Blog - Page 2 of 680 - Model railroad layouts plansModel railroad layouts plans | Free model railroad track plans, pics and tips

N scale roads and streets

Dean’s been back in touch with a step by step on his N scale roads and streets:

“Al, cheers from Dean in New Mexico!

I recently made some more progress on my N-scale Conejos Valley Railroad and have completed the road system for the entire layout.

This includes all major roads and streets (concrete and asphalt) and a few small lessor roads (gravel). I’ll show your readers here how I did it.

I used Woodland Scenic road tape to define the major roads and their Smooth-it for the pavement. I used their gravel (finer than fine ballast) for the lessor roads.

First, I moved around some buildings that I wanted to use until I liked the arrangement; this was done before I started pouring roadbed.

Readers of my Scenic Ridge railroad will probably identify these buildings since I stole them from that layout temporarily. I’m going to rebuild them at leisure.

Here’s the arrangement I ended up with showing the building placement. Some of the buildings (six in the main village area are Woodland Scenic kits, and some are ones I built using my 3D printers).

Here’s how I put down the road tape to define the foundation for the engine house. I put down a lot of masking tape to protect the surrounding areas.

And here I’m pouring the Smooth-it material, mixed according to the instructions (one part water to two parts powder).

After all the roadways and streets had cured, I cleaned them up with scrapers and sandpaper blocks. I then painted them with acrylic paints:

concrete: Apple Barrel (Amazon) Granite Gray

Asphalt: ditto plus 20% black

Finally, I aged the surfaces with graphite or chalk, and striped the pavements with very fine black or white pens.

Here’s what the gravel roads looked like.

N scale roads and streets:

I made the bridge across the river again using my 3D printer.

Here are some more photos showing the results for this N scale:

I’ve also been finishing up the track ballasting and adding scenic turf to the open areas.

Thanks for everything you do, Al, and thanks to my viewers!

Dean”

A huge big thanks to Dean for sharing his N scale roads and streets ‘how to’.

(You can see Dean’s last post here: N scale passenger station.)

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, 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.

Model railroad module construction

Dan’s been in touch with an impressive model railroad module construction for the Benjamin Harrison musuem.

He starts with some back ground:

Benjamin Harrison was the first president to take a train tour of the south and west. He took the trip in his third year as president in 1891.

By this time “whistle stop” campaigning was common. A whistle stop campaign is a trip through a region when running for office.

The train stopped at towns along the route and made campaign speeches. This trip was very long and was unusual in that regard.

The route covered over 5000 miles. He drew large crowds along the way. Most towns and cities had never had a sitting president visit.

An example of a large crowd.

A stop at the bottom of the Royal Gorge in Colorado.

Tools needed for model railroad module construction. Track cutters, needle nosed pliers, files, rail joiners, track nails, and flex track.

Tacking down the cork roadbed while the white glue dries.

Model railroad module construction:

The three modules required for the move. It is simple box construction. Where they join I used carriage bolts and wing nuts.

Not shown: where the bolts pass through each module, I inserted a short piece of copper tubing in the hole. This is to prevent over tightening the wing nuts and compressing the softer wood. ( I use this process on the Christmas modules. The holes have gone through 32 ups and downs. )

The simple model railroad track plan. The passing (house) track where the station will go. On the single track side notice the slight curve. Thus avoiding a straight along the side look.

The divider back drop. They slip in and out of the “L” shaped blocks for easy construction. Everything on the modules had to be removable.

Applying the ground cover. Ground foam to simulate the dry southwest.

The basic “near distant” hills under construction. Just pieces of ceiling tile for the basic form.

The hills covered with plaster cloth. Ready for the Sculptamold.

Sculptamold that has been colored with the craft paints I use for the dirt color I wanted.

Progress at Deming. I painted the “Distant” hills with my craft paints. They just need to be a background without details. Too much detail would be a distraction form where I want you to look.

Nearly finished look at Deming.

The all important crowd listening to the President. The crowd scene took a lot of thinking. Colored figures are very expensive. There aren’t many of them available if any for the era.

Eventually, I bought a bag of about 50 or so unpainted figures. Next, I spray painted them all a light shade of black. Then, I painted flesh colored hands and faces.

For some of the women, I painted some skirts a grey color for variety. The figures were then glued to two pieces of styrene so they could be easily removed. Harrison was a rather large man. I found a set of “rotund” figured and used one of them as the President.

The “Horse Power” of the day.

The carriages. These were the hardest part of the model railroad project. These kits are very difficult. I forgot the name of the kit.
Connecting the wheels to the axles and getting them square was a chore.

The locos.

General views of the area in New Mexico.

The “other side” of the modules. The basic ceiling tile rock construction. Remember that there are three parts to the layout. That spiral staircase was pretty tight. Even the mountains had to be removed. This is the left mountain.

This is the right module. The black part you will partly block the view of a train. This is at the curve seen in the track plan photo. This will add interest as will the tunnel in photo 16.

This is the middle module with out the view block in place.

General overall view of the mountain side of the module consruction, unfinished.

Note the different colored layers of the rocks.

Model railroad module construction finished look.

Sun set.

Midday.

The layout in place at the Benjamin Harrison Museum toy room.

The man himself. Full sized image.

This was a challenging and rewarding adventure. I never thought I would be featured in a museum. In a sense this made me a “professional” model railroader. If you don’t add the hours of work, I did earn a little cash. It was the opportunity that made the project worth the time. I hope you liked the model railroad module construction project.

Dan*

A huge big thanks to Dan for sharing his museum model railroad module construction – really enjoyed the history background too.

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

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

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Model railroad bridge

Rob’s been back in touch again with another missive on his model railroad bridge build:

“For some reason this particular video has proven to be relatively popular.

I am at the point now where I must create a gap for the new bridge.

The location I have chosen is on a 3 percent grade coming up from Far Cliff beach upto the back of my layout.

The tracks against the wall are a non-scenic area with just track running from one side of the room to the other. Here is a track plan:

Bridges are very interesting on model railroads. I am not sure why. When I complete this project, the new bridge, I will have three bridges on the Farland layout altogether. I have noticed it is not just me. When I see other peoples layouts, there is frequently a bridge included.

Modelers seem to be fascinated with them, I know I am. The idea of the tracks spanning across a gap in the landscape just draws us to it. This is especially true of the prototype.

Bridges are just interesting things. In a way, they are magical. There is no mystery about how the track and all that weight is supported when it is sitting on the ground, but put it up in the air and wow, it grabs your attention.

Sometimes modelers use a piece of wood to actually hold up the railroad track, to give their bridged section the strength to support itself. You will note on this bridge, I”ve used the same structual system a real truss bridge uses and my new bridge supports itself.

Thank you, Al, for this wonderful daily blog. We all appreciate what you do so well.

Rob”