Dan Hilyer said:Devon, I hate to rain on your parade, but I don't believe HP was around in 1890 

Ya' know I was curious about that so I had to look it up. It doesn't say that they could not have moved into a rented old blacksmith shop in the early 40's but I suppose it's possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard

Its kind of funny if you look at some of the roof lines on the buildings on the left, they look like real life building flats 

Nope there is two. And at this point in history they are both standard gauge which means this photo was taken after 1890. One set is Northern Pacufic after they took over the narrow gauge. And the other is the Union Pacific. Eventually they were forced to share tracks through the canyon. 

Devon, do I see two sets of tracks in that photo or are my eyes just seeing things?

Dang it. And I was going to use that as a sign.

Korm even made the suggestion to have the scene not be just a set of straight tracks in front of some straight buildings. He suggested as one option to make it on a curve. Well that would be a perfect idea and that picture is on a curve so its prototypical. Having the town on the outside of the curve will allow me to build the buildings on the end with a bit more depth also which I think well help with the overall feel. And on the inside of the curve allow me to put foreground detail, as he also suggested, so that the tracks are "in" the scene instead of "in front" of the scene.

And in case anyone cares, the ruins of that stone building in the photo still exist today.

Devon Sinsley said:

 

 

 

 

Devon, I hate to rain on your parade, but I don't believe HP was around in 1890 

The historical photo will make a cool diorama.

I am taking  break from car building and decided to start the first of the flats/facades for the display shelf diorama. My brother-in-law is a hobby blacksmith. His "company" is Ridge Run Forge. He built his shop to look like an old timey shop. I thought it had the perfect look for my 1890's mining town main street. Burke Idaho was the terminus of the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Co. AKA Canyon Creek Railway. Burke was built in a very narrow canyon and the tracks and main street were one and the same.

This is the inspiration for the display shelf/diorama. So the shop will be one of the buildings lining the street. This is his shop

and here is the start of my rendition

I will make the porch/walk stick out about 2" or 4 scale feet. The whole thing is going to sit on a raised platform unlike the photo and the walk will join all the buildings. Following Korm's suggestion I will make the building about an inch deep to give a little sense of depth and allow me set the picture of the interior back a ways for perspective.

Any of you that are my Facebook friends don't mention this on there as it is a surprise.

Dang, the back looks better than the front   and your weathering on the barrel looks much better than mine 

Thanks for your compliments

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2eLNwYa][img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7880/47108335681_5102540a66_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2eLNwYa]Untitled[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/56388842@N06/]Dennis Rayon[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24amMBH][img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7845/40143667003_c33438ce53_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/24amMBH]Untitled[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/56388842@N06/]Dennis Rayon[/url], on Flickr

Left side, young man sitting on a closed top barrel I 3D printed

These are built with Precision Board gave link to Coastal Enterprise,,,, Above

Ozark Miniatures has the product Precision Products , the embossed plastic sheets

Dennis

John Caughey said:

Well I was going to send you to Ozark Miniatures, but my browsers say it's insecure ...

Website is secure working on update

Our website is secure we are working on an update to stop the warning

Nice work, Dennis.  You have an eye for the details that make the whole scene.  Thanks for sharing.

Completed Front View tall grass and weeds planted, paint brush bristles for grass, LED light over the door 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dERwcw][img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7915/46384662684_5b1b1cecbc_z.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2dERwcw]Untitled[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/56388842@N06/]Dennis Rayon[/url], on Flickr

" Rooster " said:

Balls deep!

 

 

 

 

Rooster: has reported himself to the moderator so Joe Zullo doesn't have a job anymore

make a fist - measure from the middle of your fist to your armpit. that is the maximum you can maintain and service easily. (in between 25 and 35")

backgroundbuildings and flats should be half an inch away from the background ("pushes" the background farther away)

inside the flats: i use between 1" to 1,5".

boardwalks: i use 1.5 to 2"

optics: i like "flats", where one of the sidewalls is a bit longer than the other. meaning, the housefront does not run paralell to the background. (adds perspective and depth to the view)

DON'T lay the track paralell to the front edge of the diorama. that looks boring!

you want a train IN a landscape - not a train in front of a background.

so either put the track diagonal into the scene, or use a curve.

if you can place at least one (smaller) building and a tree or two in front of the train, it looks more natural.

Late to the party as usual.

What I find that works for me is;

4 inches from front edge to track center line, 7 inches center line to center line all tracks,

4 inches from track center line to scenery/buildings.

I like my 3-D flats a minimum of 3 inches deep but 5-6 is better as it allows room for loading docks 

and you can even squeeze a vehicle in there.

So based on 6 inches you now have a minimum shelf width of 21 inches. Make it 24 if you have the room,

more room for scenery and better use of dimensional construction material.

Sounds like a cool plan, waiting for pictures

.Well by my feeble thinking you want to have enough room behind the cars to give some depth . 2 tracks should be about 12 - 14 inches so  at least 18 to 20 inches sounds good. Having too much would be better than not enough,  2-3 inch profiles  on your facades will probably be good enough to give the impression of the building.

I am not working in z scale. 

Balls deep!

Rooster: has reported himself to the moderator so Joe Zullo doesn't have a job anymore

So this is sorta a modeling question. I have been considering a shelf/diorama to hold my work train I am building. Thought it would be fun when it is not in use to be displayed on a shelf and if you are going to display it on a shelf why not make it a diorama. Someday before I am dead, I hope to move into my sons room as my new hobby room. He is supposed to be moving down stairs into my current hobby room. Anyway this gives me kind of a blank slate for this project. I have decided some sort of bookcase affair would be a great way to get storage and also have a long flat spot for this diorama. So with that said. . .

I want to do just front facades of buildings with a little depth to them so I can put pictures in the windows and have them be lit. I love this idea from the challenge. How deep should a shelf be so that it can hold a double set of tracks and facades with a walk between the tracks and the building fronts? How deep do you make the facades so you can have the pictures set back an a light above them. I am thinking a total of 18 inches deep should be enough. But i would like some thoughts and opinions on this since I am not really sure what I am doing with the fronts of these buildings.

i kinda need to move forward with this as I am starting to get a string of cars and would like to give them a home. The book case won't be anything to awful fancy.