Featured | Model Train Tips

Columbia River Gorge Railroad Pictures

November 12, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

In a recent article, I asked which railroad you model on your layout. One of the areas I mentioned that I would like to model was the Columbia River Gorge area that separates Washington and Oregon. I recently had the opportunity to travel through that area and took some pictures to share with you here. There are rail lines on both sides of the river and run parallel to the highways on the Washington and Oregon sides of the river. I was travelling on the Oregon side on U.S. Interstate 84 headed east towards The Dalles. These two pictures show the trains on the Oregon side right next … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Scenery Tips

Dance Hall Added to The C & G RR Layout

November 12, 2011 By Model Train Tips 4 Comments

Chuck Shutz has added a dance hall with an outdoor eating area to his layout. Now his layout has a busy nightlife, complete with a band and lively dancers on the dance floor. This HO scale layout by Chuck Shutz of West Palm Beach, Florida, is a very small and simple oval layout with intense and intricate scenery. The layout is only 44″ by 66″, but it has as much detail as some larger layouts. Chuck’s small layout models a riverside resort set in the 1950′s complete with a picnic area, a playground with kids frolicking, a foot bridge, a backyard BBQ, and kids fishing from a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: cgrr, chuck shutz, dance hall, ho scale

Airbrushing Tips to Weather Your Model Railroad

September 30, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

Weathering with an air brush is easy to do and gives excellent results. Start with darker colors and add lighter colors on top. Line up all your cars, structures and loco’s and treat them assembly line style, then change colors and do it again and again. Remember, weathering is a matter of degree and most rolling stock is fairly clean. The disadvantage of weathering with paint is that it is pretty permanent when you are done. Mac McCalla shared this tip for airbrushing: I have been weathering with an airbrush for many years and have done many clinics for Badger Airbrush and at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Freight Car Tips, Locomotives Tips, Passenger Car Tips, Scenery Tips, Weathering Tips Tagged With: airbrushing, badger airbrush, weathering

Weathering Roads, Paint and Rust on Your Model Railroad Layout

September 9, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

Peter Plantec shared this tip about weathering roads, paint and rust on your model railroad layout: There are several brands of alcohol based asphalt patch material used to mend roofs and gutters. I found that I could dilute and pour it in a form made of strip wood to make a road bed. Before it completely hardens you can rub in some talc and cut in cracks and divisions. You can even carve scale bricks as the underlying old road bed. The surface looks remarkably real. Also, I almost never paint anything. I gesso it and then add layers of alcohol stain (used for shoes.) I usually … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Scenery Tips, Weathering Tips Tagged With: gesso, instant iron, instant rust, rust, weathering paint, weathering roads, weathering rust

Tips for Adding Graffiti to Your Model Railroad Scenery

August 19, 2011 By Model Train Tips 3 Comments

We’ve all seen graffiti on trains. What would a realistic model railroad layout be without graffiti on some of the rolling stock? Here are some tips from other modelers for adding graffiti to your model railroad layout scenery and rolling stock: You know, I realized a great way to make graffiti without buying those expensive decals. I use White-out (a correction pen), the finer the tip the better. I even made up a cool scene with this- I painted an HO car, parked it in front of a university, and put an angry teacher beside it, like one of his students painted it! -asparuh frangov … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Freight Car Tips, Locomotives Tips, Passenger Car Tips, Scenery Tips Tagged With: Graffiti

Realistic Weathering for Roofs on Your Model Railroad Layout

August 17, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

Bob and Nick Lloyd wrote in and shared this tip for realistic weathering of the roofs of buildings on their layout. Okay, so my Dad and I are starting to build a platform for our HO scale trains. We are starting off with a platform upstairs, but after the holidays we are moving it down to our basement where we are going to build a permanent one. Recently we have been going through the process of taking all of our old plastic buildings and making them look more realistic by dulling them and putting on new roofs. Yesterday my dad decided to wrap the roof of our mill in tin foil and soak … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Scenery Tips, Weathering Tips Tagged With: dullcote, realistic weathering, roof, weathering

Which Railroad Do You Model on Your Layout?

July 29, 2011 By Model Train Tips 3 Comments

It might be interesting to hear from some of your subscribers what railroads they favor for their layouts. This question was posted in response to the article about choosing a railroad to model. What a great question, I thought. It got me to thinking; why don’t I ask you which railroad you model on your layout. I’ll start this off by talking about two railroads I would like to model: Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. I don’t mean the single combined Burlington Northern and Sante Fe Railroad as it is today, but the separate railroads as they were in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: atsf, bnsf, burlington northern

Developing a Paint Scheme for Your Model Railroad

June 15, 2011 By Model Train Tips 2 Comments

By Mike Rountree If you're the creative type who just has to model a railroad that never existed, rather than adopt a specific prototype, then sooner or later you're going to need to invent a color scheme for your fictional pike. How do you come up with something that looks plausible yet unique? While it may seem that you have a blank slate to work with, and can do anything at all, you would do well to restrain yourself based on some research and understanding. Otherwise, you can end up with a fairly outlandish scheme that doesn't feel right, as much as you might like the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Freight Car Tips, Locomotives Tips, Passenger Car Tips, Scenery Tips Tagged With: accent color, color scheme, field color, paint scheme, trim color

Model Railroad Scenery: Building Placement

June 9, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

By Mike Rountree Model railroaders often focus on scenery in terms of rocks and trees, without considering how the built forms, especially commercial and residential architecture, will fit into the scene. In the real world, much of the scenic context is determined by the houses, roads, stores, other man-made features. These can look out-of-place or otherwise wrong if they are just dropped onto a layout without proper planning and understanding. Selective compression is a familiar term to most model railroaders, referring to our need to retain the distinctive character of a building … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, Scenery Tips Tagged With: architecture, buildings, foundation, houses, roads

New Facebook Page for Model Train Tips

May 30, 2011 By Model Train Tips Leave a Comment

If you’re on Facebook, check out the new Page for Model Train Tips and be sure to “Like” it to see updates in your newsfeed. I’ve been thinking about switching over from a Group to a Page on Facebook for several months but wasn’t that motivated to make the change. Facebook is making changes to Groups, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I figured it was time to pull the trigger on making the switch. While there is the possibility of more interaction between members of a Group, a Page gives me more flexibility for posting updates. With a Facebook Page you won’t … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured, General Tagged With: facebook, facebook group, facebook page