Model railroad layouts plans

“Hi Al,

If you want to make a Pine forest quickly and realistic looking, here’s your answer.

(1) A garden fern, Foxtail, provides ideal armatures. When the frond dies, remove the dead stems and trim to whatever height or scale you want your trees to be. If they are curved, gentle pressure will straighten them.

(2) Take a can of spray adhesive, the type used for mounting photos, etc. It is usually available in clear or colours such as white or yellow, (ONLY USE THE CLEAR or it will show in the finished product), and some ground flocking material. Holding the base of the armature between the thumb and index finger, apply a liberal coating of the adhesive and immediately dip it into the flock. Remove from flock and holding it upside down, twirl it gently over the container to flick off any excess. If necessary repeat the process for a heavier coating. Set it aside in a block of foam and continue with the next one.

(3) Allow the trees to dry for an hour or so, then take a can of any cheap and nasty firm hold hair spray,(the smell will eventually disappear), and give the trees a good coat or two to set the flock.

(4) The process is best done outdoors in a wind free place as overspray from the adhesive can lead to stickiness where you don’t want it.

An oblong ice cream container is ideal for holding the flock of your colour choice and it is an idea not to put too much flock into it at one time, as some glue residue will be transferred to the contents, causing it to clump after a while. Don’t throw this away as it will be useful for other types of trees.

(5) The lower sections of the fronds can be used inverted to give a conifer with drooping branches. You can if necessary, trim the branches to give a taper if you desire, and apply a more generous coating of flock in the top of the tree to hide the thickness of the protruding stem. Dead, fallen or dying trees can also be simulated. The armatures, once harvested, will keep for years until wanted although it it easier to straighten them if necessary before they get too dry. If you look around your neighbourhood and see these ferns growing, I am sure you will find , as I do, that the owners will gladly supply you with their dead rubbish if you tell them what you want them for. It is often the case that they are eager to see what the finished product is like. These trees are N scale but I also have them in HO. They would also work for O scale. Just make them as tall as you need.

If you can’t turn out a realistically looking tree in a minute and a half or less I will be very surprised. It’s dead easy. So what are you waiting for. GET STARTED !!!!!

By the way, the N scale grey deck arch bridge shown in the photos, is constructed of super glued 1,5mm square balsa overlaid on each side with strips of glossy corporate report cover light card applied with PVA glue and it is capable of supporting a 4 inch long 4KG piece of real rail standing on its head crossways in the middle, with only a 1mm deflection !! Not bad for strength.

Roland”

A superb ‘how to’.

Thank you, Roland.

But what about bushes? Have a look: Model train bushes.

Please keep the tips coming.

Best

al

“Here’s a tip Al,

I re-use Chinese take-away food containers for storage of all those small parts and things.
Just wash them out and fill them with all those useful bits and pieces you have laying around.
They come with lids so everything is safe and sound and they stack conveniently on top of each other and can be labelled to suit the contents.

Rob”

“At my hobby desk I have attached a cloth to the edge of the desk at the front. Then when I sit down to work I tuck the other edge of the cloth in the top of my pants, this creates a little valley so that when (not “if” you’ll note ) I drop small pieces they fall into the valley and I don’t have to try and find them on the floor.

Bryan”

“These are good tips. Here’s one I would like to get: Is there a way to make gutters (N gauge)? Painted cocktail straws work for downspouts, though.

Michael”

“one tip that i use all the the time is take a paper bag crunch it put glue & throw dirt 2 cover

Andy ”

“Hi Al and everyone.After looking for a long time.I found the perfect wind turbine,I added a Ho engine to show the scale size.Wont use the large stand that comes with it.I will make my own.I payed $20 including the shipping.If interested in where i got it or if any member.Let me know.I added a pic

Kim”

“I am a 65 years old grandmother and I am just finishing the framing on my very first layout. One item I intend to use is a food dryer to dry real moss that is growing on the shady north side of the farm. When you dry veggies, they keep their color. They become very light weight. After I dry my pine needles and pine cones, I will put them in the blender to turn them to dust for natural color tones. teas and coffee grounds do well. I intend to use old undershirts to plaster my hillsides instead of buying material to do the job. I look around and the stuff is already here. It just needs to be repurposed. I have bark peeling of the dead branches on an apple tree. I haven’t figured that yet.

When the kids were small we made a volcano out of chicken wire and paper machete and paint. We had it erupt by putting baking soda and tinted red vinegar together and we had lava. Nice school project.

We did an earthquake by plastering boxes together, painted a landscape over that. It all cracked nicely by putting a vibrator under it and plugged it in.

We set up a pioneer type farm We made a log house out of flour, salt and water. I shaped logs out of the dough, pinched the ends to make ’em fit like Lincoln logs and baked them till they were very dry and hard. We stained them and did the house and barn. .I had tried to use sticks, but it wasn’t working for me. We had a garden and a root cellar under the hill just across from the cabin path.

I like to bake and was lucky to find a train baking mold (9 pieces including engine, coal car, box cars and tankers and a flat bed and a couple of hoppers and a caboose). I have made three layouts in cake. It was like a fairyland thing.
I made an O gauge tunnel for my son with an unusual packing styrofoam. I made the bricks by using a sharp bamboo skewer to “draw” the bricks into the foam. It made the indentations look like real bricks. I was impressed by how it turned out.

I am ready to start the grown-up train now.

Barb”

Full marks to Barb for inventiveness – not sure the same approach would go down too well at my Grandson’s school though 🙂

Take a look at my boy’s latest ‘print out’ scenery – a factory.

I think he’s really found his stride (he’s got a good offer with the houses too, he’s bundled them all together).

Any how, if you’ve buying over the weekend, hope the ebay cheat sheet saves you time and money. Thanks for all the mails on it.

Best

Al

Model railroad track glue or pin? It’s a question that comes up every now and then on the blog, and Chris has been in touch with his take on it:

“Hi here is a tip, how to lay out your base, from frame to the gravel felt.

The pic’s will show how i layout mine out so it is easy pin your track also not having to go and by rolls of underlay from a model shop.

First i make up the frame to the size i need, once done i use 6mm M.D.F for the strength and less chance of the base sinking with any weight on top, then i use 6mm flooring mat witch is a soft and ideal for track pin’s, this will act as your underlay as well as it will also soften the sound of the train running round.

When this is all done i will use a roofing felt to cover were the track is being placed, make sure the felt has a stone look to it, you can then heat the felt to stick down, but with the smell i tend
not to do this i stick with P.V.A lot’s off.

It take’s about 24 hour’s to have a good drying but when done your ready to lay and pin your track.

As you will see in one off the pictures i am do a extension on a layout for some one using the method that i have said about. ”

A big thanks to Chris – so what do you think for your model railroad track glue or pin? really liked what he did, it’s always the simple things that work well. And as his pictures show, it looks great.

Now on to David:

“Hi, AL.

Just a short email with a few pics, started this project in march last year on the day I retired at 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 plans 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, valley’s, 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.

Bought mostly off eBay some good bargains on there, 50 ho cars $7.88 from Shanghai? 200 people $6.77 it’s still out there.

Cheers.

David”

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

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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