Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been in touch with his HO scale painted figures:

“Al,

Put together a few tips I have developed for populating the towns and cities in our little railroad world.

First, I couldn’t hold the HO people for painting (pre-painted are expensive!!) so I came up with the idea of gluing them to a scrap piece of styrene, when done they pop right off for attachment to their new home on a sidewalk, park bench or waiting for a train.

(All images are clickable.)

Next, I needed Fireplugs or Hydrants – I took a piece of the spru-trees that plastic kit parts come on and flattened the ends with a soldering iron, then cut them off the tree, glued them to styrene and painted them.

Finally, my son says my forests are too healthy! They need some dead trees. So I painted a some wire-rapped tree armatures and didn’t put any greenery on them, one is dropped it in front of the burned out factory.

John, USA”

“I enjoy your posts very much.

Many good ideas. Here’s one I’m trying.

I have a small bedroom for my new layout. I am combining HO and N to try and and get some degree of depth. The steamer in the front is HO and the coal train is N. Some will say ‘not prototipical’, but I’m having a ball.

Andy.”

“Greetings from Los Angeles Al!

The commercial plants and trees can prove to be costly if you need several…

I made these planters on ether side of the door by wrapping pipe cleaners around a sharpened pencil and then pressing them into the desired shape. Then I paint then with inexpensive acrylic green and glue them into the planters .

The planters are BEADS from the craft store..then I glue them to my structures ,or where needed om my layout You can make dozens of these for next to nothing…

John”

“Hi Al.

Jim here in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

About 2 years ago, I tried several times sending you a video of my model train layout, but not being very computer savvy at the time, it was not a successful endeavour.

(Jim did send some pics, which are here.)

To summarise, it is a 12’x14’ HO scale layout with 14 sound equipped operating locos of which I can run 9 at the same time if I can keep my wits about me.

It is a Lentz DCC setup with 4 plug-in controllers & 1 cordless phone controller, internal building lighting, 34 turnouts & various powered accessories.

So, without further ado, lets see if this video gets through.

Keep up the great pics & videos & always informative tips.

Jim.”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

That’s all for today, folks. A big thanks to Jim and John for his HO scale painted figures.

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Tom’s been in touch again with his N scale 3×5 layout. Have a look at what he’s been busy doing.

(His last post is here.)

“N scale 3×5 feet layout.

What I have been working on this past year is bring my plan to life.

Using woodland water I built the rapids and the water fall area.

All my building are card stock and I am presently looking to replace them because I believe I can do a better job framing them.

The other thing I learned is the size of the curves. Being a first timer – I wish I would have used curve track vice bending my own. The reason I would like a greater curve is be because the largest steam engine I can use is the 4-6-0 .

This layout is a light weight all form layout.

Tom”

(All images are clickable.)

(You can see Tom’s last post here.)

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“Here’s another trick I learned for window glazing many years ago.

Go to your nearest store that sells Science KIts,…..ask them if the sell Microscope Glass Slides. The glass is easy to work with…..cut to shape with simple draw of a single side razor blade.

I use them for bldg windows, engine cab and passenger car (esp effective, since you can cover numerous openings based on the scale ie. (O HO or S).

God bless & Happy Modeling!

RJ”

A big thanks to Tom and RJ.

As you all know, I’m a sucker for a layout update – I do love seeing how they change and morph. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it.

That’s all for today folks, but please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide.

Course I’m biased, but if you want to stop dreaming and start doing, it’s an easy first step.

Best

Al

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.

Bill’s been in touch again, this time he’s been busy with the model train plaster cloth to create his cliffs.

He’s making steady progress and it’s great to see this layout come to life:

“The time has come to finally lay down some plaster cloth.

The cliffs of gerskiville are taking shape.

Enjoy

Bill”

You can see Bill’s first post here – looks like he’s having a lot of fun to me.

I have no idea why, but when ever I see pics of mountains or rock faces in the making now, for some reason I always think of
Model railroad rock landscape, probably because it shows the different stages of creating a rock face.

Also, pretty much every post on the blog is a reminder that there is no right way to do any part of this hobby. What ever you are trying to achieve there will be many different ways of doing it.

Some people use cardboard and plaster cloth for mountains, some folk use carved insulation foam, some use rock moulds, some use old ceiling tiles…

Rock moulds for model railroad

model railroad rocks

Rock formations for your model railroad

Making rocks

(There are many more posts like these on the blog.)

The point is just use what feels right for you: there is no wrong way or an absolute correct way.

That’s all for today folks. A big thanks to Bill for sharing his model train plaster cloth pics.

Please do keep ’em coming because it’s getting very thin on the ground this.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to make that first step from daydream to your dream layout.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Some cracking deals about at the mo.

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