Model railroad layouts plans

Brian’s been back in touch with his his HOn3 shelf model railroad.

He’s answered your questions from his previous post: HOn3 boat house.

“Nice work! Are the boathouse plans available? – Chris.”

“Hi Chris, I have had the plans of the kit for many years. I had the kit but it was stolen/missing in a move from one city to another.

The kit, (Builders in Scale) is no longer made but you could try EBay for it.” – Brian.

“An excellent building! Although if it is possible some details on how you set up your lighting. – Peter”

Peter, I use 12 volt grain of wheat bulbs (from Minatronics Corp) and use them at 6 volts to get the correct ambiance for my era (1930s). They also last much longer.

A length of brass square tubing cut to the length required inside the building and then small holes are drilled at the appropriate places on the underside to thread the wires through.

These are fed through the tube to one end and then come out at at the back side of the building. They are then run down the outside (hidden from view) to under the layout to the power source (a transformer set at 6 volts).” – Brian.

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“Your boat house is impressive. I have 2 questions:

1. How did you get the brick impressions on the office?

2. Any tips on how to make the precise cuts/openings for doors and windows?

Thank You,

Dave”

“1 – I had a section of a brick building left over from a kit that I did not use. I cut it to match the size that was required on the plans. Glued it together using a white glue (I found that this is the only glue that will stick plaster together). From there it was painted with a red acrylic paint, weathered and dry brushed to get the finish that I wanted.

2 – Precision cuts for windows and doors, I mark out on the reverse side of the wood using a pencil and then use a hobby knife with a number 11 blade to score and cut right through the wood working from corner to corner, this give the exact cutout for the doors and windows. (A tip here when doing these cutouts is to put masking tape on the underside where the openings will be, this prevents the wood splitting)” – Brian.

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A big thanks to Brian – he also sent in the below.

I really enjoyed it because you get see more of his layout, and there’s just something about seeing a layout in a room that captures my attention.

I know we all enjoy the close up pics of our miniature worlds, but seeing them ‘as they are’ is an overlooked part of the hobby. I’m all for more pics that show the layouts ‘in situ’.

Anyhow, just my opinion, let’s carry on with Brian’s update.

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“I hope the above answers help those that asked them. Some changes made to the facia boards.

After a long debate, I bit the bullet and painted the facia boards of the layout from the green to a more neutral grey. Now when entering the train room, one sees the layout features instead of the bright green. I think that it has improved the look much better. (Don’t know what I was thinking years ago when I did the green). Times change as we get older.

Below are two photos of the old colour (yuck!!!) taken a few years ago of my double deck HOn3 layout.

The new look, a more neutral grey. – Much better.

Till next time – keep modelling.

Brian – the HOn3 guy from Knysna RSA”

And now on to Don.

You may remember him from this post: Don’s HO scale.

He’s busy on a new layout and sent in this tip which I rather liked:

“Hi Al,

You recently posted photos of my first ever HO layout, and now I am preparing to dismantle it to build a larger one.

I have learned much more about DCC, and because I have both DC and DCC locomotives, my plan is to have both running on one layout.

It will be about 8′ x 12′ with a fairly simple track plan running both voltages independently.

Still not too good at creating mountains or cliffs, but going to give it a try on this one. Have to get started on it before I find myself looking at the roots instead of the grass!

I can offer a tip that I found useful in my modeling venture. If you place a piece of household parchment paper on your work surface while using any type of glue, the glue won’t stick should you use a little too much on your project.

I had a habit of over-gluing sometimes, and had trouble lifting it from my work surface without it adhering to it while drying. I found that almost any type of glue I used will not stick to parchment paper.

Many of your readers probably already know this, but it always takes me awhile to learn things.

Thanks for your service to the hobby, and keep it up as long as possible.

Don R

Port Saint Lucie, Florida, USA”

Lastly, Tom’s been back in touch.

He sent in a pic that really demonstrates how much of a difference lighting makes when you’re taking pics:

“One shot I just caught in time, talk about making it look real?

Early morning sunrise on the Narragansett RR.

Enjoy this one Al.

Tom da ole guy”

(If you missed Tom’s stunning layout, it’s here: On30 model trains.)

That’s all for today folks.

A big thanks to Don, Tom and to Brian for sharing the pics of his layout.

Please do leave a comment below if you’d like to see more ‘in situ’ pics of the layouts. I’d love to know what you all think.

Keep ’em coming. It’s still jolly quiet this end.

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.

Paul’s been in touch with his 8×12 HO layout:

“Hi Alastair I thought I would send you some progress photos of my new 8 X 12 around the wall layout.

It is constructed using 3/4″ plywood to form L Girders and the baseboard.

The mainline layout is a three times around over-under track. There is a liftout which has 3 tracks crossing it.

The liftout uses copper pads and contacts which I made to continue the electrical circuit when in place.

The layout also uses Woodland Scenics inclines to create a 2 degree incline and decline throughout the layout.

There will be a steam flowing to a lake which runs under the three small bridges.

I cut out the foam using the Dremel tool seen in the photo. It works great by allowing you to slice off the foam in small layers until you reach the desired effect.

Essentially the layout is blowup or dissected version of an old 4X8 layout I found in an old Model Railroader magazine. What you do is cut a copy of the layout into 4 pieces, or quadrants. You separate the pieces and then draw lines connecting the tracks to form an around the wall layout.

I finished the basement room this past summer and started construction of the L girder baseboard in September. The trick I am learning is that you have to plan all your moves so as not to make any parts inexpressible. That’s the fun with an 8×12 HO layout.

So right now I am building a small hill to fit in a corner of the layout that will be hard to reach in the future. It is removable so I will landscape it on the workbench and then put it in place.

I have also built a temporary bridge over some of the layout so I can sit on top and not crush my work.

I will send more photos as work progresses.

Thanks for all the great tips you forward to us via your blog.

Paul”

A huge thank you to Paul. An 8×12 HO layout!

It just goes to show how a little planning can go a long way. Can’t wait to see an update from Paul, his layout reminded me of Jeff’s: HO scale layout 8×15.

Dominic’s springs to mind too: Scratch build a HO scale trestle bridge.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the the Beginner’s Guide if Paul has inspired you to stop dreaming and start doing.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Stil updated daily.

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

Don’s been in touch with his 4×10 HO scale:

“Hi Al,

I was sitting around the house so bored when someone said to me that I need a hobby.

Well, I thought about my interest in trains, and helping my stepfather build his layouts when I was very young.

Most of my family were railroad people working for the B&O railroad at the time, and I was living in Baltimore where all of the facilities were.

The museum is still there, but I haven’t been back in many years.

I started reading Model Railroader, and began getting your tips with your readers sending in their layout photos. As you say, it’s all about getting started, so I did.

My layout is HO scale on 4×10 base.

I was a sales representative in my prior life, and know nothing about carpentry, electricity, tools, etc, so I had to read a lot about everything, and was amazed how model railroading has changed since my early years.

Most everything was Varney and Athearn kits in our basement. I had to learn about building the benchwork, wiring, DCC, and constructing mountains and tunnels. Well, I found out real fast, that I
could forget about the latter for now.

After three attempts, my mountains looked like multicolored lumps of foam and plaster. I am not very “artsy”, so, I just was content to build this first layout with just a rocky pass at one end. I am no longer in the days of brown mountain paper you could just wrinkle up, and there it was. That was then, now at 83 years old, the world is a little different.

I tried to use everything available in these modern times, so I could judge the pro and con of it all. That way on my next layout, I might know what I wanted to use, and what I did not want to use.

There was quite a learning curve for everything, and things got re-done many times. Most of my buildings are card stock, and you might recognize a few. I also used Model Builder software on my computer, trying to copy the looks of structures around my neighborhood.

I used Kato track because it was so easy with sure connections, but I later realized that it was sort of “limiting”, so I will use different track and roadbed next time. I will also make my layout larger so I can do more with it, as I learn to make those mountains and tunnels.

I went DCC using the starter control from Digitrax. I have that coupled with a row of Kato individual controls for my turnouts. Some might call this a “jury” rig, but it works for now until I learn more.

Living in Florida with constant high humidity, and having my layout in my garage (no A/C), I found things like the asphalt-like roadways shrunk over several days, so I had to revise how to install them. I just put patches in some of the seams to look like “roadwork repairs”.

Long story short, I am having a great time doing my first layout, and looking forward to a second one with improved methods, and material. It doesn’t represent any real life scene, but it is my little village of Rockingham named after the street on which I live.

It’s the first thing of this kind in the neighborhood, and everyone stops by to see how things are progressing.

These are a few scenes of my first attempt. Keep up your good work, and keep those tips coming. They give novices like me great ideas and advice.

Don R.

Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA”

A huge thanks to Don for sharing his 4×10 HO scale.

He’s absolutely right: it’s all about getting started. Once you take those first few steps, look what happens!

Of course, I’m biased, but I think those buildings look great – he’s done a really good job on them. Especially the houses from the printable buildings..

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming. I know I’ve said it lots recently, but it’s really thin on the ground this end, so if you have something to share, now’s the time to do.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to make that start, just like Don did!

Best

Al