Henry’s been back in touch – this time it’s all about building model railroad tunnels.
I do really enjoy seeing how a layout develops, grows and changes – I think it’s one of the things that makes this hobby so enjoyable.
“Hello Alastair
I look forward to receiving your emails every day. It is always a pleasure to see what other modelers are busy with.
On my own layout, modeling South African railways, I tried to incorporate as many of our country’s bio diverse areas as possible. It ranges from very high and steep mountains to vast expanses of desert and coastal areas and also large industrial areas.
One item that was missing from my layout was a tunnel, though there are some hidden tracks.
So, I decided to add a tunnel portal to one side of the linear climb that connects the upper and lower levels of the layout.
Here is a picture essay of how it came together, and I am also posting a link to a youtube video, showing the process, including casting the rock moulds, etc. It is a bit long, just under 24 minutes.
Regards
Henry”
Now on to Lawrence, who has taken the first steps of his layout with a bit of planning and a track plan:
“Alastair,
I Enjoy your site, keep up the good work.
My retirement will give me the opportunity to build a layout which I created on paper many years ago.
I’m still a little short on space, but I think I can overcome that problem by taking over the entire garage and parking my wife’s car outside in the driveway. She doesn’t know this yet, so I’m gonna surprise her after I start the first phase of the layout.
I’ll let you know how this works out.
My Yalaha & Shoreline RR will transport passengers from the Okahumpka commuter station to the seashore/ harbor/ casino station.
Sheets Creek Harbor area. This location will have a par 3 golf hole, a casino, a restaurant, lighthouse and a commercial tugboat business.
The Okahumpka area will have a freight terminal, a tank farm, a gas station and a chocolate making plant.
I always wanted a chocolate factory, and also be able to run 2 trains in opposite directions at the same time.
The layout is designed and ready for construction to begin. I’m getting anxious.
As usual, it’s stunning. Don’t just take my word for it though, see for yourself.
And please do leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts on his narrative too.
“My G scale layout was pretty much done on a whim, all my layouts have the same space.
They are all shelf layouts, 18-24 26-10, feet at both ends are just about 4 feet square, just enough to get a small engine around.
I have never been much of an operator with big yards and multi engine houses, good track work has been very important, I have thru DCC and all the headaches that can bring not to mention the expense, so this and other layouts have been basically double dog bone.
No matter how big or small a train layout you have, they just go from point to point in a basic circle!
Now with limited space and in G scale this was a real challenge, I decided to have a basic circle at one end and at the other a big turntable and engine repair and service area.
At the time there were no G scale turntables on the market (at least nothing with in a budget) so I took a lazy susan that was buried in my wife’s kitchen (Not sure if to this date that she knows it’s gone!), covered it with 2×10 scale lumber, add the hand laid track, installed a removable handle to turn it around, (the engine runs off of rechargeable batteries) its Brass and heavy so when it gets onto the turntable it just makes it.
The rest of the layout was 100% scratch built (building and such).
Being a old New England Yankee I’m pretty tight with a dollar. Most of the buildings are false fronts (not a lot of space in a shelf type layout.)
I have always been trying to make things look real. So what is a better way to do that then to use what mother nature has given us?
So many folks that have been here have said where did you get your trees and such, I explain that I just go outside and look around (now I must tell you that I live in a log cabin in the woods (lucky me).
They come back with “I have never seen trees like that” my response is, well you’re looking at the wrong end of the weed or tree or wild bush, “it the roots that your want”.
They mimic the outer growth, just pull the root up let them dry for a while spray some glue onto them and sprinkle on ground foam or what have you, even just plant them as a dead tree.
One big thing I found is the moss that grows on dead logs and such is easily scraped off with the putty knife. It will stay green for years, it will over the long run turn different shades of green then to tanish yellow color, moss gets its moisture from the air. Even after it fades out you can just spray it with a varied mixture of green stain and water.
I know I am rambling on but all this info will serve in all scales.
One other big thing I hear from visitors is “your ground cover color is perfect” I have to grin when I tell them that its just “real” dirt dried and sifted many time, spread with thick white glue ( say thick because this gives the ground texture and shape) not all ground cover needs to be flat or green like a golf course!
In the early days of railroading, tarred roads had not yet come into use, the answer was to oil the dirt, that was no big deal in model railroading, again the thick coat of glue, let it dry and here is the secret Black ink and alcohol just brushed on. ‘Don’t be neat’ – take an old soft brush, don’t brush it on but blot it, this give a different contrast to the blackness along the edges.
While I am mentioning ink, you would not believe what it can do to most everything on the layout, including those humans that look like tiny dummies.
First please change the colors that they use when making these tiny humans, purples and pinks and weird colors just take away from the realistic look, the same thing goes for skin color, try using a tan khaki color as a base and some off white or antique white, change it with every little human you create, different shades of browns with the antique whites and khakis mixed give great skin colors, highlight the cheeks.
When you are done with creating people now is the time for a very thinned out ink and alcohol mixture be sure to let the tiny humans dry for a day or so, you might need to use the ink mixture more the once all this seem like a lot of work but it well worth making it look real!
Tom”
A huge big thanks to Tom for sharing his G scale layout.
I love all the little scenes he has put together. I particularly enjoyed the ‘stick up’ and the barber. Did you spot them?
His narrative was also an eye opener – I never would have thought to look for roots, or paint the people like he does. Clever stuff.
Unbelievably, he’s sent in more pics of his On30 layout too, which I’ll post as soon as I can.
(His recent On30 layout post is here: On30 layout.)
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming – it’s still jolly quiet this end.
