Winston-Salem Southbound Series: Handlaying track – Part 4

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Tony Koester continues with final preparations before he starts adding rails to the turnout on MRVP’s HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound layout. In this video you’ll see Tony’s techniques for spiking and gauging the rails, building a frog, plus a quick tip for testing […]

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Red Oak Series: Weathering N scale locomotives

White painted cab-unit style diesel locomotive sitting on a wood block.

Three colors of paint, an airbrush, and a couple of hours is all MRVP’s David Popp needed to enhance three different types of N scale diesel locomotives with realistic weathering effects. In this video, David shows the paints and airbrushing techniques required to give the Red Oak N scale units, or practically any other diesel […]

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Using succulents on your garden railway

sedum1

1. Hardy African iceplant makes a great groundcover, here blooming in late May. On the right is Angelina stonecrop, with yellow-green leaves, rising to 4-5″ tall. (All photos were taken on the author’s Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad unless noted.) Photos by the author Don Parker 2. This small, yellow-flowering stonecrop (probably Sedum acer ‘Aureum’) is […]

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Using thyme in the railway garden

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1. White moss thyme (Thymus praecox ‘Albiflorus’), 1-2″ in height, with tiny white blooms in June, trails over the water’s edge. No need to trim this thyme, with the possible exception of shearing old growth in early spring. Two months beyond blooming thyme, Dan Saporito left a few gray twigs in place to give it […]

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N scale Tehachapi Subdivision

NscaleTehachapiSub

Name: Tehachapi Subdivision Scale: N (1:160) Size: 11 x 13 feet Prototype: Southern Pacific RR and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Locale: Tehachapi Pass and Modesto in California Era: early summer 1995 Style: island Benchwork: L-girder Height: 38″ to 48″ Roadbed: cork Track: code 80 flextrack Mainline run: 75 feet Minimum radius: 17″ (main […]

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S scale All American Railroads

SscaleAllAmericanRailroads

Name: All American Railroads Scale: S (1:64) Size: 20 x 24 feet Theme: freelanced Locale: generic North America Era: 1950s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 116 feet Minimum radius: 42″ Minimum turnout: no. 8 Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Benchwork: open grid Height: 42″ Roadbed: cork on plywood Track: Shinohara code 100 Scenery: drywall compound over extruded-foam insulation board […]

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Winston-Salem Southbound Series: Handlaying track – Part 1

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Renowned MR contributing editor Tony Koester helps take your modeling skills to the next level by walking you through the process of handlaying a turnout on MRVP’s HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound layout. In part one of multiple videos, Tony first discusses turnout terminology […]

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Red Oak Series: Weathering freight cars

Fingers hold a small scale model boxcar.

Now that scenes on Model Railroader magazine’s 3 x 7-foot N scale Red Oak layout are nearly compete, MR associate editor Eric White turns his attention to enhancing the rolling stock with realistic weathering effects. In this video, Eric shares his techniques for applying weathering powders on both dark and light-colored freight cars. […]

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