My Baseball Module

[jesso]

Hello,
I wanted to show the bend track module I built for our club's layout. I had seen several pictures of a kids' baseball field right next to railroad tracks and so I wanted to make that type of scene. It is on a 2x4 sheet. The first picture shows it right after the support boards where put on and the cork glued on and lines drawn where I wanted everything.

The second shows the mountains that we cut out. They needed to be tall because all the other modules had a sky board down the middle and I wanted to make it look ok when mine was added. (the club's layout next year will probably have a whole row without skyboards, so it will fit in better).

The third picture shows an IHC Ferris Wheel that I painted to the colors I wanted.

The fourth picture shows the hills I made around the baseball field for people to sit on and the dugouts and concession stand that my friend mooreway made for me.

More coming....

[jesso]

Here are some more pictures. The first one shows that we put the baseball field on its own sheet of wood for ease of building.

The next picture shows the start of the parking lot and road. (It is a foam sheet).

Next we put on the sidewalks (another foam sheet).

The last picture shows a jump ahead, where my wife painted the mountain and I painted the ground and added some grass.

[jesso]

More Pictures, the first one is the first painted mountain and outfield park area.

The second shows my wife painting the ground (I was so glad for her help, alothough we found out afterwards that it would have been better if we painted the ground brown instead of green)

The third shows the ballfield finally completed.

The last one shows the ground painted and my wife painted in a baseball field, she says, just in case it is only a city rec game instead of an important little league game.

[jesso]

Here is the module with the field on and the last mountain painted and glued on I also added some store bought trees.

Next my 6 year daughter and I made some trees out of some hollyberry bushes and put them on the hills and I painted the parking lot lines on.

Next I put the outfield wall on and started adding the people watching the game. There was a sale on unpainted sitting people, so I bought them and then spent a few days painting them. That was not fun.

Finally my n scale cars started arriving.

[jesso]

Last group of pictures for now. I added the foul lines and baseball players. The foul lines are dental floss.

We put our module into the club layout to add the track to make sure that it was straight with the other modules. Yes I got ahead of myself and started running trains before the glue was dry. I was lucky, nothing got ruined.

Lastly, I put the advertisements on the outfield walls. The big wall has the club name and website and then I put some friends businesses and local business on the wall. It was pretty fun to build (it was my first module and only the second train board I ever built, so it was a great learning experience)

This is what I had done before the show. The module was pretty popular with the kids at the show. Since this picture, I added a hedge between the sidewalk and track so that I could cut down on kids running onto the tracks and I also finished the road off the module. I am currently learning how to ballast track and when I get that done I will put on another picture.

[Gary S.]

Great idea and nice execution.

[nachoman]

That outfield grass looks inviting. Good thing pitchers and catchers report in just a few days! I have a hankerin for a hot dog and a frosty beverage.

kevin

[Gary S.]

And that short left field with the tall wall... maybe that could be called "The Red Monster"?

[jbaakko]

GREAT, I should model an extension on my layout plan to fir the Little League feilds in...

EDIT, by the way, ever seen the fields in Kingman AZ, they're just like that, in the middle of the double track main...

[Ralph]

Nice!!!! I have a ball field too but no team! Where did you find ball playes or did you make them?
Ralph

[jesso]

The baseball players are from Woodland Scenics. There are two sets, baseball players I and II. Lucked out and got them both at a really good price on ebay. Although you need to buy multiples of them to get enough players for two teams.

[jesso]

To Jbaakko:
I've never been to Kingman, but I looked it up on Google Earth. That would be a great location, although I would have a hard time watching or playing in the games

To everyone:
Thanks for the nice comments. This site has been a great find for me and it is nice to be able to share something.

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by jesso

The baseball players are from Woodland Scenics. There are two sets, baseball players I and II. Lucked out and got them both at a really good price on ebay. Although you need to buy multiples of them to get enough players for two teams.

Are you talking about the sets with kids playing sand lot ball? Or did you find some with team uniforms? I'm looking for the latter.
Ralph

[jesso]

Yea, they are the sandlot kids. The only sports teams I have ever seen in N scale are football (american) players. Hey that would make for an interesting module.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the info about the figures...I got all excited there for a moment! Some day I'll try my hand at fashioning some ball players from the dozens of cheapie unpainted little people I have still attached to their sprues.

Your module looks great! The tracks surrounding the ball field remind me of the stadium where the St. Paul Saints baseball team plays. Trains roll behind the home run wall and blow their hroms for the fans. Fans bring whistles to blow back. great fun!
Ralph