Smoking Chimneys On My N Gauge Model Railway

I found quite a cheap way to make the houses on my layout come to life with smoking chimneys. I used 3, 4 and 5mm plastic pipe, a cheap Chinese aquarium air pump and an e-cigarette from Poundland. There are 6 chimneys that smoke. Two are on the station in the foreground, one on each of the shop/apartment blocks behind, one in the pub next door and one at the back in the goods depot office. I changed all the flimsy paper rolled chimneys with pieces of pipe, painted appropriately on all the converted buildings. This has had the added advantage of stronger chimney pots which cannot be accidently knocked off :)

Raspberry Pi Operated N Gauge Monorail

This is an N Gauge monorail on my layout. It is completely automated using a Raspberry Pi. It operates a shuttle between the Pig & Whistle Pub station to the Castle ruins and fun fair.

It is custom built using balsa wood, plastic packaging and other items I had in my 'bits & pieces' box where I keep a lot of tiny junk :) The body of the train is the front ends of a Graham Farish GF33A Class 170 Anglia One DMU joined together. I bought just the body shell from Peter's Spares on eBay.

The track is small enough to give the appearance of a monorail but technically it isn't. It's T Gauge track at a scale of 1/450 and the tiny, though quite noisy engine, is also T Gauge sitting inside the shuttle. It operates on an independant 4.5v DC and is commanded by a Raspberry Pi to go backwards and forwards between the two stations giving time at each end for set down and pick up.

Free N Gauge Market Stalls

I've just made some n gauge (1/148) market stalls for my layout as you can see below. I have added a link to the full colour pdf plans I created and used. The single page should be printed out on paper and then cut and scored carefully with a craft knife. A bit of delicate folding and glueing should produce your stall canopy, back and sides. I used a piece of thin wire bent in the shape of a flat 'n', to support the top of the canopy and also produce the two front uprights. You can do the same for the back inside but as the stall is supported at the back anyway, I didn't see the need.

Model Railway Sound Effects Update

I've now added a PC Windows version of my Model Railway SFX App. See my original post for more details including download links :)

Free Kiosk, Luggage Trolleys, Parcels, Boxes and Crates

I've just created some luggage trolleys, parcels, boxes and crates for my N Gauge layout. I made them from card plans I created. The kiosk I made a while ago and is included on the luggage trolley pdf file. The plans are in full colour and just need to be printed out on thin card, cut out and glued. You can view/download the pdf files here. Below is a picture of the finished articles before placing on my layout. Happy Christmas 2016!

Model Railway Sound Effects

I've just created an App to give some sound effects to my n gauge layout. It's very simple and easy to use. It just turns your Android smart phone or Tablet into a sound effects board. A PC Windows version is also available. You can connect some external speakers if you wish but the sounds are quite loud enough. There are 20 realistic sound effects for model railways.

Lifelike sounds include:

Locomotive:
3 x Steam Whistles
3 x Diesel/Electric Horns
Steam Blast
Guards Bell

Background continuous sounds:
Steam Chug Slow
Steam Chug Fast
Train Track Slow
Train Track Fast

Trackside:
Guards Whistle
Factory Alarm
Car Horn
Church Bells
Dog Bark
Fog Horn
Police Siren
Ship Horn

More than one sound can be played at one time and a random function plays a different sound every few seconds if required.

Download the Android App on Amazon UK or Amazon.com.

The Windows 10/11 version is available in the Microsoft Windows Store

N Gauge Model Carts From Card

Inspired by my Steptoe cart in the previous article, I've gone cart making mad and created a further 9 different models. Some time ago I purchased a pack of white plastic animals in N Scale 1:150. These included several horses in various positions. After painting them I found I had really too many for the field I had set aside on my railway layout so the idea was born to add carts to them, starting with a Steptoe & Son rag and bone cart. Now my collection includes one for my coal merchant, timber merchant, Hodges the grocer, a Double Diamond brewery cart, an Esso Blue one and a cart for Manor Farm. I then took the design a little further and created a horse drawn milk float under the United Dairies brand.

I have added the model plans to my Etsy store if anyone would like to make these themselves. For the loads in the carts, I made these as follows.

Milk churn load. I created milk churns by cutting the ends off a cotton bud and pushing this onto the end of a cocktail stick. I then carefully cut off the end of the cocktail stick together with the cotton bud shaft, so that about 1mm of plastic remained on the cocktail stick to form a lid. I made about 20 of these and painted the ends light grey. I then stuck each cocktail stick's remaining pointed end in plasticine to dry. Once dry I cut about 5mm off each painted end of cocktail stick, creating milk churns.

  

Coal Sacks load. For coal sacks I cut off the ends of cotton buds and painted the ends a light grey. Once dry I cut them into 5mm pieces using a pair of wire cutters. This has the effect of squashing the thin tube into a more sack like shape. I then filled my sacks with a little bit of black plasticine.

Timber load. For the timber I painted several cocktails sticks with brown and black water colour paint. Once dry I cut pieces roughly to the length of the cart.

 

Barrel and sack loads. These are from the Ratio 221 plastic kit of sacks, barrels and pallets. These are quite often on Ebay and are generally no too expensive at £3-£4.

Paraffin/Gas bottle load. Cut off the very point (about 2mm) of several cocktails sticks. Paint the ends a light blue and allow to dry. Then cut 5mm pieces off the ends.

I was very pleased with the results and was able to create some little scenes as you can see in the photos. The knocked over milk churn and the United Dairies horse enjoying a surprise breakfast. The coalman filling the sacks and the brewery cart delivering to my Railway Inn pub.

Steptoe Rides Yet Again

The very popular Steptoe & Son TV sitcom in the 70s inspired me to create a rag and bone wagon from card, cocktail sticks, match sticks and cigarette filters. So you could say, Steptoe rides again. Well he does on my model n gauge railway layout!

Steptoe Rides Yet Again!

Using my own plan making software I have created several model carts to add to the horses I have. After printing out the plans, I cut out the shapes, painted any white edges and glued them together. For the wheels I used cigarette filters. Using a needle I pierced a filter through the centre, then pushed through a wooden cocktail stick so the filter was like a kebab. I then painted the filter with matt black enamel paint. Once dry I sliced a wheel sized section off both ends of the filter using a razor blade. After carefully removing the centre section, I was able to paint the inside walls of my wheels and the centre cocktail stick which was to be my axle. Again, once dry, I carefully moved the two wheels to the centre of the axle and cut off both wooden ends leaving an axle of 1cm. Still with the wheels in the middle I touched the ends of the axle with red enamel paint. When the red paint was dry I was able to move the wheels to the end of the axle so that the red was in the middle like a hub.

Making the wheels was quite a performance and took a few days allowing coats of paint to dry, so I then created some card wheels on the same plan I used for the cart and the result is just as good if not better. So my Mk2 cart was born but still very similar to the picture above. My cart plan includes a flap underneath to secure the thin wire I used for the shafts that attach the cart to the horse. I then painted the shafts black and attached a small piece of black cotton between the shafts to go over the horse's back. Using black cotton, I wound it around the horse several times and fixed it with a little glue. The shafts then rest on the horse's back without being permanently attached.

Two pieces of match stick painted blue make the seat and front of the cart. I will add photos of the other carts when I have completed them including a Double Diamond brewery cart, Esso Blue paraffin delivery and a United Dairies milk float.

4 N Gauge Model Plans: Chapel, Farmhouse and more

I've just added 4 more new N Gauge buildings that are now available to download on Etsy. Like the previous 4 recently added, I have made the plans even easier to create the models, with step by step instructions still included. Just simply print out the PDF documents, cut out and glue together. Here are the photos and details of the completed models I'm adding to my n gauge model railway layout.

Print and build 4 N Scale card model buildings including:

Farmhouse
Methodist Church/Church Hall or Chapel
Coal Merchant
Timber Merchant

The plans are in full colour PDF format and can easily be printed onto A4 thin card (160 gsm recommended) or A4 paper which can then be glued to card. Once printed they can be quickly and easily made by just cutting out and gluing the tabs etc., to make the models shown in the pictures. Step by step instructions included. Download here.

Scale 1:148 - 1:160

Item Ref: NS021

4 N Gauge Model Card Farm Building Plans

I've recently created some new N Gauge buildings and four of them are now available to download on Etsy. I have made the plans even easier to create the models, with step by step instructions still included. Just simply print out the PDF documents, cut out and glue together. Here are the photos and details of the completed models I'm adding to my n gauge model railway layout.

Print and build 4 N Scale card model farm buildings including:

Stables

Pig Sties

Cow Shed/Milking Shed

Chicken Coop

Food and water trough plans are included

The plans are in full colour PDF format and can easily be printed onto A4 thin card (160 gsm recommended) or A4 paper which can then be glued to card. Once printed they can be quickly and easily made by just cutting out and gluing the tabs etc., to make the models shown in the pictures. Step by step instructions included.

There is no postage cost as a download link for all my models will be given immediately upon cleared payment.

Full refund given if you are not entirely happy with the plans. More Details & Download Here

Scale 1:148 - 1:160

9 N Gauge Model Card Buildings. Pub, Shops and more

I have spent many hours creating, designing and then finally making many of my model buildings from scratch using the very same PDF files I have created for others now to use if they wish. I am up to 9 buildings so far as shown below.

My 9 N Gauge Buildings

See them now on my layout in the pictures below. As you can see I have made more than one of some, in fact you could make a whole village with my one pack of 9 buildings. They are all available in one zip file on Etsy for just £1.99.