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More model railroad hints and tips *

“Here’s a link to a YouTube video of the N scale railroad I built for my grandson.

I’ve included a few pics of the control board wiring layout to add to Barry’s submission, nice work Barry!

Enjoy!

Vic”

“I like your foam landscape mountain for a base ideas, but I am old school I guess.

I use metal screen wire, which I tack down on all ends w/thumb tacks, then attach it permantly with liquid nails pressed thru the screen mesh.

You can crumple it to make realistic landscape terrains. Finally a coat of joint compound to stiffen it all up.

A second coating of joint compund with saw dust, crumbles of sheetrock or just textured plain looks realistic, it is also light and can span several inches.

For vertical rock right of way cuts I use stacked broken sheetrock (1 to 2 inches wide) liquid nailed together and coated with heavy latex paint. I also stick in sheetrock crumbles for added detail. Using a nail to make vertical blast holes adds more realism to the rock face.

I will try some foam though.

Ed”

“Maybe not my best tip, but it has saved me a lot money.

I use those inexpensive acrylic paints, such as Apple Barrel and Cerama Coat, that are sold at Wal Mart, Hobby Lobby and elsewhere.

What is nice is they provide a flat finish (gloss is available in some colors) that one want’s for model railroads.

They are water based and you can thin them according to your tastes to not hide detail. You can add a small drop of dish soap to allow it to flow better, though I normally do not. It may take a few coats if really thin. They can be applied by brush or by air brush.

Clean up is easy and they are not destructive to plastics. There is also a huge variety of colors to choose from. Water based paints take a bit longer to dry but the results are well worth it.

D”

“Hi Al,

I am continually impressed with many of the tips, innovative and creativie ideas, and videos that readers send in to you.

It’s been a couple of months since my last contact with or submission to you though I am frequently doing some sort of project on my layout.

Recently, with the holidays rolling around, I thought I might try something quick and simple to add a temporary holiday touch to my N scale layout.

I chose to use ‘oversized’ model pine trees (O scale) to simulate tall 50 foot trees to create an eye-catching effect (sort of like the annual giant Christmas tree erected in Rockefeller Center here in New York City).

So I simply sprinkled very fine multi-colored glitter (to simulate light bulbs) on the trees and secured it to the trees with hairspray.

The hairspray was chosen because of its properties: it’s not sticky to the touch and dries almost immediately upon contact; and it does not change the surface properties of either the glitter or the tree branches — i.e., the glitter remains shiny while the tree keeps it flat, natural finish. I then simply stuck the trees into my (foam insulation-based) terrain.

Unrelated to the photos, I am also sending a link to one of the recent videos I did the couple of months. I hope you and the readers might like to see it.

It’s a look at the Empire Builder passenger train running on my N scale layout. It is my attempt to capture some the historical evolution of the train from the 1950s to more modern times.

Arnie”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here!

A huge thanks to Arnie. Amazing stuff. Look at all the comment below.

Arnie is also in the Hall of Fame and helped with the the Beginner’s Guide.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

Best

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

More on wiring for your layout

“Hi Al, after seeing Cameron’s article, I decide to send in some photos of my test track.

I have to clean out my double garage (9M x 6M), to make room for my track, so I only have a test track at the moment.

I decided to use Digitrax DCC equipment, which is why I built the test track (8′ x 2′), so that I could get all the equipment to work with the computer software.

I tried JMRI initially, but found it too hard to work out, so went with Rocrail (both programs are free).

I have since bought Train Controller Gold, as this will give me better control in the future.

The reason my wiring is fairly neat, is because I am an “A class electrician”, and I am used to working with higher voltages than 16v, and I was taught as an apprentice to be neat and tidy (and it is a habit I cannot change).

The photo of the steam engine was taken from my back door, and they try and run the steam engines when the weather permits.

The town I was born and grew up in is called Goolwa (in South Australia, and I still live there), is home to Australia’s FIRST railway line in 1854.

This was built to transport river goods (Goolwa is on the River Murray, near its mouth), to a place called Middleton (on the Southern Ocean). When I start on my bigger layout, I will keep you posted on my progress.

Barry”

Wow – that’s the neatest wiring I have ever seen! Al.

“Mr. Lee, Check this out if you have not seen this before I think you will enjoy. Located in Lethbridge, Alberta Canada. I stumbled on this on the way to Calgary a couple years ago.

Bill”

“Al;

The other day out in my garage where the doggie is I noticed some white stuff like stuffing on garage floor. Come to find out its from a pillow my son thru away and he missed the trash can………..Immediately I thought about snow drifts areas that linger from not getting enough sun exposure…..sheltered areas….gullies fencelines…etc. I dont think it would work for larger areas of snow cover but who knows It probably would if there werent plans for alot of other scenery….

Just wanted to share SO check old pillows before they hit the dumpster, trash truck…..

DG”

“Al,

I’ve been away from the model railroading hobby for several years due to it becoming less important than other things in my life, so I’m not up on the latest available technology. But I’m beginning to think it’s time to get back to a hobby I’ve had since I was a kid (I’m 56 now).

I always ran my trains to what I perceived as scale speed, but alas, some throttle packs don’t do well at slow speeds. Yet, others do. There are several factors that affect the ability to operate the models at near-scale speeds, such as condition of the motors, cleanliness of the track and the powered trucks’ wheels, weight of the train, and the throttle’s potentiometer (throttle).

Aside from those kinds of things, there’s the scale itself; the smaller the scale the harder it is to achieve scale movements. This is because, while we have succeeded in reducing the scale of the railroad world with amazing detail, we can never reduce the scale of their molecular structures! The laws of physics cannot be denied! But, as control and materials technologies progress, better control at slower speeds may be achieved.

I applaud someone drawing attention to this aspect of the art. I’ve observed realistic-looking layouts operated at unrealistic speeds, but also many of the same genre operated with very good realism. I suppose it comes down to a matter of what the layout owner decides is acceptable. And that’s okay.

But for those of us who pursue the finer aspects of the art of model railroading, this is a great point of discussion. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I really appreciate your daily communications.

Russ”

Thanks to everyone for today’s missive.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

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

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Cam’s electrical wiring

“Dear Al,

Though I would post the next instalment on lighting the layout.

This is a pretty extensive area normally so I will try and keep it concise if I can.

After the points were in place I decided that I wanted to light the layout.

A previous post, I think from Arnie, pointed me in the right direction with regards to how to control the lighting.

I wanted to have a lighting control dial that I could turn to different times of the day with each position of the dial turning on a different combination of lights. This is how I set it up.

Positioning the lights:

I fixed the lights in place from under the layout so I could take them out and change them without ripping up any of the buildings to do so.

I came up with this cheap fixing method that has worked pretty well.

I first drilled holes for each light before the buildings were fixed in place.

I then made a wire bracket from fencing wire (coat hanger wire would also be fine) that would hold the light in place but be fixed from under the table.

The below diagram and photo better describes this arrangement.

Cam”