Lol it really did have me cracking up tho like an idiot, well played sir Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
A little more advice. My little coffee table layout is not built into the table. It is built on a 1/4 inch plywood base that just fits into the top drawer of my table. If needed I can pull it out to work on it or remove it and put the original map back in. the lights on the sides are LED Christmas lights hot glued in so they are removable as well. This was (is) a National Geographic's display table, so I didn't want to ruin it by building permanent layout inside. If you build on a drop in sheet of plywood like this, you can remove it from the table to work on it easy. It would also be easy to make another the same size and swap them as your skills improve. And just in case things don't work out you can remove it altogether and you haven't ruined the table.
My boyfriend said that's how we would do it we want it removeable to work on and then just slide it in Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
I found this picture with a quick search, but you can see how the rail of Code 55 is much shorter than Code 80. Very close to proper scale. I recently read that if you scaled Code 80 track up to life size, the rail would be nearly a foot tall.
Yeah my boyfriend and I were looking it up last night and found starter sets with the code 55 track. We think a starter set may be the way to go for this since he doesn't have any N scale anything. His big layout and everything he owns is in O Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
Code 55 is a good option. When my wife and I decided to start building a new layout, we settled on 55 for the realism and it just looks better, even if un-ballasted. Just make sure your locos and rolling stock have code 55 compatible wheels or else you'll get the "zipper effect".
Thank you for the info. I'm sure once I get going he and I will both be asking questions. Again, he's built with O gauge only. I thought going smaller just meant its all the same .....just smaller. But apparently it's not that easy lol So he and I are both researching to find best and most simplified options. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
Firstly want to say what a great idea you are contemplating - very novel and ambitious. Not sure if this has been mentioned or not but for someone new to the hobby but there are essentially two types of track Sectional and Flex. Sectional Track is what people are talking about when they mention Kato Unitrack; however, manufacturers such as Peco and Atlas also make sectional track as well. The upside to sectional track is there is no thought required. All you need to do is "snap it together" and make it join together. The downside (if you like) is you are tied into the shape and length of the sections of track, as determined by the manufacturer. Flex track is exactly as the name suggests, it is 3' lengths of flexible track. In other words, it all comes in 3' straight lengths and YOU get to choose what shape it takes giving you flexibility and options for a track plan that will fit into the space you have allocated, The down side to flex is it can be harder to work with than sectional track and does require the use of some additional things such as rail joiner. They are little pieces of metal that fit over the bottoms of the rails so two pieces of flex track can be joined together. If I were you, as a new comer to the hobby, I would go with either Peco or Atlas Sectional Track, preferably Peco as I think it is superior to Atlas (Peco is made in the UK - Atlas in South Africa) as either of them will give you more sectional track options (I believe) and be a little less expensive. No matter what you choose, I am looking forward to seeing how this all comes together
One other thing I was thinking about - in so far as being able to remove the "layout" from within the table goes. One option maybe to build the layout on a piece of ply (or similar) so it sat inside the parameters of the table. You could (discreetly) have lifting points at either end so you lift the layout from the table. Might be easier than trying to create a slide out arrangement.
