Model railroad layouts plans

More HO train scenery layouts today, Dan has been back in touch:

“Al, this is the next installment of the layout I had to come up with the scenery on an incomplete layout.

Background. I was building a layout for a friend. The NMRA convention was approaching here in Indianapolis Indiana. It was to be a double decked generic layout. It became clear that, it would not be nearly complete enough to have trains running over the “Plywood Empire” in time for the convention. He hired a company that did layouts. They did the upper level to the point that the track, ballasting and basic wiring was done. They did not consult about any scenic ideas. They left us with just the grid work.

In the previous installment, I showed how I did the helix scenery to meet the owner’s request that he be able to stand up in the helix for any repair work in the future. This will feature “The Wall.” This created a very interesting, for me, situation. I normally use the “cookie cutter ” method to get elevation either up or down. The foam risers were a new problem to tackle. I had seen others use it. I had mixed opinion as to it’s use.

My main objection was that there is practically no space to put scenery. With the “cookie cutter” method you put in the space for “things to come.” I do a lot of pre-planning when working out a layout plan. I know a lot of readers of your blog use the foam for elevation. I am impressed with their work. Here is my attempt to “fix” the attachment problem. It was a challenge and worth the effort trying out a new technique for me.

This section had to look good from each side and this complicated things.

Photo 1 The track plan.

Photo 2 The section that I call “The Wall” is a grade starting from near the bottom to where the lines cross at the purple colored track. The purple track passes under the double track and goes toward the helix and the coal mine seen in the previous post.

Photo 3 The beginning of the incline.

Photo 4 Looking the other way.

Photo 5 From the other side.

HO train scenery layouts:

Photo 6 I first put a thin sheet of foam all along the the sides to fill in the gaps in the riser.( I tested a sample of the panel on some scrap to see how it took to the foam. The sections of the foam caused ripples in the wall panel to form. The foam sheet took care of this.)

Photo 7 Take a close look at photo 4. You can see an offset from the risers. This was to accommodate the crossover switches and the switch throws. I cut an opening for a road to pass under the embankment to get to some access to a work area. You will see this later.

Photo 8 Here is the opening for a main road that leads into town. I did not make it two lanes wide because the opening would likely weaken the track above. So I made two openings to keep some support in place. This made it harder because now I had two openings to work out. It may have been overkill…but better then finding out later.

Photo 9 Finished look at one of the openings.

Photo 10 Here is how I got the scenery to the wall and have it look natural. In the distance in the photo I used some support for the plaster cloth to come and then scupta mold. In the near portions showing the fill, I just used the scupta mold to fill the spaces.

Photo 11 The far side of the fill where the access for the track to the helix and coal mine pass under the riser.

Photo 12 Finished look at the double underpass.

Photo 13 The opposite side of the fill showing access to the switch work so the workers can get up to work on them.

Photo 14 More of the other side.

Photo 15 Just more of the project. The trees are a plant called Sedum and sometimes called everlasting. You have seen these in my other posts.

Photo 16 The finished “end” of the incline. To the right is the town and to the left is the next post to come.

Photo 17 I just found this photo and it is going to be easier to put it here. It shows the fill for the start of the incline.

Thanks Al for letting me be part of your Blog and I hope had something to contribute”

A huge big thanks to Dan for adding to the HO train scenery layouts.

(If you want to see his previous post, it’s here: HO scale background scenery.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

That’s all this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you grab the bull by the horns, 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.

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.

Dean’s been back in touch with a nice tip on model train trees evergreen:

“Al, as many of my followers know, I like to model the mountain areas of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

This area has many evergreen trees, pines, junipers, and piñons. Although, large clump foliage does an adequate job for representing junipers, piñons, and small bushes, so far, I haven’t come up with a good, inexpensive model for pines as can be seen from this photo of my current layout.

But recently I found this in my model store:

Although the trees looked pretty good, most were too big and too green. Here’s how I fixed them.

First, I cut the larger ones into two or three parts. With the shorter cutoffs, I glued small pieces to the tops if needed. Example: tree on the right

Then I sprayed the trees with diluted white glue (scenic cement, one part white glue, three parts water, a few drops of dish soap)

and sprinkled them with my usual fine turf (light green, yellow grass, and earth). I used the brown bases that came with the trees glued to a board to hold multiple trees.

Then I drilled holes in the plaster mountain and glued the trees in place. As you can see these look pretty good at a distance. I got 17 trees out of this bag, so they each cost about $0.50.

Check out my video for more details and with a running train.

Dean from New Mexico”

A big thanks to Dean for sharing his model train trees evergreen tip – there’s quite a few posts on trees now, here’s a few of them:

HO model train trees.

Make model train trees.

Model train large trees.

Making trees model railroad.

Model train trees.

Model railroad trees.

How to make trees for a model train layout.

Now on to Dale:

“Hello Al,

My name is Dale, and though I cant make a video, I took pic. I know this will make a lot of train hobbyists happy, probably make someone upset, but oh well why keep jacking up the price on stuff for such a little amounts of foliage.

12 years ago, I was upset about how much the pliable foliage cost, and decided to figure out how to make it myself.

The dear moss is whats used, anywhere in the south can be found, at least thats where I get it. I live in Florida. And this stuff is every where in the woods.

Then after trial and error for 2 years this is how to make your own foliage, as much as you want.

Goto a store and by finger nail polish remover, its really like a concentrate, this stuff does not like to stick to anything, by itself, but I put it into a jar of pickle juice, mixed it, added green cloths dye, and shoved in dear moss, waited, till it soaked up the solution, then removed the dear moss once saturated. I then squeezed out with my hands back into the jar any excess liquid.

Now the fingernail remover or skin protectant called glycerin, I found at walmart under the fingernail aisle.

I have many jars of pickle I used, used varying methods of color and different liquids ie, water, leather solutions, etc. to mix with the glycerin, I added more glycerin to one jar then another, all with the same results.

I think the plain ole pickle juice mixed with 3 or 4 bottles of glycerin works quite well.

In my old tackle box is all the different foliage I made 1996 still as pliable, soft as today, as you can see I took the pictures today.

Dear moss once it dries out is brittle as heck. Sure one can spray paint the foliage the color one wants, but that wasn’t for me.

So I made my own pine trees, using a coffee grinder to chop up pine bark then rolled a stock of dog funnel, I guess, thats what its called with elmers glue all over it, let dry, then added more glue lower down the stock, until after a few times of this I got the shape I wanted.

Then I added limbs and the foliage to the limbs. I found that an envelope cut away at one end did real well so I could roll the stock, when done so easy to put the excess of the pine bark back into a container I have for it. I have to use my cell phone to send this so hopefully this will post ok.

First pic tackle box, of different shades of foliage I made, red an green 2nd pic of pickle jar..

3rd pic of glycerin.
4th pic of color dye
5th pic of pine trees I made.

Im trying to figure out how to make palm trees now, the stocks off pine trees look like the trunks of palm trees, but its finding the right foliage for the tops, I haven’t figured out yet.

For now I can have all the pine trees I want, all the oaks too, I haven’t started on the firs yet, I like realistic looking trees, I have all the shrubs I need also. And they dont dry out.

Just dont soak the foliage you made in plain water, or they will, and they wont loose the colors, maybe fade over the years, but, what I made is as good as any expensive store bought foliage.

The glycerin is the key here.

Im still working on my layout HO 24×10 layout, in my garage.

Al you may need to post captions for me to pic, I thank everyone who post here and send in ideas and help, hope my post helps you or someone here.

Thank you sincerely Al your site is the greatest around.

Dale”

That’s all for today folks. Thanks to Dean for his model train trees evergreen tip, and to Dale too.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.

Bill’s been in touch and added to the 4×8 layouts for model trains on the blog:

“Hi Al

Been awhile since I sent anything in. As the summer has been busy I’ve been making slow progress on my second 4×8 section of my switching layout.

As was the case for the first section I’ve quickly grown tired of looking at pink foam board everywhere. Just like the first section I decided that adding in the gully was where I wanted to start.

With pink foam board it’s easy to cut and pry out small pieces to contour shapes below grade. Once I had the basics in I built firms out of balsa wood to frame up for the concrete abutments. I line poured plaster and pulled the forms out once the plaster was firm.

As I did for the maintenance buildings floors I then used a metal putty knife and shaped the plaster into its final shape. I scraped and cut until the 30 foot thru girder bridge sat where it needs to be to keep the track smooth over it.

I painted the abutments a concrete color and the rest of the exposed foam board a mix of tan and gray acrylics.

Next I added in two metal drains coming out of the factory complex. For them I found a bolt that had a coarse thread and cut a strip of heavy duty aluminum foil about 3/4 of an inch wide and about 1.5 inches long. I pressed hard as I wrapped the foil around the bolt to get a good pattern. Once off the bolt I used liquid super glue to hold the layers together and give it a little more strength. These I inserted into holes I put in the foam board.

Next was adding in the bed of the gully and vegetation. I used shifted dirt and woodland scenics products. I always like to add a base of coarse foam then soak it in diluted glue then add in less coarse material of varying shades of green to build up depth on the vegetation.

All in all a fun little project as I tinker with other things on the layout.

Thanks

Bill in Virginia”

A huge thanks to Bill for adding to the 4×8 layouts for model trains on the blog.

His switching layout is quite something – I can’t wait to see it progres.

His last post is here if you want to pick up the thread.

When it comes to 4×8 layouts, I always think of Cal’s: 4×8 HO train layout.

I do love all these updates, where I can, I always link to the previous post, so you can follow the process and progress. Everyone has a different style and pace, but that’s what’s makes this hobby.

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

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.