How to build a paper structure

While David and Co. continue construction on the N scale project layout, Steve Sweeney shares his techniques for assembling a cardstock house kit. Follow along, as Steve walks and talks you through all of the essential tools, supplies, and processes — start to finish!   […]

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How to build a paper structure

While David and Co. continue construction on the N scale project layout, Steve Sweeney shares his techniques for assembling a cardstock house kit. Follow along, as Steve walks and talks you through all of the essential tools, supplies, and processes — start to finish!   […]

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How to build a paper structure

While David and Co. continue construction on the N scale project layout, Steve Sweeney shares his techniques for assembling a cardstock house kit. Follow along, as Steve walks and talks you through all of the essential tools, supplies, and processes — start to finish!   […]

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Making realistic roads

It’s my Railroad with Steve Brown Part 11

  Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page MRVP’s Steve “Regular Guy” Brown first shows his process for trimming the dock piling level with the paved pad, before sharing how he added finishing touches to both components of Port Smith. Plus, you’ll also see a sneak peek at the making […]

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The N scale Salt Lake Route project layout part 5

Scene of Salt Lake layout

Learn some of the techniques used to build the desert scenery on the N scale Salt Lake Route. Layout builder Dick Christianson shows you tips for using extruded foam insulation board, rock castings, and more. You’ll also see some prototype photos that Dick used as inspiration for this N scale model railroad. […]

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The N scale Salt Lake Route project layout part 5

Scene of Salt Lake layout

Learn some of the techniques used to build the desert scenery on the N scale Salt Lake Route. Layout builder Dick Christianson shows you tips for using extruded foam insulation board, rock castings, and more. You’ll also see some prototype photos that Dick used as inspiration for this N scale model railroad. […]

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Compact coved backdrop corners

Good lighting helps Flemming Örneholm hide the compact covered corner in his background.

Good lighting helps Flemming Örneholm hide the compact covered corner in his background. Coved corners help to reinforce the feeling of great distance that’s produced by a good backdrop. Large layouts with plenty of real estate often use wide, gently curved panels to make these inside corners disappear. But modelers with small layouts can’t afford […]

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Scenery

Fig. 6. Ground foam. This trackside hill on the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy has several layers of ground foam on it.

Scenic baseA layout’s scenic base is the foundation for all of its scenery, including roads, grass, trees, and rocks. An inexpensive scenery base can be made using a lightweight support structure, such as cardboard strips glued together, covered with layers of plaster-soaked gauze or paper towels. Another type of base you can use is made […]

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Modeling concrete railroad bridges with real cement

A precast concrete bridge spans a small creek on the Florida Midland RR.

A precast concrete bridge spans a small creek on the Florida Midland RR. Lance Mindheim describes how he modeled this bridge using anchor-bolt cement and styrene sheet molds. Replicating the color striations, texture, chips, and cracks of concrete with paint and styrene is tricky at best. On the flip side, the texture of most concrete […]

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Making dirt grade crossings and gravel lots

Gravel-covered siding. Gravel from an adjacent lot can mix with ballast on a siding. Paul partially covered this siding (lower right) at the freight house on his home layout. He embedded the rails of the spur (at left) into the parking lot. On some secondary lines the space between the ties is filled with dirt […]

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Modeling coconut palm trees on your layout

Feather-topped palm trees are a signature element for any model railroad set in a tropical climate.

Feather-topped palm trees are a signature element for any model railroad set in a tropical climate. Author Joseph Kreiss scratchbuilt numerous coconut plams for his HO scale Big Island Rail layout, set in Hawaii in the 1970s. When you can’t live in a tropical paradise, perhaps the next best thing is to model it. That’s […]

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N scale trees by the bucket

For additional scenery tips, don’t miss Essential Model Railroad Scenery Techniques from Kalmbach Books. No muss! No fuss! Just add the ingredients, mix thoroughly, and pour yourself a hillside full of trees. Believe it or not, it really can be just about that simple. I came up with my scrambled-trees technique when I wanted to […]

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