What is a good (and fairly inexpensive) medium for making roads and city streets, and where could I find it, other than a in hobby shop? I seem to be living in a model railroad "dead zone".
Also, I have been thinking about converting my rolling stock to kadee couplers instead of the hook-horn style I have now. Any thoughts?
Thank You! Acela
The timbers beneath the rails are not the only ties that bind on the railroad. --Robert S. McGonigal
Plastic signs found in Lowes or Home Depot work well. I just picked up a couple of handy capped parking signs that look like the correct thickness for HO sidewalk material for a town project that I am working on now.
KayDee couplers will be much improved over the horn hooks. Most serious model railroaders use them, and I do too. I use the No. 5 type, although they make a smaller type for HO now too. I use a wooden skewer as an uncoupling tool.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
on my last layout, i used durham's water putty. i have not as yet built any roads on the current layout but i think i will go the same route. you can build forms made from styrene or wood strips and pour this stuff just like they do concrete in the real world. you do have to work fast of else add a retardant to the mix to keep it from getting away from you. it takes paint or stain great and you can scribe cracks or expansion joints into it with ease. this way you can have curved roads and driveways depending on how you bend the forms.
dead zone? the last time i was in KCMO there was a great model train shop south of the downtown area. is it still there? there are several posters on this forum from the KC area and if you ask, you might be able to make contact with one or more of them. i assume you are in or near KC. right?
about the only thing people are going to agree on 100% about the coupler issue is get rid of the horn hook nmra style. personally, kadee number 5's get my vote and that is all i use and have for years. seems like everybody is trying to build a better mouse trap with limited, if any success.
grizlump
I've also used Durhams Water Putty for my roads. I buy it at my local True Value hardware store. Griz already recommended using a retardant - I use white vinegar. (Once I used red wine vinegar. My trainroom smelled like a salad for two weeks. True story.) I use a wet foam brush to keep smoothing it down as it sets. This gives me a nice, smooth road surface.
Yes, replace all your horn-hooks with Kadees. I personally use the #58 couplers, because they have smaller heads and look more prototypical. I have a bunch of #5s, too, which I installed before Kadee came out with the #58. I have a lot of old rolling stock from the 1960s that I converted from horn-hooks to knuckles. Some are as simple as dropping in the replacement and replacing the cover, while others require removing the old draft gear, drilling and tapping for a 2-56 screw, and adding a new draft gear box along with the coupler. ("Draft gear" sounds intimidating, huh? It's a little plastic box that Kadee makes. Cheap, too.)
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
One addition to the coupler question, look around for a bulk pack. I know they have 25 pr packs. Since you don't seem to have a local hobby shop, I think if you search Modeltrainstuff and other online sites you may find larger packs at conciderable saving over the 2 or 5 packs.
Have fun,
See the two "Paving Streets" tips articles at Trolleyville Schoolhouse.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Charlie Comstock has a great how to on his website. You can see it here:
http://s145079212.onlinehome.us/rr/howto/roads/index.shtml
ratled
Modeling the Klamath River area in HO on a proto-lanced sub of the SP “The State of Jefferson Line”
I build my concrete highways & Black top roads with foam-board cut to fit, put down with latex caulk, painted with acrylic paint & weathered with chalk. I still need to add my center line striping. (By using the weekly Hobby Lobby & Michael's coupons you can save on the foam board, paint ect.)
I put a street building tutorial on my site here: http://www.lancemindheim.com/roads.htm
and finished up a recent street scene in the progress photos section here: http://www.lancemindheim.com/progress_photos.htm
Lance
As Lance pointed out, the best place to by plain sheet styrene is from an industrial plastics supplier. Most big cities have at least one. We even have one here in Grand Junction, Colorado with a population of less than 50,000. A 4 x 8 foot sheet of .060 was less than $25.00, and no shipping costs! And, by all means, convert to Kadees. They might be the best investment you can make.
In my small town I can get sheets at the local sign shop. If I order something to come with his regular order, he charges no shipping. Also, I can get less than full size sheets of sizes he has on hand. Doesn't mark it up much as he has done nothing but cut it.
Small guys can offer a good price if you can wait for their delivery schedule.
Good luck,
Excellent website, thanks for posting it a very impressive piece of modeling.
I am currently working on one of the town portions of the layout and have been using Walther Asphalt street system which was a gift from one of the kids hence the only reason I am using it. It has a lot of nice details like curbing, manhole covers, storm drains etc. Only problem is if you want things to match your kinda stuck using it. I tried transitioning it to streets made from .060 styrene such as Lance did in his tutorial and as good as the styrene roads came out matching them has proven to be an undertaking.
I know a builder who uses bass wood for concrete roads and side walks. Bass wood is easily scored for expansion joints and cracks etc.and takes paint well. He throws in one little trick which I have also used is to sift on portland cement over the wet gray paint. Nothing looks more like real concrete then real concrete. I'm glad the O/P posted this as I have been experimenting with using different materials for roads and gained some valuable insight from what you guys have posted. Something as simple as Lance laying out his styrene roads and cutting the curves and straight sections all in one sheet, so simple but so effective. I also like the post about using foamcore board for concrete roads. I am curious as to how well it will hold up and generally foamcore doesn't take kindly to getting wet such as when applying ground cover etc. and will usually delaminate. I found this out the hard way after using it to mount a structure that I was going to enter at an NMRA event. Oh well live and learn.
Not to hijack the O/P's thread but have any of you noticed the need to place a foundation of sorts under your buildings to so they are level with your road surfaces?
Kansas City has 2 great train stores, plus various hobby shops and such that carry a small stock. If you cant find supplies, I dont think you have been looking very hard. If all else fails, go to Union Station and check out the model train display there (free and well worth the trip) and ask the operator where HE goes.
If you have the option, there is an advantage to picking it up locally. Obviously when you go mail order they need to roll the sheet up to ship it. It is REALLY hard to get the rolled 'memory' out of the plastic. If you pick it up you can cut it into a few pieces and lay them flat in the car. I also used to store the sheets by rolling them up and putting them in the corner. For the same reason that was a bad idea. You need to store it flat.
www.lancemindheim.com
Back on to the Kadee couplers, I heard that having them mounted on the body yields better performance than mounted on the trucks. Will I have to get new trucks for my rolling stock that has truck mounted couplers if I want to swich to body-mounted couplers?
By the way, I found a great train shop in Overland Park.
Acela
I didnt know there was one in OP, whats the name?
Prowler7 I didnt know there was one in OP, whats the name?
Fred's Train Shop. (www.fredstrainshop.com)
Also, what are your suggestions on uncoupling kadee's without the special magnet?
It does seem to be a general agreement that body mounted couplers are better, certainly in HO. You do not HAVE to change the trucks. I have converted a "cheapy" that had markings I wanted for one of my on line customers. I did cut off the coupler mounting parts from the truck. If the looks bothers you, you would have to change them, but not right off. When you do this, use the couplers that come already put together in coupler boxes, much simpler. Just glue or screw the boxes in place.
When you are upgrading your couplers, you might want to concider upgrading your wheels. Some folks swear by metal wheel sets others do not seem to trouble with plastic ones. I would suggest getting a "truck tuner" and tuning up your trucks, whether you switch to metal wheelsets or not. Made quite a change in some of the ones I have done.
Glad to see that you've found a train shop. I love the one in my area.
As for the truck-mounted couplers, I guess that will depend on the trucks. You will need to remove the old coupler mount, which might be tricky. The plastic trucks are fairly easy, since you can use cutting pliers or a sharp knife to get through them. I have some old metal trucks, and I had to use a Dremel tool with a cutoff wheel to remove the coupler brackets. At the same time, those trucks are too stiff to remove the wheels, so I had to be very careful.
Once you've removed the brackets, you should get a package of Kadee draft gear boxes, since the cars don't have anywhere to mount couplers. While you're at it, get the Kadee coupler height gauge so you can properly set the height of the couplers. It comes with instructions. Get a pack of the little washers, too, as they are very helpful in fine-tuning coupler height.
Back to the trucks. Most of them will be OK, at least for the short run. They most likely have plastic wheels. You can use them, but if you want to improve the car it's better to replace the plastic wheels with metal wheelsets. Again, depending on the trucks, they may need some work to fit the better wheelsets in properly. I've got a few cars with original trucks and replaced metal wheels, and after a lot of problems I finally gave up and just replaced the whole trucks, recovering the wheels but trashing the plastic trucks. Each one is an individual, and I have identical trucks that have never given me a bit of trouble.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
Roads: for a concrete street I used the Walthers street system but could have done about as well with sheet styrene - properly painted. I'd use the same for an asphalt road.
Gravel road: I use fireplace ash into diluted white glue. I have also used durham's water putty.
Macadam: a roofing shingle, weathered with various powders.
Dave Nelson
Take a short drive to Grandview, and take the Main Street exit to the west. There, you'll find Show Me Lines train store. You'll be amazed at how much train stuff they have crammed into that little store.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR