I know this is few years old now but I only found this series of videos last year and have loved watching the process from the start, I used to love my model railway when I was young, don't have the space for it now. I wish I had the time, space, money and patience to do a layout as good as that one. Keep up the good work. Roger
I have the same problem as of late , all work and no play time ,, and then with my renovation at this moment I cant get to the trains , I will show why in a video coming up hope for today , , your attention to detail on the track looks terrific , goes to show a bit of time and some elbow grease and things come together well ,, thanks for the time and sharing ,,
it's nice to watch these programs and videos to see what can be done and what can be achieved I've really liked watching how it's all came together thankyou for taking the the time to show us how to do these things
Another great video....I dont know if anyone else has had the same problem, but the previous 3 parts of 'Building A Model Railway' didn't come to my inbox.....I found this one yesterday and realised that some had been missed......So I have gone back and watched them from the list on your channel.
It's always good to see effective weathering on dioramas, whether it be 1/35 scale military or railways. Having been a modeller of military hardware and railways for 37 years on & off, wow time passes so quickly, I believe I can safely say painting/weathering brings our projects to life...great job...keep the excellent uploads coming...cheers Kev.
Track weathering looks really great.. Never thought to do it, but having seen the transformation, once I've completed the ballast I'm going to give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration..
Hello Richard. Your work here is beautifully exemplified by your demonstration of your methods which, I feel, are faultless. I have just completed the trackwork of my first and possibly, only layout I will build. I'm now into the ballasting and then the airbrush work to weather it as you have. It is DCC on an NCE Powercab controller and will be an LMS station called Ryehill which branched from Wakefield Westgate station West Yorkshire set in the 1930s. Thank you for sharing methods which are probably the best I have yet seen for helping me achieve my perfect layout and helping me make it all work.
its really taking shape now richard and may i say its looking fantastic. it really shows that a little weathering can turn a relatively flat bit of track into a real scale scene. excellent stuff. thoroughly looking forward to seeing it complete and full of rolling stock and locos.
Hi Richard another useful video, you make the weathering look so simple but so effective, I know that feeling working 6 days a week and finishing late, with only 1 day off its very hard to make time for your hobby, role on retirement only 27 years to go Andy
Hi, I have watched your Part 11. Fantastic!! Without doubt you are marvellous. I did think that you are a professional track layer until you mentioned about your external work of six day a week? You are a great act to follow. Best wishes. John Stubbington. Subsciber
Just watched this on the tele and I thought when you were painting the corner behind the signal box while the paint was wet and shiny it would have looked good as a lake ,some rushes in the margins and a small island with a tree on it in the middle.Because it could be built as an overfill for the canal which is downhill luckily it would look so much different to what you normally do ,also would blend in the suburban idea.
As always, work is such a timeconsuming affair! ;-) When you do things, it seems so easy and straightforward. Thanks for uploading all these lovely films. :-)
Great build log, engaging and instructional. Good work with the camera, too. Motivated to write as Christmas approaches, for me forever Train Set Day. This from the land of Victorian Railways. Merry Christmas to you and your online fans.
another excellent video by yourself again, I weathered my track the same way with airbrush. love my airbrush, couldn't weather without it. Can't get on with powders on rolling stock.
I LOVE THIS! you are a clever man! I only have a small fin wooden structure in my room and I look at this and think how amazing it could look thanks to you! by the way I am building a Victorian industrial city
@EverardJunction Thanks for the great tips. I now start with Tamiya TS-1 Red-Brown, ballast, then weather with the sleeper grime and roof dirt - fantastic result -really worth the effort !!
When you disassemble tracks, especially ones that you've painted, what do you do with them? Do you clean them and try to use them again later or do you buy new ones?
No one else has mentioned this but I notice that you use your thumb instead of your index finger to control the Airbrush. Clearly you are very good with the airbrush. Is there a reason you use your thumb?
Awesome as usual! Thanks for sharing. In hindsight, would you weather the track before adding fences buildings platforms etc to make life easier during spraying, or would you still do it after and live with the extra spraying difficulties, but get weathering benefit of all the overspray? Do you find that the overspray might ruin some trackside scenery?
+Bruce Randell Most stuff on the track needs the weathering which is why I airbrush later on. There can be problems if you're careless with the airbrush on finished scenery. With care the airbrush is an extremley precise tool so can be used quite happily after all the scenery is finished.
Hi Richard, just a quick question, when you airbrush the Sleeper grime do you use that neat from the bottle or do you dilute it down? ...........Graham
+Graham Foulston Hi Graham, I'm not sure about the paints that Richard uses but I suspect they are enamels if they smell as he says in the video, but that's beside the point, as a modeler I often use an airbrush on vehicles and although I use acrylics I suspect the principal is the same, most paints usually have to be thinned to some degree otherwise they won't flow through the airbrush, I've found it a bit trial and error, but the usual description is the consistency of milk. Some manufacturers produce ranges made for airbrushing straight from the container but even these in my experience can need adjusting some times. These are just my comments and I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by answering this.
+Graham Foulston Hi Graham. I thin my paint for airbrushing with 50% thinner to 50% paint. Depending on the application I may thin it or thicken it further as I go along.
hi great layout one off the best ive seen, im currently planing a mid 80's layout. what thickness cork bed do you use to deaden the sound off the base board. thanks jon.
Hi Richard, great video Part 11- Track Weathering. A question, what scenery material did you use to cover the small area towards the end of that video.
Another great video, i have always wondered if this effects the functionality of the track and trains. Or does the electricity still conduct efficiently ?
+InterCity24 As long as you clean the tops of the rails back to bare metal it works ok. If you leave the tops painted then the power won't get through.
My layout is inside my house in a large open area which cannot be closed off from the rest of the house so I would be keen to use acrylic paint instead of enamel. In your experience would acrylic paint give an acceptable finish ?
For weathering, buildings and scenery acrylic is great and I use it quite a bit. The enamel has a better finish so I use that on the track and rolling stock.
doesn't a track rubber shred on the rails? I had a hornby track rubber and I used to find little bits on track rubber on my track. oh, and as it got older it became brittle and I could snap it really easily.
Thanks for another great video, well presented. Living in Australia I can't get 'Railmatch' paint here, looked on ebay and there is only one seller from the UK, he charges £6.99 per 18ml bottle, and get this, postage to Australia is; £16.99 !! Total; £23.98 !!! Does anyone know of any alternative paints which are similar to Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime. I can easily get 'Tamiya' paints here but not sure which colours would be suitable in this range. Welcome any suggestions :)
Clearly you are very experienced with an airbrush. It would have been nice to have some of your airbrushing done real time instead of sped up. Any Airbrush technique tips in your videos would be helpful.
i would love to start my own mini-train set. Can anyone tell me what is the smallest size is good to start with, ans how much (indicate the currency, i'm in Canada so might not be the same curency) can i expect to spend for the size you say.
+The420Earthling Depends on what you want to do and what skills you have. You're main options are going to be G, O, Ho, N, and Z scales. G is for garden railways. Large and meant for the outdoors. Not probably what you mean. I've seen O scale used in a lot of ways. Usually I see it used as a 'tin plate' railway. That's not to say it's not used in 'realistic' models or smaller outdoor scenes. Ho is the 'go to' scale. Many consider it the perfect balance between detail and size. It's large enough that even people with unsteady hands and poor eyesight and still be detailed, while small enough to allow for large scenes in small spaces. In the U.S. (and I assume all of NA) it's the most catered to scale, giving you the most options. The other very popular scale is N scale. It's smaller than Ho in size. It has a ton of options. Personally, this is my favorite scale. I'll explain why below. The final common scale to see is Z scale. It's the smallest anyone can reasonably expect to use and not just have a novelty toy. I mean it's really tiny. If you have bad eyesight or are a bit shaky, it'll be a b*tch to work with. Also options are limited and expensive. Picking the scale for you depends on a few factors. What do you want to do with your layout? (ex. expansive Midwestern scenes, industrial scenes of the Great Lakes, etc.) Do you have any experience with an applicable art (ex. painting), trade (ex. electrician), etc.? How much space do you have? If you want to do something like in the video, your options are Ho or N scale. The main reason (imo) to pick N over Ho is if you want to do large scenes like the Rocky Mountain ranges or something like that. You can fit a lot more into a space with N scale. The other reason is if you don't have much room in you're place for a layout. You _can_ fit an Ho layout in a 4x8ft space, but you can do a lot more with N scale. If you don't want massive scenes or aren't too limited on space, just go with Ho. You have a bit more variety in the options, cost is a bit better, more people can give you advice on it, and it's a bit easier to work with. I personally like N because I like long expanses of scenes. I just love watching trains snake around hillsides. If I was more into 'switching' and playing around with the trains, I would probably do Ho and make an industrial scene. tl;dr Go with N scale if you want large scenes or don't have much space. If those are not a problem, or you have no clue what you want, go with a decent Ho starter kit. If you want to just jump right in, there are starter sets that have an engine, some rolling stock, and a loop of track ready to plug in and play. This seems like a decent one (Ho) ~200USD ~250Cad www.amazon.com/Bachmann-Industries-Valley-Electric-Locomotive/dp/B00BFCXJ2S/ref=sr_1_20?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1463590196&sr=1-20&keywords=Ho+set This one if you want N scale ~215 USD ~280Cad www.amazon.com/Kato-USA-Model-Train-Products/dp/B005NMH1TI/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1463590574&sr=1-1&keywords=N+scale+starter Personally I recommend finding a club nearby. Most clubs are pretty chill about newbies coming in and asking questions*. Find some layouts and see what you like. THEN jump in. *From personal experience, if you're under the age of 18, some clubs will be fine with you, others will hate you. It doesn't matter how respectful you are, some clubs just don't want anything to do with kids.
Hapie Star 1st i'd like to say a big ''THANK YOU'' for this response, very nice and informative. ''I personally like N because I like long expanses of scenes. I just love watching trains snake around hillsides. If I was more into 'switching' and playing around with the trains, I would probably do Ho and make an industrial scene.'' This is exactely the kind of comments i was looking for. I really don't know what i want. Well, actualy, i do and it's a bit of every thing. I have zero experience with painting (except painting my appartement when i move lol) but looking at videos on weathering i think that if i have the right equipement i could do some of the stuff i've seen, making a model from scratch could be a challenge but i think u couls manage if i have the right tools and good advices like i've seen in some videos, i'm really bad with electricity, i just dont understand it, but actualy never tried, i'm pretty good at following plans or instruction that are well explain for newbies lol. I'm 42 y.o. so no problem with the age (i wouldn't think so anyway...) . After your comment with the N scale, i think this is what i prefer because of the use i would do of it. Scenes are more my thing than ''switching'', but the size of HO is more interesting for a beginner because (i guess) being bigger there are more space for ''error'' type thing. I don't have space right now, but i'm not worried about that, i don't mind buying some stuff before a have the space so when i do have the space, i'll have a good part of the material already, things like the bottles of gravel, tracks, tools i need, etc etc, things i can store in a closet in the mean time. And i will look for a club around where i live, living in Montreal i know there are some. Again a big thanks for replying ;)
The420Earthling I suggest just starting with N-scale if it's what you're interested in. From the guys that I've talked to who switched scales, it's a bit annoying having bought stuff for one scale and then have to rebuy stuff for another. The electrical stuff is pretty simple if you don't want all the bells and whistles. How complicated the electricals get depends entirely on what details you want. A simple oval with a turnout, very easy and fool proof. A full size switching yard with automatic signals? You're going to want to talk to a few experience people first. Good luck on everything. Final advice; don't get caught up on the small stuff. I had this problem as I'm a perfectionist. I was obsessed on finding the 'right' way to do things before I started. In reality, it's sometimes best to just *do* and learn from mistakes. Especially so with scenery which is more like art.
Hapie Star That might be my problem, i'm a perfectionist too, i like to plan every thing ahead. But i thing i'll do some practice before starting on the real thing, like painting a few wagon and maybe working on a 1m x 1m platform and building scenery and thing like that, just to see how i am with this.
The420Earthling I can definitely vouch for practicing on small stuff before going right to a full layout. I was dreadful when I started. I had few applicable skills besides the odd DIY job. Keep at it and it'll look like you shrunk google maps lol!
I know this is few years old now but I only found this series of videos last year and have loved watching the process from the start, I used to love my model railway when I was young, don't have the space for it now. I wish I had the time, space, money and patience to do a layout as good as that one. Keep up the good work. Roger
Great update , fantastic results - job well done. Look forward to watching progress.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Robert
Great work Richard. I didn't think that track weathering was possible until I saw this video. 👍👍👍
Great video, very helpful. Love the time-lapse, it really shows the effects coming to life. Cheers, Angus.
Fantastic video, like all others. Like our video's. I'm 59 and more than 50 years in the model world but i learn å lot off you. Thank you.
I have the same problem as of late , all work and no play time ,, and then with my renovation at this moment I cant get to the trains , I will show why in a video coming up hope for today , , your attention to detail on the track looks terrific , goes to show a bit of time and some elbow grease and things come together well ,, thanks for the time and sharing ,,
it's nice to watch these programs and videos to see what can be done and what can be achieved I've really liked watching how it's all came together thankyou for taking the the time to show us how to do these things
Another great video....I dont know if anyone else has had the same problem, but the previous 3 parts of 'Building A Model Railway' didn't come to my inbox.....I found this one yesterday and realised that some had been missed......So I have gone back and watched them from the list on your channel.
The yard and the scenery is looking great.Scott
It's always good to see effective weathering on dioramas, whether it be 1/35 scale military or railways. Having been a modeller of military hardware and railways for 37 years on & off, wow time passes so quickly, I believe I can safely say painting/weathering brings our projects to life...great job...keep the excellent uploads coming...cheers Kev.
Track weathering looks really great.. Never thought to do it, but having seen the transformation, once I've completed the ballast I'm going to give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration..
Hello Richard. Your work here is beautifully exemplified by your demonstration of your methods which, I feel, are faultless. I have just completed the trackwork of my first and possibly, only layout I will build. I'm now into the ballasting and then the airbrush work to weather it as you have. It is DCC on an NCE Powercab controller and will be an LMS station called Ryehill which branched from Wakefield Westgate station West Yorkshire set in the 1930s. Thank you for sharing methods which are probably the best I have yet seen for helping me achieve my perfect layout and helping me make it all work.
Nice finished product Robert. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Top work yet again.always look forward to seeing your updates.
You are an artist...... extremely creative
Great video. Lots of helpful tips on aging and a great looking staging and fuel area.
love your vids...keep up the great work.
Brilliant vid Richard. Love the time lapse sequences. These really are definitive you tube "how to" vids for our hobby. Good on you! All the best.
It would have been a good idea to keep a small section unweathered and plonk down some orange men as if they had just shovelled it down.
Looks fantastic! I will definitely use some of those techniques myself at some point. Thanks for sharing!
Joe
great video fantastic scenic work
its really taking shape now richard and may i say its looking fantastic. it really shows that a little weathering can turn a relatively flat bit of track into a real scale scene. excellent stuff. thoroughly looking forward to seeing it complete and full of rolling stock and locos.
Keep up the good work. The layout is looking really good. Enjoy watching the videos too
Very nice! Stellar scenery!
Hi Richard another useful video, you make the weathering look so simple but so effective, I know that feeling working 6 days a week and finishing late, with only 1 day off its very hard to make time for your hobby, role on retirement only 27 years to go Andy
+Andy Hudson 27 years before retirement Andy I beat you I only got 25 years lol.
Another superb installment, giving me so many ideas. Thank for sharing mate, really great series! Jack
I have found a lot of good tips in your videos, you do a wonderful job of detailing!
Love your work and your layout look forward to your other videos!!!! Don't stop
Looking very impressive mate really sets the scene all that weathered track something I've got to do but keep putting it off.
Cheers Kev
your dead right the weathering makes a huge difference, more like a full size railway, nice work. looking forward to part 12 :)
Hi, I have watched your Part 11. Fantastic!! Without doubt you are marvellous. I did think that you are a professional track layer until you mentioned about your external work of six day a week? You are a great act to follow. Best wishes. John Stubbington. Subsciber
Just watched this on the tele and I thought when you were painting the corner behind the signal box while the paint was wet and shiny it would have looked good as a lake ,some rushes in the margins and a small island with a tree on it in the middle.Because it could be built as an overfill for the canal which is downhill luckily it would look so much different to what you normally do ,also would blend in the suburban idea.
As always, work is such a timeconsuming affair! ;-) When you do things, it seems so easy and straightforward. Thanks for uploading all these lovely films. :-)
Well worth the wait, thanks for all your tips.
Very good as usual. Gonna need to get over my fear of airbrushes and get me one.
Superb as always and a great help to newbies like me. James.
The houses in the town scene at 13.49 looks good now and when not the focus of the shot looks even better
Great build log, engaging and instructional. Good work with the camera, too. Motivated to write as Christmas approaches, for me forever Train Set Day. This from the land of Victorian Railways. Merry Christmas to you and your online fans.
Excellent as always :)
another excellent video by yourself again, I weathered my track the same way with airbrush. love my airbrush, couldn't weather without it. Can't get on with powders on rolling stock.
Great scenery work
Looking good Richard!
Another great video, many thanks.
Great detailed video thanks
Fantastic as always!
I LOVE THIS! you are a clever man! I only have a small fin wooden structure in my room and I look at this and think how amazing it could look thanks to you! by the way I am building a Victorian industrial city
I'm extremely grateful for these video's I have my 5 layouts built already but these are very well don. I would say quite Professional
Great video Richard! I'll be referring to in many times while working on the layout. Thanks much..................Mike
very nice job on track weathering
nice! looking forward to part 12.
@EverardJunction Thanks for the great tips. I now start with Tamiya TS-1 Red-Brown, ballast, then weather with the sleeper grime and roof dirt - fantastic result -really worth the effort !!
This is another great video!
Very nice video .....
When you disassemble tracks, especially ones that you've painted, what do you do with them? Do you clean them and try to use them again later or do you buy new ones?
No one else has mentioned this but I notice that you use your thumb instead of your index finger to control the Airbrush. Clearly you are very good with the airbrush. Is there a reason you use your thumb?
Awesome as usual! Thanks for sharing. In hindsight, would you weather the track before adding fences buildings platforms etc to make life easier during spraying, or would you still do it after and live with the extra spraying difficulties, but get weathering benefit of all the overspray? Do you find that the overspray might ruin some trackside scenery?
+Bruce Randell Most stuff on the track needs the weathering which is why I airbrush later on. There can be problems if you're careless with the airbrush on finished scenery. With care the airbrush is an extremley precise tool so can be used quite happily after all the scenery is finished.
Great series of videos.... can you let me know what the soundtracks were that you used during the 'speeded up' bits please? Thanks.
music and modeling nice ty!
Hi Richard, just a quick question, when you airbrush the Sleeper grime do you use that neat from the bottle or do you dilute it down? ...........Graham
+Graham Foulston Hi Graham, I'm not sure about the paints that Richard uses but I suspect they are enamels if they smell as he says in the video, but that's beside the point, as a modeler I often use an airbrush on vehicles and although I use acrylics I suspect the principal is the same, most paints usually have to be thinned to some degree otherwise they won't flow through the airbrush, I've found it a bit trial and error, but the usual description is the consistency of milk. Some manufacturers produce ranges made for airbrushing straight from the container but even these in my experience can need adjusting some times. These are just my comments and I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by answering this.
+Graham Foulston Hi Graham. I thin my paint for airbrushing with 50% thinner to 50% paint. Depending on the application I may thin it or thicken it further as I go along.
Thanks Richard, much appreciated. .............Graham
EverardJunction hi Richard what air compressor are you using and where did you buy it form. I don't what one to get
Thanks
hi great layout one off the best ive seen, im currently planing a mid 80's layout.
what thickness cork bed do you use to deaden the sound off the base board.
thanks jon.
Hi Richard, great video Part 11- Track Weathering. A question, what scenery material did you use to cover the small area towards the end of that video.
great video
Hi I haven't ran my Lima SAR trains for ages which worked then, but noticed some aren't moving at all, do they need oil or something?
fantastic work.....I wonder what sort of face mask you use .
Another great video, i have always wondered if this effects the functionality of the track and trains. Or does the electricity still conduct efficiently ?
+InterCity24 As long as you clean the tops of the rails back to bare metal it works ok. If you leave the tops painted then the power won't get through.
Impressive. How long did this whole project take?
Waiting for this for ages! Thanks man :)
Two hatersz !!! Unbelieveable with a scenery like yours !!! Greetings from Amsterdam
My layout is inside my house in a large open area which cannot be closed off from the rest of the house so I would be keen to use acrylic paint instead of enamel. In your experience would acrylic paint give an acceptable finish ?
For weathering, buildings and scenery acrylic is great and I use it quite a bit. The enamel has a better finish so I use that on the track and rolling stock.
Hi Richard, just a quick question, what type of switch is that that diverges in 3 different directions?
Its a three way point mate.
Hi great job..do you use 50/50 paint an thinner?
+Jim Taylor Yes
Just an idea, why not use some shiny black paint for oil drops, the fresh oil drops is shiny, It will be more reailstic
Nice Tripp suitcase
Where do or what u work as
Not only are your vid's great but the music is great as well, who are they ? do tell
Ah, you're a mechanic?
I had you figured for an electrician or something.
funny I was thinking the same thing....
+Slim Charles Explains all the SD1 videos and stuff.
+hovermotion Auto electrician covering both angles there Jim.
+hovermotion i was thinking the same jim . . saying that i did think you were a shop/high ending painter /restorer.
Yes I am a restorer...
Is using enamel rather than acrylic a personal preference or are there benefits to your choice ?
I prefer the quality of finish with enamel so use it for repainting and weathering. For general scenery I use acrylic paints.
EverardJunction Thanks , I must say I really enjoy your videos, they take all the mystery away and are really helpful.
How long are the coach sidings
doesnt paint insulate the line from locomotive? How does power get transmitted afterwards?
The paint is rubbed off the surface of the rails with a track rubber once it's dried.
A track rubber, so your trains don't get train herpes :-p
Hallo Everard ,ja es geht gut voran bei dir !
hi what materials did you use for the grass
doesn't a track rubber shred on the rails? I had a hornby track rubber and I used to find little bits on track rubber on my track. oh, and as it got older it became brittle and I could snap it really easily.
Try using the peco track rubber. I've found that it's a lot more durable than the Hornby one and can often last for over a year.
I'll give it a try.
Is their a Part 12? I cannot get it.
New static grass applicator?
Thanks for another great video, well presented.
Living in Australia I can't get 'Railmatch' paint here, looked on ebay and there is only one seller from the UK, he charges £6.99 per 18ml bottle, and get this, postage to Australia is; £16.99 !!
Total; £23.98 !!!
Does anyone know of any alternative paints which are similar to Railmatch Roof Dirt and Sleeper Grime. I can easily get 'Tamiya' paints here but not sure which colours would be suitable in this range.
Welcome any suggestions :)
Can you please do a layout tour
sorry found it on your video its on top of the bottle silly me great vid thanks :)
great thanks
Clearly you are very experienced with an airbrush. It would have been nice to have some of your airbrushing done real time instead of sped up. Any Airbrush technique tips in your videos would be helpful.
yeah good job again....
Very interesting, but I think the plastic fencing still looks like plastic.
@ 8;00 min you broke the fuel feed line to the tank...... that sucks
What is your job
I'm a vehicle restorer at a classic car restoration company.
i would love to start my own mini-train set. Can anyone tell me what is the smallest size is good to start with, ans how much (indicate the currency, i'm in Canada so might not be the same curency) can i expect to spend for the size you say.
+The420Earthling
Depends on what you want to do and what skills you have.
You're main options are going to be G, O, Ho, N, and Z scales.
G is for garden railways. Large and meant for the outdoors. Not probably what you mean.
I've seen O scale used in a lot of ways. Usually I see it used as a 'tin plate' railway. That's not to say it's not used in 'realistic' models or smaller outdoor scenes.
Ho is the 'go to' scale. Many consider it the perfect balance between detail and size. It's large enough that even people with unsteady hands and poor eyesight and still be detailed, while small enough to allow for large scenes in small spaces. In the U.S. (and I assume all of NA) it's the most catered to scale, giving you the most options.
The other very popular scale is N scale. It's smaller than Ho in size. It has a ton of options. Personally, this is my favorite scale. I'll explain why below.
The final common scale to see is Z scale. It's the smallest anyone can reasonably expect to use and not just have a novelty toy. I mean it's really tiny. If you have bad eyesight or are a bit shaky, it'll be a b*tch to work with. Also options are limited and expensive.
Picking the scale for you depends on a few factors.
What do you want to do with your layout? (ex. expansive Midwestern scenes, industrial scenes of the Great Lakes, etc.)
Do you have any experience with an applicable art (ex. painting), trade (ex. electrician), etc.?
How much space do you have?
If you want to do something like in the video, your options are Ho or N scale. The main reason (imo) to pick N over Ho is if you want to do large scenes like the Rocky Mountain ranges or something like that. You can fit a lot more into a space with N scale. The other reason is if you don't have much room in you're place for a layout. You _can_ fit an Ho layout in a 4x8ft space, but you can do a lot more with N scale.
If you don't want massive scenes or aren't too limited on space, just go with Ho. You have a bit more variety in the options, cost is a bit better, more people can give you advice on it, and it's a bit easier to work with.
I personally like N because I like long expanses of scenes. I just love watching trains snake around hillsides. If I was more into 'switching' and playing around with the trains, I would probably do Ho and make an industrial scene.
tl;dr
Go with N scale if you want large scenes or don't have much space. If those are not a problem, or you have no clue what you want, go with a decent Ho starter kit.
If you want to just jump right in, there are starter sets that have an engine, some rolling stock, and a loop of track ready to plug in and play.
This seems like a decent one (Ho) ~200USD ~250Cad
www.amazon.com/Bachmann-Industries-Valley-Electric-Locomotive/dp/B00BFCXJ2S/ref=sr_1_20?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1463590196&sr=1-20&keywords=Ho+set
This one if you want N scale ~215 USD ~280Cad
www.amazon.com/Kato-USA-Model-Train-Products/dp/B005NMH1TI/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1463590574&sr=1-1&keywords=N+scale+starter
Personally I recommend finding a club nearby. Most clubs are pretty chill about newbies coming in and asking questions*. Find some layouts and see what you like. THEN jump in.
*From personal experience, if you're under the age of 18, some clubs will be fine with you, others will hate you. It doesn't matter how respectful you are, some clubs just don't want anything to do with kids.
Hapie Star 1st i'd like to say a big ''THANK YOU'' for this response, very nice and informative.
''I personally like N because I like long expanses of scenes. I just love watching trains snake around hillsides. If I was more into 'switching' and playing around with the trains, I would probably do Ho and make an industrial scene.''
This is exactely the kind of comments i was looking for.
I really don't know what i want. Well, actualy, i do and it's a bit of every thing.
I have zero experience with painting (except painting my appartement when i move lol) but looking at videos on weathering i think that if i have the right equipement i could do some of the stuff i've seen, making a model from scratch could be a challenge but i think u couls manage if i have the right tools and good advices like i've seen in some videos, i'm really bad with electricity, i just dont understand it, but actualy never tried, i'm pretty good at following plans or instruction that are well explain for newbies lol. I'm 42 y.o. so no problem with the age (i wouldn't think so anyway...) .
After your comment with the N scale, i think this is what i prefer because of the use i would do of it. Scenes are more my thing than ''switching'', but the size of HO is more interesting for a beginner because (i guess) being bigger there are more space for ''error'' type thing. I don't have space right now, but i'm not worried about that, i don't mind buying some stuff before a have the space so when i do have the space, i'll have a good part of the material already, things like the bottles of gravel, tracks, tools i need, etc etc, things i can store in a closet in the mean time.
And i will look for a club around where i live, living in Montreal i know there are some.
Again a big thanks for replying ;)
The420Earthling
I suggest just starting with N-scale if it's what you're interested in. From the guys that I've talked to who switched scales, it's a bit annoying having bought stuff for one scale and then have to rebuy stuff for another.
The electrical stuff is pretty simple if you don't want all the bells and whistles. How complicated the electricals get depends entirely on what details you want. A simple oval with a turnout, very easy and fool proof. A full size switching yard with automatic signals? You're going to want to talk to a few experience people first.
Good luck on everything. Final advice; don't get caught up on the small stuff. I had this problem as I'm a perfectionist. I was obsessed on finding the 'right' way to do things before I started. In reality, it's sometimes best to just *do* and learn from mistakes. Especially so with scenery which is more like art.
Hapie Star That might be my problem, i'm a perfectionist too, i like to plan every thing ahead. But i thing i'll do some practice before starting on the real thing, like painting a few wagon and maybe working on a 1m x 1m platform and building scenery and thing like that, just to see how i am with this.
The420Earthling
I can definitely vouch for practicing on small stuff before going right to a full layout. I was dreadful when I started. I had few applicable skills besides the odd DIY job. Keep at it and it'll look like you shrunk google maps lol!
are you going to do some toilet paper spatters on the sleepers like you see for real after somebody's had a brown'un?
hi can i have the number for the roof dirt please i have found 2 codes thanks :)
That poor tree...
Model railroading: the only art where the most common paint colors are grime and roof dirt...
Toilet tank emptying facilities???
Only the hard of hearing (we aren't deaf) appreciate the need for slow speech and clear diction.
68th!!