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The Trains.com Holiday Party continues with David Popp suited up to make some special layout scenes using little more than odds and ends he’s cobbled together. Even better, everything he made was assembled in a single afternoon. […]
Host James McNab shares how he combined sticks and leaves, and applies water effects to help add an authentic appearance to his HO scale Hills Line layout. These and other scenery construction considerations and insights will help lead you to incredibly realistic results! […]
A previous O scale turntable build went awry this fall, so David turned the troubleshooting effort into a Trains.com Holiday Party project…and solution! David takes no shortcuts in showing how to avoid shorts when using copper-cladded PC Board materials for crossties. […]
Are you hoping to get a freight car kit under the tree? Cody Grivno opened his present early, so he could share helpful techniques for assembling an HO scale covered hopper kit…on this episode of the Trains.com Holiday Party! […]
David Popp pushes the Trains.com Holiday Party to capacity! Follow along as he walks through the steps for installing an ESU anti-stall device into an HO scale Atlas RS-1 diesel locomotive. With these units in place, you’ll never have to worry about dirty track, unpowered frogs, or other track maladies getting in the way of […]
Cody Grivno fits right into the Holiday Party festivities! In this episode, our Trains.com ace modeler/painter shares his technique for using oil paints to apply rust effects to the roof of a boxcar. Grab your brush and get started making realistic weathering effects – without an airbrush! […]
The layout at a glance Name: Royal Gorge Route Layout owner: Florida Scale Rails club Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 8 x 12 feet Prototype: Denver & Rio Grande Western (standard and HOn3 narrow gauge); Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; and Union Pacific Locale: Colorado Era: 1930s to ’60s Mainline run: 75 feet Minimum radius: 22″ […]
The layout at a glance Name: Bone Valley Layout owner: Alex Marchand Scale: N (1:160) Size: 6′-7″ x 7′-0″ Prototype: CSX/Seaboard System Locale: West Central Florida Era: late 1980s Style: multilevel, gallery Mainline run: 40 feet Minimum radius: 12″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none Benchwork: extruded-foam insulation board on 1 x 2 frame […]
The layout at a glance Name: Midwest Lines Layout owner: Rolf Plachter Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 33 x 52 feet Prototype: freelanced, inspired by Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Rock Island; and Union Pacific Locale: Denver to Milwaukee Era: mid-1960s Style: around-the-walls Mainline run: 400 feet Minimum radius: 36″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 2 […]
Host David Popp brings CTT Editor Hal Miller to the party! Hal has been working feverishly to get a post-World War II Lionel O gauge steam locomotive back on track and orbiting under the Christmas tree. Follow along to see how he brings the sound of a classic whistle mechanism back to life inside the […]
The holiday season is here — and that’s a pretty good reason for Trains.com’s preeminent host David Popp to have a party! As the mini-series plays out this month, join David (along with other special guests) as he reveals some of the modeling/layouts projects and quick-hitting techniques keeping him engaged in the hobby. First up, […]
Plans, methods, tools, and projects to help modelers succeed […]
