Now that I had decided to do a shoebox layout, the matter of scale had to be decided and I wanted to do narrow guage of some sort. After poking around the internet for a while, Gn15 seemed to be a good choice. If you go to http://www.gn15.info , you will find a fantastic site that has Gn15 layouts, as well as other scales.
Gn15 is "G" scale buildings, people, and scenery combined with 16 mm track which figures out to be 15 inches wide. Actually Ho scale track is the same size; which allows me to use Ho scale car chassis and engine mechanisms. It just so happens that I have plenty of each. Also with this scale it gave me the chance to "scratch-build" almost everything and it is large enough not the strain the eyes.
Materials were the next thing on my list. I wanted them to be inexpensive and easy to work with, not requiring a lot of tools. After some more internet research, I found what would be my materials of choice: foam-core sheets, cardboard (pasteboard), paper, craft-sticks, styrene, double-stick tape, white glue, and a cheap can of spray paint (to seal the foam-core and paint the track).
Tools were kept very basic. Some I already owned and others were purchased as needed. They consisted of: ruler, small square, x-acto knife, pencil, steel scale, small piece of thin plywood (to cut on), a jig (to keep buildings square), single-stage air brush, a small metal miter box with a razor saw (for cutting materials), and a pair of rail-cutters.
All of the above was accomplished over the course of several months. This is a hobby, so time spent was a few hours here and there. In the next installment we will start to get into the actual construction of the layout.
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