Something to look forward to at Denver

David K. Smith Apr 9, 2012

  1. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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  2. Svein-Martin Holt

    Svein-Martin Holt TrainBoard Member

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    Looking great and I look forward to see the finished layout.

    But a question about the sloped road, which I think is great to give more interest. It looks like the sidewalls of buildings in the sloped part of the road are not 100% verticale. Would not the foundation on houses like this be horizontal and not following the slope of the road?

    Image from the blog:
    [​IMG]
    I have been in San Francisco in the hilly part and there the houses have not the same angel as the slopes of the road.:tb-biggrin:
    Here is an image from San Francisco, with heavy slopes, but easy to see the principle:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 9, 2012
  3. BurlingtonRoute

    BurlingtonRoute TrainBoard Member

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    I was walking back from getting groceries in my village when I was looking and thinking about the same thing last week. (Germany cant be that much different from Norway) These are buildings with very distinctive basements that form horizontal lines. The road I was on was uneven with a slope. The houses on each side of the road had these basements that were about 40 cm from the sidewalk to a meter, meter and a half on the other side of the house. I should snap some pictures. Someone from the US a long time ago wanted to know what the houses looked like in Europe, so they could build a layout. Anyways I thought it was a neat thing that could be modeled, an wondered if anyone bothered to do it.
     
  4. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    David, where can I order the n scale street signs.
     
  5. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    What street signs? If you mean the marks on the road, they are just cut-up decals--generic things like stripes, etc. Any decent supplier of N scale will carry decals.

    As for the sloped street, the buildings in that photo are just sitting there; they have not been leveled yet. They are now level, and the sidewalk is adjusted so it's level with each building entrance, just as it is in real life. I should have indicated that the kits were just posing, not installed.

    Here's a peek at an image from the next installment, with the buildings in place and level (trust me, despite the image distortion, every building is perfectly level):

    [​IMG]

    I'll also reveal the secret of how I made the parking meters...
     
  6. ztrack

    ztrack TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

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    David, I can't wait to see the scene in person!

    Rob
     
  7. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've been modeling sloped town streets nearly as long as I've been building layouts. I've rarely driven through a town in the Northeast that was perfectly flat, so it became natural for me to model sloped streets.

    As a recent example, some of the streets of Naughtright on my Z Scale James River Branch are sloped quite steeply—not as much as San Fran, by any means, but much steeper than what I'm doing on the diorama. Here's a clinic on how I did the effect for the JRB.

    Here's an image from that page to give you an idea of the steepness:

    [​IMG]

    It is a challenge to model sloped city streets, that's a given; however, it's a challenge that I love to tackle, because the results are so worth the extra work.
     
  8. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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  9. OntarioTodd

    OntarioTodd TrainBoard Member

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    That's awesome David!
     
  10. Lindley Ruddick

    Lindley Ruddick TrainBoard Member

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    Not sure what to say except - WOW! Really looking forward to Part 3. I am sure the ZoCal folks who are gong to Denver will bring back glowing reports of the diorama. I really like your writing style that points out all the "warts". At shows I often tell prospective modelers that "you can do no wrong". All you have to do is take one step backwards and see how you can hide or camouflage any "errors in judgement". In order to make you feel better (for those of us with failing memory - or at least selective memory) you did NOTE in Part 1 that the buildings were not permanently in place and you would cover how you leveled them in Part 2.
    Lindley
     
  11. zyousoon

    zyousoon TrainBoard Member

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    "It is a challenge to model sloped city streets, that's a given; however, it's a challenge that I love to tackle, because the results are so worth the extra work."

    Hal an I, love picture of slope street. We dream that we cando that two. It is challenge we like try and so real is it.
     
  12. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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  13. John Bartolotto

    John Bartolotto TrainBoard Supporter

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    David,

    SUPER!!! Where did you get the parking meters?? Are they N scale or is this they a preview of the next NZT product??

    Yours,

    John
     
  14. Mark L Horstead

    Mark L Horstead TrainBoard Member

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    Excellent work in any scale.
     
  15. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    I made them; see the blog post for details.
     
  16. JoeS

    JoeS TrainBoard Member

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    Well executed. The pictures in what looks like natural light make it look convincingly real. I appreciate your city modeling work from roads to sidewalks to RR crossings because I think that is the most difficult to make look real. I mean those layouts with sweeping ranges and mountains are great, and I am not taking away from those who do them, but to make a city scene look right. Well, that is something.
     
  17. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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    Joe, I certainly agree with you. I don't think there is another one who could make it look more convincing that Dave. It could easily be mistaken for a larger scale.
    One of the most striking examples of excellent modeling IMHO. Another is the diorama that John Cubbin did for Jurge Rudie, the one the cab forward was photographed on...........both superb examples of excellence.
     
  18. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    Excellent work. My personal favorite detail in this picture is the old roof line and different shading of the brick on the Pizza Shop wall. Very nice touh.
    Dan S.
     
  19. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    I think that's the most lifelike diorama Z Scale has ever seen! [​IMG] Just awesome!
     
  20. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thank you, Robert, for your kind words.

    After a few finishing touches, the diorama is ready for shipping to Denver.
     

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