Richard has been in touch with his N scale scratch built models.
As you’ll read, he hasn’t laid an inch of track yet.
But he’s made a start, and more importantly, having fun – which was good enough for me.
And I also love what he’s done:
“Hello Alistair,
I’ve really been enjoying the emails, blogs, photos and “how to’s” from your site.
Thought I’d throw my 2 cents in with some photos of my first few scratch N scale builds.
All of these are made from balsa strips, popsicle sticks!, 0.03 inch thick styrene, a 0.06″ “For Sale” sign (purchased at my local hardware store for $2.00) , brick and stone paper printed on the back of wall paper, and styrene roofing sheets.
Most of the windows were purchased on ebay, but some were 3D printed (I’m still on a huge learning curve for this!).
I’m using the scale of 1/155 – 1/160 and therefore One foot = approx 2mm.
Some are complete but others have a few details to finish.
The first photo shows some of the materials that I use.
The funny thing is that I haven’t laid an inch of track yet! I wanted to have some buildings ready to go before I start my layout.
Thanks for letting me post!
Regards,
Rich”
Now on to Dave:
“Al, a nice short video showing my CMX track cleaner in progress on DMR layout.
Glad I bought this some 12 years ago for £80 think they are about £200 now and like hens teeth very hard to find.
Dave.”
Thanks to Dave, and a big thanks to Richard too for sharing his N scale scratch built buildings.
It just goes to show the most important part of any layout is to make a start and have fun.
I know most of you lay track then get busy on the scenery.
But as Richard shows, there are no hard and fast rules.
If you want to make that start with a few models, roll up your sleeves like Richard and make that start.
That’s all for this time folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, 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.
Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.
I thoroughly enjoyed this piece today. From the photography of the exquisitely constructed buildings, to video clip. Thank you for this.
It’s remarkable what Richard did scratch building and it’s always good to hear from Dave.
Great work on the n-scale buildings Richard, very realistic with basic materials.
like the realism of each building, but HO the way to go. Bet you used a lot of ink.
Great looking work on the buildings, and I always love the use of materials that keep the costs down.The only problem I found was when I printed the brick work image on our printer for one building. Unfortunately the layout ended up backing onto a south facing window and despite having blinds on it the sun still bleached that side of the building. The colour’s gone but the B/W image of the bricks is still there, so I might get the old water colour paints out, if I can find them, and repaint them. But there again what you can’t see won’t hurt you!
Graham
Richard
Great buildings and love what you did with materials. Would like to see them in a layout with roads, people, & of course trains.
Dave
Much thanks for your video. It just makes me feel good! Nothing like the real country side, I can almost smell it and then to see your loft with the great trains. Best to you & the real boss.
Richard, your scratch-built buildings are excellent. I am very impressed. They are as good as any I have seen. It will be great to see your layout with maybe a train running someday. Lovely work, Rob McCrain – Farland Howe
It is oh so nice to see and watch trains running … THANK YOU !
Simply great posts today. Excellent scratch builds portend an exciting future in modeling.
Dave’s 5 minute action video was a nice break in my day.
Thank you to Richard, Dave and our host, Al.
This layout is immaculate! Richard I really enjoyed seeing your layout. I love the theme and how you’ve created this master piece. Great on a true labor of love!
Richard, your buildings are fantastic. Ignore Robert Brady about scale. I have HO and N scale. Work with what you want and like!! I bet your layout will be great.
Dan in Richmond Va.
Looks good.
Admire your work on the buildings. Nice job!
Fantastic looking buildings. I am curious how you made the bricks on the backside of wall paper. Love your creativity and how to save money. I too enjoy saving being retired now and working my layout. Keep us posted please.
Beautiful buildings! Great job on those.
And seeing Dave’s trains running is always a treat
Well done Richard, scratch building in HO is hard enough but ‘n’ scale is four times harder. Super buildings.
Dave, your videos are always entertaining. Thank you.
Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA.
Those N scale buildings are just artistry! So well built and so beautifully weathered and finished. I can only try harder!
Richard’s buildings are just amazing.
N scale is pretty darn tiny and the amount of detail he has been able to work into those buildings is remarkable.
Thanks Dave. You’re videos are always a pleasure to see.
Great job on your buildings Richard. Absolutely loved and appreciate your detail. Your first building was constructed with field stone. What did you use for that? It is the most realistic field stone I have seen.
thanks all for your comments , the NYMR visit was the first this year as only just opened fully , no doubt will ba many more before the Year is out …and of course DMR will still be running …
Thanks to all for the comments! I will be posting some more builds and photos of the process that I use soon.
Beautiful work.
Great buildings. Are the walls and roofs from Al’s prints?
Fantastic work on scratch built buildings So realistic.
Outstanding job, very realistic and the engine house is really well done.
Nice looking buildings Richard, they look good.
Dave , I like your background pictures.
Gentlemen, OUTSTANDING fun here! I will be carving out a little time today for weathering some of my buildings. Such inspiration.
Thank you so much!
Nancy from Gig Harbor
Richard! As Raymond’s dad would say on “Everybody Loves Raymond”, “Holly Crap”, how did you do that at ‘N’ scale? Those buildings are exquisite! I have to work at ‘O’ scale since I am too Shakey to handle anything smaller, I wish I had the ability and patience to build something that detailed, even at ‘O’ scale. You are an artist!
wow hes already a craftsman
Superb N scale scratch built models Richard! The detail
Is exceptional. We look forward to seeing them on the layout as it evolves.
i like this setup very much, nice buildings.
Beautifully built and weathered Nscale buildings, Rich! Interested in seeing your layout as it comes together.
And David, what a fun layout as well.
Richard: Beautiful scratch builds. That is some amazing work you’ve done! I would love to see details of how you created them from such simple materials. Excellent work!
Dave: Great video of your gorgeous layout. That track cleaner is a wonderful thing to have. It looks great and does a super job keeping the rails clean! My husband acquired one for Dad’s layout a couple years ago…it’s quite the treasure.
Rich: Great scratch builds! I do HO, but N has to be a challenge. Where do you get your building examples? I’m not into plastic unless I have to. Wood is more forgiving and easily formed. I use Titebond Thick & Quick with extra glue cleanup with a Q-Tip.
Dave: Your layout has a lot of detail. You didn’t mention if the track cleaner does a good job. Also noted around 1:14 in the video you ran into a building. Hope the engineer had a license.
Beautiful modeling, and fabulous weathering!