Hexagon rather than circle?

On my layout design, I have what could be described as a "folded dogbone". Access to the inside of the layout will be given between the loops. Currently, I'm working on a preliminary design of the borders, and have begun to wonder if using a hexagon or octagon shape would look better than simply following the track curve (not to mention be easier to build).

Has anyone done something similar? How did it work out?

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper
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Well, I think you should do what seems best to you. The advantage of a layout with straight edges is the odd spaces between track and layout edge that can be used to add cuts and fills, small buildings, roads, creeks, rocky outcrops, and such. These will tend to distract the eye from the edge. OTOH, a curved edge looks good, and in some places will allow a couple or three extra inches of aisle space, which can be significant as you age and your middle expands. ;-)

I've built both styles, and found that the difficulty of building curved layout edges depends on the type of benchwork used. L-girders make it easy to vary joist length to accommodate curved edges, while box frames require scabbed on short joists.

In either case, paint, and curtains to hide what's underneath, improve the looks immensely.

HTH

Reply to
Wolf Kirchmeir

Mine has a bunch of straight sides but at some strange angles. For what it's worth, I've read that not having track parallel with your layout's sides "helps" in its appearance but I don't know that I've seen a bunch of layouts done that way to judge. And, I'd think that, depending on the radius of the curve, an edge piece wouldn't be too hard to attach using some thinner paneling or even some thin plywood. Sharp curves would be a problem though...

dlm

Reply to
Dan Merkel

Wolf Kirchmeir wrote in news:48887384$0$24999$ snipped-for-privacy@news.newshosting.com:

Perhaps distracting the eye is something I actually want to do. By using a nice plywood (rather than the old standby hardboard) on the layout edges, the viewer would be a little distracted looking at the plywood edges and the layout would seem larger.

Thanks for the suggestions, I found a few spaces on my layout design that might be a bit on the narrow side when I started looking at aisle widths.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

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