Thursday, July 21, 2011

Making a Lake

some of The tools I used for this projct

Making a lake for your model railroad is a very fun project to do. It is not hard either.  The required tools are 
  •  Paint-Black, Brown
  • Arcrylic Gesso
  • ModPodge
  • Paint Brushes
  • Painters palette
  • Knifes
  • Hacksaw blade
  • File/needle files





On my layout I have 1½  Inch Foam boards as a base. I used the Sawblade to cut diagonaly to make it look like it is sloping.  I used the Knives and the files to change the texture. After I liked the way the the bank looked I took Inch DOW styrofoam boards and laid the side without lettering so it is facing up. THen I painted the slope and a 1 inch on the board brown.  I then painted the rest of the area that was not brown black.  I let this dry then painted a second coat of black on.  After this drys Put a thick area of Mod podge ontop of the black paint.

Here are the tools I used to make the Bank



Chiped paint

Applying Gesso

If the mod podge drys and there are areas of chiped paint under it there is a simple way to fix it. Spread a thick layer if arcrilyic gesso around on the areas that are chiped. Spread the gesso about 1 inch out from the area that is chiped. When you are spreading the gesso make sure you dab.  Once this drys spread a layer of black paint over that and coat with Mod Podge.
sasf

Friday, July 15, 2011

HARRY POTTER TRAINS

In Honor of the last Harry Potter film to ever be made Model Railroad 101 has decided to teach people to add things from the movies into their layout.

Make Hogwarts on a Backdrop

To Make Hogwarts you will need a Backdrop that has about ¼  of the bottom painted green for grass.
Step One: Go to Google Images  and Hogwarts Castle Wall Paper you will need an Image that has the entire castle.  I will use an Image from abstract.desktopnexus.com
Step Two: Cut the castle out on a sheet of paper. Make Sure you cut the outline of the castle out AND ONLY THE CASTLE if you want you can also cut out some of the ground
Step Three:  After you have cut the Castle out take some Elmer’s glue and spread it around the back of the picture.
Step Four: Press the picture against the backdrop and let the glue dry

Harry Potter Billboards

Print Harry Potter Pictures onto business cards (you can laminate them if you want) Then Take two 4 inch strands of thick copper wire and hot glue them to the back.  Let this dry then apply to layout.          


OTHER TIPS

If you have a Movie Theatre you could make it look like the Midnight Premiere for  the movie buy adding 100’s of Mini people and Lots of Harry Potter signs.

WE LOVE YOU HARRY!!!
-THE MODEL RAILROAD 101 TEAM

HARRY POTTER TRAINS

In Honor of the last Harry Potter film to ever be made Model Railroad 101 has decided to teach people to add things from the movies into their layout.

Make Hogwarts on a Backdrop

To Make Hogwarts you will need a Backdrop that has about ¼  of the bottom painted green for grass.
Step One: Go to Google Images  and Hogwarts Castle Wall Paper you will need an Image that has the entire castle.  I will use an Image from abstract.desktopnexus.com
Step Two: Cut the castle out on a sheet of paper. Make Sure you cut the outline of the castle out AND ONLY THE CASTLE if you want you can also cut out some of the ground
Step Three:  After you have cut the Castle out take some Elmer’s glue and spread it around the back of the picture.
Step Four: Press the picture against the backdrop and let the glue dry

Harry Potter Billboards

Print Harry Potter Pictures onto business cards (you can laminate them if you want) Then Take two 4 inch strands of thick copper wire and hot glue them to the back.  Let this dry then apply to layout.          


OTHER TIPS

If you have a Movie Theatre you could make it look like the Midnight Premiere for  the movie buy adding 100’s of Mini people and Lots of Harry Potter signs.

WE LOVE YOU HARRY!!!
-THE MODEL RAILROAD 101 TEAM

Monday, July 11, 2011

Drybrushing

If you want to weather your cars or buildings I suggest using a technique called dry brushing.  Dry brushing is easy.  Here are the necessary tools to make rust streaks, Paper towels, Orange paint, Brown paint, paint brush.


  1. Start by miking one part brown paint to 10 parts orange paint.
  2. Lightly dip the brush into the mixture of paint.
  3. Wipe the paint of with a paper towel. 
  4. Gently rub the paint brush across the surface you are weathering

Why this works.
This method makes rust streaks because  when you wipe the paint off of the brush and onto the paper towel most of the paint comes off so when you brush the surface you are weathering the brush applies a very thin layer to the surface instead of a thick layer





-The Model Railroad 101 Team

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Our Model Railroad



Here are some photos of our model railroad.  We have just started.


Here is my river.
Here is the southwest corner of the layout
A second picture of the SW corrner
one of the newer areas on our layout
is this mountain
one of the newer areas on our layout
is this mountain
construction site that made using Flock, Felt, Cardboard,
and other things that i found around the house
This is a small scene that I made using some  broken slot cars and a
toy police officer.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Ideas

I Made a construction site ( A work in progress ) i Used sand, toy
vehicles and other small things to make it. I ordered a plasticville
house Under construction set to put in the middle. The two tan roads
are a finished driveway


I bought 2 realistic cars from my local hobby shop and used them to
make this small scene the policeman came in a set i got on vacation
Here is a Mountain that I am Making - Coming soon
A Guide to Making Mountains.
Here is one of the finished ends of my mountain.  I Used Glad Press
and seal to make the stream

Monday, July 4, 2011

Realistic water

A1

A2

 
Tools needed to make realistic water
A3
 




Tools needed to make realistic water
  • Sponge
  • Sponge Brush
  • Mod Podge
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Hot Glue Sticks
  • Black Tempra Paint
  • Brown Tempra Paint
  • Model Magic Clay
  •  Cork
This methood is to make a very deep river or pond that does not have any shallow area
MAking water is easy but takes a ver long time.  Usially this methood takes about 2 days (includes drying time) to finsh but the effect is worth it.  Follow these steps to find out how to make realistic water today!

  1. Start by clearing an area out where you want to put the river or body of water.
  2. Take the cork and tear it into strips that are 3-10 inches long and about 1/2-1 1/2 inches wide then paint each strip dark brown LET THE PAINT DRY OVERNIGHT TO ENSURE THAT NO PART IS STILL WET!
  3. Spread a layer of model magic around where the river will be. Before the model magic drys pound a sponge into it to make a wave effect. Let the model magic dry for 24 Hours.
  4. Paint the model magic black.
  5. After the black paint drys spread 2 thick layers of mod podge LET This Dry for at least 2 hours
  6. Stack the cork strips up in stacks of 4 and hot glue together
  7. Glue the cork so it is pushing up aginst the model magic ( See photo A1 [top Photo] for an image of how it should look)

YOU ARE DONE!!

COOMING SOON-How to make realistic shallow water

EZ Flags

Do you want to make flags for your trains?  Making flags is simple.  All you need is a picture of the flag you want to make, some glue, and some toothpicks. Follow these easy instructions to find out how to make a flagpole with a flag on it.

  1. Take the small flag and laminate it*
  2. Cut the flag out if you laminate it
  3. Apply hot glue to the top of the toothpick
  4. Put the flag on the hot glue LET DRY
  5. Place on layout

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Where to Buy Trains, buildings, and accesories

If you have a collection of model trains or are considering starting one something you will have to do is buy trains. Instead of buying the $50-$500 sets from hobby shops or local stores you can search online. Sites like eBay and Amazon have lots of model trains and they are usially cheaper than what you find loacally. When you are on eBay you can also shop for large packs of accesories that have items from Multiple diffrent companies. When you are on eBay you can also sometimes can find peoples collections which sometimes include 100s of trains, accessories, track, transformers and cars these can price from $0.99-$1200 or more. You can also find small train sets that have 5 or 6 cars and an engine for $0.99-$50 or more.
I Do not often buy trains off of eBay (because close friends and family find these as good presents) but I do often buy buildings, Woodland Sceneics products, and operating accesories from eBay. Accessories also come in packs on eBay and sometimes the are much cheaper than buying them from Lionel or another company.


Popular Places to Buy Model Trains



  • Hobby Shop


  • Train Show


  • eBay.com


  • amazon.com


  • Lionel.com