Cameron’s stunning layout update

Here’s the next installment from the talented Cameron:

“Dear Alistair,

Thanks for posting my last diary entries and to your readers for their words of support, encouragement and further tips. I have just got back from a camping trip so thought I should get in a couple of posts for your mailing list before I get back to work.

Phase 8 – Kit Bashing

Making buildings for a layout was a time consuming but rewarding process. I put together a small work tray that I could sit on a coffee table and make buildings at night while watching TV. There hasn’t been much on TV worth watching for the last year so I was able to get through quite a lot of buildings. Plastic kits can be quite expensive so I bought job lots of rough second hand ones on Ebay and at the local model train show and rebuilt them. For new kits I found the Dapol kits quite inexpensive. I only scratch built two buildings as this takes a lot more time. A couple of the kit bashing buildings that your readers might be interested in are as follows.

Municipal Building
This Municipal Building is made out of a second hand Life Like Fire House and some Wills brick & roof tile sheets. All up is cost me $12. I used all the kit walls for the front and kept the walls at the back quite plain. This gave me twice as much building for the cost a single second hand kit.

Factory
I looked everywhere for a cheap Brewery kit with no success.
Ironically had most of the parts I needed in the regects bin. The
final factory was kit bashed out of a new Dapol Engine Shed kit, a
second hand Airfix booking hall building an old piece of Hornby
Platform and some Wills brick sheets. Aside from the Dapol engine
shed the components were all surplus materials from other purchases.

A couple of tips I have for the buildings generally are as follows:
1. I noticed that a lot of the second hand buildings I bought (that
didn’t have bases) had deformed at the bottom of the walls. To stop
this from happening to mine I glued a base to the bottom of all the
walls. Hopefully this will stop them for deforming in the long term.
2. Drill the layout base and the bases of the buildings for lighting
before you glue them down. When you are drilling from underneath the
layout it is hard to judge where the hole ends up.
3. If you have a town it is easier to make it up in large sections of
multiple buildings all glued together on a single base. This way you
can take it off the layout to work on it and not be bent over the
layout for long periods of time.

Next post I will be putting on the trees.

Cheers

Cameron”

Another superb ‘how to’ from Cameron.

Course, I’m biased, but I think the print out scenery below is rather good too!

And don’t forget to click here for the latest ‘ebay cheat sheet‘. You’ll be glad you looked…

Best

Al

Arnie’s layout video

The talented Arnie has been in touch again.

(If you missed his earlier missives, they are here).

“Hi Al,

I responded to Cameron’s work directly, but I wanted to say to you that his submission was an excellent selection on your part. The step-by-step process in model railroad building is invaluable to modelers, especially those wanting to get started in the hobby and who may be daunted by what can seem to be an overwhelming endeavor. And great tips from Cameron on creative solutions to various parts of the creative process.

I also wanted to submit to you for publication consderation a follow-up video I did to my recent night scene video you recently published of the New York Central’s “20th Century Limited” passing through Susquehanna Station. I wanted to make a more comprehensive video showing how my SV&GS layout can automatically transition from daytime to nighttime operations. It’s about nine and a half minutes long, I apologize, but I think the readers would enjoy it: It shows a sampling of the automatic lighting and sound effects on the layout including the burning building.

Again thanks for showing my previous submissions and the great asset that you’ve created via your website for modelers and spectators alike.

Arnie”

Latest ‘ebay cheat sheet’ here

A wonderful video! Thanks Arnie.

Please keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

Cameron’s finished his layout…

Here’s the latest missive from Cameron!

“Ground Cover.

With all the dusty bits out of the way I tried to convince my wife that the layout needed to be inside the house to be completed properly. This took some careful negotiations. Two months later with the help of a few local lads it was lifted through the second floor window into the study. Another two months later and she was talking to me again. Patience is a virtue.

I got straight into the roads, cliffs and ballasting. Some useful techniques picked up along the way were as follows.

Cliffs
I found a great technique for this.
1. Spread a good thick plaster mixture over the cliff surface. (I used some cornice cement from the hardware) 2. Crumple up some aluminum foil and push it onto the cliff surface.
3. Once dry peal off the foil and bush the surface horizontally with a tough scrubbing brush.
4. Colour using light washes of diluted acrylic paint. I used burnt umber, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. Allow to dry between each coat. Start with very light washes.

Roads.
Step 1- One coat of acrylic grey paint sprinkled with fine sand while still wet.
Step 2 – another coat of paint.
Step 3 – A light wash of diluted ‘burnt umber’ acrylic paint over the parts of the road that get the most tyre wear.

Rail crossings.
The rail crossings I made myself from pieces of styrene plastic with either a fine sand grit surface or scored to give the impression of boards. The pieces between the tracks are fixed wit BlueTac just in case they foul future locos or rolling stock.

Ballast
I lashed out and bought some proper ballast. There are plenty of free alternatives that would probably be fine to use. At the end of the day I didn’t want to take any chances with such a crucial part of the layout. There are lots of good guides on how to apply ballast. The method I chose was as follows:
1. Working in 2ft long sections sprinkle it over the tracks 2. Brushed it down with some wide artists brushes and shape it until it looks right.
3. Wet it with alcohol using a spray bottle 4. Soaked it in a 50/50 mix of water and PVA glue.

Grass
No great tips here I’m afraid. Glue it down and once dry spray it with 75/25 mix of water and PVA glue.

I did, at one stage, try to make my own ground cover using a kitchen blender and an old foam mattress. While I didn’t manage to get any decent ground cover out of the process I did manage to generate a thin ribbon of white smoke from the blender. There is now a distinct lack of blending going on in our kitchen.”

A big thanks to Cam for a great ‘how to’!

Keep the tips rolling in everyone.

Latest ‘ebay cheat sheet‘ here – thanks for all the comments. Hope it saves you lots.

Best

Al