Want to learn more about Model Railway scenery?

90% of emails i receive from newbie’s to the hobby of model railway building  are asking about scenery specific questions.

1. How do i create scenery from scratch?
2. Do i need spend $xxx to achieve model scenery that looks good?
3. How do you build hills on your railway layout?
4. Can you build trees for less $xx?

Thankfully another blogger has taken up this mammoth task of  helping these people about by creating a guide to model railway scenery. In this 2 part series, our friends at modelrailwaytrains.org will be showing how to buy, customise and build any scenery that you could need on your model railway layout.

Please don’t stop the model railway scenery questions though, but this time i may just send you to the above link instead of writing a full answer.

 

How to get started building model train layout

The construction of a model railway layout is an art form that requires a good amount of patience and time. You will find yourself sculpting, model building and even painting. I often tell my students that they should pick up an electronic engineering module at the local college.

 

Before we start you need to check out the following:

Use a CAD programme to create a design of the track before construction

Use a graphics programme such as adobe illustrator to create the adverts, billboards and signs that will be used within the track.

I recommend using a computer to also create your own bespoke decals, but that is just me.

 

Layouts that don’t move

Layouts that don’t move require  extreme space planning as they can often take over your whole house if your not careful.  choice of scale is a big factor that will make a big difference in satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

The main layouts include:

• Very big – need lots of space = O scale layouts
• HO and N scale are ok for most modellers and don’t require to much space to get started
• Z-scale is easy to use in small apartments

 

How to Lay Model Railway Track

Once I establish the track centerline, I glue cork roadbed down centered on the centerline. I use slow-cure ZAP-GAP. I put a bead of ZAP-GAP on the plywood and spray ZIP-KICKER on the underside of the cork. CAREFULLY place the cork onto the plywood. You only get one shot! When the ZIP-KICKER meets the ZAP-GAP it sets up instantly! I use a similar method to secure track to the cork. I spray the cork with the ZIP-KICKER and put a small bead of ZAP-GAP on the underside of three end ties and then about every 5 or 6 ties for the length of the flex-track. CAREFULLY place the track on the cork, again, because you only get one try!

My layout is in the basement and to date I haven’t had any trouble with shifting due to temperature or humidity. I do get some heat because the furnace is next to the layout and I use a de-humidifier during the summer.

The draw-back is that this method is very permanent! To change track requires a lot of scraping and a bit of a mess. The flex-track is salvageable but the cork is a loss.

Also remember to check if your model railway layout is available and check if it fits your usage

 

How to make Roads for your Model Railway Layout

I have used the following method, and it looks pretty good. Remember to check out our guide to railway layouts.

1. Using plaster, make the area where your road is to be. Dont forget
to include wheel ruts…..a moist finger or other blunt device should
work ok.

2. Wet the road with water using a spray bottle

3. Take dry plaster mixed with dry pigment and sprinkle on your road
area. The water will activate the plaster and it will have a “powdery”
look when it drys.

4. add a little “brush” to the center of the road, between the ruts, as
well as along the outside of the road.

 

How to choose your model railway layout

A couple places to start is your local hobby shop for the information you are looking for. I checked both Model Railroader and Model Railroad Craftsman magazines for Durham, NC — but just because none are listed doesn’t mean you don’t have a hobby shop in the neighborhood somewhere. Generally Hobby Town has a very good selection of model railroad stuff – along with just about every other thing you can imagine in hobby supplies…

The information you are looking for can be found in the Kalmbach Publishing Co. series of “How-to-” for model railroading, regardless of scale. Despite having been in the hobby for well over twenty-five years I have built up a good selection of these books in the past couple years more for my own information and library, but on occasion I get calls or e-mails from people looking for information on a subject — I am no expert, just that I believe in maintaining a well stocked library on the subject.

Design Preservation Models and its partner company Woodland Scenics has a couple manuals out on using their buildings and scenery, both stock and kitbashing. DPM kits lend themselves to kitbasing real well. I just finished one of the DPM factories as if abandoned some years ago. I’ll be posting pictures of it this week end. Also, I’ve kitbashed a couple of the apartment structures from DPM as tenements based on an article in MR from the Rensseler Polytech Institute model railroad club at Troy, NY.

Another source of information is old back issues of MR, RMC, RMJ just to name a couple of the magazines. Some hobby shops, depending on how well stocked and maintained they are will have old back issues — most do not go back any further than the seventies anymore. I have just about every issue minus a few from the late sixties period back to 1957.

You can go through the decent blogs/site Model Railway Layout has some information on how to find local hobby shops. DPM, Woodland Scenics, Walthers, and the MR sites are a treasure trove of ideas, information and through the links to hobby shops around the country, also finding people of mutual interest. I model the period of PC to CR — and the anthracite region of east central Pennsylvania: the Allentown to Lehighton/White Haven areas.

Surfing the net will also hook you up to clubs — especially in the Upstate New York area.

Keep in touch. I’ll do my best to help with ideas. Go on to Flickr through Yahoo.com and to the model railroad groups — there are some awesome layouts shown there. Mine is in there. over 146 photos posted as of last week.

Incidentially, since you are doing NYC — are you doing transition period (early fifties?) I am doing mid to late 1980’s as I mentioned — all 2d generation diesel.

 

Model Railway Layout

You have bought your brand new model railway set but now you want to know what model railway layout to use?

OK so lets help you with our brand new “model railway layout” guide:

First step:
Decide what you want your model railway layout to achieve?
Do you want to reenact a current railway? – if so then you will need to find out as much information about this railway as possible.

Second step:
You need to make measurement of how much space you have for your model railway layout. If you don’t have much space then you need to take this into account when deciding what layout to choose.

Third Step:

Pull all together the information gathered in steps 1 and 2 and decide on the model railway layout that you want.

Fourth Step:

Check out model railway layout blog for the latest information on modern and vintage model railways.

 

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