Model railroading has come a long way with innovations like: smaller scales, DCC, LED’s, electronics, computers, walkaround throttles etc. The same goes for the scenery and structure aspects of the hobby. Acrylic paints, airbrushing, epoxy resin, super glue, downloadable buildings and other innovations have opened new possibilities for creativity in model realism.

This street scene model (using downloadable plans) is a perfect example of the high standard that can now be achieved for a relatively low cost. They are built with using corflute and spray adhesive (other recent inventions).

So, even though technology can be frustrating at times (especially for those of us with gray hair or no hair), it has brought many exciting innovations to the hobby. It’s this changing face of model railroading that will attract a new generation to the hobby. That’s why I keep an open mind and try to embrace change rather than fear it.

This shop scene is available here

The feedback on the 8 new scale model houses has been excellent with many readers telling their railroading friends about them. The designer certainly spent a lot of time perfecting the accurate and intricate detailing and it shows.

The 8 plans are available here for 70% off the individual listed price.

The new series of 8 downloadable scale model homes with 4 garages is now available at a special introductory price saving 70%. These scale models are enjoyable to build and very authentic in appearance, because they include photo-realistic pre-done weathering and detailing. This short video will give you are good close up look.

You download the PDF plans as OO scale, and simply adjust your printer settings to scale them to HO scale or N scale. That’s simple – the web page shows how. You can make several houses from each design if you choose, without having to pay for another download. Easy to follow assembly diagrams and instructions are included.

Go here to grab this 70% saving today
http://www.modelbuildings.org/scale-houses-8-house-models-to-make.html

Harold asks readers:

“I am looking for bridge abutment to work with Woodland Scenics 4% inclines. It appears I need something about 4″ tall. Does anyone know of a supplier?”

Dave asks readers:

“I see advertisements for printable structures here and elsewhere but they always seem to come from England. I live in USA and can’t seem to find the paper sizes and thicknesses necessary to complete them. Legal paper can substitute for A4, but not the referenced card stock. Anyone have ideas on how to get around this problem?”

Robert comments… Dave, the buildings advertised on this site are designed in Australia and are based on buildings from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. They are designed to international paper size A4 which is very similar in size to US letter paper. It is very easy to adjust the printing size on a home printer if needed. Most people use ordinary home printing paper, however you can substitute other paper or card stocks if preferred. There are no hard and fast rules… it really comes down to personal preference.

Thank you for all the excellent feedback on the model buildings featured on this blog. It is pleasing to hear such good results!

Several readers suggested publishing a photo of a building they constructed, to show other how good it looks on their layout, so there is now the opportunity for readers to do that. Details at http://www.modelbuildings.org/photos.html

Experienced model railroaders use a variety of techniques to maximize space usage and to create the illusion their railroad stretch far into the distance.

One of the best ways is to give the illusion of the background scene extending further is to start with either a photographic or realistically painted backdrop. Commercially made photo backdrops are available, but many prefer to paint their own sky and background scene.

Whether painting the backdrop or using photographic printed landscape images, the trick is to create the illusion of depth and realism. The next thing is to build up the scene in front of the backdrop, to add further to the 3D effect. This can be done using trees, shrubs, grasses, people, fences, vehicles, roads, and structures.

The model buildings in this video can be seen here.

Instead of wasting valuable track or yard space with structures that are 6” or 8” deep, many hobbyists construct their background buildings just 1” or 2” deep. This clever technique can save an enormous of space, whilst still proving the illusion that the buildings are full-size, and that they extend well into the background.

These thin low relief buildings usually consist of a frontage, with part of a roof, and usually one or two side walls visible or partly visible. The buildings can be placed in front of the sky or tree lined painted or photographic backdrop.

More scenery, props, greenery, track etc can be positioned near the buildings to create the impression the layout extends considerably further than in reality it does.

It’s an expensive waste to cut up pricey plastic kits to create this type of background illusion. Instead, it is much cheaper to download and build these designs from corflute, ply, card, or foam board. They can be made exceptionally strong!

And, because the downloaded prints are like photos, no paints or airbrushing is required.

The railroad models on the modelbuildings.org website are of a high quality finish (photo-realistic) and already have fine detailing such as curtains hanging in windows, flaking paintwork, rusty pipes, mold on brickwork, cracks in concrete. Some buildings even feature items on display in shop windows.

The feedback on the “photo-realistic” high quality of the downloadable model buildings has been excellent, and many who have never constructed this type of building before have been more than impressed. It’s been very encouraging. Thank you. I lot of intricate detailing has gone into designing each building to achieve the natural aged appearance complete with rust marks, peeling paintwork, moldy concrete etc.

There have also been several requests for bigger pack offers with more buildings at discounted prices, so 3 MONSTER-VALUE packs are available today at http://www.modelbuildings.org/monster-value-pack-save.html

There have been several requests for some downloadable buildings to be made available in O scale, so 12 designs (already available in other scales) have been adapted for O scale enthusiasts. Trust me; it wasn’t an easy or inexpensive job, as a lot of work was required to retain the HIGH QUALITY photo realistic effects, so the buildings could be safely enlarged to O scale without losing clarity. The designs were also specially adapted to print in both A4 size [letter size] and in A3 size [tabloid size].

Although it would be good to make the whole range available in O scale, the cost and time factor is prohibitive at this stage. So, this is a test market to see how much demand there is for O scale buildings of this kind. Depending on the response, more buildings will hopefully become available in future months.

The designs are now available in O scale at http://www.oscalebuildings.com or for HO, N, Z, and OO scale at http://www.modelbuildings.org/low-relief-buildings-G.html

The buildings can be easily constructed using corflute to make them very strong.

Mike asks readers:

“I inherited a Hawthorne village set including all the ceramic houses and On30 train track (dc). I have built an L table out of 2 4×8 sheets of plywood and foam. Has anyone here made a nice permanent layout out of the Hawthorne village houses? Most of what I find online is temporary for Christmas.”

Why Build a Scale Model Mining Town?

Mining settlements with operating mines exist throughout the world and most rely on a railroad to move the coal or mineral deposits for processing or export. However, over time, many mines either run out of the resource they are extracting from the ground, or the minable quantities become unprofitable. So the mines close and the people move away leaving a ghost town behind. Whatever scenario, there are possibilities for the model railroader to build a scene depicting activities at the time.

In the United States pioneering communities were often established as a result of a “gold strike.” Other communities grew around coal mining towns, cow and farming towns, gold prospecting terrain, and some towns just became railroad towns due to their proximity to other towns or resources.

Settlements often began with just a few farmers or miners living in tents, or self built cabins, or shacks. As the settlement grew, other buildings and services developed. Depending on the size or scale of mineral find or farming activities, a small town would get established complete with streets (or art least a main street), a general store, saloon, maybe a jail or sheriffs office, a schoolhouse, church, and blacksmiths. The arrival of the railroads really opened up some of these small towns and many eventually grew into some of the large cities we know today.

Go here for more information on how to build a model railroad mining town scene compete with mining chute, miners shacks, mine site office, small school house, mine managers house, and workers accommodation.

Go here for building an old Wild West town complete with sheriffs office, saloon, blacksmiths workshop, general store, gunsmiths, and Bank.

Some Mining Towns Became Ghost Towns

Other towns however, never really grew. The valuable mineral deposits ran out when there were no more precious minerals to dig, no ore smelter or mine chute was built, no railroad arrived, and the few structures left were often abandoned. Even a scene like that (although somewhat sad), can develop into a mysterious and fascination landscape on a model railroad. The hobbyist can add broken down wagons, and maybe even some tumbleweed to complete the realism of the diorama.

Most Mining Communities Need a Railroad

For those who are interested; some of the historic mining communities throughout North America include: Glace Bay (Nova Scotia) and Dawson City (Yukon) in Canada; Skagway and Juneau in Alaska; Tombstone, Bisbee and Klondyke in Arizona; Calico and Columbia in California; Denver and Idaho Springs in Colorado; Custer in Idaho; Seymour, Coalville, and Muchakinock in Iowa, Bessemer in Michigan; Marble, Chisholm, Mountain Iron in Minnesota; Butte and Virginia City in Montana; Goldfield in Nevada, Pinos Altos and Silver City in New Mexico; Deadwood in South Dakota; Eureka, Silver Reef and Spring Canyon in Utah; and Hurley in Wisconsin. This list is by no means complete, but serves to show how wide spread and important mining is or was in the USA and Canada.

This article has mainly focused on mining in North America, but that’s not to say mining in other countries has been or still is very important. South Africa is known for its precious metals like diamonds, Australia has many resources including iron ore, coal, gold, copper, silver, uranium, opals, bauxite, nickel, diamonds, zinc, oil shale, petroleum, and natural gas. Other countries throughout the world also operate big mining operations of one kind or another.

So it doesn’t matter where you live, or what era or area you as basing your model railroad around; it is usually possible to incorporate mining activities of some kind. And, most mines need good rail access to transport the precious resources to a refinery, or to a port for export. The ideal situation for any model railroader!

A brand new series of 10ft, 20ft, and 40ft intermodal shipping containers has just been released. The intricate detailing has to be seen to be believed!!! Some a covered in rust, and others have graffiti on one side. There is even a selection of refrigerated containers with motors on one end. The logos designs are unique and are not available anywhere else.

The huge advantage with these model shipping containers is that you are able to scale them to HO, OO, or N scale by simply adjusting the settings on your printer. After downloading them, you can make several copies of each container if you want to, so they work out really cheap if you want to stack them high.

Take a close-up look at this new series of scale model shipping containers here.

Steve used the link on this page to submit this question to readers:

“I only started my layout 11 months ago and am planning a mining or old west town… I haven’t yet decided because I haven’t yet done any scenery or structure stuff on my layout. Has anyone got any good ideas for what types of scenery or structures I could incorporate into a small mining town or wild west town? I am open to ideas. Thanks.”

Russell has a question for readers and asks:

“I want to apply an application of mortar between structure bricks and am not sure of the correct process. I am hoping someone can advise me of the correct way to do it. Is there a way to add color to the bricks before I apply any mortar”

Callum has a related question, “Can somebody tell me the best way to scratch build a brick wall?”

Add your comment.

The guys at modelbuildings.org are still offering this FREE sample if you haven’t yet grabbed it.

The detailing is especially true to real life as they use “photo-realistic” images of actual buildings to replicate the weathering effects found in everyday life. This FREE sample even includes a choice of four signs for over the store frontage. You don’t need to sign up for anything to get the free sample (that’s unusual these days!), but I’m sure they would appreciate it if you purchased something from their website, or at least told your friends about their great site.

Download your FREE sample building here

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This new video features a guy airbrushing and I’m sure you’ll agree he makes it look easy.

http://www.modelbuildings.org/background-building-plans.html