I have seen post and pics where people have added baseball fields to there layouts. I would like to do the same. I know what the proper dimensions are for a field but I would like to condense that a little. Any suggestions? If you have done one, what concessions for space did you make?
Here's a picture I took at a GATS a couple years ago. They used some selective compression here, and by comparing the N-Trak standard spacing of 1.5" between tracks you can estimate how much space they used. I am planning on building a small Diamond in Z Scale, however I want to do the older style that was popular out here in the 50's. The covered bleachers were made from thick cut redwood and were painted a gloss green color. It was a 1 piece bleacher structure with an announcer booth on the second level behind the backstop, and a snack bar under that. There is a 8' tall wood fence around the whole field, and it is populated with local sponsor signs all the way around.
I was just going to suggest something similar to what Robert posted. A minor league, or local team sized field. Which takes up so much less space, requires less parking, etc. Boxcab E50
My son and I were going to build a module with a baseball field on it. The plan was for the train to go through the outfield like the ball park in the movie, Brewster's Millions. The plan got scrapped, however, when we decided that the field would be just too big. We elected to make a module with a boy scout camp instead, which gradually morphed into a roadside rest area. http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=10621 [ 22. August 2004, 15:04: Message edited by: upguy ]
A Little League field might be the answer. It's only 60 feet between bases, and the outfield fence is 180 feet all around. I think the rubber is 45 feet from the plate. At least those were the dimension 45 years ago. Standard dimensions are 90 feet between bases, and 60'-6" from rubber to plate. In the days of symetrical parks, it was about 330 down the lines, 380 to left- and right-center, and 410 to dead center.
Pete: Chad on the Trainboard and RailWire made a baseball field using the WS baseball figures. He was SitChad on Atlas. I know he has an account on Rail Images. First name is Chad Sit_ _ _ _. You can look it up on Rail Images.
This is a somewhat compressed baseball field but we had fun cutting up all the Priezer people, gluing them back together to make ball players and painting them up. Some day I will get a better shot.
Brewster's Millions.... man I haven't heard of that movie in ages!!! Although, it would be a bit large, it could make a really interesting corner module!!!
Like this? http://www.switsport.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=jodrqqook It's considerably smaller than N scale, but if you position it far enough back on a layout, it might be plausible. . .
Pete: I think you are correct. Looks like you would want to make a rural baseball diamond so you could economize on the area required. You know? Field of Dreams?
I really, really considered putting a small minor league ballpark in one of the turnaround "blurbs" on the second level of my layout. Jeanne really wanted it. It would "just about" fit, although part of the mainline would run under the left field seats, and there would be a mound in right field (like the mound in centerfield in ABQ's rebuilt minor league park. But a farm homestead won out--we (I) needed a center for the stretch of farmland leading up to the blurb. It's unlike a golf course, where you can model on one or two holes, but not the entire 100 or so acres. What do you model on a ballpark--the entrance? Still, it's fun to think of these possibilities. Fenway Park, from my native Boston, might be the best for a model, as the left field seats, Green Monster and center field bleachers are truncated in a straight line by Yawkey Way (old Causeway Street?). That straight line could go up against a backdrop. Now, I just need 34,000 sitting, drinking, standing, screaming, swearing, red-faced WS people of the Red Sox Nation . . . I bet they wouldn't fit in the pre-WWI seat of Fenway--I think the seats are about 17 inches wide.
You may also want to consider a local little league field rather than a major league baseball park. Just think of the cost of putting spectators in the stands! Even several thousand Preiser figures for a relatively small crowd at a major league park would put a BIG hole in anybody's wallet.
But you only need the front row to be convincing. Everything else is just heads, i.e. lots of hair- or hat-colored beads of appropriate size, mounted at head height behind the real folks. That's an old comic-book trick--draw a detailed front row of the crowd, and all behind them can be little more than ovals. (Caveat: I haven't actually tried this in 3-D, though I've used the trick in drawing pictures once or twice.)
I had a this dilema on my old layout. I had a blob with a loop in it. On one end of the loop there was a siding with a grain elevator. In the rest of the loop, I put in a little leauge field. I used 40 feet for the bases, 135 to the foul poles and about 150 to dead center, with some bleachers and backdrop, it looked VERY good. However, I took down that portion of the layout in efforts to run more realisticly. So, the ball field is no more. But it took up a reasonable amount of real estate.
Rob M., It works in 3-D, as long as you model the complete (visible) perimeter. I had to model a shopping mall parking lot one time. As long as the perimeter cars were reasonable, the interior cars were acceptable as "three-cubes" of differing colors.
Baseball Field in N scale? i am wanting to put a baseball field on my layout. i was just wondering if anyone else has done this? if so, what were your dimensions? first home to first base, and so on? if you do not have a field on your layout can someone please help me to figure out the dimensions. thanks. ok, after sitting down and crunching numbers this is what i have come up with, but before i do anything, i would like your input. i know on a major league level, the bases are 90 feet, and the pitchers mound is 60'6". so i thought for a little league field i would go 75' for the bases and 50' for the pitchers mound. the numbers i came up with are 5 1\2" for the bases and 3 3\4" for the pitchers mound. does this sound about right?
Search for "baseball" in the title only. Here is one thread and pray59's field: Baseball Field Question
SitChad's N scale layout had a baseball field that looked great. He' s since dismantled the layout and went into HO scale. You might find a photo of his layout by doing a search on Trainboard. I just did a search of TB and his N scale layout photo's have been removed. Stay cool and run steam.....
