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A Little Early Christmas
I wasn’t going to start listening to Christmas music early this year… until I did. Ah well, can you really ever have too much Christmas, too early? Yes, I know it’s sappy, over-sentimental, cutesy, cornball, mushy, saccharine, etc., etc. Hey, I play with trains all day, so I’d be right at home in this little […]
Bad Bayou N Scale Halloween Diorama Revisited 2018 | Part 4 / Final
In Part 3 of the Bad Bayou 2018 series, we had all our LEDs installed and I vowed not to add any more, so naturally I had to add some more. Just one more flashing welding effect set and a few individual flickering LEDs for a campfire… and one more LED spotlight from our metal […]
Bad Bayou N Scale Halloween Diorama Revisited 2018 | Part 3
Here’s the penultimate article for the 2018 MTL themed, Halloween Bad Bayou N scale shadowbox. That really is a mouthful! In the last article we were painting LED strip lights and really setting up for the addition of even more LEDs and LED effects. Well clearly, we got a bit obsessed since then. I am […]
Bad Bayou N Scale Halloween Diorama Revisited 2018 | Part 2
After we finished Part 1 of this series, we realized the brass toggle switch we’re using for the main power was installed upside down! Quickly ordering a new switch, we then dug the “incorrect” switch out of the epoxy used to mount it in the shadowbox with a rotary tool. So… funny story, the original […]
Bad Bayou N Scale Halloween Diorama Revisited 2018 | Part 1
Last year, 2017, we built the Bad Bayou, Micro-Trains Line inspired, N Scale Shadowbox for Halloween. As often happens, we ran a little short on time. I’ll give some blame to a nor’easter that knocked out power for a day on October 30th 2017, but I’ll take the hit too… there’s always too little time. […]
Using Tree and Plant Roots in Model Train Scenery
To add a nice extra bit of realism, I’ve always liked to look of exposed tree roots on a model train layout. Roots creeping out from cuts in the earth or even from rock faces add a nice touch to any scene. You’ll need to do a little judicious root hunting to get the right […]
NO-OX-ID A-SPECIAL For Model Trains
There was a recent post on a forum talking about revitalizing some old, corroded track and the product NO-OX-ID A-SPECIAL electrical grease was brought up in the conversation. This is one of those products you hear about from time to time, make a mental note to buy but never actually get around to buying it; […]
Cleaning Model Trains With Foam Tipped Swabs
Lots of model railroaders use Q-Tips cotton swabs for cleaning hard to reach areas on their trains, track and turnouts. Having worked extensively in the smaller scales, Z and N, the cotton fibers that can / will come loose from a Q-Tip and find their way in to gears, wheels, track joints and all other […]
Shortytown In Z Scale | Rokuhan Shorty
Rokuhan recently, and in a very welcome move, introduced their Shorty Z scale locomotive chassis. This new Z scale chassis reminds me of the Kato N scale series of powered chassis, the 11-xxx series. Both are very inexpensive, nice little runners and ready to be used for all sorts of DIY projects. The new Rokuhan […]
DIY LED Pin Spotlight
While I was doing a little shopping online the other day I came across some neat looking little LED spotlights. Having no real need for them, I naturally bought several. At less than $3.00 each, how wrong can you really go? These are 1W LED lights with a swivel head and they each come with […]
