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US Industrial Scene Diorama

Deutsche Version

In the British small-layout scene, boxfile layouts are extremely popular. In Germany, this kind of small layouts is almost unknown. This is due to the fact that the real boxfile is a pure British product that is not sold by German office retailers. However, since I like that concept very much, I was seaching for an alternative solution. I finally found it with organizer boxes of the brand Semikolon, which are sold in Germany. I took a rather small box of the size 33 cm x 25 cm (13" x 10"). For my needs, I modified the original boxfile concept. For a traditional boxfile layout, the box forms the layout body and the cover forms the background. In my concept, the cover is used as the baseboard, while the box stands upright allowing me to design a three-dimensional background scene into it. This will also increase the footprint of the layout by about 25 %. Tracks ending at the edges of the layout can be easily connected to temporary fiddle tracks. For this, I use the TT version of Kato Unitrack, which is exclusively made for and sold by Tillig. By this, operation is possible even on a very small boxfile layout. When not used, the layout can simply be shut and stored like a folder on a bookshelf.

Like my other US layout, the scene on display is a fictitious industrial area in the Chicago region in the early 1960s. The background picture shows the blurred skyline of Chicago as it looked at the time.

The picture below is linked with a Flickr album on this diorama.


Article on this layout in issue #111 of Carl Arendt's "Small Layout Scrapbook"

Model scenes and diormas

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