Video Step by Step: Build a plastic structure kit – part 2

Cody Grivno holding a ranch house kit.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In this installment of Video Step by Step, Cody Grivno shows you how to assemble a Walthers HO scale ranch tract house kit. In part 2 of 2, he covers adding windows & doors, window panes, window dressing, and other finishing details. […]

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How to tap screw holes

Tapping a screw hole in piece of rolling stock

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Tapping screw holes is an important skill for a model railroader, especially when it comes to adding trucks or couplers to a resin freight car kit. Follow Model Railroader associate editor Cody Grivno as he shows you how to easily use a tap […]

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Thin Branch Series: Build a river part 2 – scenery layer

David laying sand with a spoon.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In part 2, David shows how he completed the landscape around the banks and river bed using a wet scenery technique, static grasses, and an application of sand for the river bottom. […]

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DCC Programming: episode 3 – Advanced consisting function control

Digital Command Control CVs 21 and 22.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In this installment, MR Senior Editor Dana Kawala shows you how to use Digital Command Control CVs 21 and 22 to control individual functions on locomotives running in a consist. Dana also covers the basics of advanced consisting in this video. […]

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Video: Model Railroad Planning 2014 issue preview

Model Railroad Planning 2014 issue preview

Model Railroad Planning editor Tony Koester provides highlights of this year’s issue. Featured layouts include an exquisite HO scale model of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal and a spectacular N scale Southern Pacific Siskiyou Line. There’s even a cylindrical layout as well as five compact model railroads in 4 scales that fit in a 14 […]

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Video: Building a 5 x 8 harbor railroad part 4

Steve Otte working on a model house.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Structures and trackwork dominate this episode of the Model Railroader staff’s Rice Harbor video journal. Associate editor Steve Otte describes the lighthouse for Rice Harbor. Steve built the structure from a Branchline Trains kit, and the model also features a working beacon. Editor […]

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Building a 5 x 8 Harbor Railroad part 3

A Model Railroader holding a model building.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Layout designer David Popp describes his strategy for using various turnouts on the Rice Harbor project layout. The turnouts are controlled by New Rail Models Blue Point controllers. You’ll also get a look at the benchwork for the folding staging track and see […]

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Building a 5 x 8 Harbor Railroad part 2

Hands holding a structure

Work continues on the Model Railroader staff’s HO scale Rice Harbor project layout. David Popp begins track work on the railroad. Editor Neil Besougloff discusses his options for modeling a passenger station that will fit the model railroad’s setting and era. […]

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Family Train Layout: episode 3 – laying and wiring track

Family Train Layout laying and wiring track

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Now that the foam base for the Family Train Layout is in place, David shows how to expand the basic train set oval of track and connect the wires required to power the trains. Would you like to learn more about how to […]

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