Tony’s been in touch with his Book nook diorama – based on Earl’s Court station:
“Hi Alastair –
Here is a write-up about a diorama I recently completed.
A few years ago, my sister asked me to make her a “book nook”. I said sure – then I went to look up what a “book nook” was!
It turned out to be a kind of diorama bookend – right up my alley.
Today there are a lot of book nook kits available, but at the time all the examples I found were scratch built.
Many were of a fantasy nature and there were also a lot of London alleyway scenes. The former didn’t attract me but the latter certainly did.
My thinking quickly evolved into some type of train component. Then it hit me. Years ago, I had purchased a couple of the excellent 00 EFE underground cars. My pie in the sky plan then was to build a model of Paddington Station, including the underground below. That was my 40-year-old thinking. My now 70-year-old brain realized that it will never happen – but here was a chance for a scaled down version.
I searched around for a practical underground station to build and settled on Earl’s Court Station. I wanted to model the mid-1960s and the station today is still the same as it was then. It has an interesting style that I was looking for.
My idea was to model the station above and below and I thought that the build would be fairly simple. It wasn’t. I would actually be building two dioramas and I started with the idea that I could print a photo of the station above- then detail it and I could find a tube of the proper size- probably a plastic pipe- to model the underground part. After a number of starts and stops, I couldn’t get either to work.
For the above ground station, I couldn’t get the detail I wanted. Then one day I was dismantling an old diorama based on a Heljan engine shed and realized that it contained many of the components I needed for a kit-bash (mainly the arched windows). All the components, of course had to be cut and rearranged, and some modified.
For the underground tunnel, I could not find a pipe of the diameter I needed, and I finally settled on a cardboard form for pouring concrete. It was not the exact diameter either, but I could cut the cardboard and adjust the diameter.
In the end, this was the most complicated diorama I have built and it took- off and on- several years. A third part of the build that I started and stopped more than once was the lighting- a very important part of the model- it would need to all light up.
Rather than bore you with any more details, here are photos- somewhat in order- of the build.
Book nook diorama:
A few quick notes.
The lighting needed to be battery powered, as a plug-in on a bookcase would be problematic.
Inexpensive Christmas lights from Walmart turned out to work well, although it was not as easy as I had hoped (nothing was!). Lots of trial and error.
The strings had too many lights (nowhere to hide the extras) and I had to cut them. Certain lengths would work and certain lengths wouldn’t and some splices would work and others wouldn’t – I have no idea why (I have a feeling this group is going to tell me why!).
In the end, I used 2 strings and 2 battery holders (I probably bought 10 strings, somewhat negating the “inexpensive” part!). Stringing them through the different areas was quite a challenge.
The interiors of the bus and tube car are lighted and fully detailed- a lot of work. These are not very visible on the finished product. I enjoyed the process anyway and everyone who details and lights building interiors knows the feeling.
My son Mark had the idea to make the interior of the end shop visible- great idea. He also suggested book cover material for the sides which looks great, but does not show much when installed.
This was overall a difficult project but the results are pretty satisfying. That said- I’d never try it again!
As always- many thanks to Alastair for the amazing job he does for all of us!
Tony”
A huge big thanks to Tony for sharing his book nook diorama (you may remember this one too: Model train diorama.
I have to say, I didn’t know what a book nook was, but now I do, I really want to build one. They look great fun.
Hall of Famer Glyn has been in touch with some stunning pics of his HO scale waterfront buildings:
“Dear Al,
Thank you again for the privilege of joining the Hall of Fame gallery on the site! I am deeply touched and will do my utmost to continue making contributions to the site as we all enjoy our wonderful hobby.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have started working on the depression era coastal New England component of my layout in order to incorporate some of the Marklin US locomotives I have accumulated over the years.
I had originally planned to have two separate layouts, one being the Swiss German border town layout and the other being the New England coastal component, but with spatial considerations I decided to blend the two, however much it may not seem prototypical.
I have several unbuilt model kits I had accumulated over the past 20 years from George Selios’ Franklin and South Manchester railroad which as you know are simply superb in their detail. I was awaiting retirement to start my dream layout and have now built out several of them.
Recently I started working on the harbour which is the anchor scene for this side of the layout and I have looked forward to building it with much anticipation.
The key element was Georgia's imposing Seafood Emporium wharf anchoring the layout on the left of the harbour and on the right side I will be building Doug Foscale’s Red Hook Wharf waterfront scene.
I built a plywood base which I tinted blue-black to mimic the dark water of a harbour but have not yet added the acrylic water surface to give texture. This will follow later once I've completed all the pilings that will support some of the structure kits.
I scratch built retaining stone walls for the jetties out of pink 1” construction foam creating the individual stone-work by carving with a hobby knife and then spray painting with a mixture of military grays and camouflage greens. It gives a nice weathered look and some dry brushing with white paint adds relief and contour to bring it to life.
The harbour tug and crabbing trawler are both resin models from Artitec models which add tremendous character to the scene. These models are beautifully detailed and come to life with the addition of a few crewmen working the decks. I'm about to embark on the Red Hook Wharf construct and will send pics as this evolves.
I hope this provides some help and inspiration to our fellow modelers.
Best wishes
Glyn”
A big thanks to Glyn for sharing his HO scale waterfront buildings – they reminded me of another Hall of Famer’s scenes, Brian’s.
Next up, seeing as it’s the last day day for the silly sale, I thought it would be fun to show you just some more scenes made from the printable scenery in the silly sale.
I’ve never given away so much for so little – just $19.
Are you really going to miss out on this crazy offer?
Here are some of the buildings on your layouts:
“Al, like you I have been retired for some time now.
I have gone back to my American Flyer, s Guage boyhood train.
I have had “n guage, HO, G scale”, and this American Flyer has been the most fun of all. I guess it takes me back to my parents basement where my 4 x 8 foot layout was back in the early 50’s.
I resized your wonderful old barn and had so much fun building it. Here are some pics. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I have.
Jerry from Illinois, USA.”
“Al,
Great project and a lot of fun. The barn is on it’s way to the Railroad Club.
Charles”
“Al
I have enjoyed your site for a long time, since I have retired had to find something to fill the spare time, I purchased one of your bundles and printed out one of the Engine sheds among many others.
I have created my own version of the Engine shed as shown in the pictures.
Side walls have ventilation fan vents.
I have dreamed to set up a model railroad layout for a long time and when I started to make it a reality one thing came up after another, like kids, education, weddings and now I have time and room to finish the dream, but not much of a budget.
Best to all talented people like Hall of Fame Dave, talented hobbyists and their many beautiful layouts.
Ryszard”
And of course, there’s lots of the printable buildings on your layouts.
Here some pictures of them:
Mike has used a lot of the houses and grain elevators (not featured in the bundle – just using a print out example).
But don’t forget – it’s not just the printable buildings you get – it’s the Beginner’s Guide too:
Of course, I’m biased so here’s what others say about it:
“Al,
I really like the Beginner’s Guide. As a true beginner it helped me quite a bit. The Guide answered questions I didn’t know enough to ask.
I haven’t gotten to the building prints yet, still working on my terrain.
Bruce”
“Hi Alistair,
Your print out building kits have saved me hundreds of dollars on buildings and they provide the unique option of being able to customize the builds most any way I desire.
Until I came across your kits, I was very limited on what I could add to my planned N-scale layout. Commercial building kits are way too expensive for a retired person’s budget.
I now have the ability to not only build nice scenes, they don’t require weathering. Something I’m not terribly adept at accomplishing. Also, as a 70 year old kid, working in N-scale can be challenging for clumsy arthritic fingers. Your kits eliminate most of those issues. All I need is a sharp blade, scissors, glue and my imagination.
Also, your beginner’s guide is invaluable. I’m a retired network systems architect, so tech is not scary to me yet surfing the web for information can be tedious. I was a pre-teen the last time I played with model trains, and a lot has changed in the hobby since the early 60’s. You’ve solved all of that by providing one source for virtually all my basic needs, plus your daily email blog covers it all. What an incredible resource you are to this hobby.
Thanks for doing all of what you do.
Best Regards,
Ken”
“Hi Al
I really enjoyed the beginner’s guide book. I’m new to the train world. I have just retired and trying to make an attempt to start a hobbie with HO scale trains. You and your followers have encouraged me for the last two year’s. I Thankyou and your followers for sharing their train world
Sam”
Of course, I’m very biased, but I think the Beginner’s Guide and all these printable buildings bundled free are a real steal.
I think Ken’s quote above puts it best:
“Your print out building kits have saved me hundreds of dollars on buildings and they provide the unique option of being able to customize the builds most any way I desire.”
You get 25 printable buildings with the Beginner’s Guide (although with a bit of imagination you can make, many, many more).
You’ll see these buildings sell in the store for $9 each or more.
And the Beginner’s Guide sells for $27.
So you are saving a massive $342 on this deal.
You’re also getting the track plans PDF too.
What’s more, have a look at throught the store and you can see it’s a real, genuine, saving.
But please bear in mind, this silly sale is only for a few days, and then it’s all goes back to normal.
I do like to think that when I have a sale it’s genuine, and there is real value.
So if you fancy this bargain before it disappears like a shadow in the night, grab it right now.
Or, I know some of you good people just buy it to support the site. God bless each and every one of you.
Whatever your reasons, the Beginner’s Guide for $19 and the free printable buildings make it easy for you to make that all important start.
And that, my friends, is what it’s all about. Making that start.
Ned’s been back in touch and added to the posts on model railroad backdrops and backgrounds.
This time he’s been blending the foreground into the background:
“Alastair,
I’ve been progressing along. Working on blending the 3 dimensional foreground into 2 dimensional background.
The attached photos show how I provided myself access to the wiring for the upper level tracks and lighting. I saved a load of cabinet magnets years ago. I’ve been using them to secure the foam in place and allow removal for access.
It takes a little thought and planning to blend the rock so the access is invisible during normal operation. It has worked out well.
Model railroad backdrops and backgrounds:
My objective over the last few months has been to add foreground that blends seamlessly with the backgrounds I painted last winter. So far it has been going well.
As a reminder, my train setup progresses through the seasons as you rotate counterclockwise around the room.
I’ve been laying the track and developing the foreground on the upper level and some of the lower level over the last few months. Trying to ensure each area tells a small story.
Additional details will be added in the future to compliment the existing scene. Observations and recommendations are always appreciated.
Answering one question previously posted – I did not build the bridges. I found an eBay seller that had several wooden trestle bridges that fit my theme.
