Construction of a model railway is one of the most exciting and beautiful views hobbies that are widespread abroad. Garden trains – favorite hobby not only children, but also pensioners, to whom the latter devote all their time.
In the USA and Western Europe, you can often see older people and their grandchildren watching with admiration and delight the light electric locomotives that leave the depot and run merrily around their summer cottage.
In Russia, this entertainment has not yet received due popularity, but interest in garden railways is growing every day. After all, she can become original decoration landscape: it is arranged taking into account flower beds, ponds and bridges. The track that runs under awnings, through gazebos, sheds, other buildings or even rooms in the house looks especially impressive.
How they do it
To build a garden railway, special starter kits of various scales are usually purchased (the most common is G): with a locomotive and cars, rails, switches, transformer, etc. High-quality “toys” are intended for outdoor use, and therefore are resistant to high and low temperatures and precipitation.
First, the roadbed is prepared - by analogy with the present one, but taking into account the scale, type of soil and local vegetation. The soil is taken out onto the floor with the bayonet of a shovel. To avoid problems with grass, a lining is made from synthetic drainage material under the body of the ballast prism, sand and crushed stone are poured.
For a ballast prism, the so-called berry crushed stone with a fraction of 3–7 mm is best suited.
Rails and sleepers are laid directly on the crushed stone, without fastening: the track lies securely on the ballast under the weight of its own weight.
The garden railway needs maintenance: the rails are cleaned every three to four days, the grass is regularly weeded and mowed, and leaves and tree fruits are removed.
Fruits falling on the rails can damage them by causing oxidation. When operating on outdoors the surface of the rails becomes dirty, which leads to contact failure.
To the delight of the children and to help yourself
Chudotxt, a member of the “House and Dacha” forum, is one of the few daredevils who dared not only to buy a garden train, but to build it with their own.
To make his dream come true, the owner, who has been interested in model railroading since childhood, sacrificed his country barn. On the vacated territory of 12 acres, Alexey built a collapsible narrow-gauge railway with a length of 120 m and a gauge of 300 mm. I ordered the rails to be made from a rectangular profile 50x25 mm.
A forum member recreated the model of the railway on a scale of 1:2. The inventor did not intend to copy real cars, he main task was - to enjoy trips, reviving the impressions experienced in distant childhood. In addition, it was planned to test our own models at the railway, provide an interesting pastime for the family on weekends, communicate with like-minded people and receive a small income from the enterprise.
Pondering specifications future motor vehicle and having coordinated them with his financial capabilities, chudotxt decided to make the car small but spacious. He built the locomotive himself.
The machine is driven by a 50 cc four-stroke engine with an automatic transmission, taken from a children's ATV. The maximum speed of the car is 10 km/h. To make it possible to change the direction of movement, Alexey installed a reverse gearbox. To make it even more chic, the forum member equipped the motor vehicle with lighting devices and a signal, the sound of which brings the neighborhood kids running.
In order not only to ride himself, but also to please his guests, the forum member made a passenger trailer-banquette. I ordered a cart, made a car frame, and made a roof out of boards. The outside of the car was covered with percale and everything was painted. The length of the passenger car was 2.4 meters.
Chudotxt proved that this is not just an idle game by attaching a special trolley to a motor locomotive for transporting sand and other materials. Over time, the rolling stock was replenished with an electric trolley, made from a children's car.
On the site of the dismantled and burned barn, a bathhouse was built, stylized as a station building. Later, a pointer machine found under a slope took its place, and a “schedule” and a platform clock appeared.
Even a child can drive the locomotive: in the cabin there is only a gas handle and a brake. The train can carry three adults and three children at a time.
Based on materials from participants of the forum "House and Dacha"
. Now we will tell you how to make a more complex layout. To my surprise, we didn’t get bored with that gaming table, as I expected at the beginning. And not only that, it turned out that this was not enough for us. Therefore, in the new project we took into account our requirements and mistakes. We suggest you immediately see what we got in the videoAnalogue control (DC) or digital control (DCC)
We chose analog control, we will talk about this separately here (the article is not ready yet).
Control Panel
A control panel was installed on this mockup (see photo below). It switches all automatic arrows, the turntable (in the center), and switches two lines in the Depot on and off.
The panel itself is made of 2 mm aluminum sheet, bent at 90 0, for fastening to the table. It is removed during storage (see video).
Traffic lights and lighting
Traffic lights are connected to automatic turnouts and controlled by turnout switch relays. We made the traffic lights ourselves: a pair of diodes, resistance and epoxy glue.
So far we have only done the lighting of the depot. In the future we plan to provide lighting in other places.
What would we change if we were making this layout from scratch?
The distance from the edge of the table to the ballast is on average 5 cm. But after we purchased new locomotives, it turned out that this was not enough. These locomotives are “advanced” and heavy. At high speed, such a locomotive sometimes capsizes when turning, if you do not slow down. To ensure that the locomotive does not fall on the floor, there must be a space of at least 7-8 cm.
Result:
We have completed all assigned tasks. The layout functions well. The marshalling and siding tracks provide sufficient space for carriages while leaving the main tracks clear for train traffic. Now every corner of the gaming table is easily accessible. The appearance of sorting tracks, a container terminal, and a depot added many elements to the game.
Today I want to tell you about our railway. In fact, it is not made of iron at all :-), but made by mom from cardboard in literally five minutes.
But it’s very fun to play with, and most importantly, you can play for a very long time, which cannot but please the mother, who suddenly has time for herself :)
Just recently we were given a train. This gift was spontaneous, so there are no devices to ensure normal functioning of this subject we did not have.
And I really wanted to take the train along the rails, tunnels and slides... So my mother had to get creative :) As a result, I got something like this
Our children's railway consists of:
- 3 rail routes
- slides
- tunnel
- tunnel-pipe
- repair station
- car washes
To make the railway you needed:
- a piece of wallpaper (or a sheet of whatman paper)
- double sided tape
- regular wide tape
- stationery knife and scissors
- pencils
- small box
- sponge for washing dishes
- 2 clothespins
- jar lid
- rolls from toilet paper
- box cover
- piece of cardboard
Making a railway
Everything is very, very simple. Rails, as you yourself understand, I drew it with a pencil.
We ended up with three routes, each in its own color (if your child is interested in learning colors, the multi-colored rails will also be educational in nature. You can draw more routes to cover all the colors necessary for learning)
Tunnels and slides
You need to make two holes opposite in the lid of the box with a stationery knife - this creates a tunnel (it’s important not to forget to make walls out of cardboard in the middle of the tunnel, otherwise the train risks getting lost and not leaving 😉)
On one side, we attach a piece of cardboard to the box with tape and get slide. Don’t forget to glue the slide to the wallpaper with double-sided tape.
The same applies to the box itself. We connect toilet paper rolls together and get a pipe. We attach it with tape to the other edge of the box and the wallpaper - tunnel-pipe ready for use.
Washing
We cut the dishwashing sponge into 2 parts (or 4) and place them in clothespins.
Using a utility knife, we make two holes in the box opposite (the entrance and exit from the sink) and another two or four holes in the walls for washcloths. Glue the box to the wallpaper with double-sided tape.
Repair station
The simplest object of our railway. A regular cover attached to the wallpaper with double-sided tape.
That's all the work took me about 15 minutes. But the child is so happy :) And hours of games are guaranteed.
Of course, it didn’t turn out very representative, it could have been made more beautiful, covered everything with colored paper and made the children’s railway look marketable, but I simply didn’t have time for all this.
And it’s probably not about beauty, but about ideas, what do you think 🙂?
What railroads are you playing with?
With love,
|
How to make a model railway with your own hands . Toy railroads are integrally associated with childhood. Many of us at a young age once owned a plastic or iron model railroad. And those who could boast of a foreign-made model were considered lucky. Nowadays, the hobby of toy railroads has grown into a large modeling industry. To the main attributes - a track and a locomotive with trailers - trees, houses, roads, cars, and relief surroundings were added. And a table with a full-fledged model of a railway, with many details and little things, is already real art. Abroad similar products cost from 2 thousand dollars, in this article we will tell you how to make a full-fledged model of a toy railway with your own hands. |
Table
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You will need space for the layout. Ideally, this should be a separate table, but you can get by with a small table, or simply a fenced-off area on any suitable surface. It all depends on your desire and scope. I recommend starting with a small place - for example, part of a table, and then, if you are inspired, make a larger layout. It’s better to start small than to immediately take on a large amount of work and quit halfway.
Starter set
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The thing without which it will not be possible to make a model railway is the railway itself. Or rather, for him, or just ready-made model railways.
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Sketch
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To know where you are heading, you need to have a goal in front of your eyes. Make a rough sketch on paper - where everything should be and what it will be like general form your layout. Browse the Internet, look at numerous railway models and take note of what you like -,. You can make a model of a stop station in the Wild West, or you can make a model of a station in the center of a modern city. But be sure to decide before you get to work. And make markings on the table so that you don’t suddenly discover that the track goes beyond the boundaries of the table, or that it will cling to a passing train.
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Mountains
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Through which the train will pass will be the decoration of the layout. To create a small mountain you will need polyurethane foam, plywood, knife, alabaster and sandpaper.
First, think over and, if possible, draw a sketch of the future mountain. Then knock down a small box of plywood or other material over the rails. suitable material. Make sure that the size of the box will allow your train to pass freely through the tunnel. Then start applying foam around the box, with pauses of one and a half to two hours, to allow the layers to dry and not sag under their own weight. After you apply the required volume of foam, leave it to dry for at least a day.
After a day, pick up a knife (a stationery knife is more convenient) and start picking at the mountain - cut off the excess pieces, giving it the shape you intended. Cut out hollows, crevices, try to make it as natural as possible.
Next you will need alabaster. Dilute it with water and cover the entire mountain with a thin layer of up to 3 mm. It dries quickly, so use small amounts of it. Then wait again for several hours until everything hardens - it is better not to use a hair dryer.
Now we need to paint over the mountain gray. To do this, buy a can of primer at any auto store, matching the color of the gray stone, and you can paint your mountain. Just test the paint on something else first to make sure it's the right color for you.
Next, use sandpaper and rub the mountain in places to remove layers of primer here and there. This will make the mountain more naturalistic, so that it is not a uniform color, but a shade from light to dark gray. You can repeat painting and sanding several times until you get something you're happy with. You can also paint individual pieces of the mountain white or black to make it more realistic.
Finally, take green paint and tint the pieces of the mountain in the color of green - this way it will be even more naturalistic. Only the paint should be a believable, “moss” color.
Your mountain (or slide) is ready. Congratulations, you've already done quite a bit of work. Next in line are the remaining details of the relief.
Here it all depends on your imagination, the size of the free space and the suitable details that you have. Fill the unoccupied surface of the table - for example, with a dummy, which is sold in stores.
Layout is a very interesting activity.
I have always dreamed of making a model railway since childhood; in reality, I only completed a few spans of experimental tracks. Unfortunately, during my work I encountered many problems and scarce parts, in this article I want to discuss with you the most FAQ when creating a layout of railway tracks and transport.
In the second issue of ModelMen magazine, I published an article and several photographs from the website of one experienced modeler, he builds model railroads and participates in exhibitions with his creations. Even by looking at the photographs of the layout, you can already determine for yourself the amount of work, make a list of tools and materials. I will not give the entire list of what is needed at once because it may not be complete, let’s better figure out together what is made of what.
Base
The model railway track must stand on something, so at the very beginning it is necessary to construct a base (table) for the model. The base can be solid or collapsible. It’s easier to make a solid base, but then you need to decide in advance on the room for the layout; it should be a spacious room in case of expanding the scale.
For the base you will need legs; you can take them from old ones school desks or make them yourself. The entire structure can be easily made from plywood and wooden blocks. For fastening you will need screws and metal corners. To make a collapsible model, you will have to rack your brains over the design of the base and methods of its transportation.
Tool
To work you will need many different tools:
Hammer
- screwdrivers
- wire cutters and pliers
- chisels
- files
- spatulas
- scissors
- knives
- tassels
- soldering iron
- and etc.
Railway track
In order for the trains to move in the right direction, we need rails; they can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores for modellers. If you, like me, do not have such stores in your city, then you can buy them through online stores or go buy them yourself. IN as a last resort You will have to make the rails yourself.
The simplest construction option is to use ready-made rails; they are glued or nailed with small nails to the base; the joints can be soldered and cleaned with a file.
If there are no ready-made rails, then you need to think about how to make them yourself; you can take the dimensions of the rails that are sold in stores and make the same ones of your own. For sleepers you will need to cut a lot of thin blocks, this can be done on a small machine. The rail itself must conduct current, so it is advisable to make it from thick copper wire, which can be rolled on manual machine to a rectangular section. You can attach the rail to the sleepers using good glue or solder to nails driven into the sleepers, this can be done after 3-4 sleepers.
Electrical equipment
For the movement of the train there is a pipe electricity, unless of course you are making a steam locomotive. Factory and homemade blocks power supply (see diagrams, radio engineering), the output voltage should not be dangerous, usually a power supply up to 16 volts is used, for small models 6 - 9 volts is enough.
The train moves with the help of an electric motor; it can be taken from broken toys or purchased at a radio store. Electricity is supplied to the engine from two rails, the voltage is removed from them using two or more counters or from metal wheels the train itself.
To distribute electricity along the layout (base), you will need copper wires and connectors.
In addition to the trains themselves, the layout may contain traffic lights, barriers, lamps and other elements that require electricity. Before routing the wires, carefully consider every detail; after installation it will be too late to wire the wires, you will have to cut the layout.
Landscape
An integral part of a good layout is the design of the landscape, this is worth paying attention to Special attention. To be similar to reality, you need to work hard on simulating hills, vegetation, buildings, people, vehicles, etc.
Many parts can be used in finished form, i.e. take toy cars, figurines of people, you can also buy figurines of animals, trees in children's stores...
To imitate hills, mountains, etc. you will need plywood, building plaster, papier-mâché, fiberglass, acrylic paints and other finishing materials.
Building
Models of buildings can also be purchased at toy stores or you can make them yourself from wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, plywood, etc.
Often modelers take real train stations as a model, photograph them and turn them into miniatures on the table.
On the site I will periodically publish my developments and those sent by you, you are probably interested in information on how to make a model train, traffic lights, trees, bridges and other elements for the railway. And I will also publish electrical circuits, photographs and drawings of old and new trains.
