Model railroad layouts plans

“Best tip ever as far as I am concerned. Use a few drops of hair clipper oil on the wheels of your loco, run it around the layout, the tracks are clean, and the trains should run smoothly for months.

Remember only a few drops, too much and you will get wheel slippage on any grades.

Brian”

“Dear Al,

One day I was cleaning my engines and thought there had to be a way you could use both hands to work on them. I found a piece of foam about 1.5″ thick and cut a 1.25″ thick trough in it. Now I can turn my engines and cars upside down so I can us a keyboard vacuum and clean them and lubricate them using both hands. It holds everything securely and makes it easier to work on them and I don’t have to worry about them getting scratched up.

Charles”

Remember the problem Dave had with his track? If not, it’s here.

And here’s his update:

“Hi Al , I did get a problem with those points the following day , so decided to try the Peco points as shown in this video it seems to have cured the problem , as shown the guide rail is shorter , so maybe this is the answer , also a good tip for girder work on Bridge scenics…

We all get problems so it helps with different solutions…

Regards

Dave”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Best

Al

There aren’t many Swiss model train layouts on the blog – but Peter’s really caught my eye.

“Hi Alistair

My layout is in a room I made from the back half of a garage. There are 2 main lines and 1 branch line. The 2 main lines wind around the complete room. Being DCC I can run multiple trains but am still learning the way of doing it to prevent accidents!

After early experiments on mountain building with paper mache and wire frames I decided polystyrene foam cut and shaped with hot knife/hot wire tools covered with plaster cloth to be the best solution. As others have mentioned we don’t get the pink foam batts in Australia. Using rock moulds and liberal use of Plaster of Paris on top and voila a mountain.

Scree slopes are made from the little extra bits that form on the plaster moulds glued together. The plaster cloth is cheaper if you buy it from medical suppliers rather than using hobby shop supplies.

A great method for making waterfalls and stream beds is using silicon sealant, I can provide instructions for this if anyone is interested.

I use a cheaper version of a grasmaster for static grass. Models are either falller/volmer kits, or for more effort and fun, paper and cardboard models printed at home from templates provided by a UK company.

The backdrops are from high res photographs (one from a friend taken on his swiss holiday). There is a Mac App that allows printing of these on an ordinary A4 printer which I back onto large cardboard sheets and attach to the wall.

I have one canal with real water.

That’s all I can think of for now.

Cheers

Peter”

Swiss model train layouts:

A big thanks to Peter for adding to the Swiss model train layouts.

That’s all for this time 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.

“Good Day

I was a baker for 45 years. I found that using what is called a pastry bag or decorators bag to apply plaster or spackling compound, gives you a little more control in it’s placement. You can use the tips, they are the mental or plastic cone shaped fittings that are placed in the end of the bag. These items can be purchased at several stores, Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Joann Fabrics. Wilton is the trade name most are listed under, oh I forgot about EBAY. The bag can also be folded over and used to store unused material. You can color the spackling compound with any acrylic color. Using brown you can create a base for bushes and hedges, sprinkle some ground foam on.

You can also use the bag to fill in gaps and add material in your scenery.

Richard”

“Long ago I was taught to use denatured alcohol to lower the surface tension of the ballast before applying the glue. Works great and evaporates a lot quicker than soapy water.

I have found an easy way to create highway grade crossings. I use wooden shims, available at most hardware and lumber stores. Cheap and they work great. Just cut them to fit your layout.

Vic”

Lastly, I just got this in from Dave. Really shows you how he does his stuff!

And don’t miss the latest ebay cheat sheet. It’s here. Lots of good stuff at the mo.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al