Model railroad layouts plans

Bill’s been in touch. He’s added to the collection of large HO layouts on the blog:

“Hi Al,

I am a long time follower of your work and have used many of your tricks & tips in the book to help build my never-ending train project.

I love seeing all the different layouts you post from around the world.

My little space is in Rhode Island, USA.

Here is a sample for you to see. Happy Modeling!

Bill”

My word, Bill. All I can say is I think I speak for everyone when I say, “More pics please!”

There are some large HO layouts the blog, but my word, Bill’s looks quite a size.

(Lots of HO scale train layouts here.)

Next on to Carl who has sent this tip in.

“What do dandelions, apples and oranges have in common?

A toothbrush!

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

To make dandelions on your lawn, place a little yellow paint on a shallow dish. Dip a few bristles of your toothbrush into the paint. Now, run your finger gently along the bristles, and you will spray yellow paint in a random pattern of dandelions. Repeat this with white paint, and you have dandelions gone to seed.

I suggest you practice with water first to get the feel of the technique. Next, practice with paint on a hard surface to get your droplets the right size – thin the paint to get smaller droplets. You will probably find you need only a few bristles dipped gently in the paint.

If the paint is thin, it will give you smaller droplets. Thicker red paint splattered on a tree will give you apple size droplets. Now you can have an apple tree or an apple orchard.

Now add some wildflowers to your hillsides. Splatter a bit of mud on that truck on your dirt road. Where else can you use this technique? Hmm.

Keep on Training,

Carl in Kansas”

“Sending 5 pics of the cliffs always growing and evolving.

Enjoy.

Bill G”

(Bill’s last post is here.)

And finally, Dave has sent in the latest on his rebuild:

“Hi Al, just uploaded part 5 of my re build on the layout, a few tips and some trees I bought, made of plastic, but so real looking and very reasonably priced.

Still got to install more lights, and the bottom end of the layout to complete, Tonys still waiting for the all clear to open, also just added a short clip on the end of the Koi and garden.

Regards

Dave”

A huge thanks to Will, Carl, Dave and to Bill for adding to the large HO layouts – quite a few on the site now. Really enjoyed today’s post.

That’s all for this time, folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

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.

Joe’s been in touch with his HO scale balsa wood buildings:

“Hi, several years ago i sent pix of my old layout, I have since moved and building a new HO layout here in Florida. I have less than two months into it so here’s some early pix.

All the buildings you see except for the one with the shops below and apts on top I built myself using balsa wood and pix taken from the internet via google images.

The roadway is convex using wall compound spread with a 3 inch blade. I still have to add an oil streak down the lanes.

The background views were taken from the internet and expanded using print shop as a banner.

The train station I built is in the middle of two 3ft passenger platforms.

I would estimate that after just 2 months work i’m about 20% along. Hundreds of trees to be added and more people. Street lights and telephone poles will be added soon.

System runs on dcc with Bachmann locos.

I will send more as it progresses!

Joe”

“Hi Al, just uploaded part 4 of my re build on the layout.

In this video I show how I ballast, adding rust to the tracks, and a few tips…

Regards

Dave”

A huge thanks to Joe for sharing his HO scale balsa wood buildings, and to Dave.

Joe’s flying along – two months and all this done already. Can’t wait to see more pics.

As for Dave, where does he find the time. He also keeps himself busy with his Koi pond and garden.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you decide to join in the fun, 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.

Olar has been in touch with his Z scale layout – and I absolutely love it:

“Alistair,

Greetings from across the pond (and a pretty big chunk of non-pond)…

My name is “Olar” Maksin (pronounced “Oh — Lair”) and I live in the Great Pacific Northwest, USA.

I have been enjoying your site for quite a while and like others am constantly amazed at the talent and level of detail that the other modelers on your site achieve on their layouts. The things that can be done with a little bit of plaster, foam and whatever is laying around is remarkable.

What`s not remarkable is anything I`ve tried over the years using a little bit of plaster, foam and whatever is laying around. Any attempts for scenery have always ended up looking exactly like what it was— a pile of plaster and foam that looked like plaster covered foam.

There, however, is one exception to the “stuff laying around” category. I do have quite a bit of exotic hardwood scraps laying around so when I was trying to figure out how to add real eastate to my desk at work I came up with this idea.

I`m a Structural Designer at an engineering firm in Bellingham, Washington State, USA and most of our work is in the Oil and Gas Industry so when I decided to make a shelf to hold plants, etc, and still have room for an architectural “D” size shjeet of paper I thought “Why not break out some of my Z scale stuff that`s been in a box since before Queen Elizabeth was Queen.”

Keeping with the theme of my job I came up with this:

The second pic is looking into my office (to give some perspective)

The next couple Pics are an overview

The control panel uses bi-colored LEDs to show when the blocks are powered, red is off/green is on

The second row is for the turnouts, the slider is the direction and the round one is momentary to throw the switch

The bottom switch is master on/off

The rest are self explanatory

The hardwoods used are mostly Teak, Sapele, Jatoba, Maple, Oak, Ash and ???

One last tour point: “Stonehenge” is hand carved from a chunk of oak and as close to scale as I could do with a knife and a Dremel

As a result of sometimes being left unsupervised I am in the beginning stages of a 8’x3′ Z Scale layout similarly modeled with hardwoods. More on that later, probably much later…

I`ve rambled on enough, I hope you enjoyed my little 40″x20″ Z Scale Layout…

That`s my story and I`m sticking to it…

Peace Out,

OLar”

Z scale layout:

Now on to Carl:

“Alastair,

I have a 5′ x 8′ layout with a tunnel in one corner. I have two ways to access the inside.

The two sides are open, covered with black cloth to keep the tunnel dark. Brush aside the cloth and I have access to fix derails.

The top has an irregular shaped removable hole. Good for cleaning the track, etc. When I cut the hole in the foam, I cut it at an angle, so it rests like a bowl in the surrounding foam.

To remove it, I can reach inside behind the cloth access area, and simply lift it up and off. Since the opening is irregular in shape, it is easier to hide the edges with foliage, etc.

If you have trouble removing a cutout like this, then you could add a lifting handle or two. A well-secured fallen tree could make a handle, as could a strong, small building or shack.

Carl in Kansas”

Next, Richard:

“Al,

Just a quick tip I am using to make n-scale traffic cones used by police and utility companies etc. when they need to block off traffic.

I just purchased a 30 inch dowel the diameter of a plain old wooden pencil for 49 cents. I sharpen the end using a little cheap pencil sharpener, then cut the cone height to desired size and paint them orange.

I then cut small squares of black card stock and then a tiny dab of glue is all it takes to put the orange cone on the base. Took me about 45 min to make about three dozen traffic cones and I still have over 1 foot od dowel left.

Richard”

A big thanks to Richard, Carl and to Olar for sharing his Z scale layout.

That’s all for today folks.

And if you liked these tips, don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is packed full of em.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.