Sebastian has been in touch with his N scale water tips – and Frank has some sound advice too:
“Hi there!,
I’ve seen many people asking how to model water effects, and i’d like to share some tips from my n scale layout, if you like it, feel free to share it with everyone.
First of all, just paint with acrylic colours, and model water as you wish (waves, sea, deep water, etc). in my case, i painted dark blue to deep water, and mixes with white to model superficial water. white paint for waves with a normal brush to give those “foam” effects.
Finally, when paint get dry, cover the painted area with “mod podge” (i had some difficults to get it, because in my country (chile), nobody sells it).
Wait to dry, and enjoy the effect of waves, glow effect, and the best…on a cheap way!
Sebastian”
A big thanks to Seb for sharing his n scale water tips.
There are lots of posts on water scenery on the blog now, here are a few more:
How to make water for model railroad
Cheap way to make a water feature for model train
There are lots and lots more but we’ll leave it there for the mo.
Now onto Frank:
“Hi Alistair,
I am just starting on the journey but I have quickly realized that catering to the hobby can be like pouring money down a big hole , with proper this and proper that could cost me a small fortune.
I have just laid the ballast for my track. This was after much deliberation -how much track to have and where to put it. I used all the help I could get from all different sources and then set up the lay out ,making sure the joins were square and then running the train (flying Scotsman) to make sure the turns were not too tight and that everything was tickety boo.
I priced up some ballast for the track but it seemed a bit expensive, and so used GAP7, gritty sand that is used to lay pavers. This appears to be about the right scale and works well. I got a 20Kg bag for $10 as opposed to about $50 worth of modelers stuff.
I used the accepted method of application (soaking and 50% glue)and after leaving it all to dry overnight, got out my dustbuster and gave it a once over. Of course some of the ballast was removed during this operation as well as the oversupply of ballast about the track.
During the track laying phase I had run the train around the track to ensure its smooth running as well as making sure the points were working,and carefully wiped any goo off the track as I went. This was repeated the next day when dry.
The carefully removed ballast (with the dustbuster) was replaced with homemade grass –to give it a more operational look.
The grass was made using a tip from another trainer. I used sawdust that I had for my fish smoker and put it in a jar with some green food colouring.Works well ,how green is dependent on the amount of colouring used obviously but I must have managed it alright because the grass is green and didn’t take too long to dry out, in fact it just soaked it up and I sort of judged when to stop.
The main thing is that I am happy with the way things have gone.
My next challenge is to assemble the cut out models that I have bought so that I can set up the rest of the landscape scenery to suit.
I have already thought of using the back boards as a way of extending this, because I have limited myself to an area of only 1.2 x 2.4.
I have braced the track bed and converted a single bed wooden frame (off the side of the road)to elevate the track to about eye height when sitting down (about 1.2m). This was achieved by using the beds’ slats as the legs. With 3 legs down each side the table is surprisingly level and also stable .
Regards
Frank”
Some sound advice from Frank. Don’t be shy with your tips if you have any – please do share!
Lastly, if you’re after the silly discount link for the printable buildings, it’s here:
printable buildings Silly discount bundle for just $29.
That’s your lot for today.
Please do keep ’em coming. Really. Otherwise there’d would be no blog at all..
And if today is the day you grab inertia by the scruff of the neck and make a start, 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.
