Model railroad layouts plans

“Al,

This is a HO scale layout consisting of 3 separate zones. Farm, Village and Mtns.

There are 2 bridges, 2 tunnels and lots of interesting things to see along the tracks. I use EZ track. It’s just easier for me to work with.

The platform is L shaped 4X8X6. DC powered.

I used plastic, laser cut; self build (balsa) and paper houses and buildings. A little bit of paint makes them look more realistic.

I purchased a bundle of paper houses I saw in your emails. They were easy to assemble and add a nice touch of realism.

The roads are made from a Woodland Scenic kit.

The little details like the billboards were made from actual billboard pictures I found on the Internet. I reduced them to the proper scale, printing on photo paper, and attaching them to a painted balsa wood frame.

Mountains are made from 1” thick rigid insulation, stacked, glued, cut, shaped and painted. I also added some natural stone; plaster tunnel portals, and paper retaining walls. All topped off with some mosses and grasses I bought at the craft store.

The farm scene is my favorite. The farm house is paper, the store is laser cut and the barn and silo is built. I added a lot of little touches like the wheat and corn field as well as the plowed earth.

I topped it all off with people, animals, fences, gravel roads, vehicles and a few other items to make it fun.

I added a few more pictures.

Thanks

Mike”

“Ground charcoal makes great scale coal…………keep breaking it till it’s the right size….then use the dust mixed with white sprit to age the rolling stock..

Dry cleaning hangers(plain) can be cut to make telegraph polls (solder cross bars) fence posts etc.

Eric”

“I use thrown-away charcoal filter elements (like body shop respirators use) stripped open for REAL looking coal in coal hoppers.

It is light weight, and an exact match for coal. It is a might large for N scale. but looks great for HO and larger scales.

Gregg”

---

“Hi Al , after a few more adjustments have now uploaded part 7 of the new layout , some have asked re fitting points motors , I shall try to cover this in the nest update , I wanted to get all the track sorted and running good before starting adding more lights and point motors.

Regards

Dave”

That’s it, we’re done for today.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you startle your loved ones with your new found love of all things trains, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Alaister

Here are some pictures of my waterfall scenery at Butt’s End Falls on my N Scale Greater Muttering and Cussing Railway Inc.

It’s an eclectic railway with diesel, steam, North American, European and British all mixed in together, set somewhere in a land nobody knows. Certainly not prototypical of anything but my imagination.

The pictures include a small campground on the left. Another trailer is just about to cross the bridge to the campsite.

Some logs were washed down during the last spring thaw. Looks like it would be good fishing.

The last picture is from the top of the falls looking down.

Hope you enjoy them.

Cheers

Perry”

“Here’s a trick I use to accurately start a drill in a piece of plastic stock.

Take a needle or pin and fix the head end in a bottle cork or dowel. Then heat the point in a flame and touch it to the plastic in the exact spot you wish to drill the hole.

The heated needle will make a “punch” mark in the plastic that will keep the drill point from wandering.

This is especially helpful when you need to attach or reattach a part, such as a locomotive bell, that has had the post or mounting pin broken off.

One can drill holes in both pieces of plastic and use a short piece of wire to serve as a dowel to glue them back together.

Jon”

---

“Hey there.

I noticed the last email showing tips, and some of them by mistake.

I don’t know exactly how this happened, but check it out.

I glued 4 Walthers walls together and the original plastic color was that lovely brown color.

I decided to go out to the spray booth in my garage and spray it a darker brown color using a Rustoleum spray can.

It was fairly cold in the garage, and I promise I sprayed the building very even from all 4 directions per wall.

When it dried, this was the outcome. Somehow the cold temperature affected the paint.

I could’t have done this if I tried.

After it dried completely, I gave it a wash for brickwork and a dull coat finish.

The picture attached was right after the “freeze dried” coat before the wash and dull coat.

Lou”

---

Love hearing about the mistakes that turned out well. Please do send ’em in.

That’s all for today my friends.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you decide you’re going to show everyone how it’s done, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Here’s a trick I use if I need a gap for electrical purposes. I use Super Glue to put a small piece of .020 plastic between the rails where the join.

Then I use modeler’s files to conform the plastic to the rail profile. Once I scenic the rails the joint becomes almost invisible.

On His Ride,

Steve”

---

“Alastair, I like to use uncooked pasta for drain spouts. This is especially useful when building from scratch. I’m thinking mainly spaghetti here, but pasta does come in a variety of shapes.

Artists chalk and makeup brushes are great for certain aging/weather operations. The user must be absolutely certain to use a fine mist of fixative spray – light coat, please.

Jack
Kansas City, Missouri”

---

“Hi, if you are a tea drinker then save and slowly dry your teabags to make realistick earth.

When dry, you have to rub the contents of the teabags between your fingers to crush the lumpy bits.

If you have a model of a plough man with horses, then lay the rippled sheet from yourwifes box of chocolates, glue it ripple side up to your field and when dry spray with dilute PVA and sprickle you ‘earth on it and there you have a lovely ploughed field ready for planting the potatoes.

Don”

---

“1.) My best innovation was drilling small holes then using a string of Christmas lights under a 4×8 sheet to light all of my son’s N-scale structures without a million tiny wire connections.

2.) Another thing I have done was to drill a larger hole, and use a fan from an old computer and I placed it under the board. I cut some red and yellow plastic in V-shapes and had the fan blowing it upward to make a pretty cool little building on fire.

3.) if you take metal screen mesh (looks like: ############) and cut it, you can use it as fence for long runs. It’s very flexible. Fine screen–window screen–can make chain link fence when cut into diagonals and put between pins or small nails as posts.

Brian”

---

“I discovered this by carelessness. I was using crazy glue to build a coaling tower kit and when I applied to much glue to the plastic along with gluing my fingers to the tower I discovered this.

When the liquid crazy glue ran along the grooves on the “siding” it turned the plastic an off white giving it the appearance of faded paint and or a weathered siding look.

You might want to practice this on some scrap plastic before attempting on something good. There is no going back..but it really looks great..I lucked out I think…

Mark”

---

“Tip 1. When ballasting track-beds, lay the track and pin down in its final position. That gives it a solid base.

If you need/want to use sound proofing, just cut a strip of polystyrene wall liner, about 5mm wider than the sleeper base and fasten down with double sided tape before laying the track.

When you are happy with the track layout, dry lay the ballast and brush into place to achieve the desired effect. Remember that not all track ballast was laid in neat straight lines and an even depth, it always got shifted around a bit!

Mist-spray the ballasted track with water to which a few drops of washing up liquid has been added. Damp but not running is the rule!. Then add diluted PVA wood-working adhesive, diluted 50/50 with water with a syringe, just at the edge of the ballast layer.

The wet ballast will draw the glue into the ballast, the detergent having reduced the surface tension, and leave to dry overnight. When dry the glue will dry clear and the track will look the biz. Do make sure that you clear any ballast from point slides and frog rails before you add the glue.

Tip 2. You can easily make your own plaster bandage, or Mod-Roc, by using old triangular bandages and soaking them in very dilute Polyfilla or quick drying plaster from the DIY store. Many First Aid centres have old bandages that they have to throw away because the packaging is compromised or they are out of date.

The gauze pads from old shell dressings are just as good and you might get a load from a local military surplus store. When opened out they are about 4ft across!

Lay the soaked fabric over crushed paper or polystyrene pieces, smooth down and leave to set. Paint as required.

Hope you can use these.

David”

That’s it for another day.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, pat yourself on the back. Also, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.