T-Trak Module: Fort Talon, CAV Repair Facility by Kristof65

[kristof65]

One of my other (long dormant) hobbies has been model railroads. Knowing I'll never actually even partially finish a home layout,  I've long been fascinated by modular layouts.

The modules are called T-Trak,  and it's a standard for N-Scale (1:160) trains that ensures that the modules can be connected together without any major issues.  After years of saying "I should build a couple modules", I finally stumbled upon a local T-Trak club that gets together once or twice a month to set up layouts and run trains. 

 

I joined the club to give me the motivation to finally build a module. Why am I posting about it here? 

 

Well,  because for almost as long as I've wanted to build a module,  I've wanted to incorporate CAV models into a module. 

 

So here's my initial mock up of CAV Repair Building 7, Fort Talon, Rhylan City, General Edward Pugh commanding:

 

 

There are going to be 4 CAVs total:

Two parked as shown in the mock up, one being worked on inside the building on the right, and one in motion having just left the building. 

 

 

[SotF]

You know, that does make me think about just how big Gundams are since N-scale tends to be heavily used with the 1/144 models and I have a few buildings stashed away that I'd gotten for display purposes...and, potentially, for something like Gamma Wolves or similar games in the future using them.

 

But with that setup, perhaps raising up the buildings and parking area with a retaining wall around it and the grass on the side rising up with an embankment rising up to the road there, perhaps a further rise up of the entire thing and dip down further in the front to have a drainage ditch in the front. Creating a series of tiers rising up and blending that works in a lot of rougher areas.

[kristof65]

31 minutes ago, SotF said:

You know, that does make me think about just how big Gundams are since N-scale tends to be heavily used with the 1/144 models and I have a few buildings stashed away that I'd gotten for display purposes...and, potentially, for something like Gamma Wolves or similar games in the future using them.

 

But with that setup, perhaps raising up the buildings and parking area with a retaining wall around it and the grass on the side rising up with an embankment rising up to the road there, perhaps a further rise up of the entire thing and dip down further in the front to have a drainage ditch in the front. Creating a series of tiers rising up and blending that works in a lot of rougher areas.

Since I first heard CAV was n-scale, I've wanted to combine that with trains somehow. 

I had considered doing some elevation changes, but I lose a lot of module space that way, plus it will limit my options on the connecting modules I want to make to expand on this idea.  And most of the other modules in the club don't do elevation changes either. 

[SotF]

4 minutes ago, kristof65 said:

Since I first heard CAV was n-scale, I've wanted to combine that with trains somehow. 

I had considered doing some elevation changes, but I lose a lot of module space that way, plus it will limit my options on the connecting modules I want to make to expand on this idea.  And most of the other modules in the club don't do elevation changes either. 

The suggestion was more of keeping the track at the same level with the rest rising from it, and the drainage ditch or front retention pond being something that adds different interest for it

[kristof65]

4 minutes ago, SotF said:

The suggestion was more of keeping the track at the same level with the rest rising from it, and the drainage ditch or front retention pond being something that adds different interest for it

I knew what you meant, and it was definitely something I had considered. 

One of the downsides of the smaller T-Trak modules. 

I will definitely be playing with elevations when I do my corner modules. 

[Corsair]

What about building the mech area entirely raised with the tracks running through a viaduct or tunneled area.

[kristof65]

New mock up.  After staring at it for a couple of days, it looked too crowded,  and I wanted more space to put more CAVs.

 

That gave me some space to play with elevations. For this first module, I'm still going to stay pretty flat, but the elevation change between track and base helps a lot.

Edited February 27 by kristof65
Fixing typo

[TGP]

I like the elevated plan. Very military and security conscious.

The abrupt vertical screens the base from sightseers quite effectively.

 

You could do something like this precast concrete retaining wall

with chain link fence on top:

Only the train runs along the base of the wall.

 

[kristof65]

On 3/1/2023 at 3:56 AM, TGP said:

You could do something like this precast concrete retaining wall

with chain link fence on top:

If you look closer, you'll see I already have the retaining wall glued into place. 

And yes, there will be a chain link fence at the top, but set back a little bit. 

I'm toying with the idea of adding a gentle slope where the road and parking spots are on the right side of the module. The CAV parking in the rear right would be level, while everything in front of it would slope towards the right edge.  Then the parking spots would wind up having a retaining wall in front of them that gets smaller from right to left. 

I am pretty sure this will add more visual appeal to the module, the thing that is stopping me is figuring out how to make the cut to the foam in the least messy manner. 

[TGP]

12 hours ago, kristof65 said:

If you look closer, you'll see I already have the retaining wall glued into place. 

I failed to see that. I was viewing on the tiny two inch screen and somehow I got the idea that the elements were loosely stacked for now. 

[kristof65]

6 hours ago, TGP said:

I was viewing on the tiny two inch screen

I figured it was something like that. 


I just ordered a cheap hot knife to make the cut for the additional slope.  I think it will add some realism to the scene, as well as help with continuity between my modules. 

[kristof65]

Managed to get my foam cut and another retaining wall cut, painted & glued into place, and my "tarmac" base down. I'm using 2mm EVA Craft foam for the tarmac/concrete areas, as I've had pretty good success painting it up as roads for my CAV table.

 

 

TGP,  the close up is for you for your tiny screen🙂

 

Had my first meeting with the T-TRAK club tonight and committed to bringing my module to the April show. So I think I'm going to concentrate on getting the tarmac/concrete areas painted up and my grass and ballast areas done so it won't stand out as unfinished as much as it would if there was still bare wood and foam. 

[Corsair]

Really liking how this is coming along. BTW the Javelin is a pretty compact Mech too.

[kristof65]

Work proceeds.  The changes don't really look like much overall, but it is around 4 hours of work:

Building foundation has been glued down, and texture paste applied to all the non-paved areas so that the ground doesn't appear perfectly level. I also ran the ruts for the vehicle path that will be between the fences.

 

in the building itself I used card stock cut to look like 4x8 sheets of plywood mounted to the interior walls, and plastered with safety signs.

 

The building itself has been "weathered", mostly by dry brushing a shade of light blue on the "south facing" walls and using Army Painter Soft Tone to apply patches of dirt and rust to some portions of the building. 

[Chaoswolf]

That looks good so far; this is a pretty cool project. I'm going to enjoy seeing how it turns out.

 

Is it safe tio assume that the folks at the club have provided you some specs for track location/spacing/etc so that your module will be able to connect to theirs?