My Custom US Army Layout

[FortTyco]

This is my US Army custom layout, Fort Tyco. I don’t have a place in my house to set it up at the present time. However I was able to set it up in the garage for a few days. The mat board is made up of 4 separate GI Joe Set mats. The trucks and trailers are from GI Joe & Military Transport Sets and some are custom made & painted with added decals. It sets on a 4ft x 7ft table top. There are 17 turn-outs made possible by cutting a single turn-out in half and then putting two together to make a double turn-out. I cut them on a band saw with a thin blade. You do not have to glue the 2 pieces together the track clips will hold them together.

 

[biddle]

Wow this is incredible! Make sure you take some video of it before you disassemble it with some trucks running! I can share it on social media. Also, take some short 60 second videos with the phone in Portrait mode for TikTok. Upload them to dropbox etc and send me the link! Thanks!

 

[FortTyco]

Wow this is incredible! Make sure you take some video of it before you disassemble it with some trucks running! I can share it on social media. Also, take some short 60 second videos with the phone in Portrait mode for TikTok. Upload them to dropbox etc and send me the link! Thanks!

Unfortunately I had to take it down on Wednesday because of a new water heater having to be installed in the garage.

 

[suprb6970]

Nice custom work. Where did you get the US. Army decals? I would like to make one of those gravel trailers.

 

[FortTyco]

The trailers with United States Army on them and the police car along with some of the Ken’s, Pete’s, & cars came that why when I bought them from someone many years ago.
They look like they are one piece decals from a decal label maker.
That purchase is what got me started building the layout. All of the buildings and action stations I painted and decaled. The letter and star decals are cut from a decal sheet of letters individually and added to the buildings & signs one by one. Yes it does take some time and patience but much cheaper than a decal label maker. I got the decal sheets on Ebay.
The best quality paint and color I have found is Tamiya Color for plastics TS-28 olive drab 2 made in Japan. It comes in a small 100ml net volume spray can. You can get it at hobby stores.

 

[suprb6970]

The trailers with United States Army on them and the police car along with some of the Ken’s, Pete’s, & cars came that why when I bought them from someone many years ago.
They look like they are one piece decals from a decal label maker.
That purchase is what got me started building the layout. All of the buildings and action stations I painted and decaled. The letter and star decals are cut from a decal sheet of letters individually and added to the buildings & signs one by one. Yes it does take some time and patience but much cheaper than a decal label maker. I got the decal sheets on Ebay.
The best quality paint and color I have found is Tamiya Color for plastics TS-28 olive drab 2 made in Japan. It comes in a small 100ml net volume spray can. You can get it at hobby stores.

Awesome thanks for the details. I am going to look into doing some of these customs. Nice Job!

 

[Petvet]

Very cool layout. Thanks for sharing all the pictures. But, I am not sure what you mean by "track clips" in regard to the cut turnout sections. Do you have a picture?

 

[FortTyco]

Very cool layout. Thanks for sharing all the pictures. But, I am not sure what you mean by "track clips" in regard to the cut turnout sections. Do you have a picture?

@Petvet sorry this is the first chance I have had to get back to you about your question. Track clips were not the correct words to use. I should have said the normal track tabs that are on the ends of each track piece. Each cut in half piece has one on each end. If there is a solid piece of track on the both ends of the double turnout they stay together no problem. If you are going to use several double turnouts in a row it would probably be best to glue the two halves together to make one piece. A good way would be using a couple of small rectangular flat pieces of plastic glued to the bottom side of the track. I have not yet done this but I am going to.

 

[biddle]

@Petvet Each cut in half piece has one on each end. If there is a solid piece of track on the both ends of the double turnout they stay together no problem.

What is the best method to cut these to get a smooth cut?

 

[FortTyco]

What is the best method to cut these to get a smooth cut?

A friend had a table mounted band saw that was used to cut them. It has been a few years since I cut them. I think it had an adjustable sliding straight edge on the saw table top to slide the single turnout on to keep it straight and get the right depth while pushing it through the blade. Make sure you cut each half of the “single lane turnout side” to exactly half of the full width of a normal sized piece.