Some Easy Layout Upgrades

Greetings All,

I recently added what I think are easy layout upgrades to the N.Y.C.T.L. Everything seen below was extremely inexpensive and easily added. My kind of projects!

My goal was to lighten the layout color wise. The roads and parking areas being black poster board which was fine but I wanted to better define some areas using a lighter natural color and brighten the overall look of the layout while enhancing some scenes. Another goal was to keep the mess and layout disruption to a minimum. So over the course of a few days using some common materials that I had laying around I worked on the following areas;

A BEFORE look at this layout corner 

AFTER

This industry received a new 'cement' parking lot, a fence and a bit more shrubbery. 32' trailers look right at home as the get loaded. The 'cement' contrasts nicely with the paved road. And best of all the 'cement' is a piece of card stock from a gift box. Expansion joints are made using a pencil and piece of strip wood to keep the lines uniform and straight.

A new railing was installed to keep the 1/87th scale pedestrians and vehicles from falling over onto the tracks in case of an accident. Spray painted strip wood attached with Aileens Tacky Glue.    

Some new trees were added at Prestage Gear and Red Wing Milling. Trees are made from the 'Sedum' plant using an old Life Like box of grass and green spray paint. 

Red Wing Milling also received a new 'cement' lot for it's truck traffic. This card stock is a bit darker than the one in the top photo but I like the look of it especially with the expansion joints penciled on.

A couple of 'sedum' trees for Main street at Cargill. This whole area has finally started to come together.

A 'sedum' tree and some Woodland Scenics tree kits accent the backyards of these buildings.

A fence was added on the West Side at Moore & Company. The fence is made from some small hobby poles / dowels that came in a bag from Michael's and leftover fiberglass window screen.

A close up of the fence shows some intended wear and tear and the shrubbery pushing out and through it at the bottom. 

Another card stock 'cement' parking area with some wood cubes, a figure and a Pabst Blue Ribbon truck

I really like the color variation between the street and parking area 

Another 'cement' parking area behind the theater. Again a bit more subdued color to the scene. 

Empire City Caterpillar with a new 'cement' parking lot and smaller loading ramp

Superior Furniture with one of two newly added 'cement' lots

The Hohman Ave side of Superior Furniture with a new 'cement' parking area to accommodate the heavy trucks going in and out of this location

So there it is. Some visual upgrades that were easy on the wallet.

Thanks for Reading!!!