Spaces to Places VIII | Add realistic telephone poles to a town

Gerry Leone, host of Spaces to Places, works along the streets of Westcott, a Bona Vista HO scale layout town site he thought was previously “finished.” Here, he shows how to add a key missing element – telephone poles (aka utility/power/line poles)! Follow along, and you’ll see Gerry’s process for building, painting, and installing the […]

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East Troy Industrial Park, Ep. 19 | Filling out Terrain Features

Watch David Popp demonstrate his technique for sliding into a scene — it’s a slippery slope, as he creates realistic rolling hillsides and drainage ditches using foam material and Sculptamold!  Elsewhere on the HO scale (1:87.1)  East Troy Industrial Park project layout, Bryson and Cody showcase a new 3D-printed resin depot. All of that, plus […]

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Spaces to Places VII | Scenery behind the roundhouse

In this Spaces to Places episode, host Gerry Leone tackles the final touches around the lower deck roundhouse area of his HO scale (1:87.1) Bona Vista model railroad. Gerry first focuses on adapting background buildings, before transforming an empty space behind the roundhouse into an authentic place, including static grass and gravel roads. Want to […]

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East Troy Industrial Park, Ep. 16 | Painting Track

Watch as Cody Grivno, Model Railroader Senior Editor, sets out to paint the rails on the HO scale (1:87.1) East Troy Industrial Park project layout. Learn how to prepare the layout, clean the tracks, and apply paint for a realistic, rusty appearance. Be sure to keep up with the construction progress by linking into the Trains.com […]

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Spaces to Places VII | Roundhouse Interior Detail

Trains.com video series host and Master Model Railroader Gerry Leone sets his sights on the interior details of the previously assembled three-stall roundhouse he reworked for his latest HO scale (1:87.1) Bona Vista model railroad. From the inspection pit, to the interior flooring and wall, to the oil stains, to a full complement of racks […]

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East Troy Industrial Park, Ep. 15 | Installing Switch Motors

David and Bryson share the steps they used to install a complete Walthers Switch Machine system on the HO scale (1:87.1) East Troy Industrial Park project layout. To get things started, the pair first explains the features and function of each component. Then it’s straight to the task of installing the parts used to pivot […]

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Olympia & Sand Creek, Episode 26 | Ballasting the rails

In this episode, David shares a proven technique for adding and shaping a rustic course of ballast along the rails of the Olympia & Sand Creek On30 logging layout. But first he works to complete several scenery details, including realistic fencing, water effects, muddy cow paths, and more along the terrain and trackwork too! View […]

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East Troy Industrial Park EXTRA | Progress Report #1

Now that trains are running on the HO scale East Troy Industrial Park (ETIP) project layout, David Popp hosts this BONUS video to share some of the behind-the-scenes efforts and design considerations the MR crew still needs to tackle. As so many model railroaders can attest, there’s no such thing as “finished” layout…especially when structure […]

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