Model railroad layouts plans

“Hi Alastair, herewith an article on an HO scale working lighthouse for model railroad.

I sat at my layout’s harbour and looked at the current lighthouse with just a blinking light that went on and off at intervals and thought to myself that I should be able to scratch build a working rotating one with the technology that is available today.

I asked for an Ai (artificial intelligence) sketch of a lighthouse and I thought this one might be appropriate as seen below.

I asked my friend with the 3D printer if he could print one for me. The final product, off the printer is seen below. It is hollow throughout.

The next question was to see if the motor and gearbox seen below could be housed inside close to the top and how to mount it.

Different ideas were thrown around and a few 3D printed parts used to get the whole rotating system with the attached motor and gearbox to work.

A top base was printed as a test and inserted the LED to see if it would rotate without any obstruction. Unfortunately the inner workings below the LED could be seen and had to be covered somehow.

Windows were also printed and test fitted as well as a door.

Again, a test fit making sure that everything fitted and worked.

Below is a 3rd print of the top “base” with a “wood” simulated deck.

The top section (LED housing) 3rd print (first two did not come out the way I liked) had the surrounding bottom piece above the wood deck done to hide the workings that otherwise would have been seen.

At the bottom just under the lighthouse base is the power module that both, adjusts the incoming transformer 220v and connects it to 12v down to 3v to the LED and the speed control knob which rotates at – Currently (3RPM). This will all be hidden under the layout with just the speed control knob on the front facia.

Below, video of the rotating “beacon” in action…

A very successful and rewarding project. (3 weeks from R&d to final finished product)

Next is to mount it on my new layout to be featured soon.

Once again Alastair, thank you for all the work that you do for all the Modellers around the world.

That’s all for now.

Kind regards

Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”

A big thanks to Brian for sharing his Lighthouse for model railroad – I really can’t wait to see it on his layout, I do enjoy his stuff.

(His last ‘lighthouse’ post is at the bottom of this one: model car light kit.

You can see more of Brian in the Hall of Fame.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if creating your own model railroad is an itch you just have to scratch, the the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.

Brian’s been back in touch with the latest on his 3d model train boat house print:

“Hi Alastair, as promised an article on the 3D printed boat house under the bridge.

I saw this picture of a boat house and deck on the internet and thought to myself, that would fit nicely under the newly installed 3D printed bridge on the module.

I asked a friend if he could print this for me to go under the bridge that he printed for me previously.

Evidence of that is shown here in the following photos.

Here it is straight off the friend’s 3D printer.

Another photo of it off the printer.

Below is the deck with the boat house on it to see if it would suit the area. I did not like the printed version of the roof, so I made my own from some surplus wood clapboard siding.

Here the deck has been “roughed “ up to represent a well worn wood deck.

Test fitted the placement of figures and all sorts of stuff ready for collection or shipment. The boat on the side was supposed to be used as a canopy over the doorway but did not use/like it.

Here the boat house has been weathered and temporarily positioned on the deck.

Same again in this photo. It can be seen very clearly that the figures needed to be toned down a bit. (using a black wash)

This photo was taken before I gave the figures a light black wash to get rid if the new clean look to them.

Behind the boat house attached, is another small deck where shipments brought in by boat are stored until ready to be taken to the upper level boat rental business.

Here is the boat rental business on the upper level. The stairs and railings on the right go down to the deck on the water level.

Unfortunately my measurements for the staircase were not the greatest (guess work) and the print ended up being too low.

3d model train boat house print:

Here it is, the correct height re-printed and test fitted. It may not look as though it is at the right height at the top but that is because of the angle that the photo was taken.

Supports were fitted under the intermediate deck and everything fitted perfectly.

A view from under the bridge making sure that the staircase looked like it should.

Another 3D printed deck (a bit narrower) where stock could be temporarily stored before taking it up to the businesses above. An officer in the boat checking to see if all is in order on the deck.

A new boat used as a ferry to fetch and carry passengers from across the water to here. Note the fisherman on right hand side middle in his small boat hoping to catch his next meal.

The finished bridge module showing the boat house, deck and the boat in position under the bridge. The fisherman’s shack on the right hand side was scratch built using wood. The boat captain will have to get a move on because there is a storm brewing in the background. I created the photo backdrop using AI (artificial intelligence) and had it printed at a local printshop. It is 1 meter long by 300mm high.

Once again Alastair – thank you for all the work that you do for the modelling fraternity.

That’s all for now.

Kind regards.

Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna.”

A huge big thanks to Brian for sharing his 3d model train boat house print.

He really is the gift that keeps giving (you can see his last post here, and more in the Hall of Fame).

And now, another gift.

Here’s the latest in the printable buildings (You can see more in the store).

For the moment, this one is completely free, no strings attached.

So if you like it, download it now, before it disappears.

Here’s the download.

(Here’s the youtube for it.)

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if Brian has made you feel like leaving the comfort of your armchair and having some fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.

Dean’s been back in touch with some more N scale scenery ideas.

Every time he lands in my inbox, his layouts and scenery just get better and better:

“Al, it’s been a while since I’ve updated everyone on progress on my Santa Fe Northern Railroad N Scale layout as my life got too busy. Over the last couple months, I’ve been updating the scenery and here’s some recent progress.

I’m trying to model the area around my house which is a little different from other parts of the country—dry with little growth except for scrub foliage and dried grass plus Piñon and Juniper trees at lower altitudes with pine trees at higher.

The first photo shows a mountain that I built with excess blocks of 2 inch foam covered with plaster cloth and drywall compound, then painted with my standard brown base paint.

After that I used my usual Woodland Scenics ground cover fine turfs (Earth, Burnt Grass, Yellow Grass, Light Green) and clump foliage (Light Green, Medium Green) for small bushes and trees,

The pine trees on the mountain are from Fazhbary (Amazon) and came in a bag with 44 pieces of model trees, 1.4 – 5.9 inch. Since the largest one were too big for N Scale, I cut off the tops to put in this part of the layout. I covered making and coloring rock formations earlier. When done, the mountain looked like the first photo. Since the tunnel portals had to be custom size, I designed them and printed them with PLA on my 3D printer.

Here’s another view. I printed out the roads on paper then glued the finished road pieces to 2mm Foam Paper

Here’s a model industry fuel tank and truck from Whistle Stop Models. I found the Pennzoil Logo on the web

At this point I wanted to model a gully in the low area between the two levels and road going up from the lower level to the higher mountain level, which is actually 2” above the lower level. I use 2” construction foam as a base for all the layout.

First I trimmed the edges of the foam board and cut a piece to support a new road between the levels. The slashes were cut at two places to allow the foam to bend, then the piece was pinned and glued with hot glue. The support structure was finished at this point.

Then I covered the area with plaster cloth (next two photos)

After the cloth had set up, I smoothed on wall board joint compound then sanded it smooth where needed

Here’s what it looked like after painting my standard brown base color.

I built up the dry wash gully area (arroyo) with fine sand wet with diluted while glue and marked off where I wanted the gravel road to go with blue tape. The yellow paper is cut lengths of card stock which form the patterns for continuing the road. The black area on the paper on the above level indicates where I’m going to put a coal mine using a Walthers Diamond Mine kit that I’m working on.

At this point I finished the area with various fine turfs sprinkled on thinned white glue. Next, I finished the gravel dry wash (arroyo) and the gravel road from the upper to the lower level by painting on full strength white glue then sprinkling on Woodland Scenics gravel (a very fine material). Next two photos

Final finishing of the scenery. Next two photos.

So, here’s what the area looks like now. I’ve started to add clump foliage for small trees and bushes

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest and comments. Let me know if there is more info you would like to see on what I’ve done here.

Dean from New Mexico”

A big thanks to Dean for sharing his N scale scenery ideas – I’m already looking forward to his next update.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you think everyone else is having all the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.