GRANVILLEBUILDINGS O SCALE BUILDING KITS

Welcome to the world of model railroading. If

you are new to this hobby, please take some time and look at all of the information below. We will have all info about model railroading starting with the scales to all the way to have a finished layout and the stuff that you will need.

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Scales:

There are alot of different scales out today, but we will go through the most common.

Z Scale:  1:220, 1/220 of the size of the real thing. This scale is the smallest out. You will need great vision for this one. I have known around 3 people to be in this scale. You can use this for inside of coffee tables or your whole layout. Runs on DC.

N Scale: 1:160, 1/160 of the real thing. This scale is some what popular in some clubs and is very easily found at hobby shops and shows. Runs on DC.

HO Scale: 1:87, 1/87 of the real thing. This scale is 3.5 mm to the foot. This is most likely the most popular scale out. You can find almost anything that has to do with real life in this scale. You can do alot on a 4 x 8 size layout in HO Scale. Runs on DC.

S Scale: 1:64, 1/64 of the real thing. This is a very old and one of the hardest scales to buy for. You can get the engines and cars, but the buildings and accessories are very limited.

O Scale: 1:48, 1/48 of the real thing. This scale is 1/4 inch to the foot. The grandfather of this scale is Lionel. This is most likely the second popular scale out. You can find alot of buildings and a pretty good amount of accessories. Runs on AC.

G Scale: 1:22.5, 1:22.5 of the real thing. 1:22.5 is the real scale for G scale, but there is around 6 different scales that you can call G scale. Granvillebuildings uses 1:24, which is 1/2 inch to the foot. This scale is becoming very popular in this time. Most of the train sets that you buy for the Christmas tree is a type of G scale. You use this type outside and use real bushes and materials for this scale. Runs on DC.

On30: On30 is best described as a HO under carriage with a O27 body on it. It will run on Ho track but all buildings and accessories are O scale. This scale is some what popular. This is what the owner of Granvillebuildings is building. Runs on DC.

Now after you decide which scale you want to go with, here is some ideas. If you go with O or On30 scale, you can use HO in the back ground. If you go with HO scale, you can use N scale in the back ground. This is called force perspective. It will make your layout bigger then it really is.

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Planning your layout:

First thing that you want to do is to know what scale you want to model in. After you have that figured out, then you can decide where you are going to put this. The bigger the scale, the more room you will need. HO fits great on a piece of 4 x 8 plywood, but O scale is alittle tight. ( Owner of Granvillebuildings is using a 6 x 8 floorplan for his On30 to show you how you can use a larger scale in a smaller area. ) Please check the link on the left side for this or click on the link below to go to it.

Next is to build your frame work. We have heard of people using 1 x 4's, but we use 2 x 4's to support it better. You would hate to be 90% finished when the whole than hits the floor. Take a look at the owners framework to give you a idea of how it is built. Owners Layout. Do not use nails, use screws. He used 2 x 4's for the legs, framed around the outside of the legs and also framed inside, placing each cross member 1 foot on center. This framework took 10 2 x 4's. He is still going to add more 2 x 4's to the legs and then wrap the whole outside with stained 1 x 4 and 1 x 6's.

After you have finished the framework, you want to get plywood for the top of the frame work. He used waffleboard. Use no less then a 1/2 inch piece. If you use any less then 1/2 inch, after you install all of your stuff on top, you will have valleys where you do not want them. Screw the plywood down. No nails. If you notice in the pictures of the owners layout, there is a hole to the back of the layout. He framed this spot with 2 x 4's because he can not get back there without getting on his layout. That will be tough after he puts all of the scenery down. This hole is for he to get back there to add scenery or to get a derailed engine. It will be covered / hidden by a mountain.

Now it is time to install the track bedding and track. We have seen people to install track right on the plywood. We do not advise this. First, it sounds like a train running on plywood. Second, there is little to no place to install ballast. There are different types of tracks that you can buy. You can get a plastic ballast that is already install to the track. That is fine and there is nothing wrong with this, but we do not like this type. It is easier to go down and to work with it. We like to use cork under our tracks. It makes a level surface, makes it for no noise but what you hear from the engine and cars and also gives you a real life surface to install ballast. If you look back at the owners layout you will see the cork going down. If you want to use this method, you will need to go to your locol hobby shop and buy cork and also get the track that you need, or most of it. You will use the track as a guide to lay the cork. You can buy different lengths, different turns, switches and what the owner is going to use is Flex track. It comes in a 4 foot piece and will need to be cut. ( this is for HO and On30 scale ). Make sure that you buy great pair of cutters for this. If you are going to buy very long engines, do not get very sharp corners. You will have trouble with your engine going around the corner. Ask the hobby shop owner for help on this. Also buy some track nails. You will need these to lay your bed and your track.  Now you will need a design for laying your track / corkbed. There are books, DVD's and movies out on this, showing you different styles of layouts. Most of my friends usually get a piece of paper and start drawing their layout. The owner just started laying the cork, but he has been doning this for 35 years. He has what he wants to do in his head.  After you get home and you have your track / roadbed or your cork and track and you have some time to play, now you can start. If you have the track with the roadbed together, you can start laying it out. Make sure that everything is clean. Use very small nails for this that you bought from the hobby shop. Also when you put your track together make sure that it is square ( the rails ) with the last piece and also that the top of the rails are level with each other, otherwise you will have a derailment or a bump there. That is another plus for the cork. If you really want it to make the track flawless, you can even solder each rail to each other at the connectors. You will see on the owners layout page thats what he is going to do. It helps to make sure that the current is not lost between rails. If you bought the cork, go ahead and start laying this out. Use your track as a guide so that your corners are right with the track. Lay out your track at the same time so that you know that everything is right when you install it. In the owners pictures, you can see that he laid out the cork first. Keep in mind that he has been doing this for 35 years and that he also using flex-track which he will be cutting the lengths to what he needs. When you lay the cork and the track, make sure that the track is in the center of the cork. Have fun and also make sure that you " TAKE YOUR TIME " on this part. If you do not, you will have big problems later.

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Wiring your layout:

           Now after you have all of your track down( most of it, you still may want to lay some more before you finish ), you are ready to wire your switches. When it comes to wiring, we could write a different book on this, but we will hit the high lights on this subject. You will need to get under your layout and drill some holes through the 2 x 4's for the wirers to go through. ( Sorry, we like to keep things neat ). You will need to know where your switches are and the best way to get from your switches to your controll box. You will be using #14 or #16 gauge wire. Black wire for your ground and red wire for your hot. ( total of 4 rolls ) Drill your holes alittle bigger, so that you can run other wires through later. While you are under your table, you may want to drill holes for the lights in your town or buildings to get to the controll box, if you know where your town is going.

           After you have drilled all of the holes, get a drill bit that is about the same size as your # 16 wire and drill it next to your switches from the top side. You will need 2 holes for each switch. After you have finished this, it is time to run your wire. Get the # 16 gauge wire, black and red. Run the black through one hole and the red through the other hole. Run both under your table through the holes that you have just drilled to your controll box, leaving around 6 inches extra at your box. Now go over to your switch and cut the wire from the roll and cut away about 1/2 inch back to show the wire. Be careful not to cut yourself. Now connect each wire to your switch be the little screws. There are different ways you can do this. The easy way, you can buy little switches at your hobby shop that all you have to do is to hook up the wire and then hook the switch to your controll box. Hook up the switches to the DC outlet on your box. The other way is to build yourself a controll panel with plywood, draw out your track layout on it, drill some holes where the switches are and install some toggle switches. If you go this way, keep reading please. The other end of the hot wire will need to go to toggle switch and the ground wire will go to a Busbar ( keep reading ) ( one toggle switch per track switch, check with the seller on how to wire these ) so that you can move each one independed. Buy the toggle switches that is for left or right. You will need to get  2 Bus bars and attach them to the inside of your box. One is for ground and the other is for the hot. Do this to all of the switches that you have on your layout. Now take a wire from your ground bar to the ground of your power box. Now you will have to run a hot wire from each toggle switch to the hot bar. After you have done this, run a hot wire from your bar to the hot side of your power box. Check all of your switches to see if they work. If they do not, you may need to rewire your toggle switches. ( the above is one part of this that we can write a book on. ) Another than that we do when we run the wires so that we tape the 2 wires coming from each switch together along the run. It keeps everything neat under your table and if you have a problem with one of your switches, you will know which 2 wires you need to check. You can also label each run of wires. After you get everything wired up under your layout, it looks like a power plant under there.

We will get to wiring the lights up later down the line.

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Adding Ballast to your track:

      Now by this time you should have " all " ( most ) of your track laid and the switches wired. If you went with the roadbed that is attached to your track or if you laid the cork down with the track on top and if you do not want to put ballast down, go to the next step. If you want to add ballast, please read on.

       You can get bags of different color ballast from your local hobby shop, off E-bay or the internet. This can get expensive. For O scale you can use kitty litter. Gray colors looks fine. Find some that is the same color all the way through and it also comes the right size. For HO scale ( and O scale, On30 scale and G scale ), you can use " real stone". It is called 21B's or 21A's. It is small rocks with dust in it. It helps that you know someone that works at a stone quarry, they should be able to get you a 5 gallon bucket at no cost. Even if you have to take a trip to a quarry in your area, it will not cost almost nothing to get it. Make sure you get the gray color. There is nothing better to make a layout to like real then to use real materials. The owners layout will use real stone.

        If you use the hobby shop ballast or you got yourself some real stone, get yourself a small contain and put some ballast in it. You will use this to pour out of on to your roadbed. Get yourself some Elmer's glue and put a small amount into a container. Add water. Mix until it's all bended. Get yourself a small brush, like a artist brush and what you want to do is to paint the glue on to the cork or the plastic roadbed, try to get between the ties and also on the side of the cork. You may need to do this in acouple of steps. Try not to get any on the rails. If you do, wipe it off with a clean rag. Do alittle section at a time. Take your time. After you have painted the glue on, pour the ballast on top and you can use your finger to set some in place and to move it around. Make sure that you do not leave no glue showing. Keep going all the way around the track until all is done. Make sure that all is dry before doning the next step.

After you have covered it all and it looks great, use your vacuum cleaner, ( old one if you have it ) and suck up all of the loose pieces. After you have done this, you will see what you have missed. Fill in the spots. Remember to take your time.

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Buildings:

    Now you can add buildings to your layout. You can get them almost any where. You can make them yourself if you have the skill and tools out of wood, you can buy kits from stores, hobby shops, train shows, off the internet ( web-sites, like Granvillebuildings ), off E-bay or you can buy already built buildings from stores, train shows, internet, web-sites or off E-bay.

     If you have ever put a model together, then building a kit for your layout is no different. Go at it and have fun. Buy and get what you want.

     If you have never put a kit together and you want to, please keep reading. We at Granvillebuildings think that this is one of the best parts of the layout. You can buy what you need to go into a spacial real estate area ( real estate area: means the area on your layout for your buildings), and put them together, paint them and weather them the way you want them to look or you can buy 2 kits that are close to construction and kitbash them. ( kitbash: means taking parts and pieces from one kit and adding to another kit to build a different type of building or buying parts and pieces from manufactures and building your very own building.)

      You will need a hobby knife ( please do not let children play with this, it is very sharp ), glue for plastic, wood, resin, etc..., paint ( most of the time people use Arcylic paint ), a type of sealer if you want your kit to be outside, like G scale and sandpaper.

      Think about the area that you are tring to build on and how big it is. One important thing is to decide the time that you want to display. If you want to do a turn of the century layout, you do not want to put a 1955 ford on your street. Think about what they had and the type of buildings were there then. You can look on the internet to get some ideas. Turn of the century did not have Diesel trains. If you want to do a 1990 time line, you can have buildings that date back to the 1800's and also newer buildings. Just remember that if you come up with a time period, do not go pass that date or your layout will not like right.

       If you do not want to build the kits yourself, you can go a buy the buildings already built. It will cost more.

      After you have decided all of this, go and buy some kits or some built buildings to put on your real estate. If you want to make a small town and not sure how, go take a rode to a town that is close to you or check out some on the internet. Do not forget to see and if you need to, write down all of the accessories that are around in the town, like mail boxes, light poles, trash in the streets, sidewalks, signs in the windows, stop signs and where they are placed, etc...  All this will add detail to your layout and also make it look more real then a clean street or town. We will get into the accessories later.

     Before installing the building on your layout for good, decide if you want to weather it. If you decide that you do, we will get into this later.

     You can, after you finish with each building, just put them on your layout and as you add more buildings / structures you can change them around to see how they look in different areas and also will give you ideas on the next building that you may want to buy or build.

    Have fun with this and remember to take your time.

    Also remember that mostly all towns and cities have newer looking buildings, older looking buildings and also some that are non-live able and even some that has been burnt and falling down. If you want a layout to look real, keep all of this in mind. If you want to put up buildings with little to no accessories and have everything new and clean, that is fine to. We at Granvillebuildings love the real life look. If you want to collect and display older buildings and pieces like " Lionel ", then a clean look is fine and we advise you not to weather these for it will lower the value cost on them.

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Weathering your Buildings and Trains:

          We will start off about the colors to weather with.

For rust, use Rust or brown.

For exhaust, use Black and Grimy Black, or Flat Black

For dust and dirt  Earth color like tan, Mud color like a brown and Grime color like gray.

This is one way to weather.

Use an old stiff-bristled brush – one that’s been used and cleaned or a inexpensive hog-bristle brush at a craft store or hobby shop.

Dip it in the paint ( no water ), then brush off most of the paint on a paper towel. Now you’re ready to apply it to the model using a vertical downward motion so that it gives a streaked appearance. This can be very subtle if you make sure not to use too much paint on the brush. Practice on piece of cardboard or old scrap piece of plastic first.

This can be used to create streaks of rust, oil loads that have spilled, or black/gray exhaust stains using the appropriate color for the effect you’re trying to achieve.

Another way is called Washes: They are a great easy way of creating a dirty looking building or engine.

First, make a wash by mixing 1 part of Arcylic paint to 10 parts of Water. Mix. Use a wide brush to apply the thinned mixture to the model. Brush in the direction of the wood siding or as the water falls from a rain storm.

As usual with model railroad painting applications, it’s always best to apply very thin coats 2 or 3 times than try to do it all with one coat. That way, you have much more control over the result. You may find that a very thin washing with one coat is all you need to create a subtle but realistic effect that you will be happy with.

By the way, don’t mix a big batch of wash with the idea of storing it and using it for a year. The wash is usually only good for a few days.

You can also wash your whole building in black. When you first put it on, it will be completely black, but let it dry. It always lighten in color. You may need to do this step 2 or 3 times to get the right color and weathering.

Weathering with a air brush:

This is a great way to add stains to simulate exhaust, dirt and dust for the bottoms of buildings and overall grunge for both engines and cars.

Use a wash thinned the same way as mentioned above or the instructions with your air brush. Experiment with your airbrush on a piece of cardboard first to get the right effect that you want, then apply a light spray on the model - mostly to the areas where you would expect most of the dirt to be. Use black for the exhaust stains, earth colors for dust and dirt along the bottoms and on the sides of buildings and also on the tops of buildings and rust for metal parts that are on the buildings and on wheels of your vehicles and your trucks and couplers on your engines and cars, etc.

Add a touch of white or gray to the wash to make the paint of your building look faded overall, like on wood or even brick buildings.

If you use an airbrush a lot, make sure you use a facemask for safety. It’s also important to consider a spray booth, either purchased or homemade to ventilate the spray to the outside. This helps keep the paint from getting into your lungs, all over your layout, backdrop, carpet, and other models.

Weathering with chalks:

Create a powder from your chalk stick by scraping it with a knife onto a piece of paper or buying some chalk at a art supply store.

Use a hog-bristle brush to apply the chalk to the model using quick short brush strokes. Start light and add more if you wish.Artist’s pastel chalks are probably the easiest to work with then any other type.

After you have applied the chalk powder, you have to seal the dust onto the model. Otherwise they may disappear, or become smeared, to create an effect that you do not want. Apply a thin spray of clear semi-gloss lacquer using a spray can. Don’t get the can too close to the model while spraying or you may blow away all the chalk. When that dries, apply a second coat.

You can also use crayons for streaking effects, but they are especially useful for highlighting ridges, rivets, door handles and other details that are raised or textured.

When you weather your buildings and other items for your layout, do not forget to apply streaks to the roofs, especially coming down from chimneys and vents. Make "cracks" in mortar lines of brick buildings. Apply flat dark washes to factory buildings. Make streaks come down from cornices or eaves or under windows. Use a wash as describe above to make mortar joints a different color than the bricks or stones on the walls. Or use faint washes of India Ink to make details and textures in your walls or roof stand out.

When you think about weathering, think and look at some buildings that the rain water has ran down the side of the building, the way the rain hit the building, how the sun never hits one or two sides of a building ( will have moss on it ), and how the elements do to wooden or even brick buildings.

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Lighting your Structures:

     As describe above in the section Wiring your Layout, lighting your structure as about the same as wiring your switches. You can buy, what s called grain of wheat lights that will work on AC or DC and make sure that you get 12 volt lights. After you have finished completely with your buildings and you know where they are going, you want to drill a small hole where you are going to place the building. Run the wires through the hole from the top side. Go under the table and connect the wires using the red for hot and black for ground. Goes not matter which wire you hook to on which color. Run the wires to your control box. If you want to be able to turn your lights on and off on each building, you will have to hook these wires up to a toggle switch for each run or you could just connect all of your lightly wires together and hook them up to the back of your controll box. After you finish with the wiring, check all of the lights.

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Scenery:

   You will need to decide which scenery you want if you have not done this already. You can go with mountains, flat lands, hills, forest or even a sea side or lake setting. The owner of Granvillebuildings will have mountains on his layout with creeks and steams. Some forest and some hills. We will start off explaining about making mountains the way that he does. There are different methods of making mountains. You can use foam ( we have never used it before, but we do not like the looks of it.), you can use paper mache on card board or you can go out and buy fake mountains. The method that we are going to use is wire covered with plaster. It is a little messy, but as the end result, you will have a very hard surface that will look like real rock, can be painted and weathered and you can glue trees, buildings or anything else to which no problem.

    First you want to do is to go get some very small holed wire.( holes around 1/4 inch ) Next is to get a bag or 2 of plaster ( 50 pound bag each ). You can get all of this from a home improvement store. When you are ready to work on your mountain, get your wire and cut into a work-able piece. Around 2 foot by 2 foot. Please be careful with the wire for it will stick into you. This is the size that we are going to use. Depends how high you want your mountain. Get your staple and staple one side of it to your layout board where you want the mountain to go. You want to bend and push in on the wire while you are stapling it to the table. This is the rough copy of the mountain. More in and outs the wire is, the more it looks real on the finished part. After you have finished with this piece, get yourself another piece of wire, the same size or little small. Now put this piece beside the other piece and staple it to the table doing the same thing that you did on the first piece. Now hook both of the wires together using the wire or by other means. Keep adding wire until your mountain is done. You can look at the owners layout to see more detail on this. Owners Layout. Now after you have finished this and ready to move on to the next step, and if you have a layout like the owners where you have a hole behind or under your mountain, put news paper down. If you have tracks going under your mountain, you will want to cover them up with news paper to. This is the messy part. Get yourself a old bowl that you can mix plaster in. Mix some. You want it to be like a paste. Now you can use your hand or a putty knife. Spread some plaster on the wire. It will go through the wire. Do not worry about it unless it missed the paper and got on the track or the floor. Keep this up in different areas. Let the other areas dry before trying to add more to it. If you try to add more to a area that has not dried, the old plaster will fall off. As soon as the plaster has dried, you can add more to it until the whole thing is covered. You can do the same method for adding a hill on your layout. Just make sure that where you put the plaster, there has to be something there to hold it ( like a screw or nail sticking out of the table ). If it is just plaster, it will come off of the plywwod. Now let the whole thing dry for about 2 days to make sure that all of the plaster is completely dry. Now you can go ahead and paint the mountain. Use a little green for grass areas, alot of brown for dirt areas and for the stone / rock of the mountain, use different shades of gray and a little black for shadows.

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Grass Coverings and Trees:

     For the grass coverings on your layout, most people use a cut-up foam. Hobby shops have it. You can get it in many different colors and textures. Take a look around a craft store for different items that can be used for bushes, grass and even trees. You can glue this stuff down with Elmer's glue, hot glue gun or any other method that you can think of.

    There is a method that the owner uses to make his trees, but you will have to wait until he gets there on his layout before we let you know how. They look as real as a real tree and can be made any size that you want.

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Accessories:

     About 100% of all layouts have accessories on it. You can buy accessories from of off E-bay, hobby shops and web-sites, like Granvillebuildings. You can even make some. Look around your back yard, behind, on the side and front of businesses and buildings in towns and in the city. There is alot of accessories. The more you have in the right places, the more it makes your layout look real.

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