Airport Mat/Foil needed

[ahkhan99]

Thanks for sharing about the Polystyreen foam. That would definitely be a lot easier to work with than plywood! I had planned to put my base on either a pair of plastic saw horses (pretty cheap at Aldi or Harbor Freight) or a Lifetime folding table. With the Styreen the saw horses would likely need some added support. I think what I might do is get an overhead picture of the ATL tarmac I want to model and try to get the pages I need to more or less replicate that. I see where several pieces of runway, taxi way and parking seem to be meant to fit together. Just got to figure out which ones fit! BTW - Have you run across non-airport cars and trucks to use on the roadways and parking areas?

No worries. I am glad we can help each other out. I am posting some pics of the parking bays. These don't fit larger 1:400 aircrafts like the B777-9X or A380. So I dunno if it is one size fits all or what. Also the parking bays are of different types....some have GSE roads and pathways and some don't. So trying to fit is a challenge. Not sure how to put it all together without a number system or a pic.
I haven't started with the GSE vehicles yet. I want to finish the parking bays first. I am going to base it on IAH. I also added a pic of the actual layout of IAH. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

[SurfDawg]

Yes, I see where the parking bays are not quite large enough to accommodate the larger aircraft entirely but I'm not it's that much of an issue if one were to space them out a little bit. Maybe have the bays for larger aircraft (with additional space between each one) apart from bays for smaller ones. I think that's how some airports actually accommodate larger planes. I like your idea of using IAH as your "model." It's big enough to display many different aircraft and airlines yet not so larger to be intimidating. As I may have shared, I originally wanted to model ATL but it would be a HUGE project to even attempt the entire thing! As of now, I'm looking at doing the main terminal, just one concourse and 1 or 2 runways. Since I have many regionalized aircraft from different eras (example: PSA, AirCal and Hughes AirWest 60's-70's California) I would like to have at least a small airport where those planes could be displayed realistically. I think this may be a good reason why some folks created "fictional or fantasy" airports where they can "mix" airlines so to speak. Might actually be a good plan! Ideally, it would be nice to have an entire room just devoted to aircraft! That way I could have 2 or 3 airports and places to store all my models. Besides 1:400, I have a small collection of 1:250 and 1:200 models displayed on shelves here and there. I am sure my wife would LOVE to see them all confined to one place!!

[ahkhan99]

Check out this Bora Centipede 4x8 15-Strut Work Stand and Portable Table | XL Sawhorse Support with Folding, Collapsible Steel Legs, CK15S (link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N6STN5K...tefp0uPFyquPFM). I can use this to put my 4x8 feet Polystyreen foam and it is lightweight, compact and mobile. It is on sale now. Just something to consider.

[SurfDawg]

That's very cool! Thanks for sharing.

[Drew0967]

Try https://www.layoverlayouts.com/

Very high quality vinyl mats for your custom airport. There are a number of generic mats or you can custom order one. I ordered a 400 scale mat of McCarren International airport and it came out great!