pics of the existing layout. Working from photos makes my life so much easier.
I wouldn't mind if the group took to using photos as background though. Seeing how you have done such a brilliant job, I am inspired.
Hello everyone. Gee wiz, it's been 11 years since the last comment was made about this amazing layout, but let me tell you it's still alive and just as good as the day it was built.
As the builder has mentioned in the thread above, it was sent to Dubai and finally found its way with the original owner to Cairns Australia. The owner then returned to the UK but decided to leave the layout with his daughter with the thought of eventually finding it a new home. His daughter and son-in-law tried to donate it to a few railway clubs down south with no luck because the cost of transportation would have been horrendous. It stayed in storage in its original shipping crate for several years until it was donated to the Cairns Model Railway Club in 2019. During that time, rodents and cockroaches went crazy. Several Metcalfe buildings were destroyed but the remainder of the layout survived. (A word of warning: Cockroaches and Silverfish Love Mr Metcalfe!)
Today, November 15th 2020 was a very special occasion. The CMRC had worked on the layout for a year during the Pandemic and attempted to restore it to its former glory. At today's meeting, we invited the original owner's daughter and son-in-law to view our effort thus far and present them with a Certificate of Appreciation. we were also able to talk face-to-face with the previous owner in the UK via What'sApp and also show him what we had done. It was 1.30am UK time, but he was stoked!
I'll publish a series of "Before and After" photos over the next few days, but here's a photo of the middle section where we replaced the original Platt Brothers factory with our version of the Hartford Mill which was demolished earlier this year.
I am interested in how you achieved the misty effect on your background. It looks stunning.
I have been working on painting the background for a large layout for some time now. After painting portraits for twenty years it is certainly a challenge.
I take my hat off to you. This is a wonderful layout. Congrats.
thats a fantastic looking layout, spent many happy hours in old mills, how long did it take to make all those terraced houses, scalescenes by any chance???
