The track plan for the NSD was inspired by the Carbondale Central – a project model railroad designed by Malcolm furlough in the late 80s. I chose this plan because it disguised a simple railroad as something more complicated – the plan prioritizes the city over the railway. As such, the buildings and streets play a critical role in designing the model, and I wanted to do my best to highlight them and destroy them!
The highways viaducts were built using laminated foam core edged with wood veneer and cardstock strips. Gaps were filled with drywall compound, and the asphalt surface was textured with fine grout. Highway piers were fashioned using extruded foam and wooden dowels. All of the pieces were painted and weathered using a standard concrete colour and India ink washes. The final step was adding sifted beach sand and ground foam to create decay and scrub.
The city streets were modelled using foam sheets from the craft store; they are a scale six inches high and can be scribed easily with the back of a hobby knife. The streets were again textured with paint and sanded grout; everything was painted before being weathered with the ink washes and the same sand and ground foam application.
