The Space Between

[elsner203]

I've been working on my layout for just over a year now. Actual construction of placing roads and buildings has been going on for about 6 months. I've had a hard time finding buildings to suit my layout since I want to do a modern, more urban rail. Since this is my first ever layout, it has been tricky. The hardest part being "the space between." Some places are easy; a road or sidewalk here, a parking lot there. Some parts are darn near impossible to figure out! Do I put up a block/brick wall or a chain link fence? Is there grass between here and there? Where do the green areas go? What do I put along the waterways? How to I work the edges to it looks like the city continues beyond the rectangle of the layout?

Any tips you guys have on "the space between" would be very helpful. I feel like that's the biggest hurdle I'm facing with my layout.

Thanks.

 

[Lynnb]

A picture of the said layout would help a lot to give an idea but really if you think about it the terrain in real life is not flat and some areas do need to be held back by retaining walls whether its brick blocks or 4x4 or 6x6 beams laying ontop of each other. But as I said pics would help.

 

[jdetray]

Have you thought of going out into the real world and looking at "the spaces between" with your own eyes? You can take along a camera, even.

If that is not convenient, you can go to Google Maps and look down on just about any location in the U.S. You can zoom all the way down and look into alleyways and back yards. Or select Street View and "walk" through neighborhoods, industrial areas, downtowns, small villages, along rivers, etc.

Blending from the layout into a believable background is a whole other question. Some modelers use photo backdrops from vendors such as SceniKing (http://www.sceniking.com/) along with building flats along the back of the layout. Others paint a realistic background on the walls behind the layout -- depends on your artistic skills. There must be some threads on this topic on this or other forums. Try the Search function.

Good luck!

- Jeff