May 2009


Having had so much fun with our first micro layout, Nick wanted to move on to something more ambitious. After pouring over my 30 year stack of Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazettes, Nick wanted to do a small lumber layout and we chose On30.

Bachmann On30 Porter 0-4-0s can negotiate a 12″ minimum radius and Nick wants a large trestle.

I had an idea but was having a hard time describing it to Nick so I made a quick planning model in 1/8″ = 1″ scale. The footprint is 30″ x 4 feet long and about 4 feet tall.

Nick's micro layout planning model

I made a pencil sketch to show how the bridge would look.

LayoutPlan

The lower back will have room for a separate small town/logging camp area. We may do this in HO scale.

Nick's micro layout planning model

We labeled lots of the construction dimensions on the planning model so it’s acting as kind of a 3D blueprint.

The frame is made of 3/8″ x 4″ plywood planks ripped on the table saw and connected with 2×2 blocks glued and screwed. We added casters so it is easy to roll around.

Nick Fitting the Pieces Together

Nick with the Power Drill

Next we built up the sides and made an oval of plywood as the roadway.

Nick Drilling

We’ll cut away the portion that will be spanned by the bridge.

Nick Drilling

David Lyman a.k.a. Dan D. Sparks posts a great description of how he makes and applies home-made decals to his Birney car project. Really nice work.

Photo by David Kyman, Dan D. Sparks

Photo by David Lyman, Dan D. Sparks

There has been a wave of Warhammer 40K modeling and game playing sweeping my place of employment lately. A common scale is what is called “25 mm” and is taken as 1:72 scale.

I think the methods routine in this modeling genre can be really effective for HO modeling. I found a horse that no one wanted and decided to do some painting.

Step four - all done

I went for a softer, to my eye, more realistic look. Here’s how I did it:

First I assembled and primed the model.

step one: primer

The detail in the castings is really impressive.

step one: primer

Next I roughed in the main colors.

Step two: rough broad colors

I detailed the edges and details like the harness. I used a dark wash of Burnt Umber followed by highlighting with white or light brown (depending on what I was edging).

Picture 001

Lastly, I used Dullcote and Polly S “Dust” to flatten out the shine.

This is not a big model

I did the eyes with a black ball-point pen.

Picture 036

This was really fun and took me about two hours not counting drying time.