Many route developer newbies often struggle with making high quality detailed Trainz routes. I have seen so much route junk on the DLS that I know this is so. Many times these new route developers begin with very unrealistic goals like trying to build a new route hundreds, or even thousands, of baseboards in size.
Most people who are new to Trainz start trying to build large layout construction projects and quickly become overwhelmed when they realize just how much work, often months of tedious effort, that even a modest sized layout requires. Usually in about 98% of the cases after just a few baseboards, and sometimes only just one baseboard, of design effort, they give up and never finish the project. As a result, many of these projects never get completed and are quickly abandoned. Folks, smaller is often better, especially for your first creative efforts.
Actually COMPLETING one or more small projects will serve to build your confidence and help you to move to bigger projects over time.
Having 14 high quality routes on the DLS at present I can personally vouch for the fact that even a relatively small high quality route takes a large degree of creative effort to complete over a period of several months of time (at least).
A very successful approach used by Model Railroaders all over the world for many years that you might consider trying is to build, instead of a full sized layout, a diorama. A diorama is a way to build an exciting scene in a small space. Dioramas usually display a historical time period, a nature scene, or a fictional situation, and allow a lot of room for creativity and innovation. They have been used for many years to create small but highly detailed model railroad scenes. For those new to layout construction they are an excellent way to get your feet wet in the construction process while keeping the project small and manageable.
An example would be to create a single baseboard diorama project which shows a highly detailed 1920 steam era coal mine or logging scene. In the diorama you would basically have a small number of buildings and highly detailed landscaping and texturing. The intent here is to make it as realistic as possible within the smallest number of baseboards. Such diorama based layouts are ideal for merging into larger projects.
Here is a Wikipedia link on the concept of Dioramas for those who want more information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diorama
Here are some photos of model railroad dioramas that give you an idea of what I am talking about here:
https://www.trainmaster.ch/Y-203.htm
and of course my own four baseboard Trainz diorama effort, along with more constructions tips, here at:
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?123028-MSGSapper-Merge-Modules-Support-Thread
BTW tips posted by other layout designers on creating Trainz dioramas are welcome in this thread!
Most people who are new to Trainz start trying to build large layout construction projects and quickly become overwhelmed when they realize just how much work, often months of tedious effort, that even a modest sized layout requires. Usually in about 98% of the cases after just a few baseboards, and sometimes only just one baseboard, of design effort, they give up and never finish the project. As a result, many of these projects never get completed and are quickly abandoned. Folks, smaller is often better, especially for your first creative efforts.
Actually COMPLETING one or more small projects will serve to build your confidence and help you to move to bigger projects over time.
Having 14 high quality routes on the DLS at present I can personally vouch for the fact that even a relatively small high quality route takes a large degree of creative effort to complete over a period of several months of time (at least).
A very successful approach used by Model Railroaders all over the world for many years that you might consider trying is to build, instead of a full sized layout, a diorama. A diorama is a way to build an exciting scene in a small space. Dioramas usually display a historical time period, a nature scene, or a fictional situation, and allow a lot of room for creativity and innovation. They have been used for many years to create small but highly detailed model railroad scenes. For those new to layout construction they are an excellent way to get your feet wet in the construction process while keeping the project small and manageable.
An example would be to create a single baseboard diorama project which shows a highly detailed 1920 steam era coal mine or logging scene. In the diorama you would basically have a small number of buildings and highly detailed landscaping and texturing. The intent here is to make it as realistic as possible within the smallest number of baseboards. Such diorama based layouts are ideal for merging into larger projects.
Here is a Wikipedia link on the concept of Dioramas for those who want more information.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diorama
Here are some photos of model railroad dioramas that give you an idea of what I am talking about here:
https://www.trainmaster.ch/Y-203.htm
and of course my own four baseboard Trainz diorama effort, along with more constructions tips, here at:
http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?123028-MSGSapper-Merge-Modules-Support-Thread
BTW tips posted by other layout designers on creating Trainz dioramas are welcome in this thread!