Model railroad layouts plans

Rich has been in touch with some model railroad layout tips:

“Having access to a wide variety of products from Walthers, Inc.; one product I found which works great for ballast on model railroads, is plain old beach sand. You can get some, wash it, rinse it, let id dry before using.

Then, when you go to use it, you can spray it with a diluted tint, let dry, and then use it for ballast.

For HO railroads, beach sand will duplicate ballast for use around yard tracks.

To model strata in rock faces; I use molds for rocks, but also use gypsum boards, made over an inch thick. I cut the width down to 1.5 to 2 inches wide, then carve the exposed side, before putting in place and coloring.

The process might be a bit time consuming for some, but I like doing that in places where the use of such is not readily noticed; as in an extension of a modeled rock face.

I also use gypsum board as underlayment for the trackage, and hide this with a cork roadbed, which I then hide with ballast.

I have also learned that gypsum, in loose form, makes good “snow”, although you have to be careful not to get it wet, as it will clump, and after it dries, it sticks.

One thing about Gypsum, is that it is the main ingredient in Plaster and sheet rock. But it is great to work with; and I have laid road ways, air strips and even built buildings using this stuff. It really is great for model railroading.

I also use a wood water proofer, but what I use is Kuprinol 10; which comes in either clear, or green. I use the green for water proofing wood posts when building fences, decks, or setting up foundations for barns, sheds, etc.

I have been using the clear product for making many of the wooden structures on my layouts, water proof, so that the structures don’t absorb water vapor from the air.

Also, Thompson’ Sealer works just as good, but I find that to be a wee bit more expensive, per gallon.

To me, the best tip I could give to any one wanting to get into model railroading is: “Start small.” Regardless as to how big you eventually “grow” your layout; don’t make the mistake of trying to do every thing all at once.

Start with a small layout, which should not take more than one or two weekends to complete.
Then, as time, space, and budget permits, add to this small layout.

Keep your expectations from leading you to get more involved in the modeling, when you don’t have time or space, or the budget to get deeper.

Don’t run lots of trains; although you can have many different types of locomotives and rolling stock.

AND, The most important idea to remember is: Don’t let others tell you what you need to do with your hobby. The model railroad you build, belongs to you and your family; not to the rest of the model railroading community, (unless you start a club and invite others to join). If you want to make it “Toy like” in appearance; this is your prerogative. Remember: This is Your hobby, and every thing you do with it, belongs to you.

I use gypsum for scenery, which I buy direct from the maker. It works out real good, and can be mixed with dry colors for various shades of rock and dirt.

I also use in/out door carpeting, green in color, which I cover with colored gypsum, to simulate yards and fields. This saves time and money, and doesn’t look half bad.

For tunnels, I have molds which cover the outside with plaster, let set and harden, and then remove the tunnels and place them where they will fit on the scenery, before I build in the mountains. This gives me the ‘rock-cut’ interior, which most tunnels have, although for me, you can only seee into the tunnels maybe 6 to 7 inches.

For bridges, I use scaled plans and structural plastic shapes, which I heat weld when building the bridge. A current project bridge is being built using steel, for under-framing, with the plastic parts, (beams, columns, etc), heat welded together, so the steel will be hidden. This is because I plan a bridge which will be built in a canti-lever style, and will measure around 12′ long (real time measurements). This bridge is needed to span a walk-under part of the layout.

Have a great day

Richard”

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“Hi  Alastair,

I’ve noticed a lot of train cars, etc. come with a plastic bag of some sort or other. I have been taking emptied plastic bread sacks, turning them inside out to dry them and remove the bread crumbs. After about a week I turn them right side out, punch some holes in them for ventilation and use them to store trains that do not have boxes or packaging. Then they can be wrapped in any medium you wish to use for cushioning and the cars are protected quite well.

I enjoy the emails I receive from you, thanks.

Best regards

Rich”

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“I had been making a scale scene kit of a loco inspection pit.

I found a easy way to remove the sleepers of the track.

Leave the 2 end sleepers. &  with a soldering iron melt the clips from the sleepers, then cut the web under the track.

Then melt the rest of the sleepers with the iron to soften them, then pull them away.

Note this should be done outside.

Paul”

“Al, I know youre always looking for new ways to make a layout look realistic. I thought i might share something ive done to save some money. Resin or hydrocal retaining walls are expensive, especially if you need 10-15 of them. I found some images on google of several stone wall applications.

I expanded them to the largest size then printed them, then cut them to fit with mortor lines in correct format. Ive enclosed some pics so you can see how real they look. For  myself currently im on a fixed income, but I love the railroad.

Thanks.”

Don M from Jonesboro Ga

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“Hi Al

Just by accident I Discovered a way to make rock walls from the above material.

I was making the scalescenes kit of the low relief warehouse & when I completed it, I found where I wanted to install was too small for it to fit as I had glued 2 large blocks of polystryrene there.

So anyway I needed to cut those blocks but instead cutting with a knife and making a mess, I thought why not melt off some those blocks & use a soldering iron to cut through them.

So  thats want I did with the iron, It did stink & smoke a little & it make a real neat rock face, all I have to do is paint it.

Paul”

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“Hmm.

See, now I’m just starting out, and I’m having a ball re-laying out stuff as I experiment. Sometimes it’s tough to do too much in advance, especially when you’re just starting out and can’t decide between a loop and a switching shelf, so I came up with a few tips from my first tentative steps:

1. Get SCARM, and play with it to get a feel for the kinds of track pieces that flow together;
2. Start small, and be prepared to mess around a lot before you know what it is you want from your layout;
3. Never, ever, glue *anything* down unless you’re happy with it;
4. Try to have two layouts – a permanent one, and somewhere to try stuff out, even if that’s just the kitchen floor!

I’m at stage 3 with a switching shelf layout that *will* one day have a  loop, because I want the best of both worlds!

Keep on handing out this good info!

Best,

Guy”

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“Hot-melt glue guns are miraculous in that you can use them on plastic or metal surfaces (to secure a figure, for example) and if you mess-up or simply want to move it: no problem. The glue releases with a little pressure and you can use your finger nail to peel-off the glue in preparation for gluing again—usually without peeling paint.”

Rick Johnston

Cincinnati, OH

 

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“One of the best ways to show rapidly running water or waterfalls is to take lint (white) from your dryer and gently pull it over your waterfall area.  Looks very realistic!

Doug”

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As you’ll read, there are some simple tips, and some which are a bit more complicated (have a look at the tips below in the comments too).

But as with all things, it’s just a case of breaking things down, step by step.

Take a trestle bridge for example – they look complicated.

But look how easy Dan makes them:

HO scale trestle template.

That’s all for today folks. A big thanks to Rich for sharing his Model railroad layout tips, and to the others too.

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

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

The comments on Barry’s model train rocks (Barry’s rock formations) came in thick and fast – so I asked Barry if he’d be kind enough to share with us how he does them:

“Al,

I’ve been trying to get this tutorial done so I can send it to you to hopefully explain how I do my rock formations that apparently look quite real.

1) Build the supporting structure that will eventually be covered.

2) Stuff with crumpled up newspaper to achieve the formation desired.

3) Cover with plastercloth or plaster soaked cheese cloth.

4) As the they are drying use your fingers to shape the effect desired.

5) Create rocks from rubber plaster molds and apply suitable castings to the face of the plaster formation with a hot melt glue gun and then fill in around it with plaster-of-paris.

6) Then paint with acrylic latex paints from a crafts store. I prefer the lighter colors to make the layout look brighter. I use a tan for the entire base coat, then a burnt umber for the highlights with an occasional darker brown for a deep crevice or crack. It takes some practice but it’s not difficult to get a good realistic result.

7) I sprinkle my various colors of grass(comes in plastic containers from the hobby store).

8) Finally glue clump foliage on for shrubs, drill appropriate holes for telephone poles and trees you can see the final results.

Here is my layout trackplan per request of many reader’s requests. Hope this helps them. I have made this layout extremely uncomplicated with mechanical turnouts as my Grandson is only (6) years old. Thanks to all the readers for their wonderful comments once again and thank you for publishing it. I like to help any fellow modeler in any way I can because this is a great hobby.

(Press play on the last one to see the video).

Regards,

Barry”

A big thanks to Barry for sharing his model train rocks!

It reminds me of Dan’s post, which you is also really good when it comes to making rocks, cliffs and roads:

HO scale roads.

And there’s this on of Dan’s too:

Model railroad rocks.

Ned’s is really worth a look out too, it’s a great step-by-step: Realistic rock models for model railroad.

And for some more gems, just read the comments below!

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

Don’t forget there’s more tips and ‘how-to’ stuff here.

Latest ebay cheat sheet here.

Best

Al

PS If HO scale is your thing, there are lots of HO scale train layouts here.

Gavin kindly got back in touch after all the comments on my previous post:

“Dear Alastair,

Just to answer a few of the points made by people who saw my previous photographs. It is always interesting to hear other people’s views on one’s work good or bad.

The layout is accommodated in a hot which I designed and built and erected at the bottom of the garden. It is fully winterised with 2 inches thick of insulation and the offcuts were saved and used to make the scenery even so it was -9°C last winter inside.

The hut is 12′ x 10′ and the layout about 11` x 9′. It was built at a height from the floor of 4’8″ ie. at a eye level.

As you can see in some of the new pictures here it is built more as a diorama using hardboard for the valances on the top and the bottom which were then painted matt black.

The layout measures 2 ft. from back to front and 1ft  high, a ratio recommended for this kind of presentation.

All four corners have a large radius and hardboard has been used for mounting the back scenes I printed out on the computer using wallpaper backing paper.

This gives a muted effect on the pictures and thus more of a feeling of depth. Another way of showing depth in the scenery is to use N gauge people or animals on the distant hills where appropriate.

The canal and river are just the varnish poured from the tin and done in Blair’s letting it then more varnish added as required in between small amounts of grassy flock was added between some of the layers to simulate weeds under the water, it was brushed lightly to give the impression of the direction of flow of the water, let dry then more varnish added as required.

The whole layout is illuminated by fluorescent tubes hidden behind the upper pelmets and these are of different light valuables, for instance Sowerby Bridge was always a gloomy industrial town so that is the lighting effect I have tried to replicate. On the contrary the countryside is much brighter.

For those of you who live in this area of West Yorkshire you will recognise the steep hillsides of Hebden Bridge with the one up one down houses and the canal is the Huddersfield narrow canal at tunnel end near Marsden outside Huddersfield where the canal goes into a long tunnel alongside the railway beneath the Pennine hills.

Another scene you might recognise is that behind the row of houses and shops is the village of East Morton and the town of Keighley beyond with the Brontë moors and hills behind.

Finally I would be glad to hear if anyone knows how you can produce backdrops says 6 feet long by 1 foot high of pictures all joined together on the computer and printed out as I would like to improve my own and do them a bit more professionally if possible.

Gavin”

Gavin’s work is superb – hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I do enjoy reading about the tips and tricks you all use to bring your layouts to life.

Even after all these years I’m still amazed at what people use for their scenery.

Take insulation foam for exmample – lots of people use it for mountains.

But for tunnels? And stone walls? Take a look at how Tommy created these masterpieces:

HO scale tunnel.

That’s all this time, folks. Please do keep ’em coming. Don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get off the starting blocks and get involved.

Latest ebay cheat sheet here. Thanks for all the comments on it.

Best

Al

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