18 year old newbie...

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,
Like the topic says i'm an 18 year old and i am new to model railroading, anyways i helped my dad build a really big 0- gauge layout before when i was around 10-13 years old, he was working at that time. But now he's lost all interest in it. I am on a tight budget, I have no skills at wiring, and so on. The layout is made completely out of sheets of plywood with track laid down on it and under it is the wires for the layout, now i'm wondering how to hook-up inside building lights(buildings are very, very old), the crossing gates, and stuff like that. Also what could i do to make cheap realistic trees like the ones found in northeast Pennsylvania, and anyother cheap tricks-of-the trade that i could use on the layout... One problem that is really bugging me though is coming up with an idea on what to do to make realistic overhead lines that are suspended above the track for electric trains like the gg1 and stuff... Any ideas would be greatly appreciated at this time...

[Anonymous]

Trees are easy to make from the right kinds of weeds, or from floral material you get at craft stores. When I was your age, I used a lot of green lichen clumps draped over twigs, but ultimately these weren't very convincing. What I am doing these days is to use the floral material (you can find a decent variety of dried material) which I cut out at basic tree shapes, then gather two or three sprigs together and glue them to form a thicker trunk, and finally dip the tops in a diluted glue so as to sprinkle ground foam as leaves on it. For background trees, I'll probably use lichen clumps which I sprinkle with ground foam as well (so that the overall colors and textures match).

Another cheap trick I did back then was to use Christmas tree lights (the small kind) for lighting buildings; the circuit is simple, with all the bulbs wired in series (i.e. the output of one bulb leads to the input of the next bulb), so in order to get the right distance between bulbs I just cut the wire and splice in extra length. However, you need access to the bulbs, since if one bulb quits the whole strand does. You just plug the complete strand (with the same or greater number of bulbs total) into a regular outlet or extension cord, there isn't any connection to a power pack.

Overhead catenary wires are difficult enough for experienced modelers to achieve, such that many never even attempt them. But, there are a large number of modelers who have done them, and there are commercial products available; the thing is, though, it won't be cheap. One thing you might do is just represent the main support posts/bridges, either with commercial kits or with your own scratchbuilt stand-ins, and delay doing the full wire rigging for later. Once the wires are up, it will be difficult to access trains on the track and it will be delicate work to do any maintenance of the track, so you would need to be sure that things are working as flawlessly as possible before stringing them.

[Jetrock]

It depends on what kind of overhead you want to do. Heavy-duty catenary is more involved and more pricey, but basic trolley wiring, while still kind of precise and labor-intensive, is a lot simpler. Poles can be made from piano wire, and the actual trolley wire doesn't cost much--a couple bags of seed beads will provide materials for insulators and hangers. The other nice thing about trolley is that it's well-suited for small layouts with its sharp turns and minimal space requirements.

[der5997]

Piano wire poles would perhaps be a bit thin for O scale? Anyhow, back to bascis on the wiring. Do't put yourself down too much, you probably have more skills than you realize. The people in the hobby all started out with (supposedly) no skills, but in fact everyone has all kinds, but don't realize it until it's time to try something.
So, how about getting hold of a bok on basic layout wiring, or magazine articles about it. (Local Hobby Store is the best place to start, or if you know of a club, they likely have the resources you need.) Soldering will be explained in the book / articles, and a bit of practice with some scrap wire will bring you up to speed quite quickly.
If your layout is 3 rail, then you have some problems solved for you already, if it's 2 rail you have avoided some specific challenges of 3 rail.[%-)][:D]
Point is, you can do more than you imagine. Budget is always a factor of course, so be willing to comprimise in order to build what you want. Demanding "only the best and only the prototypical" is a high ideal, but has its costs. Above all HAVE FUN[8D]

[Jetrock]

der5997:True enough, for O scale 1/4" wood dowels or 3/16" brass rod are closer to scale. And from what I've been told, O scale overhead is quite a bit easier to work on than HO--twice as much clearance, and the components are actually pretty close to being in scale.

[Anonymous]

my dad is a certified master electrician and worked for IBEW down in philly until he retired, which my dad does have a book about modeling scenery for a layout it's called Scenery Tips, and Techniques it's put out by mr... one interesting thing in it though is making trees out of wire and then zap texturing it, which i'm experimenting with it... overall the trees do look real when your working on o-gauge and strand like 4 20" wires together makes a tree like 10" tall and but my dad took 2 strands and folded them in half clamped em in a vice and twisted em together, then soldered it, and i got stuck making the "tree"... But anywho the track is 3 rail o-gauge, and there's 3 different continious closed circut tracks that goes along the lines of an outer, middle, and inner track with a train yard back where the outer track makes a large right turn, which my dad used alot of switch track for the train yard, now the yard has 9 or 10 differt "bays" which you can park each individual train after your done playing with them, and he has a line going from the outer track to the bays by means of a y juntion well it's two normal switch track that forms a y at least, the middle track is elevated above the layout about 7 or 8" above the layout for the trains to pass under so that you can get to the middle and inner track... which my dad has a small stone pebble pile out in the woods, and to cover up the homemade wooden trusses that he made for it i was thinking about taking some of them pebbles and putting something down on the bottom of the middle track where it elevates and using some kind of backing material so that i could caulk each individual pebble to the backing material to give it a kinda vintage 1800's look, but set in modern times... buuuuuuuuuuuuut i don't know if it's going to work as i planned or backfire right in my face, and since my dad has like two or three electric trains (mostly diesels and steamers though) i want to make it look like they actually ran on that central overhanging cable and don't know how to go about doing it on the middle track where it elevates, by the way the grade for the middle track i think is like 1 or 2 percent. Now i guess what my question is... is has anyone ever tried this before, which one thing i forgot to mention all three tracks have a 1 or 2" clearence from eachother

[der5997]

Sounds like you have a plan. There's a ton of old infrastructure still being used by modern equipment. so long as it's rugged enough to stand the weight and vibration of modern traffic, I guess the roads don't spend money to replace it unless it's in the way or too small for larger trains. Your best bet ([2c]) is to try out what you've got in mind. If you don't get it to work first time, you are out your labour plus a minimal amount of your budget, and you have gained experience. Just choose a backing that will take the weight of the pebbles. Also, if the pebbles are too big, they may act as a heat sink to the hot glue, so you may have to act fast to get the stone sto stick before the glue cools down. Or, if this cooling thing is a real problem, go up to a hotter melting glue. Be careful with that tho' and don't get burned.[}:)]
Now, as to the backing. Plywood comes to mind first off. It's expensive, but cheaper for the thinnner stuff. For the backing you don't need more thickness than will stand the weight of the pepples. I think you'll be fine with 1/4 inch. You may need to screw a wood strip along the bottom, or where ever, to attach the ply to the rest of the layout. Cheap ply is to be had at building re-cycle places. Remember, this doesn't have to look prtty if it's all covered with scenery.[:D] Just thought, as I was reviewing this, you might get away with wall panneling, which should be cheaper still.
Experiment, it's a great way to learn. Oh, and HAVE FUN. [8D]

[Anonymous]

Many libraries will have books that will help you with model railroading, including scenery. If there's more than one library, do a search of a number of them (which often can now be done in one library on their computer).