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Model railroad pond

Dan’s been back in touch. This time he shows us how he added some detail to his model railroad pond:

“Al, while looking for some single topics, I thought I would tell how I made lily pads.

These lily pads were needed on a layout I did for a friend. Later I will show the entire layout.

I found these on Google. The flowers can also be pink.

The basic pond idea was to fill in a spot that needed some interest. It is right up to the edge of the lower level of the layout. There are a couple of fishermen looking for dinner.

Lily pads grow in shallow water. You can see the muddy bottom.

A close up of the pads.

Some molders have used a paper punch to make the pads and glue them on after the Envirotex sets up. I used a different method. The pond is Envorotex over the plaster and painted bottom. I waited about an hour before the next part.

Select the shade of green that you want. I used Matte Acrylic craft paint. Dip a sharp needle in the paint. Pull out the needle with a small drop of paint. Carefully dip the needle in the Envirotex and slowly pull the needle out. This will make the shape you see in Photo 7. Repeat as many times as pads you need. I cleaned the needle each time to avoid a build up that could cause a bad pad. The next day I used a small pointed brush and painted on the flower. The owner wanted white flowers.

The epoxy causes the wrinkled edge and slightly heart shape, I think. Just like the “prototype.”

Have fun!

Dan*”

A big thanks to Dan for showing us how he added lilly pads to his model railroad pond.

(Dan’s last ‘pond’ post is here: HO scale water ponds.

Next on to Andrew:

Got a few more pics in from Andrew to start today off. If you missed his post last time, it’s here.

“Hi Alastair

A little more and a photo taken from the village side and from the work yard to the village side, and there is the girder bridge I built from scratch now on the layout as promised.

The small lake is done with polyurathane varnish, all the houses are cardboard kits, the next step is to do the lighting in the buildings, the wiring is going to be like spaghetti junction near me. More to follow guys. Any tips let me know cus I’m fairly new to this.

Thank you

Andrew”

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you join in the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Got a model train question?

N scale waterfront structures

Sheldon has been back in touch – he’s added some N scale waterfront structures to his layout.

If you missed his earlier post and want to get up to speed, it’s here: Kato F3 engines n scale.

“Hi Alastair

How about a little up date.

The flag issue was corrected immediately…

New waterfront was a fun project. Of interest please note the two story out house at the beach.

Please keep up your good work…

Sheldon”

A big thanks to Sheldon for sharing his n scale waterfront structures. I’m always reminded of Brian’s layout whenever there is a water on a layout: HO scale water dock.

Now on to Steve:

“Hi Al,

You recently posted an idea I sent called “Night Light”. It contained a small circuit. Somehow, a connection in the diagram was lost in transit, and some text was misplaced. My apologies for that.

Here is the corrected post.

Here is a little circuit that some folk may want to use to automatically illuminate LED’s when the room lights are turned off ( ie night running).

NIGHT LIGHTS

The circuit is a simple transistor, which is held OFF in normal light. If the light goes dark, the transistor bias changes, so that the transistor turns ON. This is achieved by a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR).

By adjusting the output to 1.5volts, there is no need for any series resistor to the LED’s. If a higher output voltage is required (eg 12volts), then something like a 1000 ohm resistor would be required between the bank of LED’s, and the Neg.

I tested the circuit with two common transistors, attempting to achieve an output of 1.5 volts, to illuminate a bank of 5 x leds. I would expect that many more led’s could be connected (be aware that each led takes 10-20mA from the power supply). The table below shows the values discovered:

Transistor Pos R1 output

2N3055 5v 15000 ohms (15k) 1.5v

2N3055 12v 33000 ohms (33k) 1.5v

BC547 5v 10000 ohms (10k) 1.5v

BC547 12v 47000 ohms (47k) 1.5v

The values shown for R1 are approximate. R1 should be a potentiometer (or trimpot), so that the output can be adjusted more accurately (simply use a trimpot at least 2 times the values above). All parts are readily available from ebay etc, or electronics retailers. The 2N3055 is a power transistor, and the bc547 is a small typical size (500 mA). Both are around $AU 1.50.

Hoping this version is clearer.

Regards

Steve (Sydney)”

A big thanks to Sheldon and Steve.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you join in the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Got a model train question?

3 light model train signal

Rob’s been back in touch – this time he improves his 3 light model train signal:

“Hi Al,

I decided to try to improve from some of the work I did a few years ago on cantilevered signal gantries. My styrene-building skills have improved since I was into this in the past.

The original pieces I kit bashed were starting to seem rather toy-like to me, and I wanted to see if I could make something closer to reality or look closer to the prototypes.

In my research, I discovered that there seem to be an almost infinite number of different designs for these around the UK. I mostly watched cab ride videos and took screenshots when an interesting signal support structure was on the screen.

Styrene is quite strong when solvent it is welded into a stable structure. It can be fabricated into anything that can be built in steel.

I built the plate girders so they were hollow in the middle and, consequently, I could route the wires through the void. I find I very much enjoy building just about anything these days. Maybe I always did.

I weathered one of the new units and will lightly weather the other two.

For lightly weathering painted steel plate structures like this, I find using the Tamiya panel lining solution to be just about perfect. It leaves a very light residue in the corners, and anywhere else you want it to. Just take the applicator in the bottle and touch the areas where you want to add dirt, grime, and character. It couldn’t be easier.

Thank you, Al. I know I look forward to reading your blogs every day, and I know others do, too.

Rob”