traingeekboy

Looks good. Maybe all it needs is a bit of stain with some browns and black, you could even use something like a kitchen spice for color. Maybe some dry brushing with a lighter grey, or even white to bring out highlights. hmmm... Tempting to add a siding with two tracks and some kind of mine or quarry on the front side of the tracks, perhaps at one end of it. Yes - Single track it!

I realize you may want a long straight track, yet the possibility for a snaking curvy bendy track would be very photogenic IMHO. As I showed in my thread, it's possible to use sedimentary stone. If you collect larger pieces you can pry them apart to make a thin layer of stone with a very rocky look. you just need a rock hammer, or a cold chisel. The debris can be used on the bottom of your slope as natural talus. I would be tempted to have a sloped surface at the bottom to attach talus rocks to. Maybe create shapes with cut wood and then just use Liquid Nails to glue the stone surface onto it? Is there a specific locale you are trying to make it look like? Of course with an outdoor layout, you could also make troughs for soil that you can grow moss in for grass if it's shady in that area. Rocks have natural cleavage based on their kind. The shale like mud rocks break up nicely to form jagged edges.

I've seen several layouts where people used real rock. It can be amazing if done right. I do not know if I can do it right though. LOL Gonna give it a shot.

I am on a limited train space for now with a tiny 30" x 44" layout planned. Yet, I really want to explore some new ideas for building a layout, one of them being to use real rock broken into thin layers instead of rock castings. A short trip to the mountains and there is a cut known as rainbow cut where the former D&RGW line runs. Lots of different colors can be collected there.

Mick, how strange, maybe I missed some earlier shots with grass down., or maybe it was the angle with all the different locos and stock. It looks very complete though.

Nice video. Sort of surprised to see how good the run through station is looking. The whole layout is looking very nice.

I've seen a lot of different scenic materials that are light weight. Of course the problem is that you are outside. Your best bet may be to get some latex and build molds yourself from rocks. I did it on a layout about 30 years ago and it was easy. As long as you make the castings thin they will look fine. Making rock castings and casting plaster is really fun too. You learn to blend them before they harden and no one can see where one casting ends and another begins. I used water putty which is a hard material, you may explore using that as plaster can be too soft. Another option would be to gather the white packing foam things come in and use that to make your base which you can apply the plaster castings to. You could round the the foam by spraying it with any kind of solvent base spray paint. Your biggest issues will be getting the plaster rocks to stick to the light weight foam and sealing the outside of your plaster castings. I think you could embed fabric, or even paper towels on the foam while it is still soft after being sprayed. Then all you need is a good paint on the plaster rocks to seal them. Maybe go a little light on the color so you can then brush on a dark wash to enhance depth. No idea if this would work, yet it seems like you are in uncharted territory - good luck.

Mick, IMHO lumber is lumber. As long as it isn't warped or already decayed in any way, all you gotta do it seal it up and go. That is the most important thing I learned is that you have to protect the wood from the elements. Screws work best for fastening. I think some of the tried and true methods on here are worth following. And yes, I am still using scavenged materials, but now it's all for scratch building train cars.

Why not? I haven't had a layout in some time, yet mine was made from wood salvaged from alleys. Same difference really.

Good eye and yeah, I am worried about it. The old Tycos have super large bogies and I will cut some excess off of them.

Progress on the 1st log car. I think I can easily make a whole slew of these.

Sad not doing the garden railway. Yet, I am still squeezing in time prepping models to run on the HO/OO track. I did a lot of research on a really rare log car type. I've actually been unable to find anything but old photos, so any guess on the actual dimensions is pretty vague. so this may be the first model ever built of one. I did take an old photo and cut the people out and use them to measure. I decided 20' long was about right. Decided to use the kitchen tools to cut strip wood as the razor saw takes too long. I also bought some cheap water color paints at the dollar store to use as wood stain.

My rule of thumb is about 90% of a garden railway should be made from found materials. Save your cash for track and trains.

Been looking at all your photos. how do you create the bent frames on your curves. The framing looks very reliable on the out side layout.

That is awesome. I really like how the loop at the end gives you a sort of fake double mainline on the rest.

I think real model railroading has always been a handyman's hobby on a certain level as you can spend a fortune on all the extras like structures. I avoided tearing out all of my garden railway because I had hopes I could come back to it. It's been years now. I used experimental techniques on my layout as well. Some things are just fried now. The ply having been spray painted in some places did not seal well. I should have used brush on oil paint. Over all it has become a tragic sight. Yet I still have that passion for wanting another garden railway. Once you've run trains outside you get a taste for it and a regular indoor layout won;t fill that need entirely. Also, all my 55n3 trains could run on a outdoor HO layout as it;s all the same gauge. I suppose I will have to go see your garden railway build to see what your issues are.

Just sneaking some time building a structure for my future 3 x 4 layout. The first stage is tedious. I am using my rail nipper to cut planks from free coffee stirrers. You know how I am, "If It's Free, It's For Me!" I also scavenged some free lumber for the proposed layout. I love free things. I needed a light ply I could easily cut as sub roadbed. I want to create something that is not flat except for track and structure bases. I found a roughly 2x4 piece that should be plenty. In other news, my garden railway is really beyond repair. Going to have to tear it all out.

Is the reed switch designed to be off until a magnet passes near it, or is it designed to be on? Try taking a 9 volt battery and a simple light bulb and making a small circuit like so: battery > light bulb > reed switch > back to battery What happens when your apply the magnet? It should solve your problem for you.

So far this is really good. And yet, I am sorry to say "You're not doing it right!" Relax, I mean you aren't posting enough photos.

Not sure if I posted before. I am really enjoying this build.

Not sure what I had posted so here are some more randoms... The figures are mostly painted now even the second one got his pants. A sleepy squirrel friend loves to cuddle. And some experimenting with cheater hand laid track. I plan to remove most of the sleepers then glue the rails to hand cut real wood sleepers. Then I can remove the remaining plastic sleepers that were keeping my set track aligned and I end up with what looks like painstakingly hand laid track. The more I find out about hand laying the more I realize it just can't be that hard.

The loco needed more paint and the second coat came out a bit orange peel texture - grrr... But that sand dome is proto, as is the steam smoke stack on a gas motor.

Hey thanks Mick, I am kind of one of few world authorities on the inventors of RPG's now. It's amusing because I am a very introverted person and would rather hide out with the trains. What can I say, lots and lots of hobbies. Some end up as careers. Hoping for some warm weather here. We are not on strict lock down, but most people are not working. Restaurants are closed but allowed to do Take Away. I need to spend a day sorting my shed. It turned into one of those places you throw boxes randomly that ends up being too much chaos. Really need to get it back to be my little work shop haven. Nice to see all the updates, scrolled through a bit of them. I am thinking of doing some structure buildering during this isolation period. I found this FREE card stock you see... Can't recall if I had posted this little crane project, probably did.