Model railroad layouts plans

Roger has been in touch – he has scratch built his own model train park, using paper clips:

“There’s no denying it, Al. This one is outrageously simple and horrendously frustrating. But hopefully some may think the results worth the effort.

While experimenting, I had a number of disasters but, fortunately, have the patience of the gods.

The photos are self-explanatory but here are some instructions, born out of experience, for those who would like them.

1. Unbend the paper clips to form triangles – so that the ends meet. Important that they match perfectly so lay them one on top of the other to make sure (Figs 3 and 4) Superglue the join.

2. With wire cutters or pliers, cut your three cross members (from other paper clips) – 2 cm long – match them up too (Fig 5).

3. Glue two to the base of an upright (Fig 6). Helps to use tweezers to handle them. Leave for a good old while.

WARNING – Despite its claims and its addiction to people’s fingers, superglue doesn’t care much for metal – but will do the job in the end.

Before gluing it helps to scratch your proposed joint with a craft knife or similar and make sure you apply tiny drops to both surfaces – hold the joint in place while it settles and LEAVE IT.

I learned this the hard way. Even after hours, your joint will still be fragile so handle with care during the construction – learned this the hard way too.

I never use the grotty, clogged up applicators supplied with superglue – pour a little into one of those blue plastic milk bottle tops (which I save in their thousands for this and paint jobs) – apply with a matchstick. And I buy cheap superglue in packs from Pound (99 cent) shops.

4. Glue the cross members to the base of the other upright (Fig 7) – make sure all is straight and vertical – helps to put a matchbox or suchlike next to the upright while it sets – to keep it straight. LEAVE IT!

5. Turn your structure upside down and carefully glue in the top cross member (Fig 8). Hold down with a finger and LEAVE IT! Have a double whisky and leave the whole thing overnight.

6. When you awake, remember it is still very fragile. Apply superglue to all the joints, quite generously and … you guessed it … LEAVE IT!. When all has hardened you can gently scrape off excess with a craft knife – but it paints over okay. The structure will never be incredibly strong so handle carefully while working on it.

7. The two suspending chains to the seat of the swing were an unforeseen problem. Thread just flicked all over the place and wouldn’t hang. Fuse wire wouldn’t straighten.

The solution was to run a length of thread through a blob of PVA adhesive – then through my fingers to saturate it. It dried nice and straight and firm. Cut the lengths of thread. You need generous lengths – trim off excess when all is done. Tie a knot at one end of each thread. The knot will slot in UNDER the seat.

For the single swing mark each length 3 cm from the knot – the length of the drop.

For the multiple swings mark off 2.5 cm (I’m assuming a standard size paper clip – mine were 3 cm – top to bottom).

DO NOT CUT OFF EXCESS UNTIL COMPLETELY FINISHED.

8. I always keep a couple of OO gauge people close by while I’m making stuff – maintains a sense of scale. Cut out your swing seat from a sheet of that free plastic substance known as chilled food container (pictured). Should be just wider than an OO gauge bum.

You can use a piece of plastic sheeting as a base too if you wish. Cut two TINY nicks in the centre of each end of the seat. You can slot your thread into these – the knot under the seat. Glue the ends of the thread underneath the seat.

9. At the top rail, wind your thread round the bar at the mark – suspending the two threads from the upright. Glue parallel to hold them (Fig 9).

– The Toothbrush Test – Place a toothbrush (or similar) on the swing seat (Fig 10). You can check how parallel your seat is. Bit of wiggling at the top rail will sort out small inaccuracies. Apply a little more PVA to the thread – will help straighten and hold.

– OO gauge feet should just clear the ground. You may find that, when you put a person on the seat, he turns upside down with his feet in the air! Just glue his feet to the base (Fig 11).

– When you’re happy – cut off the excess.

10. Paint and admire your model train park. Have a double whisky.

The row of swings (Fig 12) was actually easier to make than the single – same process. A length of plastic sheet (free – see above) joins it at the base – and a length of old Hornby rail at the top (you could use wood – anything).

When you’ve completed it – well worth while mixing up a little two-tube epoxy glue, spread it right across the UNDERSIDE of the base – so that the bottom lengths of the uprights set in it like rock. Really strong then.

This is the first structure intended for what I’m calling PAPERCLIP PARK. More to follow if you can bear it. And yes – I know – the Park Keeper would have kicked those adults off the swings and fined them – but I didn’t have any OO gauge children for the prototype. Will get some when I make another.

Best wishes to all.

Roger.”

A big thanks to Roger for sharing his model train park ‘how to’.

It reminded me of Allen’s recent post: HO scale park.

Also, the people – which really make the scene come alive – made me think of Dan’s: Model train people.

Now on to David.

He converted his attic, made his benches, and got busy without even a track plan – he just got going.

Talk about making a start!

“Hi, AL.

Just a short email with a few pics, started this project in march on the day I retired, 67.

So 1 year on I thought you may like a quick scan of how it is now, hence the pic’s.

Built from scratch by myself including the loft conversion with stairs all the table work and model work never done anything like it before, but just got stuck in.

Built the staging around room 21’x18′ started off 2′ wide but has grown to 4′ in places, no track plan just bought track and laid it as i saw fit have had to change a few parts of track to get trains around the radius’s, but that was just fun.

A couple of gradients (4) some mountains, hills, tunnels 4, desert, modelled on US trains but pure imagination on places, small town, industrial, gravel extraction, goods yard, valleys, farmland, did have a suspension bridge 3′ long but changed to a lift off entrance to get a better line connection.

Have put in the only part not made by me but my young grandson and that was a working volcano that he made for school and it fits in quite nicely.just starting to come together.

Cost so far including the conversion 18 engines, 120 trucks and models, tunnels 4, approx 320’line, $535 now I think that is a fair price for a few years enjoyment in the future,what say you.

Bought mostly off eBay some good bargains on there, 200 people $6.77 it’s still out there.

Cheers.

David”

A big thanks to Roger and David.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you decide to join in the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Brian’s blown off the dust on one of his Walthers HO scale buildings:

“Hi Alastair,

made a change from my usual wooden buildings and assembled/kit bashed a plastic building.

This is a Walthers HO scale plastic Sunrise Feed mill one that I have had stacked away amongst my unbuilt kits for a very long time.

I really liked this kit and said to myself that I would build it someday.

This is what it would have looked like if assembled as per the instructions.

I temporarily assembled the main building to see what needed to be done if I wanted to modify it.

I placed a card stock floor in it in case I decided to open a door or two later on in the build. (Another mistake that I made, should have cut out the door first).

Satisfied with it so far, I sprayed it white and would weather it later.

The roof was cast in black plastic and I was not happy with it looking the way it did.

I sprayed it with a coat of Matt grey and once that was dry, I sprayed it Matt black. Again when dry I used a very old worn sanding block and proceeded to lightly sand it to bring out the edges of the tar paper. Small top roof sprayed but not sanded yet.

Added my usual weathering techniques to the roof and main building after all the windows were inserted.

I rusted up the metal (plastic) parts ready for the final weathering. The wood (plastic) deck got the same treatment and the chimney on the side office was added. The foundation was painted a concrete colour and weathered later.

Signage was added in the following photos.

Need to add more details once placed on the layout.

The next part of the build was the (I call it the storage/warehouse) that would go next to the above on the left hand side.

Because this building would be next to the main building, a full wall was not in the kit. No problem to me, I matched the siding of the main walls and found the same wood siding in my stock of wood.

Marked it out using the opposite side as a template and then glued the structure together. This is where I made another mistake, forgot to cut out the door on the front side but managed to do so without any damage.

Same method used here for the roof. Sprayed the black roof with grey paint and once dry, sprayed It with a red paint. Before the painting was done, I cut a few joins and lifted the corners on the tar paper to represent different lengths. I sanded the roof again using a fine sanding stick to bring out the edges. – Note the elastic band keeping it together to make sure it all fits together properly before gluing it together.

A flaw in the moulding process was quickly patched to show repairs on the roof.

The structure was sprayed yellow for a change. The foundation will be painted a concrete color and weathered.

A dummy floor was added inside and a few details put close to the open door. The wood deck on the dock was added as well as pilings under it. Details were added to the deck ready to be weathered.

Finally I will add signage to it once I have figured out a name for it.

Waiting for the sign writer to add his bit on the roof sign.

I was not that happy working with this plastic kit and in future will stick to scratch building in wood.

Until next time – keep modelling.

The HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”

A big thanks to Hall of Fame member, Brian for sharing his Walthers HO scale kitbash. I do love his stuff.

And now on to another Hall of Famer, Dave:

“Hi Al..

I have been having a few track problems after the hot summer weather due to expansion etc, its something we all get and is a constant part of keeping them running smoothly doing repairs.

I have shown on here replacing some track adding new points and also soldering between joints on the points (crossovers), something I don’t usually do, but this has left it running far smoother, so something I shall probably do in the future.

Also I show laying ballast, then adding grass ,and then using my CMX track cleaner

Regards

Dave”

A huge big thanks to Brian and Dave.

That’s all for today’s missive.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Lawrence has been back in touch with his steam HO scale.

(If you missed his first post, it’s here: Lawrence’s HO layout.)

“Al

An update to my layout.

I started last summer a complete novice. And now I am paying for that lack of knowledge. I did not know to solder all the track joints. So now I am going back and soldering them, and in most cases, means repositioning the track itself a little bit.

Slowly as I can afford it I am getting autos, people, and animals. I have made all the trees, about 400 of them.

If a lot of the buildings look familiar, yup they are from Al’s gallery. I used 0.04 styrene sheet for all of them. Including dividing the inside of the buildings for future lighting.

In my previous set of pictures, I had put the track down and then redid a lot of the track to work with steam engines. Well until two weeks ago I only had one steam engine. It was a passenger engine and coal car. I had both tracks working 100% both ways.

Two weeks ago, I got my second steam, freight engine and coal car. The new one is four inches longer, so guess what! Sixty percent of the curves are marginal off for the new engine. As you can see with one of the pictures I lifted one full curve and realigned it to allow my new engine to run.

Most of the scenery is pretty much done (ya sure thing?). The farm layout has wheat, and corn fields, cattle and horse grazing.

The mountain pass has a motorcycle club riding in. The group fits the time era of this layout as the are the Boozefighters MC which is the first motorcycle club established, in 1946.

Have included an area for camping and hunting. Unhappy the hunters I could get only used guns as I hunt with a longbow.

The lake is two layers of about five eight inches deep of deep water. I did it that way so I could use a trick I learned on here. After the first layer of deep water had hardened I added the rice for the fish, glued in. then added the second layer of deep water.

The fish are inside the water and with the light they have a shadow on the bottom. The boat also has its shadow. And for those that watch Doctor Who you will find a Tardis.

I added the basic drawing of the layout. A couple of future plans to add this coming summer.

I did not add the electrical design for the lights. I have a long way to go before I get there. But the power supply has been build from a computer power supply. From left to right is 12V at 32 Amps, 12 V at 0.5 Amps, 5V at 18 Amps, 3.3 V at 18 Amps and ground. Then there is the power on switch, and power light. The three-position switch if for front of buildings, sides or back of buildings, and street lights respectively.

I learned a LOT both by doing and reading all the stuff sent out by Al. I want to thank Al and all the rest of you for passing on the great layouts and knowledge.

Lawrence”

A huge thank you to Lawrence for sharing his steam HO scale layout.

It’s wonderful to see a layout come to life, and even better when we all get to learn from the odd mistake too.

It’s also nice to see the printable buildings on a layout too. Lawrence has done a particularly good job on the barn.

Lawrence’s post also reminded of Paul’s:

Steam model railroad.

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

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