Christmas is just around the corner so it’s time to make sure seasonal train displays are ready to deliver holiday fun – toy train style! Let’s start with locomotives and rolling stock. Inspection, oil, and grease Before trying to run anything, I recommend doing a preliminary inspection. Now is the time to replace broken […]
Time to distress some steel! Follow along as David demonstrate two essential bridge weathering techniques on the HO scale (1:87.1) ETIP project layout, from heavy all-over rust using Monroe Models washes to creating the effect of faded, blistered paint with Vallejo Paints. Get the pro tips on permanent installation and finish details along the authentic […]
In fall 1953, Canadian National 4-6-2 5545 simmers inside the roundhouse at Moncton, New Brunswick. Philip R. Hastings photo […]
Looking west at Frankfort, Ind., in 1944, we see the westbound yard with its east-end ladder angling off to the right, and in the distance the eastbound yard’s east ladder running the other way. Beyond the east yard ladder are the icing platform and the ice plant. Jay Williams photo […]
In the Nickel Plate Road’s roundhouse at Conneaut, Ohio — one of the last citadels of high-speed steam freight locomotives — Berkshire 731 and another engine rest on March 16, 1957. Classic Trains coll. […]
Recently, CTT received a box of rolling stock review samples from Ready Made Toys (RMT). Though, there was something about the ore car that caught my attention. The color of the simulated ore reminded me of the glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint you can purchase in craft stores. Wouldn’t it be neat to have a string of […]
The guys focus on adding the depot platform and a farm field to theHO scale (1:87.1)East Troy Industrial project layout. David selects a diluted gray stain for the depot platform, and then demonstrates how to correct a scenery mistake. Cody works on the hayfield, sharing his intriguing technique for modeling windrows with yarn, and then […]
This article will help you build a simple Arduino-based DCC system. Growing up in the 1980s I was living the dream. I had an HO layout on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood in my parents’ basement in Reading, Pa., a soldering iron, a nearby RadioShack, and a subscription to Model Railroader. My favorite […]
With Mt. Shasta rising in the background, a Baldwin road-switcher works the Southern Pacific yard at Dunsmuir, Calif., in the 1950s. Mac LeFebre photo […]
Q: I’ve been trying to find the video Cody Grivno hosted a few years ago where he showed how to make a low-profile forest background using, I think, a furnace filter. I’m not talking about making furnace filter pine trees. This was more like cutting a continuous row of tree tops out of filter material […]
In this episode of the HO scale (1:87.1) East Troy Industrial Park project layout, Cody finishes the foundation retaining wall by adding drybrushed weathering effects. Meanwhile, David shares his techniques for applying tall grass on the embankments, using static grass and coarse turf materials. Be sure to keep up with the construction progress by linking into […]
You never know where change will lead you. What started out as an attempt to fine-tune my existing HO scale layout ended with a new house and a 2,600 square-foot, four-deck model railroad – the Sunset Valley Oregon System (SVOS). I started my previous Sunset Valley (SV) layout in 1959 and worked on it for […]
