Model railroad layouts plans

When it comes to LED lights for model trains, Fred’s layout really is hard to beat.

It’s a stunning layout. And believe it or not, this post slipped through the cracks. Embarrassingly, I don’t think I published it.

If you watch his youtube you can see blank space for the oil refinery which he’s now done – you can see it here.

I thought it worth posting because it’s like a retro update:

“Hi Al –

Since we last traded notes I’ve been very busy on the western end (The city of Port Charles) of my layout. I’ll send some slides and a video if i can figure out how. Hope you like ’em.

I think one of my personal triumphs was figuring out how to light up all my cars with fiber optic strands.

I’ve been using .75 mm single strand fiber optic line for all the back drop lights, so I managed to drill out the headlights of a couple dozen plastic N scale autos, pushed the strands out through the lights, and through the floor of the car, then passed them through a 1/8″ hole in the street to a light source under the layout. in my street scene. Half were drilled (oncoming) for white headlights, half for red taillights. It really provides some visual excitement to the street at night.

Together with high rise kits, neon signage, I was pleased to see my city really come alive these last few months. My city backdrop is just a sketch at this point, but I’ve installed hundreds and hundreds of fibre optic strands to simulate night high rise windows, flashing beacons, aircraft strobe lights, etc.

best,

Fred”

Here’s what I really like about Fred though. I asked him if his layout was a ‘professional’ one. Here’s what he came back with:

“My layout is just for fun. Although one of your group during the last comment session sounded frustrated with the extent of some of my detailing, I think, because he felt I was overlooking the trains. In so many words he was saying “what’s the point?”

What he didn’t understand, clearly, were my motives. I’m not particularly interested in the trains (I once was, as a boy) but rather the process of modeling.

I did a lot of it as an architect, but never had an opportunity to do it in color, or with backdrops (I used to paint landscapes in oils) and certainly never had a chance to model anything this large.

N scale is great in one sense – that it offers you the elbow room to design plausible vales and hills, rivers, cities, ports, without that dreadful look that everything has been crammed in there simply because you couldn’t bear to give something up that you really wanted to include.

The bad side of N scale, I think, is that it’s so ridiculously small that most architectural details and surfaces have to be purchased rather than scratch built. Can you imagine scoring scale brick out of plaster at 1:160? I tried, and gave in to the kits. The other thing that is frustrating about N is the fussiness of anything mechanical, and I have to say that the only reliable locomotives I’ve found are all Kato.

I think your group has a majority contingent that IS in it for the trains, which is great, but it’s just a different thing. I don’t want to diminish from their pleasure at operating trains by setting a different standard for scenic modeling which they may temporarily envy, but for which they don’t have the desire to put in the money, time, or risk. It’s about priorities, really.

If each of us can help the other with pointers, tricks, or even by inspiring, I think that’s great. But when I see comments like “I wish my backdrop looked like that,” it saddens me that I might inadvertently be puncturing someone’s ballon. If it makes them feel any better, you can assure them that I am a frustrated model train operator who is a technical luddite, and can barely get a successful locomotive circuit of the layout without drive rods coming off, electrical short circuits form “frog juicers”that were supposed to work, and all sorts of other things that guarantee none of my friends will want to participate in an “operating session” whatsoever. The personal blessing is that it’s not why I’m doing this, so I don’t care!

So in conclusion I think this is a wonderful hobby, whether or not you view it as modeling where you employ moving parts of the model to enliven the static, or operating scale models of railroads with necessary scenic embellishments, but it is very important that we each remember why we got into this in the first place. So your question of me is an important one in the deepest sense, and I hope I’ve answered it.

Fred”

A big thanks to Fred. Here’s another post, this time from Rob, that also deals with lights for us lesser mortals:

LED lights for model railways.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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.

Here’s the easy way to make printable buildings – I’ve made so many of them now, here’s exactly how I do it.

I print the downloads on cheap, everyday printer paper.

I glue them to 2 x 300gsm card.

I find 600gms to hard to handle, cut and fold.

But two sheets of 300gsm glued together feels right for me (but may not be for you).

Also, it’s thick enough to stop the card curving – because when that happens, the buildings do not look good at all.

I stick them together with cheap white glue. I use a paint brush and just apply a really thin layer. If the glue is to thick the paper will tear and the card will buckle.

Once the prints are stuck fast on the card, cut out the building shape with a sharp craft knife.

I always use a minimum of three layers for each side of the building:

1. The base layer.

2. The window layer.

3. The ‘anything on the building that sticks out’ layer, like the windowsills or door frames.

Above you can see the base layer, the window layer and the sticky-out-layer.

Use Crayons or pastels to shade in any bits of white card you see before you glue them all together. Pay particular attention to the inside of window frames and door frames.

Above you can see all three layers stuck together – they give a nice 3D effect.

Do the same with all four walls of your printable building (above).

If the design has a roof where you need some brick on the reverse side, glue it before you glue the side together (below).

Trim the roof to size (below). I use foam board (any thick card will do) to cut triangles for gluing the walls together. Three on each side does the trick, and the top one also holds the roof up.

That’s it, you’re done. Easy right?

Here’s how they turn out – and they are a lot of fun too:

The scene above is all printable buildings.The front row of buildings all come from this download.

You can also add any picture or image you want to add a mural to your wall, like this:

Here’s how to do it.

Once your wall with the picture has been email to you, here’s what it will look like (but obviously with your pic):

Now you can put it on to any wall of the building.

Lets say you want it on the back wall – you would just make a template from a back wall print:

Place it over the mural print – you can position it anywhere you like.

Trace out the shape.

Now it’s just a matter of cutting and you have your ‘middle’ layer that sits on top of the base layer, and below the ‘sticky-out-bits’ layer.

You really can have a lot of fun with them:

And you can add anything you like – it doesn’t have to be a photo:

Best

Al

Stan’s been in touch with his upside down model railroad:

“Hi Al,

I love seeing some of the inventive ways people have found space for their trains and track on your blog.

Like many of your readers I am very short on space too.

In October last year we downsized and moved to a much smaller house, which I thought would be the end of my layout days.

But as you are always saying – where there’s a will there’s a way. So I got to work.

Rather than a ‘ceiling layout’ on a pulley, I decided on an upside down layout.

The track and scenery were very hard as my back ached constantly, but it was worth the effort.

There are no electrics on the layout at all, but locos and freight cars are ‘powered’ by magnets on the floor above (spare room).

The floor above is an exact ‘trace’ of the layout – I simply move the magnets along the floor and it moves the loco along the track.

It took some getting used to. If I hear a crash I know I’ve gone too fast or outside of the track.

Even my eldest grandson loves it and they hoot with laughter at the trains going round, shouting up the stairs, “Faster, Grandad, faster!”.

Stanley, Ulverton, Lancashire”

Now on to Ollie:

“Hi Al,

I keep my washing machine in a shed next to the house, so it gets a little dirty and dusty.

I went to give it a little clean before putting a wash on and noticed there was a ‘weathered / distressed’ setting.

Presumably this is for jeans or other clothes people like to look ‘worn’, but I wondered if it would work on my loco casements.

I decided to try it.

Here’s the pic before I put it in the washer:

The wash cycle lasted for about 45 minutes and I was really pleased with the result:

I am trying some track next, I shall mail you when I’ve done this.

Oliver,
Harlem, Georgia, USA.”

A big thanks to Stan and Ollie.

Please do leave a comment below if you enjoyed their posts as much as I did, and if you didn’t, you probably need to have a quick look at the calendar.

Now we’ve got the laughs and the guffaws out of the way, here’s something that I’m hoping one or two of you may like.

The posts I enjoy the most are the ones that add personal touches to their layout.

In yesterday’s for example, Brian went on a cruise and loved how the trains pulled the ships along the Panama Canal. So he added a nod to that in his layout.

And there is Gary who adds signs to his layout that include his family.

So you get the idea, there are many ways to do it. I wondered if could do something to the printable buildings to make them personal.

Here’s what I came up with after seeing a painters set by Woodland Scenics.

If you’ve got a black and white picture of the old man, why not put him in your layout?

Here I’ve used Laurel and Hardy to show how it would look:

Or perhaps you are a big fan of the Duke:

It doesn’t matter what you want on your building wall – anything can go there.

A picture of you, a pet, a flag, a logo, anything!

And just to prove a point, here’s some more:

I hope the pics get across how any image can be added to this printable building (all you need to do is email the image you want on it after ordering).

The building is a brand new one in the printable buildings range.

(If you’re new to printable buildings, you just download, print and stick together. Here’s a guide of how to make them.)

Like all the printable buildings, they are HO scale. For N scale just reduce the print size to 54%.

For all other scales, have a look at the chart on this page (by the way, O scale prints fine but is too big for a standard desktop printer – you’ll need to go to an office stationers).

This print gives you lots of options, so you are able to make three buildings directly from the prints without any scratch building:

But there’s a catch – there’s always a catch isn’t there?

Each order for this new bundle means there is quite a bit of faff my end: I have to get the picture or image that you mail me on the building, and then get it to you.

So to be honest, I have no idea how long each one will take me.

That’s why I’m only looking for a few orders.

They may take me a long time to do, they may not. But if they do, I don’t want it getting in the way of the blog.

So if you can’t see the ‘order now’ button, it’s because I’ve taken it off because a few of you have been kind enough to support the blog and buy.

I suspect I’ll have to charge a lot more after my trial run, but let’s see how long they take (or rather, how long they take the Boy Wonder to do).

This building (or buildings should I say, because you get three to make direct from the print) is a little more expensive than the others because of the extra work my end to add your image.

It’s a whopping $29. But still good value when you see the price of other normal buildings out there.

And you’ll get a personal touch to your layout that will make everyone who sees it smile.

Picture the love of your life, or the grandkids seeing their face being painted on a building wall of your layout. Priceless!

So, to make it really clear, $29 gets you these three buildings and a ‘personal’ wall:

Any pic, flag, logo or whatever you wanted added to the wall of your choice:

You get the buildings as soon as you order – I’ll email you a link.

Then you just need to choose an image you’d like on your building, mail it to me, and you’ll get the second part of the order shortly afterwards.

Full disclosure though, I don’t know how shortly – might be a few days to be honest.

Oh and also, this deal does not include in the Woodland Scenics Painter set either. This ebay link is your best bet if you want them too.

So if you feel like supporting the blog and adding a very personal feature to your layout, you can grab it here.

Here’s what the checkout page looks like:

Of course, I’m biased, but even if you haven’t got a layout, this printable building is a perfect way to ease yourself back into the fun.

What’s more, there is a no quibble 60 day money back guarantee as usual.

Hope you have as much fun as I did with these buildings, and I can’t wait to see one a layout – that really will make me smile.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout just like Stan and Ollie, 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.