Where do I begin?

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Well, I?ve visited her for a while and I?ve been a member for a few days and I am really impressed with some of the farm layouts I see here. It makes me want to start on mine which brings me to my questions:

How do I begin? I have a couple ideas in mind but I am at a loss of how to actually start. What is the preferred base material? Plywood, MDF? How thick? What grade of wood is used?

I see that a lot of the layouts here are pretty flat. My ideas have a lot of influence by what I see here in New England which is anything but flat! How do you go about creating multiple layered settings?

What is used for ground covering and where can it be obtained? Is there a good reference somewhere (a book or video perhaps) that would illustrate the various steps in creating a farm display?

Sorry for so many questions, but in reality I probably have hundreds more so I?ll stop now and ask more based on the responses I get.

Thanks a lot for your assistance!

Rich

[Deere-est]

For a base Rich I use 6mm MDF. It is light but thick. Easy to drill through or sand down (mind the dust) and cheap. I build my sheds on their own individual base boards so that they can be move and displayed anywhere as a whole or as individual pieces. For a covering I have used Polyfilla, tamped with a ruler to give a concrete area. For weed and grass I use 'scatter' in various shades of green for the small bits around the buildings, Javis Countryside Sceneics is what I use at about 70p / bag. They also do tar, coal, stone chippings, various foliage. It is ideal for the little areas between sheds as I say but for larger areas you will want to try Smallclaas', Tractorman810s' or OLD FORDs' methods - they will answer here I am sure.

I won't complicate things with buildings yet untill you have a good few replies on the bases. .. then we can go up to building materials after that and try and keep you Topic in an understandable order for you and others in the same boat to read through.

[SPN]

I just started out with 6mm MDF in 4ft x 2ft sheets. This allows for a mix n match approach to layouts.Due to some warping on the first one I now glue a 2" x 1" lath around the underside of each board to maintain rigidity (strength without the weight of thicker MDF.)

The grass comes in rolls and is by a manufacturer called Heki. I think Woodland Scenics do something similiar.

I reckon to start with flat fields and then experiment with hills and the like. Plaster of paris or papiermache can both give you the hilly effect.

[smallclaas]

Great we've got another one joining the Holy Church of the Farm builder, bless you my child, Rich. Well what I did first was to build the base for the whole layout to sit on. The base is made from chipboard the structural stuff it's tounged and groved so it fits together. I built the base at different levels, starting at a height of 6inches to 25inches in height to make hills and hollows, it works well. When I had all the hills and hollows done I placed a plywood base for the buildings to sit on. The buildings are made from a mix of Ply and MDF, But I now have gone over to MDF 100% it's easy to cut and doesn't chip. I made my fields from rolls of green grass mats I got from a friend who has a garden centre. it's great stuff, the hedges and trees are made from a mix of twigs and Woodland scenics materials. I also use alot of plaster and clay to make underlay for the hedges.

To make lanes I used a mix of  soil, Cat litter and sand to provide the gravelly look.

Now Rich it's over to you

[FB]

For a base Rich I use 6mm MDF. It is light but thick. Easy to drill through or sand down (mind the dust) and cheap. I build my sheds on their own individual base boards so that they can be move and displayed anywhere as a whole or as individual pieces. For a covering I have used Polyfilla, tamped with a ruler to give a concrete area. For weed and grass I use 'scatter' in various shades of green for the small bits around the buildings, Javis Countryside Sceneics is what I use at about 70p / bag. They also do tar, coal, stone chippings, various foliage. It is ideal for the little areas between sheds as I say but for larger areas you will want to try Smallclaas', Tractorman810s' or OLD FORDs' methods - they will answer here I am sure.

I won't complicate things with buildings yet untill you have a good few replies on the bases. .. then we can go up to building materials after that and try and keep you Topic in an understandable order for you and others in the same boat to read through.

same as Tris.....6mm MDF, fix sheds to that!. I think Old Ford doesnt fix his down \ \

best is to look at railway dioramas to see how they do it

[SMurF]

 what area do you have available for a layout         this will limit the amount of fields and yards you want to put in

 what sort of buildings do you want to create        It is not much point making a scale 100x60clear span building if you have only an 8x4 sheet to start on

 What sort of gradients do you want to achieve     remember that you want to be able to show off your collection without them rolling off a steep hill

I would allways start off with a building or 2 as this is where most of the action of a farm happens and then add the surrounding area as time goes on

for hills and so on you can use cheep insulating polystyrene stacked up ontop of each other and then carved to the desired shape   when happy cover it in plaster impegnated bandage and let dry.    Thinking about it   Have you got a model train shop near by as you can get books on creating scenary   all you need to do is scale it up to your requirements.

But they will probably tell you something allong the same lines as me.

Ask questions and we will endevour to help you all that we can

[SMurF]

I find that 6 mm is a dit to flimsy  and would sugest eithet 9 or 12 mm if you have to move it about for some reason       But it is up to you     

same as Tris.....6mm MDF, fix sheds to that!. I think Old Ford doesnt fix his down \ \

best is to look at railway dioramas to see how they do it

[farmernick06]

The sheets i used were two i found in the garage that are MDF 4x3 6mm thick, just two of them raised on tressels used on things like market stalls, as mentioned grass comes in rolls and then you can buy foliage and other scenery.

Not sure but here we have a place called games workshop, they basically do mini hills with rolled grass on top. Although quite small and extremely pricey they may do the trick?

When i first started just try and base it on a real farm or your idealfarm and then build up ideas really.

I used model railway diorama videos to really help me understand, my cousin is a rail nut and has millions about how to make layouts quite good stuff really  \

[Old Ford]

i think Garrets the man, but like most say  and i've done start with the buildings and yard then work your way out. for hills i use paper machet and plaster rolls. but you can use chicken wire and plaster rolls , got most of the stuff i needed off ebay. you could use an insuation board like celox it comes in 25mm 30 ish 40 / 50 / 60 and so on up to around 100mm, most builder use it so you could adopt some here and there.

[Tractorman810]

yeah 6mm mdf base boards for mine to, each building on a seprate bit for ease/moving if needed sure between us we can help you out with info ect

[SMurF]

I was meaning 12 mm for the initial base not for the base boards of buildings \

[Tractorman810]

mine totals 12mm smurf,as its all on a second 6mm board where its raised of the floor

[Kiwi6920]

My farm is on 12mm Ply, i occasinly have to get on it to reach in tha back corner, I recomed you get you base down and draw your idea on the base and see what you think and then build to that, just start with a shed of so sort and make your yard and then the rest just flows as yo look around,

A railway shop is your best bet for supplys

[FNHIR]

I just started out with 6mm MDF in 4ft x 2ft sheets. This allows for a mix n match approach to layouts.Due to some warping on the first one I now glue a 2" x 1" lath around the underside of each board to maintain rigidity (strength without the weight of thicker MDF.)

The grass comes in rolls and is by a manufacturer called Heki. I think Woodland Scenics do something similiar.

I reckon to start with flat fields and then experiment with hills and the like. Plaster of paris or papiermache can both give you the hilly effect.

Is that a representation of Bob White's 7910 at the right hand side?

[SPN]

Haha! 

Well spotted that man!

[Deere-est]

Some great replies here, should be a lot of help to a lot of people I should say. Well done team 

[nashmach]

Haha! 

Well spotted that man!

Indeed - it is the one and only