Modular Model Railroads

Note: Harold is building a new layout and has indicated on forums that he will be taking down the old site.  If you are interested in this information, please visit the site and make pdfs of the information before it is gone.

The Pacific Coast Airline Railway (“PCAR”) is Harold Minkwitz’s narrow gauge, 1870’s California railroad modelled in Sn3.5, the British Imperial gauge.  The current layout is a 4×8 foot built to test and serve as a “proof of concept” for techniques to be used in the future construction of a basement filling layout.  The 4 x 8 ft. layout is constructioned in halves, or sectional so that it may be easily moved from the basement.  There is also a page showing how a 4×8 layout can be integrated in to a 10 x 11 ft. room.  The PCAR website also has PhotoAlbum1 and PhotoAlbum2.

 Of interest to module-makers are the large number of tutorials covering a variety of scenery making techniques.  Harold is generous in creating his extensive tutorials and sharing them and is gracious in also documenting methods that don’t work.  Several of these articles have been published in either Railroad Model Craftsman or Model Railroader magazines.

Foliage

• Making Logs
• Tree Bark Texture
• Grass from Faux Fur
• Grass Clumps from Faux Fur 
• Faux Fur Grass & Bushes
• Backdrop Foliage 
• Realistic Ferns
• Realistic Bushes
• Western Bushes
• Prickly Pear Cactus

Rocks & Ground Cover

• Ceiling Tile Igneous Rocks
• Ceiling Tile Rock Faces
• More Ceiling Tile Rocks
• Making Dirt Clods 
• Rock Faces
• Dynamite Lines on Rock Faces
• Inexpensive Gravel
• Eroded Field
• Dirt Roads
• Loose Dirt

Water

• Foamy Water
• Rushing Water
• Balloon Pond 

Scratch Building

• Small Trestle
• Painting Backdrops 
• Styrene as Aging Wood
• Weathering Track
• Styrene Weathered like Wood
• Realistic Tarpaper

The PCAR website also has tutorials on hard-shell terrain and modifying freight cars to be more realistic.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 11:25 pm and is filed under How To, Module Construction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.