Stuart’s been back in touch – have a look at his model railway trackside scenery – impressive stuff:
“Hi Alistair,
New photos of my layout to date, still a very long way to go but thought I’d share them with you.
The gauge is 00 and the front of the mountain at the back actually comes away to get into the tunnel should I need to.
Cheers
Stuart”
Stunning pics, Stuart – a big thank you for sharing your model railway trackside scenery.
You can see Stuart’s first installment here.
Also, when it comes to trackside scenery, I always think of Kaustav’s post: weathered train tracks.
Now on to Len:
“Alistair,
I have had so much pleasure from your e.mails that I think it is time for me to contribute a couple of cash and time saving ideas I have come up with.
1. Coloured hexagonal drawing pins from office stores make wonderful cafe, etc., tables.
2. Foil cups from my Xmas mince pies make lovely corrugated roofing when carefully cut. (Right slope too)
3. 4mm rivets cut off approximately quarter inch below rivet and stuck down are perfect for bollards or, with thin black wire soldered between, make lovely seaside, river, or road railings
4. 3″ flat sided cable trunking makes an excellent test bed for gradients, allowing you to figure out exactly where and how high the track supports need to be and, in fact, if suitably camouflaged make quick and easy culverts, bridge supports, or for any other part of your permanent way. (Straight sections only).
5. Paper cocktail umbrellas make great roofs for circular shaped buildings or gasometers etc.( I made a Chinese Restaurant), and can be treated and made to look like corrugated roofing if needed.
6. Why not make your own benches and chairs out of matchsticks (5000 for a fiver at my model shop), and I find cheap lollipop sticks from a craft shop are perfect for making your own buildings etc.. ( Windows courtesy of modern day celluloid packaging ).
7. I had an empty container from a pack of 100 DVDs and decided to cut it in half lengthwise then remove the bottom arc of plastic. Result ? A perfect tunnel shape (double track), which fitted exactly onto a pair of bought tunnel entrances. The beauty is that they could be used on their own as moulds around which plaster bandage could be formed, allowed to dry, and the mould removed to be used again and again.
8. Although extruded polystyrene is definitely the best for sculpting scenery I have found the perfect use for the normal `pellet` type polystyrene. If you make the lengths and shape you require then break off the `face` and paint it a suitable grey followed by a weak black wash, then rub off the excess, hey presto!, it looks for all the world like cobbled walls.
I hope these will be of use to other modellers.
Best wishes to all.
Len.”
A big thanks to Len and Stuart.
That’s all this time folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to get off the side lines and join in the fun.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
Very nice Stuart , one to be proud of
nice
great layout, a lot further on than mine
lets have 0-gauge stuff
Why is no one helping the guy hanging off the bridge?
FANTASTIC work on details. the garden, the ivy growing on the house, smoke from fireplaces……you have the TALENT.
Maybe he has called it the hanging bridge. Good work nontheless.
A beautiful space of outside: Transformed; into a beatiful space inside:
How wonderful!
Staurt and Al: Thanks for sharing!
Keep on training!
Tom N
Very nice indeed some good details
Great layout, you are moving quickly.
How about a picture about two steps away from the layout?
Reminds one of Flanders and Swan: “On the slow train.”
Simply awesome, I have a similar space and wasn’t sure how to go about it and i love what I see in the pics, Great job!!!
Wonderful, great work. Hope to see more. Detail is perfect. You have been blessed with talent.
Al.
eBay now has several listings for BLINKING LED lights. They use 3.4 volts and blink without needing a special circuit board to do the job.
Several colors are available. A neat one has both blue and red; perfect for emergency vehicles or crossing signals.
Very inexpensive.
–Ben Z
Very Nice layout!! However the tunel portals could use a little work.
I wish I can accomplish half as much as you have. Congratulations.
Paco
Love the detailing, has anyone called Samaritans or the firebrigade for the guy hanging of the bridge
Nice one Stu!
Very nice. But what is up with the man hanging off brige?
Well as I said before in your first listing, people wont beleive that this is your first layout as you’ve done a remarkable job. How long before you decide to put a whole through the wall, so you can use the other half of your second bedroom. You just need to buy your wife something nice the night you do, Ha! Ha! Ha! Well enjoy your new found hobby as you’ll get years of enjoyment out of it.
Steve.
what great pictures, very nice work, a lot of thought towards realism, luv the smoke out of the houses any secrets hows it down, you could do a how to for all of us.
VERY NICE PICKS.
Beautiful work, great scenery, ans a lot of thought went into this. But where is the ballast for the tracks? I do like the guy hanging off the bridge though!!
How about 2 pics. one of the mountain with the tunnel covered and a second pic. with the front on the mountain removed. Would very much like to see the way you have done it a seam does not seem to show in the pics. you have posted. dlwdan freelanceing the Lackawanna and Erie Lackawanna
Fantastic layout well done
well done
lol guy hanging from bridge .I did a guy clubing someone is a box car with a club.great looking layout done real good.thankyou for the pictures
hahaha John i was thinking that too.what the heck is he doing there.I did a box car with some guy wacking another over the head with a pipe.It’s not like it dont happen in real life it does.then discovered when looking at photo.the guy getting hit on the head look’s like fricken hitler.Added fun to layout lol.I send a picture if you guys like to get an idea on how to put poeple in your car’s lol all in fun.
I started out with O gauge trains and have a large investment in this size. Can we have more track and scenery that includes O gauge trains?
Great job. Your layout is coming along very fast, wonderful detail. Keep up the great work.
You might want to send someone to reswque that fellow that is hanging on to the side of the bridge in the one pic. ? He might be getting tired ?
Great looking lay out hope to see more.
Re: the guy hanging from bridge. Upon closer inspection, it appears that He is standing on a plank hanging by ropes as a working platform, and He appears to be painting the bridge. In my years as a construction worker, we have done this many times. Just an observation.
#4 scene: North Bend, WA, had a house with tracks in front of it like this. Owner had to go over tracks to get to his house so close to it. Strange as reality….
Amazing layout.
Nice scenery work Stuart – well done!
Brian
Very nice layout good relationship trains with mountains
At first, I thought the smoke from the chimneys in the first picture was painted on a wall, but later photos showed it’s out in the action. Is there an account of how that’s done, perhaps on another page in this website? If not, please tell us how that’s made. I love the bright colors of this layout, still looking true-to-life even though my world seems more drab, locally.
Great photos Stuart ,and a great layout,congratulations!
Great layout but your rock formation is superb.Wish ur train was more toward’s the modern railroads
Outstanding. Gives me lots of ideas for upgrades to my layout. Thanks.
Nice scenery! How do you do the stone wall in front of the house? Is it store bought, or did you create it yourself? Love those walls. I am working in n-scale, so those walls would be next to impossible, but I can still wish!
How do I post videos and pics? I am 3/4 of the way to complete in my layout, and I would love to share some photos and a video.
Love the clouds
Did nobody else see the kite in photo 7?
Nice touch.
Tom Busler
I got a kick out of the guy hanging on the bridge. Also I noticed the Tardis from Dr. Know.
hey Stuart,what a fabulous job on the scenery’ it blows me away . I love it very much, especially the way you’ve done the hills around the layout.ihave a small ho layout and am doing the same thing with the hills around my layout.. you are To be congratulated on your efforts they are fabulous.. val in utah
Love your mountains! Great job.
Stunning work for sure.
Love the cut away mountain, I had to look twice to see it.
Also the stone walls throughout remind me of Ireland where ALL of the walls are made of stone. Sure glad I didn’t grow up there as a kid, I know what I would have been doing!
Thanks for the pics.
How about some pix, Len?
Outstanding ! Amazing work for your first layout , really good job on the rocks and overall scenes , very country like and relaxing . Stupendous job . You do realize of course now you e gotten the bug , keep us posted .
Very nicely done . Thankyou for sharing .
Stuart: Great layout with lots of wonderful details to feast your eyes on. I love great scenery, and you have quite a bit to enjoy! Excellent work!
Len: love the cost saving ideas and will try a couple of them!
reall nice layout. the guy “falling” off the bridge- or is he supposed to be painting it.