Model Forum / General / Railroads / December 2005

To cunning, unless you like 101 answers containing totally
contradictory advice!

No way, ask here, then read the answer here.

Go DCC from day #1, and avoid Code 100 track *hangs head in shame*

As someone who's recently returned, my one piece of advice would be to not
be a cheapskate. Generally you do get what you pay for. 2nd-hand track on
eBay is cheap, mainly because it's rubbish <--- not doing that again.

Umm, no. As Jerry has said, read the newsgroup, contribute to the newsgroup.
You'll get more out of it that way.

Cheers, Martyn

Don't use Sundeala as a baseboard top. Don't ballast your track until
you've played with your layout for at least six months.

Fred X

00 gauge

Really decide in advance what exactly do get most enjoyment out of doing.
Building-track, rolling stock, scenery, buildings? Operating? Researching?
Getting away from the wife? What? having done that plan your hobby around
your main interest.

Then look at the space you've got sombody mentioned that a decent length
train in 00 is around 2 meters long, god knows what that is, 9' perhaps?
Well not necessarily, branch line terminus you can spend years at
perfecting all the little details would handle trains no more than about 3'
long (holiday peek!) in 00, you could get the whole thing in to about 10' x
18". Likewise, if you enjoy collecting stock then a small "depot layout" -
little more than a small MPD cold be 3 or 4 feet by 2 ... again 00.

If space is really an issue than go for N gauge, on the other hand, big
garden whay not a G gauge garden layout?

You enjoy building stock? Why not start of with some 0 gauge kits?

Bottom line you've really got to decide what you want out of the hobby
before asking questions such as why should you build your benchwork out of
3/4" MDF and not Sundeala or why is DCC such a waste of expense, time and
effort. ;-)

Once you do know what you want then this is the place to come back to to
find out how to achieve it.

Most of us learn by the mistakes we make, and it's fair to say that those of
us who have not made any, have done nowt.

Firstly sit down with a pen & paper and make a listing of all the features
which you want to incorporate in your layout and why.  Then consider how the
various control, coupler and other options are likely to facilitate these,
and only then start to think about a track plan.

Don't be over-ambitious.  If you're working alone consider your limitations
in terms of skills and time available.  The worst thing you can do is take
on a task which you're not likely to finish for whatever reason.  It's
better to have modest ambitions and actually get something up and running
which you know you have the capability of finishing.

If you live near an active model railway club it might pay you to go along
as a visitor (don't join in the first place) and get some ideas, but don't
let them hijack you into their way of thinking or doing things.  Stay open
minded in other words.

John.

Well, my depot layout is a catalogue of cock-ups, most of which I don't
think I've learned from. I wish I had:

1). Not allowed such a tight radius curve coming off one of my points. It
looks OK when you look at the track but when a loco goes over it it looks
stupid.
2). Studied track layouts of real loco depots beforehand.
3). Decided, and left space for, all the lineside buildings, catenary masts,
manual point levers, signals, and barrow-type crossings BEFORE I had
ballasted. Not an insurmountable problem, but it would have saved a bit of
hassle.
4). Realised how vulnerable a mesh fence right at the front of the layout
would be (it's still up though - fingers crossed). That Ratio fencing is the
fiddliest thing in the whole world.
5). Used something lighter in weight than MDF to construct my
bridge/tunnel/backscene. It also makes them look overscale.
6). Realised that painted cork underlay would look crap pretending to be
concrete, and not very strong either.
7). Pinned down the cork underlay under the track instead of gluing it,
which made it go rock hard.
8). Could find a better way of painting that plasticard with bricks embossed
in it - it looks sort of OK but I'm still not happy.
9). Found a better way of weathering my stone walls than covering them with
thinned dark grey paint.
10). Made a proper wiring diagram.
11). Found a better and sturdier way of making between-baseboard electrical
connections than those 25-way computer connectors. I still can't think of
one, but I think moving them about (with all the wires soldered to them) to
disconnect/reconnect is going to cause problems before long.
12). Found a better way of joining the two baseboards than a pair of bolts
linking together adjacent 2 x 1 lengths. Since my layout is 'on the floor'
of the loft, I have to lift it every time I want to join/seperate the
boards.
13). Realised that, if you're as lazy as I am, everything will take much,
much longer than you think, so not to be too ambitious.

However, I did make some better decisions:

1). I'm glad I didn't erect catenary over the whole layout - putting it at
the front of the layout would have obscured everything further back.
2). Weathering the track and ballast, and painting the sides of the rails.
It was boring but worth it. And you only have to do one side.
3). The concrete effect I was after is sort-of achievable with Dulux
textured paint.
4). Making new doors for the Peco diesel depot kit makes it look loads
better.
5). Every scenic cock-up or mistake or dodgy-looking bit can be concealed
with something. A lineside hut. A downpipe. Some bushes. If I hadn't
realised that, I would have given up ages ago!

Regards,

Stuart.

Hi Peter

Lots of good advice elsewhere in this thread but my 2p worth is find your
local club and join it.  That way all the academic things that other people
are saying will be put in a practical context.

If you tell us where you are in the country (town is enough) I am sure
someone will know of a club nearby.

Elliott
Chairman
Fareham & Dist MRC
Also member of Wessex Assn of MRCs

Spending too much time planning and not wenough time doing.

As others have said, you learn from your mistakes, so get on and make
some.

Build something small and temporary, and don't put so much effort into
it that you'll be unhappy about starting over.

Don't listen to excuses about not enough time/space/money...

Tim
(not modelling at the moment because of not enough space/money/time
and also big plans...)

1) Getting involved in flame wars on the ng.
2) Joining so many e-groups and spending all my modelling time reading
them..........
Which reminds me - off to workshop now to fit two decoders and 12 led's to a
Bachy 66.......

Cheers,
Mick

Decide on a time and location to model from day 1 - rather than collect
some random stuff, and then try to look for a location it'd all appear
together at.

Decide on a scale, gauge, and track standard from day 1 - and try to
stick to it. I've had 4mm/ft 16.5mm ('OO') gauge coarse scale, 2mm/ft
9mm ('N') gauge coarse scale, and now I'm trying a fine scale approach.
It'd have been much better to go for one standard, and stick with it...

Decide on one decent coupler technology, and fit all stock with it. For
me, I'd say something that is capable of 'hands off' operation, for both
coupling and uncoupling, and that doesn't look out of place on the stock
it is on. Definately no tension locks (or N gauge rapidos). Both are too
large, too ungainly, and don't work well enough. Now I have a
significant (yet random) selection of stock, fitting it all with proper
couplings looks like hard work...

I'd test out my kit building skills before deciding on a stock mix that
relies heavily on kits. And definately avoid buying a complex N gauge
loco kit with lots of fiddly etched bits as my first kit. Also,
preferrably not buy said kit just before a ready to run model of the
same loco is announced. This I did particularly badly.

I'd also want to find out I'm an engineer and not an artist before
planning to paint anything. Building the chassis of that kit was no
problem - getting the gear mesh right, making it run smoothly, etc,
proved relatively straightforward. Assembling the bodyshell and trying
to get everything to look right, is proving more difficult. In
particular, lining up all those etched bits. And I doubt I'll ever
actually paint it...

Finally, I'd buy less on ebay. (Not avoid it completely - I'm pleased
with some of the stuff I bought on ebay, but some of it was a mistake).
Definately don't buy anything in the first few weeks of looking at ebay,
because you'll undoubtedly see the same model go for less the next week
if you jump straight in on that "mega-rare" item that "won't come up again".
Good stuff tends to fetch high prices (and certain things go for silly
money), but there are bargains to be had.

One thing I have found to work when looking for an out of production
model that seems to go for completely silly money in good condition, is
buying a damaged model and repairing it. (Make sure you know what's
broken, and if spares are available though). This will keep the
collectors at bay, and thus only the modellers will be after it - the
price should be lower as a result. The engineer's kind of faults appeal
to me - things that need major surgery in the motor department, or
replacement functional bits fitting, etc. Something that's had a botched
repaint isn't that interesting to me - not being an artist, trying to
repaint it properly sounds too much like hard work...

James Moody