Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been back in touch, this time showing us how he makes his forest foliage:

“Hi Al,

It has been some time since I wrote. I have been moving and expanding my layout, and I finally got some proper scenery time in recently and thought I would share what I am doing.

I have a U-shaped section of the new layout which is situated directly above my new workbench. Because of its location, I want to get it completed early so that I can freely work on projects on the workbench without fear of breaking something when working above.

The U-Section has a nice broad 36” radius curve on one side, and I have been scenicing this area. In front of the tracks is an overgrown Pasture, but behind it is forest. Below is how I went about making the leaf litter material for the forest floor from the leaves right outside my home.

First, I collected leaves from near the house and removed the thicker bits of stem and larger veins. I was rough about it, if a little got in that is fine. Forest floors have sticks, too and these thicker bits make good sticks.

Once I had a blender cup full, I added some water – maybe a cup or so – and ran it on a low setting for about 5 minutes. If you want a finer texture, you could go longer, but 5 minutes is a good place to start for HO scale. Next I strained most of the liquid out using a fairly fine strainer.

Then I spread the solid material on a piece of aluminum foil, and baked it in the oven at 175F for several hours until dry.

The dried material is then easily broken apart in one’s fingers, and is ready to be sprinkled onto the next wooded section coming to your layout, before trees are planted. I fixed it in place with Isopropyl Alcohol and very (4 or 5 to 1) diluted Mod Podge.

After the glue set, I went over the entire area with my airbrush, spraying an extremely diluted Tamiya XF-57 Buff. This is simply for highlights and it tones down the color to match what the material looks like in the natural world.

A big thanks to John – you can see more of his 10×14 HO scale layout here.

And he shows us how to add grass to a layout here.

A big thanks to John for his ‘how to’ on his forest foliage. I think it looks spot on – just like his grass ‘how to’.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Brian’s been back in touch with the latest on his building kit bash:

“Hi Alastair, hope you can use this.

Not much done on the HO scale Seafood Emporium this month as I decided to take a break and get on with other model railroad bits and pieces.

On the Seafood Emporium, I assembled the guards/store building to add to the side of the main building.

The walls had shingles added and the corrugated iron roof was painted and weathered.

I found it very easy to add the corrugated iron sheets onto double sided tape and it sticks very well. I do the same with the shingle strips and is much easier and less messy than the suggested glue method.

I half painted and weathered as well as the nails added to the corrugated iron sheets to show the process of my technique.

Doors and windows added to the shingled walls.

Final placement of it for the time being next to the card stock mock-up.

A start on the main building (modified and a mirror image of the kit).

All the nail holes added using a dress makers (ponce wheel) tool to add them. It is now is ready to cut out the door and window placements.

I could not use the original front and back walls as the clapboard siding would be on the inside.

I cut new walls from sheets of the clapboard siding that I have on hand all the time. (Made by Northeastern Scale lumber) available from Walthers in the USA.

I use my magnetic corner clamps to hold the walls in place to check assembly and fitment.

The top casting temporarily in position. Note the elastic band holding the top section together. Another great modelling tool.

I was able to use the end walls as they remain the same whether mirror imaged or not.

This is where I deviated from building the SF kit to do something else.

I was given an HO scale MDC (Roundhouse Climax kit) with plenty of parts missing. My intention was to convert it to a static non powered HOn3 loco to place it at my car repair shop.

I delved into my bits box and found enough detail to add to it.

I had a spare pilot deck (a brass one removed from one of my brass locos and replaced it with a snow plow) in the bits box and added it to the Climax loco below.

I cut out the door and well as the simulated wood pile and replaced it with real wood (skewer sticks). Added a gauze spark arrester to the top of the smoke stack.

Placed temporary in the logging area until the repair shop is built and then add the final detail to it, ie: chain, barrels and the odd scrap. The Climax locos were used primarily in the logging industry.

Moving to another area of the layout (Pelican Bay extension) I started finishing the harbour wall which is over three foot long.

It is a piece of Masonite cut to the height required and painted with Woodland Scenics Concrete colour, bollards,Cleats and tyre bumpers were added and weathered with the proverbial rust.

The wall is near completion and must add davits and a few dockside cranes to load and offload merchandise from the industries alongside.

Once done, it’s back to the Seafood Emporium building.

A break to do other modelling stops the boredom creeping in from doing the same thing for any length of time.

Till next time, keep modelling.

Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”

A big thanks to Brian for sharing his building kit bash. Impressive stuff!

You can see his last post here.

(Brian’s also in the Hall of fame.)

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you spring out of your armchair and join in with the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

I have a blast from the past for you today – Will’s army model train.

William sent this in, way back in 2012, but it’s still one of my faves.

I loved it:

“Thought you might like to see some pics of my Army base, it is 1 of 5 tables I’m working on.. Let me know what you think.

William”

It’s great isn’t it?

There are quite a few army model train layouts on the site – here’s another:

“I thought I would share an update on my WW1 railway. If you recall it is set somewhere in the south of England in 1918.

You will see I have installed the Oxford Rail railway gun in a siding which doubles as a small military camp. I have decided it is too much trouble to actually get the gun to run with the clearances it requires.

Phil”

You can see all of Phil’s pics here on his WW1 railway.

Phil’s WW1 railway update

“Thought I would share an update on the WW1 railway (somewhere in southern England 1918). The last few weeks have been about details and in particular figures.

In the gun park you see gunners working on their railway gun and watching some squadies square bash

The airdrome has now got pilots mechanics and of course an O/C!

On the platforms I have added some propaganda posters

Phil”

You can see Phil’s WW1 update here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Best

Al