Recently there has been a flurry of scratch building on the site. And that prompted John to get back in touch. Some of you may remember him from his N gauge layout and his unhealthy fascination with scratch building.
John’s maxim is ‘Why buy it when you can build it?’ which probably explains why he built the switches on his layout from scratch.
You can see the layout John created here – it’s the video at the top – and he even shows you how to make a Uboat too…
“Hi Al – thought you may like to see my latest scratch build. As you can see, it’s not train related, but it’s all scratch built. Happy to send more pics/info if you like.
John”
My scratch built Uboat – submerges and gun squirts water.
The plans…
The hull was the easy bit.
Making sure it was watertight was the hard part.
The wiring looks more complicated than it is.
Testing the gun – squirting my kids made it all worthwhile.
Another pic of it finished.
John”
What makes John think we wouldn’t find it interesting is beyond me. An amazing project. More pics please, John?
And don’t forget his layout – just watch the top video here. The Uboat stuff is there too.
That’s all this time, folks. Please keep ’em coming. Ebay cheat sheet is here.
Best
Al
Some of the best work I’ve seen. Because it’s a layout there’s to much red. Try mixing very little brown or gray paint in your red paint. I think it would look better. I like the work you do.
I was just thinking does John had the blueprints and can he post the on line as I would like to try and build one myself
You’ve got competition, Al! John’s videos are a treasure chest of tips.
The submarine is absolutely amazing! The use of cylindrical acrylic tubing reminds me of a simulated steam turbine I built many years ago. The N-gauge build methods are similar to the ones I’m using in my current layout.
I was in the Navy and would love to get a copy of those U boat plans. Please let me know where I CAN GET THEM. Your train layout is great. I will be starting mine in the spring after my shop is complete. I look forward to hearing from you
Where did you get those plans for the U-BOAT? Your layout was great I plan on starting mine in the spring. Look forward in sharing the progress.
Some people just have the ‘touch’. An incredible model along with a very gifted model maker!! Congrats. MAH.