Model railroad layouts plans

Peter’s been in touch again. This time he shows us his o gauge roundhouse – how it was, and now, how it is.

(his last post is here if you want to catch up).

I have to say, I do like it when I see Peter’s name pop up in my inbox, I know it’s going to be good:

“Hi Al,

When you get a chance please post.

Standard O gauge roudnhouse and the start of On3 narrow gauge.

See the O gauge roundhouse on its own, and then in a scene, really does get across how good Peter’s work is.

And best of all, Peter seems to be having a great time and that’s what it’s all about.

Now on to Brian, who is using a ‘cheap’ camera to create his cab ride videos.

“Hi Alistair.

Thanks for the posting of the video.

The comments are great and I did answer the questions asked about the video camera and the ceiling height.

Maybe you could post the pictures to show the guys what the camera looks like. I am sure that it would answer some of the questions and be appreciated by all.

I know dangerous Dave uses a small camera and may like to see this one. I have googled the one he uses and it was too big for my narrow gauge.

Many thanks and all the best in keeping up the excellent work.

Brian”

(Brian’s video is here.)

A huge thanks to Brian and to Peter for sharing his O gauge roundhouse.

You all know how I love an update and we’re being spoilt at the moment. Hope it continues.

That’s all for today folks – please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to start you layout today, don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

Mike’s been back in touch with more on making HO buildings from scratch.

Mike’s last post is here.

He sent me quite a few emails, and I managed to miss these (I think I get a gazillion emails a day).

“Good morning Alastair:

Here is the jig and roller I made to create raised rib roofing. The aluminum is a coke can, the jig is a piece of 18 gauge wire. The roller is a bolt with three washers. Time consuming but works well. The result is used on the “O” scale building.

This small model gives me a better idea of flow and structure. The actual lay out will be 90”x90”..

I just completed this after more than 10 months. It is an actual building in a town called Western, Nebraska. The building is an abandoned old feed mill.

I built it to capture the patina of this great old building. This is actually in “O Guage”.

I built the Skelton like a timber frame to skin the building. I completely sheathed the structure before putting the corrugated siding.

The siding is aluminum from soda cans. I cut the cans open, flattened and corrugated with a scrap booking device. The standing rib roofing required me to make a fixture to hand make each one.

Again, the soda can is the source of the Aluminium. I made all the windows and doors from scrap wood. The power pole is a chop stick with electronics parts from and old computer to represent the power transformers.

This one was labor intensive siding the underlayment, make each corrugated siding and roof panels.

The separating funnels Are dowels I turned down on my drill press.

Cheers,

Mike”

My word – amazing stuff. Just loved what Mike’s done with his abandoned mill – so much character.

Just goes to show when you get your thinking cap on, making HO buildings from scratch is easy.

And how clever to create a ‘study model’ for the layout too – it’s like a mock up of the track plan.

Can’t wait to see this layout progress. Fingers crossed Mike will keep us posted.

Please do leave a comment for Mike below!

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.

Mike’s been in touch – he’s been busy scratch building HO scale structures:

“Good day Alastair:

Here are some HO scale buildings I scratch built.

I build furniture for a hobby and save every scrap of wood to use for other projects. I cut most of my “lumber” on my table saw. I cut my shingles from 1/64 or 1/32 plywood. My goal is to purchase the bare minimum to complete a project.

I buy windows from Grayline but make most of my doors. I start with a photo and render something that captures the feeling of the building. Hope you enjoy seeing these.

Mike
Clermont, FL. USA”

Scratch building HO scale structures:

A huge thanks to Mike for sharing – scratch building HO scale structures is something that comes up on the blog a lot.

I thought Mike’s buildings were packed with character!

There are so many scratch building posts on the blog now, and each of them have display a new way of making a building or weathering.

Take Richard for example. Not only is his scratch building a joy to look at, it’s N scale – how he can make them without going blind is beyond me:

N scale scratch built model

And it never fails to make me smile when I see what people have used.

Barry made a power station from card stock, and gave it that solid look by using wooden blocks:

Scratch built power station.

Anyhow, I hope the posts get the creative side of your mind ticking, becauase if you are scratch building HO scale structures, you’ll need it. Or any scale come to that.

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.