“I can tell you that this On3 layout has been in Narrow gauge Gazette along with my Gn15 diorama, other bits and pieces of my work can be seen in S scale magazine, MRC and soon in MR.
The room itself is about 24 x 28 feet not a whole lot of room for O scale with in this space I needed a fairly good size work area, storage (lots of storage you understand how we MRR’s collect things)
Here is one other point that I would like to make and its something that most of us for get about, when you work in scale thats less the 1 to 1 which of course the real thing. That you should tone down or subdue your colors I’ve seen in many magazines photo’s of great work only to be spoiled ( in my opinion only) Grass that is of such a color that it belongs in a cartoon on TV
Tom”
Just an amazing layout. A big thank you to Tom. He makes it look like a lot fun to weathering wood models O scale.
I could look at Tom’s layout all day – it just has so much character.
In one of his earlier posts he explains how he uses dirt – real dirt – to help get the weathered look on his roads and buildings.
You cans see how well it works. It’s always the simple stuff that works best.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if you want to make that start – just like Tom and all the others did – the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Stuart’s been busy with his OO scale steam locomotives – have a look at his pics:
“Hi Alistair. More pics of the station area which is coming on now.
Still a lot of touching up to do, and always something else that needs doing; as you know it’s never really completed.
I have decided to make a small lake area in the middle of the model which can be lifted out and replaced whenever I need to get into the centre.
I have made some mistakes on this build, ie the climb for the train on the outside track is too steep for it to run without working the control, I have to speed it up on the incline and slow it down on the descend; however my next one will be bigger and better I hope, cos I have really got the bug now, this has certainly been a fantastic hobby.
A big thank you to everyone for sending in their tips, photo’s, videos and how to’s. There have been some fantastic ideas, will keep sending in new things.
Cheers
Stuart”
A big thanks to Stuart – looks like he’s having fun with those OO scale steam locomotives.
“Hi Alastair,
Here is a contribution for you.
I am an N scale modeller from Australia
I have several small layouts that I show at our local rail shows every year. Currently I have completed a Small Coffee Table layout that is modeled vaguely on Germany/Europe.
My other completed layout (as much as any layout is ever “completed”) is a two sided Japanese layout, with one side being urban the other rural. I found this a great way to have more detail in a small space.
Mountains – I have a tip and trick for your readers. How I do mountains.
When doing mountains I do some things slightly different.
As usual I create my frame work using polystyrene foam, bits of cardboard or whatever is lying around. I then cover this in plastic fly wire (mesh) that I get by the roll from my local hardware store, securing it with tacks or a staple gun. To create my realistic mountain shapes, I use the following tools
• Plaster of Paris
• Cement render Tints
• Tin Foil (usually one foot squares (30cm by 30cm) folded into quarters. (15cm x 15cm)
• Wet Water (water with a couple of drops of dish detergent)
Once I have a good idea of the sorts of formations I want, I create as much as possible with the under frame to avoid unnecessary weight. (my layouts travel a lot)
I then mix up my plaster in small batches, usually three or four large tablespoons of plaster and one large teaspoon of Tint. These tints are available from your local hardware store and are used to shade the cement renders used in housing and concreting.
I use a chocolate brown for earth tones, and a terracotta for my Australian red desert scenes. I used a grey tint on the Japanese layout.
These tints make undercoats more effective, but also, if the layout is chipped and damaged, then in stead of a white showing through, I get an earth tone, which looks less obvious and more realistic.
Also, varying the amount of tint you use changes the shade of your plaster, which can create an effect all its own.
Once I have the Plaster/Tint mix at the right consistency I then spray the tin foil with the Wet Water.
I then place the plaster on the foil and place that, foil up plaster down on my framework. I then shape the foil to the contours I want, or leave the natural crinkle in the foil to generate a random pattern. (usually a little of both).
A batch of that size will allow for 2 or three patches at a time, so have that much foil ready.
It is important to note to do these patches away from each other, so as to not foul the foil. I usually work from each end and in the middle.
I then wait about 5 minutes for the plaster to set (once it is warm) and then gently peel the foil off, revealing a contoured area.
I then repeat with another batch in more small patches next to the ones I have created.
The foil can be pushed to follow the shape of the last patch, so each section is seemed with the last.
Also, Start at the bottom and work up.
Painting – To paint my mountains. I use a dark base coat, much darker than I want to end up with. I also have three shades of the colour I want, including two lighter than I want.
I start with a dark undercoat, usually watering it down so it soaks in all the little cracks, holes and crevasses the foil has created.
Once that is dry i use a technique called Dry Brushing to add the primary rock colour.
Dry brushing is a technique by which you place a little amount of paint on the brush, rubbing the brush on the palate to remove most of the paint leaving you with an almost “Dry Brush” and then gently brushing across the surface in quick strokes.
This causes the paint to adhere to the raised areas, but skip over the lower ones.
For my colour coat I tend to still have a fairly “wet Brush” but I make sure it is not running into the cracks.
Then I switch to my first highlight colour and do that with a very dry brush. You may have to work over areas a few times to get the shading you need.
Then I use my second highlight to just add to the very tips of the areas. This is usually a very subtle highlight.
This technique is worth practicing as it creates real dimension in your mountain work.
From there I would decorate with flocking, trees etc.
I hope your readers enjoy.
Grant”
A big thanks to Stuart for sharing his OO scale steam locomotives, and to Grant too.
Model railroad securing structures – here’s how Bob does it:
“Hello Al,
I have attached some shots of My Last Layout. About 1/3 of the layout is in final form and the rest I have just sitting on the base. I still move things around a bit.
On this layout I painted the top half of the walls flat black and then bought a cheap piece of cotton drop cloth, cut it in half, stapled it to the wall and painted it blue. It kind of draws your attention directly to the layout.
I laid this one out in vignettes that allow me to get a little creative, avoid everything being in the same period and style and provide me with places to put more stuff.
I am pleased with the mine operation. I wasn’t sure how it would look with the structure above and the actual mine below but I like the way it turned out.
I built the ore boat and ore tipple out of my usual bunch of sticks and wood scrap but no matter how I tried I could not build an acceptable tug boat from scratch.
I finally bought a boat kit and made a tug boat out of it. The tires on the hull are rubber washers, most of the superstructure are bits and pieces from my junk box. The main cabin is a cut-down toilet paper cardboard roll, the door is a piece of tongue depressor (my favorite) with a grommet for the porthole.
I wanted to try lighting my structures so I bought a string of LED Christmas lights and use them to light the building interiors.
They look good in the dark but it was kind of a pain to wire all the buildings.
After seeing what the talented Dave has done with his lighting I have decided to add some street lights to my town. Got the lights but haven’t put them in yet.
Speaking of buildings, can you see anything familiar about a couple of the houses in my town (hint-they are made from paper)?
I removed the gable on one of them and covered the roof to look like cedar shake and on the larger house I added wood trim to the doors & windows and added wood trim to the outside corners as well.
I have also added signs to my businesses named for my family members. Unfortunately, with 6 brothers and sisters and 10 grandchildren I have more names than buildings and some of these folks get a little testy if they don’t see their name on something.
I still have not added the water to my waterfront, just painted the base blue for now. Same with ballasting the track. I always do that last after I finally decide where all my structures will be placed.
You must be careful to not glue down your structures so that they block your track when it comes time to ballast. I learned this the hard way.
Just an idle thought, the more I see the track without ballast the more normal it looks …..hummm!
Most of the structures are now scratch built and I buy a few damaged ones on the internet and fix them up and/or use the parts to build other things.
The more I build the better I seem to get at it. For example, I got a building front, cut it in half and used the bottom to build a store and the top to build a fire station. Hands still shake a little at the most inopportune times. Seems mostly when I’m trying to glue something.
Bob”
A big thanks to Bob for sharing. Some good advice on model railroad securing structures – ballast sticks to anything…
