This logistics warehouse is a composite of no less than eight Walthers kits. Being willing to alter a kit's footprint opens up an entirely new world of planning possibilities.
Railroads exist to serve industries. Building structures is one of the most popular aspects of the hobby. With those two truths laid out, it makes sense to give some thought to how we approach the subject from a planning standpoint. Sliding into things subconsciously, which is all too easy to do, is a recipe for ending up in the ditch. Our approach should be arrived at consciously not by default.
It all starts with self-awareness and then developing a strategy that maximizes your satisfaction.
-Is your layout primarily a shelf to display structures with trains being essentially an animated background?
-Are you trying to represent an actual place or a place that could have plausibly existed?
-How important are operations to you?
Those are the core issues we need to answer for ourselves.
For the person who simply enjoys building kits, and isn’t concerned with whether they have any relationship to one another, track becomes less relevant. There is a lot to be learned from how military modelers do things. If the structures are what it’s all about, simply putting them on shelves or in display cases deserves a hard look. Why bother with things you don’t like such as wiring and bench work if the models are where the fun is? If you want a layout, but aren’t operations-oriented, consider that not every industry and structure needs to have a spur. Perhaps a basic loop with a handful of switches is all that you need.
For those who want an operating railroad, there are some common traps I see a lot of modelers fall into. One of the most common is the “see it-want it-buy it-store it” path. Over years or decades, a modeler browses catalogs, sees eye-catching box art, and then buys the kits. Often the models have no relationship to one another as to theme or era. The models arrive and are placed in storage. Eventually, the day comes when building a layout becomes doable. They then say to themselves, “Wow, I have all of these kits. How do I shoehorn them in on a layout surface?” It becomes analogous to building a jigsaw puzzle. You now have a case of the tail wagging the dog. Inventory drives the plan instead of the plan driving structure selection. Plausibility and composition take a backseat to using the inventory and the resulting plan suffers.
Another limiting behavior I see folks slipping into is what I call the “by the instructions, kit only approach”. It’s understandable. Many people are uncomfortable unless all of their structures are based on kits….kits that they feel must be built exactly as per the instructions. Such an approach is limiting. If you’re willing to alter the kits even slightly, re-arrange the footprints, do some kitbashing, or even some scratch building, then an entirely new world of design possibilities unfolds. Without that flexibility, being handcuffed to a kit’s exact geometric footprint is going to limit the quality of your final design.
Plan your layout first
Plan your structures to fit the design, not vice versa
Be willing to modify your kits as needed if it will lead to a better design
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