Thing I’ve never seen in a model train layout…


I saw a bird on really fine wire flying round in circles, you had to look close to see the wire. A friend has got a rat in N scale on a downpipe
 
How about a school

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It was a Burger King. I never noticed before, but it is empty.
 
NH Mike said:
JL Innovative has a speedway grandstand kit. They also offer 30's - 40's era type Indy car kits and motorcycles kits. I'd love to do even just a 1/4 mile dirt oval with their kits but just don't have the space. :( On the otherhand I could do a diorama.... yeah, like I need something else to do! :rolleyes:
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Mike, I have some old slotcar tracks that would make a nice Nascar track w/the high banked turns. You could use some of the Hotwheels 1/87th race cars just sitting at the start line. You can buy grandstands in 1/87th.:eek:
 
Thing you never see on moder RR. layout's:

1) Davey Tree trimming crew trimming trees away from power lines.
2) Power line workers.
3) Lawn service mowing a yard.
4)Mail carriers/UPS delivering Mail!
 
I am sure they are out there, but I would like to see military trains moving soldiers or recruits. My father told me when he was drafted for Vietnam he took a train to North Carolina, Ft Bragg. BE kind of neat to see that modeled. I am sure the WWII trains are modeled. He did say the train ride down there was as bad as his combat tour!!
 
North Coast Railroad said:
I am sure they are out there, but I would like to see military trains moving soldiers or recruits. My father told me when he was drafted for Vietnam he took a train to North Carolina, Ft Bragg. BE kind of neat to see that modeled. I am sure the WWII trains are modeled. He did say the train ride down there was as bad as his combat tour!!
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I watched a documentary one time that put a lot of the blame for the demise of the passenger rail industry on World War II. We transported so many soldiers and so much war materiel that by the end of the war our locomotives and passenger cars were literally worn out. But the war wasn't as profitable for the railroads as you would expect so they didn't have the money to replace a lot of what was used up.
 
I was just in the thread on train movies and I thought of something else I’ve never seen in a model layout: a train robbery taking place or a movie crew filming a scene with a woman tied to the railroad tracks.
 
Cats I've got, no squirrels but do skunks count?
Birds I've got,, well ,,pigeons really. Congregating on a rooftop, with the expected stains on the masonary. Fish are represented by little tiny flakes of tin foil in the envirotex water. The guy fishing has a line made from a gray hair I plucked! (Yea, I got a lot of spare fishing line!) Preiser makes just about any critter you can imagine

Of course the airport, sports arena and probably a lot others can be found. Youtube Miniature Wunderland in Germany,,,,,these guys are on a whole other level!
 
flaja said:
My neighborhood used to have quite a few cats that liked to climb onto the flat roof of my house. They usualy climbed a nearby cedar tree and then jumped, but I saw one climb a ladder one day when I was doing some work on the roof. After I did some repairs part of my roof had a pitch and I heard a cat slide off down it a time or two. It was only about 8 feet to the ground so nobody was hurt.

Right after I started grade school my babysitter had a Siamese that fell off of her roof and broke his leg. The vet put a plaster of Paris cast on the animal. People autographed the cast just like it was for a human. Could you put a cast on a model train cat?

I don't think you could find a model train squirrel; I've never seen one in the hobby shops. Using N or HO scale may make a squirrel too hard to see.
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flaja said:
But would like to:

A cat walking the ridgeline of a roof on a house.

A squirrel running along a powerline.

A political rally in a layout depicting some time in the past.

Slot cars that match the model train’s scale so both cars and train are moving. (I have seen normal size slot cars used in a Leemax Christmas village; they were out of scale for the Leemax).

Holiday decorations of any kind in the layout’s scale.

A bird in mid-air.
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Guilford Guy9887 said:
Fish in a pond or river

A school

Airport
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There is a reknown modeler near me that has won many awards for his structures, been shown in many many magazines since the early 70's and has a slick trick for making fish for water. He uses very small peices of solder to acclomplish it and did an article years ago in RMC about how he did it. Its nice because he is able to sink it into resin for his water when he pours it and it looks very realistic.

I remember seeing somewhere on the web not too long ago about someone using very very thin wire to connect to Prieser birds to float them in the air and give the impression they are in flight.

Every once in a while you will see someone in the Model Railroader "trackside photos" column that had a cat on a roof. The last time I recall seeing a picture, the author used the reference of a "cat on a hot tin roof" in the description of the photo.

We sparked up a conversation with the gentleman I refered to above that made the fish for his water about trying to put birds and animals onto the wires of his layout. The problem is they are heavy enough to just twist the wire around and end up hanging upside down. There isnt really a way to keep the animals upright while sitting on the actual wires that I can think of. He uses the nice Birkshire Jct. strechable stuff for his wires.
 
Another thing I seen for the very first time recently was a couple that was in town back in November as a vendor at the Worlds Greatest Hobby on tour show when it came here. The guy built an HO scale full size sports stadium including tens of 1000's of figures in the stands, premium luxury sky boxes, the tall overhead lights powered by white LEDs, and thousands of small LEDs for the concourse area of which also was complete with concession stands. The area where the field is was open and where you stand and the seating circles around you. But it was amazing to look at. Guy said he had 1000s of hours wrapped up in it.

Im sure someone here may have seen this before as well.
 
flaja said:
But would like to:

Slot cars that match the model train’s scale so both cars and train are moving.
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I had them as a boy. Very fun.

It seems to me that grade crossings in any brand of car track are hard to find.



Kevin
 
How about major highways? My layout will have one (if it gets finished), that will have a subway in the median. Come to think of it, it could be neat to put in a toll booth, with LED lights, and people in the booths.
 
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