Linda has been in touch with her HO scale hockey rink:
“Hi Al,
I just finished building a grandstand for my hockey rink.
For once I remembered to take pictures as it progressed. I took half a styrofoam box that a building came in, cut it to fit, painted gray for cement.
Glued the people onto plastic strips then glued the strips onto smaller strips of styrofoam, painted then glued in place.
Glued a picture of our Pittsburgh Penquins on the back. Here are some pictures.
Linda”
Linda’s last post is here – and it’s a cracker.
“Hey Al,
Loving your website. It has been very inspiring! A lot of great folks with great ideas. Thanks to everyone.
I have attached a photo someone might find amusing. First I must apologize for some flaws in the photograph (ie: no balast yet, etc.).
When I was changing my bass guitar strings I was thinking what a waste to throw these away. So for now I chopped them up as a junk load. One could do many, many different things with this so called garbage. And in my case they are about 3 feet long. And guitar players have much thinner strings so there is even more options there. That’s all for now.
Cheers and thanks again,
Rob!”
“For N-Scale lighting I use the chip LEDs. With a handriveting tool and a rivet, I can punch exterior light shades out of a brass strip. Predrill the center of the light shade before punching it out, then solder the shade to a piece of 1/16 X .014 round copper tube. The wire from the anode of the LED goes down the center of the tube.
The cathode gets soldered to the underside of the lamp shade. So the ground wire from the power supply gets soldered to the tube, and the hot side goes to the wire. The chip leds are great for interior or exterior lighting. I’ve used an Arduino computer to adjust the intensity of the LEDs for indoor and outdoor lighting to make them more realistic.
Ben”
“Al,
I know you don’t use photos like this but think you might be interested in any case.
The photo below is an abandoned Parisian railway.
Photo at the bottom speaks for itself.
Happy Rails!
John”
I did enjoy putting today’s post together. A big thanks to everyone, especially Linda for that wonderful HO scale hockey rink how-to. I think the grandstand looks great when you consider what it’s made from. It just goes to show, with a little imagination…
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if you feel like joining in the fun, 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.
Question for ben, where did you find the chip led’s
Chris
was wondering if anyone has a nore longer solution to my on going problem and that is track oxidation. I have to wipe my HO scale track at least twice a week, sometimes I use alcohol, and other times just a plain soft cotton cloth, Either way, both are black with residue by the time I am finished. I spend more time cleaning track than anything else…I purchased one of those track clening cars with the stone like pad on it and it is literally useless, Pleasee help someone…Thanks, Charles, Wilmington, NC,,,Chasvcampbell@yahoo.com
Well photo is good .hockey bit👇
sounds like you might have brass track instead of nickel silver.
I love you site and especially the effort you put into sharing the hobby with use. The fellow who shows how to build structures is good with interjecting humorous remarks in the dialog.
Note-are you familiar with the “American” model railroader joke? …….”what’s a model railroader’s house look like?….it’s a basement with a roof on top”
it also sounds like you may be using plastic wheels on your cars. Change to metal wheels can reduce the amount of cleaning of your track.
I have found a company in USA that has several different size leds. You can find it if you google NGineering.com
all are very nice
John,
I love the abandoned railway but if the bottom picture speaks for itself it must be whispering because I don’t get it at all 🙂
What is the bottom picture?
Gary.
nice and easy how to looks great. pictures are unbelievable.
I love the whole concept but correct me if I am wrong which happens a lot but are there two different scales ?? . the rink and grand stand are beautiful, and as far as I can see the bottom picture is just great it is not to often that a shot like that comes along!!!!. keep up the good work.
Domie
wowweee….wotta a GREAT idea Rob….as a fellow bassist that is ONE thing to do with old bass strings!
myself, I use Roto-Sounds, as do many of my pals, so I just ‘boil’ mine and put ’em back on my bass geetar…but I DO have some other brands that I am going to use like you did…!!!
and the ‘old Parisian’ train photo is priceless…..
the ‘grandstand’ is priceless too….hockey, eh?….amazing how old throw-away junk can be re-utilized….
gives me a great idea about building a layout using styrofoam….hmmm???
keep em runnin’ fellas…
stjohn in long beach calif
Il ike the grand stand. I hope the people will enjoy the match.
Paul
My wife wants to know what scale the grand stand might be ? I told her it looks like HO but then I am getting old and feeble minded these days !
George -Pa, USA
also Al. My CPU is still acting up sometimes , I tried to ask you a question a few days ago but it would not respond to the send button for some reason ?
Ben. Diagram and pictures please. Thanks in advance Keith
The bottom photo is a small but terrific picture of a freight train. backlit by the sun setting. I had to blow it up to see it clearly.