Ken sent this in which I thought was very good.
And it’s all made from stuff that doesn’t cost too much.
Anything that saves money and looks this good is worth sharing.
Best of all, you can make miles of the stuff.
Don’t forget to have a peek at the latest ‘ebay cheat sheet‘ to save a fortune.
Or the Beginner’s Guide is here, if you just want to get off the starting blocks.
Please keep the tips rolling in.
Best
Al
PS Anyone made a house for their railroad like the one below yet? Click it to see more.
Using car body filler direct to base surface is a great idea, provided it releases from the mould. But given that the filler is fairly stiff, do you need to leave it on all the time? Even using plaster as a stiffish mix should work.
However….
Making a mould from “bought” plastic cobbles, &c. seems to be a bit dishonest – like stealing the design. Lawyers would probably call it “intellectual theft”. I have moulds in my Linka stuff – buy on ebay!
You can spread the filler right on the mold to make plates. Also I feel its just like buying a song you have the right to make copies as many as you want. !!
Always enjoy your e-mails. Between my old 027 guage, my gandsons H/O and “N’ guage, there is always something we can use. Keep it up Thanx
Sir,
I continue to enjoy the information that you provide. I am doing the landscape for my 4×8 ho layout and would be willing to share photos. I f interested, please advise. I am proud of my accomplishments on it.
Respectfully,
John Wolbert
Molds made from plastic sheets will not be exact copies. They simply aren’t good enough to match an injection molded sheet made from precision tooled dies! They will however sever to give you a “feel” for what an injection molded product would be like. And in the extreme, a bit of sanding or solvent on the injection molded sheet will create a new texture. Every copy that comes out of your home-made mold will be slightly different.
Unless yu intend to make a lot of cobbled streets – it will be much simpler to purchase the remde sheets – but then, every sheet will be exactly the same.
Using your own molds and varying the texture and color will give you what I think is a better “feel” for the many variations in a cobbled street. Having grown up with cobbled streets, I guarantee that they are not uniform in color or texture. They are just uniformly hard to ride a bicycle on or use your skates on or even walk on when they are wet!
Old Town Baltimore, Maryland, USA is an English city, built by Englishmen some 300 years ago. The streets barely 10 to 15 feet wide and built of cobbles in the center city near the waterfront were my childhood playground. Even the Quay was cobbled during my childhood and remained so until the 1950s. Of course, if you had your arms around your favorite “bird” while riding a bicycle, motorbike or wagon on those cobbles it was a great pleasure.
Jake Bechtel
USA
Jake Bechtel
Do you have the remote for the train, that have steam, and sound efext.
I seen all kine of trains that wave sound, but no one show the remote.
Can any body make a movie!!!!
There is no remote, it is a sound chip in the DCC decoder fitted in the loco that gives the sound as the train moves.
OK. I have been receiving many, many tips and videos of magnificent railroad designs. I have 027 gauge (two trains) and am looking for track layout designs. I have a trestle kit that I can travel over another track. I would like to look at several designs and utilize one that will suit my needs and utilize my landscape buildings and two freight trains. Please help
sincerely
Jeff
About the ‘intellectual property’; I sing barbershop harmony, and the copyright issue is always before us. To clarify, buying a copy of printed music does NOT insinuate the right to make copies. That sort of copyright infringement carries a heavy fine, if ASCAP finds you out. As for the mold copying, I don’t know, but we do need to consider how we would feel if we designed something and did all the organizing of production and marketing only to discover people were making their own by copying our work. If you want to call yourself a modeler, design your own.
I always understood (in the US) you can make as many copies of anything for your own personal use. Just don’t try to distribute or sell your copies. (reference the “copyright statement” on the drawing centerfolds in your favorite RR magazines).
Randy Finstad
Nice idea! I have suggestion though, if he wanted to sound like
a southerner from the U.S. he should have wrote “Ya’ll” Ya’ll
(i was born in Texas!)
A quick dirty way to get trains running. Suppose you purchase a whole bunch of inexpensive freight cars for a dollar or two at a swap meet to weather but they
have horn couplers. If you don’t have the time or money to convert them to better looking but more costly couplers, pick one car and put an expensive coupler at only one end and leave the horn coupler at the other end to drag the freights. As long as you don’t mind having the same car in the same position, it is very easy even if not “authentic.”
whats a horn coupler??????
As a Southener, and a Texan, you should know “ya’ll” is spelled “y’all”. It’s a contraction of you all.
Sound idea Ken.
I think it’s funny that most of the postings you show indicate wives aren’t into train layouts … not true in our case plus know two couples that are both into it. In my case, he does mostly track/train stuff (although I draw layout plans) while I mostly do scenery. It’s a fun project for both people. Maybe the guys who write in should try to get their wives involved.
Would like to see more train layouts.
Actually, by U.S. copyright law, someone buying music is supposed to use that music and buy more if more more needed.