Looks terrific! I might suggest a slight change in order: Glue layers of foam together then shape pieces and dry fit them before gluing to the layout base. This will eliminate the hard edge that has to be covered up with clump foliage and will allow them to blend better. (Or fill that space with a bit of Sculptamold to smooth the transition.) Another option is to apply the (relatively cheap) paint nice and thick, and then immediately apply the base color of ground cover and allow the paint to be the adhesive. This immediately gives you 2-3 colors of ground cover and some texture - which seems to be a sticking point for some railroad builders as they get hung up and a module or layout can be bare wood/foam for months or even years. Also, if feasible, I would highly recommend putting a 2" base layer of foam down on the module tops, allowing for up to 26+ scale feet of depression below track level. I feel like a LOT of module builders build UP from the module base, but don't actually allow for building DOWN from track level - at least without having to cut and shape lumber to accommodate the terrain effects. Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Jimmy your timing is prescient. This is exactly what I am in the process of doing this week. I added a 32 square foot L-shaped peninsula to my layout. It will be a hilly forested area, a sawmill complex and a small town supporting the mill. So I will be terraforming the foam hills (with the hot wire tool that just arrived from Amazon yesterday) and adding forest canopies (using your puff ball methods from a couple years back). Please keep up the informative and timely videos, they really are helpful to many of us. Cheers. Ron
this is actually exactly what I was looking for! I am brand new to n-scale and model trains in general and I appreciate your videos to help me take these next steps into the hobby!
Looks great! But put your ballast last so it is over your sceney like in the real world. This also makes any ssceney look like it's growing up through the ballast too. 😊
I'm going to check your channel and see what I may have missed of this modular layout, but could you possibly do a video kinda showing an overview of what you have so far, and where it's headed...?
That looks great. T track modules are what the club I am in use to take to train shows and for exhibitions. I am just have my first T track modules so this gives me ideas on what to do for scener for mine. Thanks for a great tutorial keep them coming. GOD BLESS 🚂💕🚂💕🚂💕🚂💕
Hey Jimmy! Could you possibly do an updated version of you DCC++ EX video from 3 years ago? I'm going from a NCE PowerCab to DCC EX and I would like an updated version Thank you.
Why is there a large gap between modules when you attached to your layout? Is this a normal T-Trak artifact? You've greatly upped your scenery game on this layout, one area I'd still like to see. you do is some additional forest understory.
Thanks for sharing such valuable information! Could you help me with something unrelated: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). Could you explain how to move them to Binance?
Not Jimmy, but I'll answer anyways: "Dirt". On the off-chance the ground cover misses a spot or is thin, pink foam or light plywood will shine through like a neon light. Covering it with brown paint makes it look like it's dirt; when you miss a spot with ground cover then it looks like there's a small bare clearing that could be explained away in a number of different ways depending on the shape and location of the miss. Also, it gives the proper layering of earth-grass-shrub-tree (or similar. My first layout was a winter-type scene, so I painted white instead of brown and then added a LOT of snow texture. (Hopefully shows up in the showcase early next year.) My second is using an almost-dirt-colored table, so I'm relying on the ground cover that I'm placing to hide most of that but don't care as much if something shows through. (Plus the build process has added a few stains.)
Looks terrific! I might suggest a slight change in order: Glue layers of foam together then shape pieces and dry fit them before gluing to the layout base. This will eliminate the hard edge that has to be covered up with clump foliage and will allow them to blend better. (Or fill that space with a bit of Sculptamold to smooth the transition.)
Another option is to apply the (relatively cheap) paint nice and thick, and then immediately apply the base color of ground cover and allow the paint to be the adhesive. This immediately gives you 2-3 colors of ground cover and some texture - which seems to be a sticking point for some railroad builders as they get hung up and a module or layout can be bare wood/foam for months or even years.
Also, if feasible, I would highly recommend putting a 2" base layer of foam down on the module tops, allowing for up to 26+ scale feet of depression below track level. I feel like a LOT of module builders build UP from the module base, but don't actually allow for building DOWN from track level - at least without having to cut and shape lumber to accommodate the terrain effects.
Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Jimmy your timing is prescient. This is exactly what I am in the process of doing this week. I added a 32 square foot L-shaped peninsula to my layout. It will be a hilly forested area, a sawmill complex and a small town supporting the mill. So I will be terraforming the foam hills (with the hot wire tool that just arrived from Amazon yesterday) and adding forest canopies (using your puff ball methods from a couple years back). Please keep up the informative and timely videos, they really are helpful to many of us. Cheers.
Ron
Amazing how the layers of scenery make a life like scene.
Love it!
Nicely done! Thanks Jimmy!
this is actually exactly what I was looking for! I am brand new to n-scale and model trains in general and I appreciate your videos to help me take these next steps into the hobby!
Excellent video. Thanks.
Looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing.
Nice tutorial. Thanks Jimmy!
Looks great! But put your ballast last so it is over your sceney like in the real world. This also makes any ssceney look like it's growing up through the ballast too. 😊
Nice work, Jimmy
Thank you, Jimothy
I’m getting to this point on my HO layout, will be helpful
I'm going to check your channel and see what I may have missed of this modular layout, but could you possibly do a video kinda showing an overview of what you have so far, and where it's headed...?
I feel your custom train line needs an inspection train :)
I have made a lot of terrain with blue foam boards. I use it Stanley Sirefoam shaper and plane.
Thanks for the vid! I needed this video so that I could start a small dc layout, expand it and convert the layout to dcc
Thanks for the tips in the tutorial.
An easy way to detach Ttrak modules is with a flat head screwdriver. Put it between the double track area and turn it. Should pop apart easily enough.
That is genius!
Would a narrow putty knife work better?
building it in sections like this makes it easier to add them when you're done done with a sections
That looks great. T track modules are what the club I am in use to take to train shows and for exhibitions. I am just have my first T track modules so this gives me ideas on what to do for scener for mine. Thanks for a great tutorial keep them coming.
GOD BLESS 🚂💕🚂💕🚂💕🚂💕
That looks and works great. Can i ask what kind of hopper cars those Hanson's are. Where did you get them. Thanks.
Any thoughts on this foam vs woodland shapersheets???
Hey Jimmy!
Could you possibly do an updated version of you DCC++ EX video from 3 years ago? I'm going from a NCE PowerCab to DCC EX and I would like an updated version Thank you.
Why is there a large gap between modules when you attached to your layout? Is this a normal T-Trak artifact? You've greatly upped your scenery game on this layout, one area I'd still like to see. you do is some additional forest understory.
can those modules be used for HO scale as well..
Thanks for sharing such valuable information! Could you help me with something unrelated: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). Could you explain how to move them to Binance?
Hi Jimmy, I don’t see the link for the model train academy.
Oops! It is there now!
@@DIYDigitalRailroadThank you Jimmy! I sent you an email too🤗
Honest question, whats the point of painting the stuff brown if youre just going to cover it all up?
Not Jimmy, but I'll answer anyways: "Dirt".
On the off-chance the ground cover misses a spot or is thin, pink foam or light plywood will shine through like a neon light. Covering it with brown paint makes it look like it's dirt; when you miss a spot with ground cover then it looks like there's a small bare clearing that could be explained away in a number of different ways depending on the shape and location of the miss. Also, it gives the proper layering of earth-grass-shrub-tree (or similar.
My first layout was a winter-type scene, so I painted white instead of brown and then added a LOT of snow texture. (Hopefully shows up in the showcase early next year.) My second is using an almost-dirt-colored table, so I'm relying on the ground cover that I'm placing to hide most of that but don't care as much if something shows through. (Plus the build process has added a few stains.)