Working on the Downtown District

It was time to start working on some unfinished projects, downtown being one of them. I have been putting off finishing this project because it is going to contain a lot of detail work and will require an extensive amount of time to complete. I have installed part of the street and placement of some of the buildings has begun.

When building a layout, change is always going on. I have adjusted my track plan, adding a third loop. This changed the yard where I had the icing platforms. They took up to much space and I have done away with them. In the photo above, you can see that I had started adding some ground cover which has spilled onto the unpainted street and sidewalks. That can easily be removed using my shop vac or pressing painters tape on the roadway to pick up the unwanted product. However, before I start on anymore of the exposed wood area, I will use blue painters tape to mask off the track and street. This simple step makes for less work in the long run and keeps the track dry and clean when applying the ground cover.

The photo above shows a city block under construction. Lights have been pulled through to light the buildings. Sidewalks by by BAR MILL BASICS border the streets on three sides and have been painted grey using Woodland Scenics Concrete Pain C1217. What drew me to these Snap Kits is the incredible details. They have a curb, and cracks in the concrete. I have not decided yet if I want to continue the streets over the tracks. The plate in the lower corner of the picture I use as a paint pallet for mixing paints. I can also put dabs of Elmer's Glue or Hob-e-Tac Adhesive which comes in very handy when adding people or adding small street details.

The city block, pictured in the photo above is now ready to have the buildings added. I wanted to add a lot of height to my layout getting away from the two and three story buildings by Woodland Scenics and the old Design Preservation Models. Spending hours searching for taller buildings on the internet, I came across a company called Custom Model Railroads that builds complete layouts and has a great selection of high rise buildings kits.

I have already moved buildings around to make sure they are placed to show off their detail. They will probably be moved again until I feel they are placed just right or because I have purchased new buildings. The wiring can be tedious, working underneath the layout and looking up. I do as much prewiring at my work bench minimizing the amount of time under the layout. This way I can push the wires down to the bus wires that have been installed for just this purpose and connect the lights quickly by using 3M Scotchlok Connectors UG. I have begun using LED lighting by Woodland Scemics Plug and Play prewired bulbs that are ready to use in conjunction with the standard 12 volt bulbs from Miniatronics to light the buildings. Since the time of starting this section of the layout, and adding it to my website, I have had time to rethink the way I want the downtown to look and how to achieve it. I have changed the layout of the buildings, thrown out some ideas along with adding some new tricks I have learned.

For the streets I had used AMI Instant Roadbed. It is a great product, but unfortunately, is not being made anymore. It is easily cut and formed to make my city streets, grade crossings and any kind of paved area. I was able to obtain more of the product by placing a watch on eBay. However, once laying out all the streets, I found I had to put all the buildings on a pad of the same product in order to install the sidewalks at the proper height. So I made the decision to tear up all the streets and paint them directly on the layout board. I used Woodland Scenics Stone Gray C1218 paint. It let some of the wood grain show through which gave the streets a more textured look. I will add strips and grease stains as I go along.

I wanted to add a lot of height to my layout getting away from the two and three story buildings by Woodland Scenics and the old Design Preservation Models. Spending hours searching for taller buildings on the internet, I came across a company called Custom Model Railroads that builds complete layouts and has a great selection of high rise buildings kits for sale.

I first looked at the kits, I was very intimated. I started off with the Saint Paul Building. What is so great about these models is you can purchase add on floors to give you the desired height you are looking for. I stayed with the basic model which is seven stories tall. While a bit pricey, they go together quickly and have great detail. I then purchased the Midtown Apartments and finally the Gorham building. Since my purchases, CMR has added many new buildings, wish I had more space.

In order to show off the detail on the fronts of the new buildings, I would have to create a second city block. This would have required me to move the existing yard down to the left to allow for the size of the new buildings. It was either that or moving the entire downtown district closer to the front of the layout. I went with the latter. This did require me to move some track. It actually worked out for the best. I now had the room to add a third loop letting me run three complete trains at once without worry about collision and take out a winding curve that had been giving me a lot of issues. As all model railroaders know, you are always making changes and improvements to your layout. With the exception of some more detail work, the center of town is pretty much finished.

My downtown district essentially began using a variety of buildings. In the photo to the right, up against the paper backdrop is an American Model Builders N 615 A.C. Brown Manufacturing Company Kit that was kit bashed to into a background building less than two inches deep. I installed a Miller Engineering N, 3682, Reddy Kilowatt, Light Works USA, Animated Neon Style Sign atop the building to give some dimension and add excitement. These signs are program with 46 different chase patterns. In addition, the photo on the right shows the Miller Engineering 4982 Budweiser sign added on top of the DPM building. Notice the red brick building right next to the behind manufacturing building, this was my first attempt at a building made of card stock using the Model Builder Software from Evan Designs. There is another building made the same way hidden in the background. This is a great way to fill empty spaces.

Water towers have been added on four of the buildings. I had problems finding the water towers, but again, searching eBay, I was able to locate four kits. These easy to assemble kits are by MicronArt. I had never worked with etched brass kits but found these to be so easy, I plan on looking for other brass kits in the future. These were painted using my regular paints that I use on plastic, a dark brown for the tank, a lighter reddish brown for the top and a gray for the base and ladder.

The photo on the right was taken shortly after adding the buildings to the block. Before I placed this building, I went on line and googled store windows and located images of real store windows. This particular store I wanted to be a clothing store and selected the appropriate graphic. I then copied it to a word document using the ruler and grid-lines function. This way I was able to size the graphic to the size of my windows. I then cut them out and pasted them to the inside of my windows. Looks like the windows have mannequins and are ready for shoppers. The light inside the building illuminates the graphic. I have done this same process on many of my buildings. On the upper floors I have left some windows clear and some blacked out with construction paper to make the rooms look unoccupied. White paper is used to represent window shades. This detail makes the building look more real on the layout. One to the right and one below are two photos of the finished block after all the details were added. The photo on the left was taken from above the freight/passenger station. This clearly shows much of the detail. To the right of the photo. you can see the intersection has been completed with traffic lights by by Model Power #8560.

There are three at this intersection and have wired the green lights to be lit on the main street with the red facing the side street. I have eliminated the ability to change the lights using a supplied switch. That is just to much detail for me.

I located parking meters by Hi-Tech Details and added them to the street along with figures from Woodland Scenics. I kept watching eBay for deep discounts on the figures and got some great deals on the figures. I found fire hydrants at www.modeltechstudios.com. Although the hydrants are very small they do add to the detail of the scene.

Another new addition to the layout is Chips Ice House by Woodland Scenics. I really like the look of Woodland Scenic Built-ups, DPM Building kits, Walters Cornerstone and Bar Mills kits. I have even purchased a few assembled buildings on eBay. I have been very lucky and the workmanship has been excellent.

The last step I do is spraying the entire area with a water and alcohol mist. This helps hold everything in place. I then follow-up with a 50/50 mixture of Elmer’s Glue-All and water using a bottle that allows me to drop droplet’s onto the ground cover. I let this dry overnight. This holds the ground cover the best but still allows me to remove it easily with a putty knife when I want to make changes.

For the lines down the middle of the street, I ran the labels through my printer to achieve the yellow color. I cut them with a ruler and x-acto knife. With the sticky back on the labels, they are easy to lay down on my streets. Notice the pedestrian crossings done using the same method. The photo to the right is taken from the tracks looking through the chain link fence by Gold Medal Models. You can see the street has become busy and many cars have taken many of the parking spaces along with a Railway Express Van. As you can see I am not sticking to a real time frame. I collect and purchase vehicles that I like.

Traffic is heavy as you can see and I am in the process of finishing up the road markings. I use dry transfer decals in yellow and white stripes by Model Graphics. I cut a stripe from the sheet and then make cuts along the way where I want the lines to break on the roadway. This beats anything else I have tried. Cars and trucks by Classic Metal Works Mini Metals are very prominent on my layout. I have a few of the Woodland Scenics cars and went on eBay and purchased a bag of 50 assorted cars for ten dollars to mix in with the others. Moving towards the downtown district, new sidewalks have been added. I have tried using many different methods such as the AMI product I used for my streets along with styrene plastic sheets of embossed squares that resembled concrete slabs. Nothing seemed to look right until I found the BARMILLS SIDEWALKS IN A "SNAP". They are very detailed with stress cracks, curbs and rounded corner pieces. They take paint well. I used POLLY Scale paint #F414317 Concrete.

I have now turned my attention to working on the downtown property to the right of the Budweiser building. The Woodland Scenics Courthouse is being placed down at the tracks leading to the locomotive maintenance facility. It is marked by the hole I needed to drill to insert the light for the Just Plug Light System. Across the street the Woodland Scenics Gas Station is being wired as well. I am slowly rewiring my entire layout with this system. So easy to use and keeps the underside of the layout looking great with less wires. No more running hundreds of tiny wires that break easily and require so much time under the layout. You just add the light to the building and plug it in at the junction box below your layout. I really like the fact that each light has a dimmer. I am waiting patiently for the new street lights that should be released in a few weeks. If you look closely, You can see I have moved the Drive and Dine by Woodland Scenics from the opposite end of my layout to across the tracks. It will be lighted from within and has a nano light under the canopy.

The courthouse has been finished being installed. I applied a front lawn area that has the flag pole and the towns cannon that is a relic from the war. Red flowers have been planted between the building and the side walk as well as along the front of the building. I used Woodland Scenics green grass and the flower tuffs are by Noch NH07135 and can be purchased online from Scenic Express and most hobby shops.