Build a Museum Quality Train Station - Realistic Scenery Vol.25

[Music] hey all and welcome to another long-awaited tutorial in this video i'll be walking you through the process to create a fantastic museum quality working layout it's not a simple feat and there is quite a lot involved in a project like this so sit back and enjoy watching as this project is brought to life [Music] this module is being designed for a specific space so before i start building the baseboard i make sure i know exactly how big it will need to be the base is simply seven millimeter plywood and pine bracing glued and nailed together there are many different ways of constructing the module baseboard each have their pros and cons but most importantly you want it to be level square and rigid having the seven millimeter plywood top helps keep the module rigid but there will still be some potential warping along the length of the module to help limit the amount of warping i add two additional pine strips diagonally across the base this almost completely eliminates any sideways warping making the module much easier to move around and less susceptible to damage any gaps are filled in with putty and sanded back to keep the module looking nice and you can see with those diagonal braces there is very minimal sideways warping i like to use extruded foam board as the base to build the scenery on top of to stick this down you'll need a strong glue that works well with foam i find any polyurethane glue works well but just be sure to roughen the foam a little to give the glue a better chance of holding it also activates with water so you'll want to dampen the surface to be glued before joining the two pieces and don't forget to weigh it down as the glue will expand as it cures once the foam is down and secure the edges are once again tidied up and sanded back so the foam is flush with the edge now on to the main feature of the module it's an australian-style train station building commonly found across country victoria it's a very straightforward design and quite simple to build so i won't spend too much time on the basics but i'll show you what i did to improve the design laser cut buildings like this are really enjoyable to build the parts usually fit together with minimal sanding and a simple knife sandpaper and wood glue are the basic tools you'll need wood does have the tendency to warp so i make sure when painting and priming that i do it evenly on both sides of each piece any stray bits of wood fibres and fuzz across the surface like this can be knocked back and removed with some fine steel wool now we just need to repeat the process and before you know it the main building structure will be complete [Music] the roof is the first change i made instead of using the supplied laser cut wood corrugated sheet i opted to use corrugated foil glued onto a 0.5 millimeter styrene base [Music] i'll be using the brunel hobbies corrugated iron maker to create each individual sheet and you'll want some heavy duty fall to work with once again each sheet is cut to size it gets placed on the corrugated iron maker and the dye is pressed and dragged to create the corrugations you only need to press down gently to avoid tearing the foil to remove any warping i also flip the foil around a few times leaving me with a nice flat sheet of corrugated iron it's time consuming but the end result is certainly worth the effort you'll notice there are a few added details like the 3d printed gutters and lots more i'll talk more about how i create all the little details later in the video as long as you get the first corrugated sheet down just right the rest simply overlap the first sheet and they will align themselves with the previous panel i use superglue gel to fix the sheets onto the styrene base one by one each sheet is glued and pressed until the entire roof is covered ridge capping is an important detail especially on a corrugated roof i tried adding ridge capping by creasing a length of foil but in the end it was much easier to use some styrene rod along the peak and then glue some thin strip styrene along the edge to create the capping after a quick clean with alcohol it's ready for paint valejo white primer works well as the base coat and for the main color dull metallic grey by mixing some silver and light gold gray as used [Music] light weathering is simply applied with rust colours and a sponge it's only a light weathered roof so i do my best to avoid over doing it i focus on adding the rough spots along the seams and joins between the sheets more highlighting can be added by using some paper as a mask and lightly misting over some of the rust color with an airbrush this effect really brings out each individual corrugated sheet resulting in quite a nice effect lastly i'll add some dark earth pigment over the roof to give it an old dusty appearance and to help blend the rust effects it's hard to see straight away but the difference is certainly noticeable when you compare both sides of the roof now on to the rest of the building the colour scheme is influenced from an actual location pyramid hill in central victoria so i'm using that as a guide for not only color but also the additional 3d printed details that i'll be adding the kit comes with laser-cut chimneys but to be honest i didn't think they looked all that great these 3d printed chimneys look much better they start with a light brown base coat followed with a dry brushing of mahogany and lastly mortar is added by coating the chimney with dark dust weathering pigment once the excess pigment has been wiped away from the brick surface with a damp paper towel you'll be left with a great looking and very realistic chimney now to complete the rest of the building and add all the small details it's just amazing the level of detail you can get from resin 3d printers these tiny taps are just one example five years ago this level of detail was almost unheard of and no australian train station would be complete without an outdoor dunny the shed next to the main station building is just small enough that it could be entirely 3d printed so all that needed to be done was adding the corrugated roof along with some guttering and a nice paint job that matched the theme of the main station building with the buildings complete i can start planning out the track and platform location but first i need to make some track that's right i actually 3d printed the track to make my own flex track that way i can set the tire size and spacing to exactly how i need it to match the australian prototype and i can also use some lighter rail to better represent an australian branch line the 3d printer is from nova 3d and it's called the elephant all the 3d printed details you see in this video were made using this 3d printer just remember to use safety gear when working with uncured resin as it can be harmful to your skin once the print has been removed it gets a wash in isopropyl alcohol once it's clean i remove these supports and it gets a final cure under some uv light once it's completely cured i do a bit of light sanding to remove any imperfections the rail is atlas and scale code 55 once it's been removed from the n scale ties i thread it onto my diy 3d printed ties you just need to be really careful as these small spikes that hold the rail are extremely brittle and it doesn't take much to snap them off once it's all together it makes quite a nice piece of flex track and the tolerances can be adjusted when designing the track tyres to ensure the rail is perfectly engaged road bed is just some three millimeter thick foam nothing too fancy just enough to raise the track above ground level and give the ballast a nice profile before i build the platform i need to know the height of the carriage for the main structure i ended up laser cutting some styrene the laser cutter does work with styrene however it will leave a raised edge which can be sanded back if required the platform is assembled just like a styrene kit the retaining wall along the front edge of the platform was also laser cut using one millimeter acrylic along with some 3d printed steel posts to get the acrylic looking like old cement i textured the surface by adhering weathering pigment with spray adhesive you may take two coats to get the desired amount of texture grey primer works as a nice base coat and the lines get scribed to remove excess pigment from between the cement slabs a nice light cement color gray is misted over the top and various light and dark brown pigments are dusted over for a bit of color variation i also add some more of the light gray to highlight individual cement slabs and a very light general misting of gray over the top to blend all the weathering pigments together the posts have painted a rusty color with some rust paint splatter effects and an off-white dry brush similar to the way i made the rusty red bridge in realistic scenery volume 24. now it can all be assembled with a little bit of superglue using the ruler to ensure it's aligned correctly and then it can be attached to the main platform structure any excess is removed and the end pieces are attached for the platform surface i'm using three millimeter pvc foam sheet it's quite rigid foam that is also easy to cut with a knife all i did was simply trace the shape of the platform onto the foam board and then use a sharp knife and straight edge to cut out the shape the tube aluminium straight edge helps to ensure that i'm cutting straight down at a 90 degree angle polyurethane glue works well to glue the foam to the platform structure just make sure you don't put any glue too close to the front edge so that it doesn't ooze out and ruin the nice cement retaining wall because this stuff will expand and ooze out of the smallest gaps also don't forget that there's a plastic protective wrap that needs to be removed the platform surface also needs some texture i found mig asphalt paint gives a nice effect and the weathering is done with some dust pigments again don't forget about the protective plastic the paint is spread out rubbing it all over the platform surface i only want a very thin layer of paint so a little bit goes a long way keep spreading it out until the entire platform is covered with a nice very thin layer next the area is covered with dark dust pigment and it gets teased and pushed around until all of the asphalt areas are covered any remaining pigment is brushed away and then with a lightly damp paper towel i drag it over the surface removing pigment from the raised surfaces and leaving behind the pigment in the recesses of the textured paint and again to help tie the colors together and lighten the surface a light misting of light gray is applied by mixing a little deck tan and neutral grey it's only just a light misting to slightly change the hue of the platform as for the leading edge of the platform i'll be dyeing some basswood strips using leather dye a bit of tan is mixed in with black and diluted with isopropyl alcohol i test small bits of wood first just to make sure i'm getting the desired colour once happy the wood is dunked for roughly one minute and then removed to dry using a hair dryer helps speed up the process i repeated the process twice to get the desired color i was after now each piece has any loose fibers and splinters removed with fine steel wool which helps gives the wood a distressed look lastly some india ink is used to give the lighter areas of the strip wood a more grayish tint after about 30 seconds i remove and dry the wood strips to create these separate sections of wood the strips are cut in half before they get glued onto the leading edge of the platform the retaining wall posts are designed so the wood beams will sit perfectly on top of them and overhang the platform just the right amount some bolts also make a nice little touch to add a bit more realism and we can't forget the safety line to stop people walking off the edge a little trick to help prevent color from bleeding under the masking tape is to apply a couple of coats of clear matte varnish first this will fill in any of those small gaps that may have led to paint bleeding underneath and now they will just be clear also yellow paint has very little pigment and is almost impossible to apply over dark colors so i apply some white primer first and follow that up with a yellow paint a bit of the dust pigment helps weather the yellow giving it a nice used appearance now we can finally start putting the scene together laying it out and roughing in where to put various features of the module before gluing the track i make sure the edge of the train won't hit the platform as it rolls past but at the same time it's close enough so that it looks realistic the track underlay is glued with polyurethane glue using the line i drew earlier as a guide and then weighing it down as for joining the track i used code 70 rail joiners and trim them down so they would be just the right size to fit between two tyres then the joiners are made permanent by soldering them to the track standard wood glue is more than enough to fix the track down on top of the foam road bed because this section of track needs to be very precisely placed due to the platform edge i use pins to ensure it stays exactly where i need it to as the glue dries excess track is removed and because the track ties are so fragile i apply a drop of super glue over about the last seven or eight ties that are close to the edge of the module that way a straight t-shirt isn't going to tear up the track as it gets caught as you walk past terrain contouring is built up using foam i use my diy hot wire foam cutter for the initial layer of foam just so that i could ensure it was the right height to meet up with the top of the platform and the bridge you may recognize this bridge it's actually the bridge i built in realistic scenery vol 10 but some changes had to be made in order for it to fit the scene the foam is built up around the bridge and is glued with 3m super 77 the super 77 spray is strong enough to hold the foam in place and then once the plaster is applied over the top it will create a permanent hard shell over the module the rest of the frame and contouring can be built up using scrap foam that is fixed down with the spray adhesive overhanging sections of foam are removed using a hotknife and sled from the hot wire foam factory these tools make it very easy to get a nice square edge and will also do a good job refining the foam contouring before adding plaster the track has an initial coat of israeli sand grey that acts as the base colour next various shades of brown and beige are airbrushed over selected ties for colour variation [Music] then with some off-white the ties are dry brushed highlighting the raised details and edges of the tires i also apply some weathering pigment to help give it an aged look and then seal it with a coat of dull coat lightly applied through the airbrush [Music] as for the rail i stick down some masking tape so that the tie plates and rail are exposed and then apply a coat of hull red lastly some off-white is dry brushed over the top catching the edge of their rail spikes making them stand out don't forget to clean the tops of the rails otherwise the trains won't run the platform is ready to be glued down [Music] before covering the entire module in plaster i get some rock castings ready this is a knock rock mould and i'm using hydrocal to fill the mold however you can also just as easily use plaster of paris i actually needed the rock to be slightly curved so once the hydrocol is starting to set but still a little bit soft i lean the mold against the edge of the module so that it curves now that it's dry you can see that it has a nice curve to it and will fit perfectly under the bridge the module is covered in sculpted modelling mix it's similar to the more common sculpt mould found in art stores it takes quite a lot to cover a big area like this and i use a lot of it on my dioramas so i usually buy it in bulk from office works it's great stuff to work with as it holds its shape well and can be used to fill in large areas and create natural looking contours when it comes to sticking pre-made rock molds be sure to thoroughly wet them all before pressing it into the plaster to ensure that it sticks down properly i keep pushing it around and manipulating it to get the desired look and i continue to smoothen it especially in the areas where i plan to have dirt roads and paths to get the bridge fitting perfectly i had to trim away sections of rock hydrocal is really tough once it's set so i needed the dremel to do the job there are heaps of ways to paint rocks all have their various benefits but for this one i went with the more commonly used leopard spotting technique using brown and beige for the base colors followed up with a dark grey wash and lastly i used some off-white to dry brush over the top and bring out and highlight the edges you can use this technique and make slight variations to the colours you use to represent specific locations that you're trying to model the rest of the white areas are painted brown this will soon be covered in dirt but painting it brown to remove the white will help hide any areas that get missed when applying the dirt the dirt itself is a mixture of dried and sifted dirt from the backyard mixed with equal amounts of beige colored grout to help the dirt stick to this sloping terrain i paint over some diluted mod podge first next the coarse dirt textures are applied and then using the sieve i dust over some finer dirt textures over everything else dirt on its own tends to look very dark once glue is applied and has dried so the lighter coloured grant helps make it look more natural and dry this process is repeated over and over until the entire module is covered in the grout and dirt mixture excess dirt is removed away from unwanted areas before gluing here i'm using the airbrush with the air pressure turned all the way down that way it will remove only small areas of dust directly in front of the airbrush without completely obliterating the rest of the dirt behind the platform the same is done for the track as well fixing the dirt down is a two-step process i use isopropyl alcohol and some of my scenic glue mixture which is one part mod podge mat three parts water and some dish soap firstly mist the area with isopropyl alcohol this pre-wets the dirt so the glue will soak right through next apply the glue thoroughly covering the module and all areas where dirt was applied any built-up areas of glue can be soaked up with a paper towel as for ballast i'm using woodland scenic's fine blend which is usually used on n-scale layouts however it's near perfect for ho scale layouts as well a good amount is poured along the track and spread out with a soft brush you want a nice even spread so no ballast is left covering any of the tyres to remove stray bits of ballast from the top of the tyres you can tap the rail with the handle of the brush this will help ballast bounce off from the top of the tires and settle between them instead this process gets repeated right along the length of the track just like we glued the dirt isopropyl alcohol is misted to pre-wet the surface and then scenic glue is applied quite heavily over the top using an eye dropper to apply the glue also works quite well the road that joins up with the bridge will be an old loose gravel road some woodland scenic's smooth at plaster is spread out forming the road surface i apply the plaster along the areas i plan to have the road and start spreading it out with my fingers i continue spreading and smoothing it until it starts to set this will ensure it's as smooth as possible before it dries [Music] i also apply some of these smooth it over the road crossing as well once dry the plaster is quite soft and sands very easily this will further remove any finger marks and imperfections a grey base coat is painted over all of the white areas and then just like we applied the mig asphalt texture paint on the station platform i do the same here however i applied in a much thicker layer basically creating a skin over the surface the edges of the road have some woodland scenic's fine buff gravel added to form the road shoulders it's spread out in a similar fashion to the ballast to glue it down i simply wet the gravel with alcohol and apply the glue through a syringe to give it that loose stone appearance i sanded the surface of the road this creates a smoother surface but also highlights the tiny little pieces of grit that are embedded in the paint causing them to change color just enough so they stand out the sanding dust also acts like a weathering powder to remove excess sanding dust from the raised areas i dampen my fingers and just drag them over the road i also apply a layer of dull coat so the dust stays where it is road lines are added by masking off areas and airbrushing off white over the top just be careful to apply light coats so the paint doesn't run underneath the masking tape when removing the masking tape just be careful not to peel up the road surface because the textured paint created a skin effect it can also accidentally be peeled up if you're not careful don't worry if you do make a mistake because you can always make it look like a pothole repair as for the track crossing excess plaster gets removed from the wheel tracks the nmra track gauge will give you a good idea of just how much you'll need to scrape away i also sand down the top surface just enough so it sits below the height of the rail now with a bit of paint and some dirt texture over the top it will blend right in the dirt texture is much lighter in color compared to the other dirt texture you can see this is my dirt road mix and has a much lighter grout added to the original color dirt once again it's fixed down with alcohol and glue now the real fun begins adding scenery i used a bunch of trees some made using woodland scenics armatures other made from twigs and some pre-made trees i particularly like the all-scale scenics trees from osrail model trains because they do a good job of representing trees you might find locally around australia each tree is test fitted and then planted into the module one by one the module starts to fill up with trees and you start to get a good idea of how the finished scene will look now that the trees have a spot they get replaced with these small numbered flags this way i can complete the rest of the ground level scenery and know exactly where the trees will be positioned and avoid putting things like static grass and small bushes around the base of the trees also the trees won't get in the way when doing it this way for the grass on this model i'm testing out the range from war world scenics they have a nice range of dull greens and yellows which are perfect for the australian type scenery and dry climates the applicator is powered using a nine volt battery to start with i mix some spring two millimeter grass with a cup of dead grass and a cup of wild meadow to get the desired colour diluted mod podge roughly one to one with water is spread out randomly over the surface taking note of the position of trees and other details next the applicator is turned on the grounding wire is pressed into the wet glue and the applicator is gently shaken over the areas of wet glue like magic before your eyes you'll start to see tiny little grass fibres standing on end after about five minutes i vacuum any excess grass away using a vacuum cleaner and a stocking the stocking helps catch the loose fibers so we can continue to use it on other areas of the module this process gets repeated in small sections at a time until the desired areas are covered now we can start layering up the next layer of four millimeter grass over the top more glue is applied over the top of the two millimeter grass and again the applicator is shaken over the top this layer stacks up on top of the glass creating thicker taller grass in all the areas where the second layer of glue was applied world scenics also have a detail applicator for doing small areas it's great for doing little accent areas like this and for doing small grass tufts along the track but it's also great for getting around buildings and other details as you'll see a little bit later one of my favorite ground scatter materials to use is blended dried leaves it looks fantastic and it's free nothing special just some dead leaves collected from outside and blended to create a fine texture that you guessed it resembles dead leaves i focus on applying this around the base of trees and anywhere you might see fallen leaves the other woodland scenics ground foams are used to add more dense areas of weeds and bushes i tend to use burnt grass coarse foam the most but i also accent it with some medium green as well to prevent the foams and leaves sitting on top of the grass fibres you may need to use a brush to tease them down a bit also i remove any textures from unwanted areas like paths and roads once that's done it all gets sealed with alcohol and scenic glue extra platform and station detail is constructed like the chain link fence which you can see in the chain link fence video tutorial from a few years ago however on this version i sprayed the fence frame with spray adhesive before sticking it down onto the nylon tool then remove the excess and give it a coat of paint small footpath barriers are made with some two millimeter dowel and also painted to blend in with the scenery i've had these highway guard rails for years and i've finally found a use for them they're quite simple to construct basically just follow the instructions on the package however if you do plan on bending them to fit a certain area you'll want to soften the plastic with heat first as the plastic is quite brittle and can snap quite easily signs are also added which have their own tutorial if you plan to make your own similar science we can't have a road crossing tracks with no signals so some crossing signals from bush will work perfectly once the area has been cut out and a hole drilled for the wires the signals are glued in and scenery material is added to help blend them in with the rest of the scenery and with some leftover guard rail they certainly look the part you could spend hours and hours adding endless amounts of detail to a scene like this these leftover pieces of rail look great and were weathered using micro engineering rail weathering solution the ties were leftovers from the 3d printer piles of dirt aren't an uncommon site around an old country train station as well as old pellets and car tyres just make sure to give the pile of dirt a good soaking of alcohol and glue to make sure it doesn't go anywhere when gluing down the buildings i only put just enough glue to hold it down the reason being that if at any point i want to remove or change its position i can pry it back up and hopefully not cause any damage to the building more 3d printed details these were actually leftovers from the subway diorama last year every station needs a name boulder creek seems like a fitting name for this station [Music] here is where this tiny applicator comes in really handy i can use it around details like this only getting grass on the areas i want without sending grass fibres all over the scene i can see myself using this applicator quite a lot in future dioramas extra lighting effects are added with some woodland scenics lighting and the light hub these work really well and are very easy to install and wire up no soldering is needed for the woodland scenics lighting products however i did do a bit of soldering to add some extra wiring for the bush crossing signal road tracks are created using yellow ochre pastel it gets dusted across the road and blended in to create the tire tracks you'd commonly see from cars that travel up and down the road i also add a little bit of the powder along the paths and tracks to show areas frequently traveled while the dusting brush is out i also weather the ballast with some aim dark earth weathering powder this stuff is quite strong so just start out light and gradually add more until you get the desired look it's very hard to remove this stuff especially from ballasted areas some of the excess can be wiped away from the tops of the tyres using your finger [Music] almost done the bridge can be permanently glued over the track and now we can start to put the trees back getting them back to their intended positions is a piece of cake given that we took the effort to mark out and number each tree's position with the trees planted their trunks get blended in by adding some of the blended leaves around the base once the alcohol and glue have been applied those trees won't be going anywhere lastly for scenery i'll be adding small trees and bushes these are a variety of woodland scenics briar patch and finally foliage along with some sea foam trees i made by sprinkling over green foam and knock leaves they all get planted in various locations across the module i try to hide the edges of the module with bushes so it's harder for someone looking at the model to spot where the module ends it's really quite enjoyable finishing this process and it's amazing how much of a difference a few small bushes make to the overall appearance of the model [Music] and lastly i'll paint the edges black to help frame the module we're finished this was a huge project and took over a hundred hours of construction time all up i filmed just over 28 hours of footage which is a record for these videos but all that time and effort was certainly worth it in the end this module looks amazing on camera but in person it looks even better now i need to get started on the adjoining modules so the train has somewhere to go other than boulder creek station i hope you enjoyed watching and i hope you managed to pick up a small tip or technique from the video if you like what i do and would like to help support the channel feel free to go and check out my patreon page where you'll find more information about these dioramas updates and some rewards for supporting the channel cheers and thanks for watching

Channel: Luke Towan

Views: 753,687

Keywords: Build a model train station, HO scale Train Station, how to build model railroad scenery, how to build scenery, building realistic scenery, building realistic scenery from scratch, model railroad scenery, model railroad, realistic forest tutorial, how to model a grass field, luke towan, boulder creek railroad, realistic scenery, woodland scenics

Id: Z9EqpzJuy-g

Length: 37min 22sec (2242 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 13 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/artwarrior]

Towan is a boss ! Love his stuff.

[u/ATLHawksfan]

If anyone needs some helpful hints on how to do any of this, I've never built a diorama, but I've watched like 30 of these videos.

[u/rtphokie]

Today I learned Towan is a pilot for Qantas' regional airline.

[u/MrCrumbbley]

I'm always surprised afterwards when I end up watching hours of diorama videos.

[u/Wcwicks]

Anybody else read the video title with an Indiana Jones voice?

[u/Candymom]

I will never make a diorama but I sure love watching Luke’s videos.

[u/aedge403]

This is amazing!!!!!!!

[u/KankerBlossom]

My personal favorite of his is the skyscraper with lights and rooms