Model railroad layouts plans

Eric’s been back in touch – he’s added a HO scale shooting gallery to his layout:

“Hi Alastair

Well been working for a few months can’t say if I am halfway but you know you are never done with a layout.

I am glad you have continued with your program so much to learn from your followers.

The cliff/mound has a HO scale shooting gallery right outside the gun shop.

The motorcycle going of the cliff was a photo shoot I did for a friend in the Netherlands for a laugh.

Also a mine is located at the base of the corner mountain piece.

The layout goes from desert to midwest but in my eyes.

Few more pics have been attached.

Hope all enjoy.

Thank you

Eric the Firefighter
St. Louis Area.”

A huge thanks to Eric for sharing his HO scale shooting gallery. If you missed his last post, it’s here.

I don’t know if I’m more envious of his layout or his train room – both look fab.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming – and don’t forget the The Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to be like Eric and stop dreaming and start doing.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Kaustav has been in touch with his model track ballast ‘how to’.

Have a look at his vid:

“Hi Al,

I am following some great new posts in the blog and it is exciting to see how model railroaders are doing some quality modeling.

I finally was able to finish my ballasting demonstration.

I’ve used some unique techniques in this experiment, both during the painting stage that I mentioned earlier and also while ballasting and weathering. Especially for small and micro layout makers who will not have to ballast 10s of scale miles of tracks, these methods are particularly effective to produce some really good looking tracks.

Hope you all enjoy this and if any of you try these techniques, I’d be really interested to know how it turns out.

Cheers and keep building!

Kaustav”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Thanks to Kaustav – it reminded me of Steve’s post: Model train ballast.

“Hi Alastair,

Heres some photos of my layout that I’ve been working on here in Erie, Pa.

Take care and stay safe.

Bob Jacky”

“Hi, I thought I would share this with you.

My layout is 10’x 16′ and is ho scale with dcc controls.

I started building a little over 2 years ago after moving to my new home.

I have an upper and lower tracks which are connected to each other by way of a helix in one corner. I have a turntable and roundhouse that I wanted.

I have spray painted all my track a rusty brown color.

Alot of scenery to do, but I wanted to make sure that they were no issues with my track work or wiring first.

There is no theme, I’m just doing freelance and incorporating whatever I think will look good together as far as structures, scenery and my imagination.

Thanks,

Chuck”

My word – quite a project Chuck has going on there. Can’t wait to see an update!

A big thanks to Kaustav for sharing his model train track ballast video, and Chuck and Bob. It’s wonderful to see so many people making a start, because that’s what it’s all about.

That’s all for today.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if today is the day you take that very first step for your own layout.

Best

Al

Brian’s been busy with his HO scale waterfront shelf layout (his last post is here if you missed it)

“Hi Al, layout expansion.

Seeing that I like waterfronts so much, I decided to use a corner for a new harbour.

It will be called Pelican Bay mainly for small freighters and fishing boats.

Below is the start of the planning stage (middle right) and what I had in mind. I will be utilizing buildings from my old layout that were built about 7 to 8 years ago.

Here I used a wall section from my old layout which gave the shape that I needed.

Before placement, I had to paint the grey wall to look like this, a random stone wall.

I used the wall and buildings to mark out where the base had to be cut.

Here the base has been cut, wall in place, buildings placed and made sure there was enough room for the boats to dock or pass.

This is the continuation of the bay around the corner to the freight terminal building.

Here it is all coming together with base painted the right color, Podge was painted on in a thin layer to get the feel before pouring the WS realistic water. As I have said many times before, I only use WS water as I have always had great success with it in the past. (WS = Woodland Scenics)

Two views of the final layout of Pelican Bay with the waterfront lights placed.

A few night shots of Pelican Bay. Not a good clear picture below as my ‘blue overhead light blew’. As said before, all the buildings on my layout have full interior and lights.

This is where I am at the moment.

I have put buss wires under the layout, droppers from all the lights, connected it all up and all is working.

I will need to buy a a load of switches for all the lights. These will be mounted on the facia front.

That’s all for now and will keep updating as I progress.

All the best

Brian – the HOn3 guy – Knysna RSA”

A huge thanks to Hall of Fame member, Brian for sharing his HO scale waterfront shelf layout.

I really do enjoy his posts and how he works.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget The Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to join in on the fun.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.