Don’s been in touch with his 4×10 HO scale:
“Hi Al,
When we got hit with Covid, and I was sitting around the house so bored, 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
OK this is weird: The photo of The Southern green and white F7 loco you have…. About 30 minutes ago I watched a YouTube channel called “Jen Brooks” where he was engineering the same Southern F7! The number were different, but how crazy is that?
His channel is basically a travelogue, usually riding the rails (Amtrak, Canadian Pacific) and showing excursions aboard these passenger trains and sometime luxury first-class air travel.
It was posted today, on May 20 if you want to take a look at it:
https://youtu.be/5ruk03POqX4
Don, you’ve made a great start at model railroading. I like your attitude of trying various methods to see what works and what doesn’t for your next layout. I like the way you have brought some scenes on your current layout to life with figures like the lady hanging her laundry on the roof top.
Kato track can be ballasted to give it a more realistic look. I think Mike Fifer of Fifer Hobby Supply has a YouTube video on ballasting N-scale Kato track, which should work as well for HO scale.
For your mountains, I’d suggest checking out Bill in Virginia’s various how-to videos here in the Hall of Fame section. Bill does a great job of showing how to achieve realistic mountains using foam board, sculptamold, stains and paint.
Don , what a wonderful display, superb craftsmanship and detail especially the buildings . Trial and error are ever present with this hobby , there is some portion of right and wrong ( technical stuff) but at the end of the day it is your heart and soul and imagination that are on display . You have a delightful layout , like all layouts there’s always room for tweaking . Have fun , be proud .
Wonderful work, proof, again, that all you need to do is… start.
Looks great.
I really like the way you brought the tenement house to life.
Keep up the good work.
Don
I think you have a great layout, it is nicely planned, and captures your interest. I assume the trains are running well. Best that I can tell with a 4×10 base the inner loop will be too tight for passenger cars and should be assigned for freight only- I was really stretching to make a constructive comment here.
Carry on with vigor and let’s see some updates and some videos.
Looks like a 1 1/2 ton heat pump is in order to extend hours in the man cave.
Big Al- Yeah- those houses look nice.
I like ur layout very much . You have many models like mine . Good taste there Don. My era is the 80’s forward. Close though.
The Critic
Don,
Your first layout is pretty darn good. I’m just starting mine and hope it comes out as good as yours. I love everyone’s tips and techniques. I
For some with no previous skills, you did very nice work. Congratulations!
Good work Don, wonderful detail. Thanks for sharing
very nice. i like the pipe work.
Don I like what you have done. I like myself have never done any kind of buildings or scenery on my layout. This is inspiring to me. I’m currently working on a n-scale layout.
Thanks
Just a tip for Don. In photo 1, the pipes at ground level would have some type of barrier to prevent vehicular damage to the pipes.It’s a minor thing, but I hope it helps in your next layout. With what you have done so far, I expect the next layout to be a work of art.
Nice start. Some serious aging would add some reality.
After I retired I decided to try machining resulting in watching some nice model builds. Blondihacks is currently building a model, live steam loco.
a most excellent layout
are the two houses kitbashed. they look great