DIY model of a railway crossing from scrap materials. Garden train: landscape decoration and helper in the household Do-it-yourself rails for model railroads

You can make a model railway with your own hands, but this will require extensive preparation. When building a model, knowledge in the field of design and operation is required railway, you can read about this in books that are used for teaching in higher education educational institutions, technical schools, as well as in instructions such as “Rules technical operation railway", "Instructions for railway signaling". There are periodicals such as “Lokotrans”, “Semaphore”, “Railway Business”. In these magazines you can find useful information about the railways of Russia and the world, and some publications have sections dedicated to railway modelling. There you can find descriptions of technologies, working methods, patterns of rolling stock models, and expert advice.

When building a model with your own hands, you need skills in working with various tools: for working with wood - work with a jigsaw, files, for measurements and markings - the ability to use a square, ruler, caliper. To work with electronic devices - correctly mold parts, connect wires, solder, measure current and voltage. If you don’t have the skills to do the job, then it’s worth studying the technique and practicing before starting to build a model railroad. For training you can purchase cheap material and tools, and during the construction of the model, use high-quality raw materials and tools.

The construction of a model begins with the creation of a work plan, a route diagram, an approximate map of the terrain - with the planning and design of a railway line with your own hands. After the project is ready, the first step is to build a base for the model - a sub-model. In the future, the layout will be located on it, and will be used as outer surface, on which tracks, stations, depots, forests, mountains, rivers, but also inner part for wires, various devices that ensure the operation of the layout.

Paths are laid on the sub-model. Railway rails and sleepers can be bought in a store, but using special machines you can make them yourself. Few modellers are involved in such production. After laying the tracks and connecting the electrical part of the model, relief and vegetation are created, and models of residential buildings, factories, and train stations are installed.

There are some details on the model, objects you can make with your own hands, or you can buy them in stores. If purchased models do not suit your appearance or do not have sufficient detail, then they can be modified independently. Some modellers use this technique.

Models of houses, plants, lighting poles, traffic lights - all these layout elements can be made independently, at home. You can find more information about how this is done in the articles in the “Layouts and Modules” section of the site.

In addition, the construction of a model is not only the production of individual railway infrastructure objects, it is the unification of all components of the model using a single, identical scale, era, theme of the model and time of year.

This one has a history crafts short. During summer holidays I had quite a lot of free time and wanted to do something with your own hands. One day, while passing by a railway crossing, I had the idea to make a working model of such an ordinary object at first glance.

For the base You will need a desk drawer. We mark the locations of objects on the box and drill holes for attaching the semaphore and lights, and also drill holes for the wiring of the house.

For the house you will need:

a piece of thin plywood;
thin transparent plastic;
matches;
whatman;
LED with wires to illuminate the house.

We cut out the walls and roof of the house, then saw through two windows in the walls and glue the resulting parts together using hot glue and paint. The glass is cut out of plastic. They should be slightly larger in size than window hole and glue them. We cut and paint matches. Using super glue we make window frames. Finally, we attach the LED in the center of the roof of the house.

Now let's take care of the road and landscape:

Road consists of glued finely sifted screenings that are rolled with a roller. The surface is painted and marked.

Railway track We do the same as the road, only we add a second layer (smaller width). On top we lay sleepers made of ice cream sticks and rails made of thick aluminum wire.

Grass made from shavings painted green.

For lanterns you will need :

LEDs with wires;
The body of a regular ballpoint pen and the refill of a helium pen;
strange things that lay in my desk.

Putting everything together and we get:

Semaphore:

Dowel for skirting boards
Pen body and gel pen refill

Cutting from the dowel top part. Bend the rod at an angle of 90 degrees. We cut off half of the handle, drill the cut part of the dowel and the handle, and connect them.

Barriers: We make them from two pieces of plywood of different thicknesses and make two holes at the ends of a narrow strip.

Electronics and mechanisms

We make a simple multivibrator circuit and connect it to semaphores. They are switched on when the barriers are lowered using a homemade “relay”.

Have you thought about how to make a model railway with your own hands? To implement such an idea, you will need to stock up on a huge amount of patience, since such work cannot be rushed. In addition, before construction you will have to study a lot of theoretical information and draw up competent drawings. Read more about all these nuances in our article. Be sure that very soon you will be able to build your own railway to decorate your apartment.

Main types and features of modeling

A miniature railway is a piece of furniture that will delight the eyes of not only children, but also adults. If you are interested in making your own railroad tracks, it means that most likely you had a similar toy as a child and you decided to bring your memories to life. Or do you just want to please your family members? unusual decoration made by hand. Be that as it may, in the following sections you will find detailed instructions, which describes each stage of work on the layout in detail.

To make a truly beautiful layout, you will need to work quite a lot, because even the smallest detail of the composition requires close attention. If you have ever studied the structure of real railways, then it will be much easier for you to realize your idea. However, do not be discouraged if you do not have the necessary skills, since all the necessary information can be found on the Internet without much difficulty. For example, our article will present several original ideas, which will allow you to make a high-quality and unusual layout for your home.

As for the main types of layouts, they are quite difficult to classify. If we talk about scale, you can find small, medium and huge layouts that fill almost the entire space of the room. Some compositions are used to have a toy train ride on them. Others serve as part of the interior. Quite often on the models you can find various elements of nature: rivers, mountains, forests and fields, and sometimes they may simply be absent, and the railway itself is located on a regular plane. In general, there are quite a lot of options for making a layout, especially for a person who will be doing this for the first time.

What materials will be needed for the job?

Have you decided to make a model railway at home with your own hands? First you need to decide on the materials that you will use during the construction process. This can only be done if you carefully study the options for ready-made layouts, photographs of which are presented in our article. In this list you can find the most commonly used materials in construction and their purpose:

plywood sheet- suitable as the main plane for the layout;
construction foam is an ideal option for creating mountains with a tunnel;
boards and cardboard - suitable for creating decorative objects.

It is worth noting that the possibility of using various materials limited only by the skill and imagination of the master himself. For example, if you are good with plaster, you can easily make several objects out of it for a model. Do you know how to design bridges? Why not add such a design to your composition. What about real water in the model, which will symbolize the river?

Also, we should not forget that some elements can be purchased in stores, and not made by hand. For example, it will be quite difficult for a novice designer to make a figurine of a person from scrap materials, but such an element can be ordered on the Internet at a very modest price. Or you can display your collection of sports cars on the layout so that it no longer collects dust on the shelf, but pleases the eyes of your guests and family members.

List of required tools

We have already said that the easiest way to make a base for a model railway with your own hands is from a large sheet of plywood. You can purchase such material at furniture store or remove from an old unnecessary bed. However, what tools might a designer need during his work? As a rule, they directly depend on the materials you decide to use. Although in the list below you will find the most commonly used tools, as well as their “scope of activity”.

An electric jigsaw is indispensable for working with plywood sheets and wood.
Construction adhesive is ideal for attaching small parts.
Sandpaper - suitable for processing uneven surfaces.

You will need quite a lot more as you work. various instruments, which are related to materials for work. For example, if you want to color the layout different colors, then you will need brushes of varying fineness. Decided to add a couple of metal parts? Don't forget to get a grinder with discs and welding machine with electrodes.

As you can see, the list of tools for work can be quite extensive, so it is recommended to find everything you need in advance so that you don’t have to be distracted by anything during the work process. If you don’t have a tool at home, you can ask your friends for it, but under no circumstances resort to alternative options(instead of nails - screws). Making a model is a very delicate work that requires compliance certain rules.

Design or drawing

How to make a model of a railway at home step by step and with your own hands? In the following sections you will find detailed information on this matter. However, before you start building anything with your own hands, you need to correctly draw up drawings of the future product that would take into account all the features of the composition.

First of all, you need to decide on the dimensions of the layout. It is worth understanding that the larger the area of the product, the more small parts you will have to add to it. A beginner designer should first learn how to make small layouts, and only then move on to large compositions. Although if you are confident in your abilities or work under the guidance of a real professional, then you can forget about this rule.

However, we should not forget that not only the quality of the future structure, but also its decorative look. As a rule, people start making mock-ups when they already have a specific idea. For example, the master wants to include in the composition several mountains with a tunnel, a river, a bridge, and also a small village in the middle. Such a layout may require quite a lot of details, but it will look quite decent.

We make a sub-model

We make a model of the railway with our own hands. The first stage will be the manufacture of a sub-model on which all the main elements will be placed. It is highly recommended to use a sheet of plywood as a building material, since it has fairly good strength and is light in weight, which will allow you to drag the layout even alone. You can purchase such a product at any furniture store, but if you want to save money, then go to a construction base, where a sheet of plywood of the required size will be cut right in front of the buyer.

Once the plywood sheet is ready, it must be carefully processed so as not to be damaged by sharp edges during operation. For this purpose you can use electric jigsaw with a special attachment or medium-grit sandpaper. Try to process the plywood as carefully as possible, since this may not be possible later. In addition, it is much easier to apply paint and glue small parts to a smooth surface. And if you want to cover the layout with a water-repellent coating, then sanding the sheet of plywood is a must.

Working with landscape

The next stage of making a model railway with your own hands from plywood is working on the landscape. This stage can be called the most difficult, since the quality of the future design depends on its correct implementation. If you cannot implement your idea the first time, then do not despair. You can throw away the plywood sheet at any time and buy another one. Luckily they are quite inexpensive.

A variety of methods can be used to work on the landscape. For example, mountains can be made from ordinary construction foam by releasing it from a can in the required quantity. If you intend that a tunnel will pass through such a natural element, then you should take this into account in advance by placing a plastic or cardboard pipe on the model. Once you use the foam, you won't even need to take it out. Let it lie inside the mountains, and the seams can be disguised with almost anything.

Another indispensable material for landscape work is gypsum or construction putty. Unlike foam, such material is much easier to modify to suit the required form, however, it is most often used as a decorative element rather than the main one. Firstly, gypsum weighs quite a lot, so you shouldn’t make large objects out of it. Secondly, over time, the putty may crack, especially if a water-repellent mixture is not used during construction. In general, there are a huge number of options for working on the landscape, so you should approach their choice wisely.

Sanding and painting work

The next stage of building a model railway with your own hands is sanding and painting work. If you used wood for construction, then all unevenness can be eliminated using ordinary sandpaper. The easiest way to trim dried construction foam is with putty, applying it to all uneven areas. After this, the mountains will become quite smooth. If you're not happy with this, don't be afraid to chip off a couple of pieces of putty to give the natural formation a more natural look.

As soon as the landscape takes the desired shape, open several cans acrylic paints, pick up the brushes and start creating. It is best to have before your eyes an image of real mountains with vegetation in order to better understand which colors from the palette should be used first. Don't be afraid to apply several layers of paint, as this will only give the future composition a natural look. For example, you can paint stones in grey colour, then add a little white paint on top, thereby depicting snow on the top.

Laying the railway

We are still making a model of the railway with our own hands and are gradually approaching the longest stage of construction - laying the railway track. As a rule, most craftsmen prefer to purchase already ready material in toy stores, because for the production of the railway with my own hands It can take an unrealistically long time. In addition, plastic parts are quite cheap and you won’t mind breaking them if you use them carelessly. This is especially true for those people who have children in their family.

The railway is attached to the model using ordinary construction glue. You should not use too long parts during work, as this can give the road an unnatural straightness. It is best to make it have more turns and elevations. Remember not to use too much glue to attach parts to the surface. Also on any tube you will find information that for good fixation, a huge role is played by the force of pressing the part to the surface, and not long time pressing down.

Creation of scenery

Once the main element of our layout is done, we can start creating various decorative elements. You can purchase such parts in toy stores or make your own from building materials, if you have the talent for it. For example, on some layouts you can see ordinary medical cotton wool, which plays the role of snow, although most professional designers still prefer to use a special mixture, which is sold in small cans in Christmas stores.

The same applies to the remaining elements of the composition. You can make your own lanterns for a railroad model from ordinary plasticine or buy ready-made decorations in a store. By the way, if you are planning to make a model for Christmas, then a very good idea would be to replace the standard street lighting with New Year's garlands, however, such a solution should be provided for in advance by cutting several dozen holes in the plywood for light bulbs - this way the wires will be at the bottom, attached with electrical tape.

Video and conclusion

We hope you now have a better understanding of what it takes to make a mini-model railroad with your own hands. If the information from our article did not seem enough to you, or you still have some questions, then we recommend watching a short video in which a master demonstrates the entire process of making a landscape with his own hands. Such video material will be useful both for a novice designer and for a true master of his craft. If you watch it in its entirety, you will certainly learn how to make beautiful mountains and other natural objects using scrap materials.

Layout is a very interesting activity.

I have always dreamed of making a model railway since childhood; in reality, I only completed a few spans of experimental tracks. Unfortunately, during my work I encountered many problems and scarce parts, in this article I want to discuss with you the most FAQ when creating a layout of railway tracks and transport.

In the second issue of ModelMen magazine, I published an article and several photographs from the website of one experienced modeler, he builds model railroads and participates in exhibitions with his creations. Even by looking at the photographs of the layout, you can already determine for yourself the amount of work, make a list of tools and materials. I will not give the entire list of what is needed at once because it may not be complete, let’s better figure out together what is made of what.

Base

The model railway track must stand on something, so at the very beginning it is necessary to construct a base (table) for the model. The base can be solid or collapsible. It’s easier to make a solid base, but then you need to decide in advance on the room for the layout; it should be a spacious room in case of expanding the scale.

For the base you will need legs; you can take them from old school desks or make them yourself. The entire structure can be easily made from plywood and wooden blocks. For fastening you will need screws and metal corners. To make a collapsible model, you will have to rack your brains over the design of the base and methods of its transportation.

Tool

To work you will need many different tools:

Hammer
- screwdrivers
- wire cutters and pliers
- chisels
- files
- spatulas
- scissors
- knives
- tassels
- soldering iron
- and etc.

Railway track

In order for the trains to move in the right direction, we need rails; they can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores for modellers. If you, like me, do not have such stores in your city, then you can buy them through online stores or go buy them yourself. In extreme cases, you will have to make the rails yourself.

The simplest construction option is to use ready-made rails; they are glued or nailed with small nails to the base; the joints can be soldered and cleaned with a file.

If there are no ready-made rails, then you need to think about how to make them yourself; you can take the dimensions of the rails that are sold in stores and make the same ones of your own. For sleepers you will need to cut a lot of thin blocks, this can be done on a small machine. The rail itself must conduct current, so it is advisable to make it from thick copper wire, which can be rolled on manual machine to a rectangular section. You can attach the rail to the sleepers using good glue or solder to nails driven into the sleepers, this can be done after 3-4 sleepers.

Electrical equipment

To move the train, an electric current is required, unless of course you are making a steam locomotive. Factory and homemade blocks power supply (see diagrams, radio engineering), the output voltage should not be dangerous, usually a power supply up to 16 volts is used, for small models 6 - 9 volts is enough.

The train moves with the help of an electric motor; it can be taken from broken toys or purchased at a radio store. Electricity is supplied to the engine from two rails, the voltage from them is removed using two or more counters or from the metal wheels of the train itself.

To distribute electricity along the layout (base), you will need copper wires and connectors.

In addition to the trains themselves, the layout may contain traffic lights, barriers, lights and other elements that require electricity. Before routing the wires, carefully consider every detail; after installation it will be too late to wire the wires, you will have to cut the layout.

Landscape

An integral part of a good layout is the design of the landscape; special attention should be paid to this. To be similar to reality, you need to work hard on simulating hills, vegetation, buildings, people, vehicles, etc.

Many parts can be used in finished form, i.e. take toy cars, figurines of people, you can also buy figurines of animals, trees in children's stores...

To imitate hills, mountains, etc. you will need plywood, building gypsum, papier-mâché, fiberglass, acrylic paints and other finishing materials.

Building

Models of buildings can also be purchased at toy stores or you can make them yourself from wood, cardboard, papier-mâché, plywood, etc.

Often modelers take real train stations as a model, photograph them and turn them into miniatures on the table.

On the site I will periodically publish my developments and those sent by you, you are probably interested in information on how to make a model train, traffic lights, trees, bridges and other elements for the railway. And I will also publish electrical circuits, photographs and drawings of old and new trains.

Soon New Year, and it’s better to prepare for it in advance - including on the model :) Therefore, I made a New Year’s diorama for myself in my favorite scale - TT.

The diorama turned out to be 20*20 cm in size. The diorama is made on a homemade “box” made of plastic.

The tree is made of a brass tube with soldered wire branches. The needles are ordinary HOX-ovsky tinted flock.

The height of the tree without a star is 13 cm. Christmas decorations– different beads. The rain is real rain, slightly cut off. The star is cut out of a piece of plastic and sprinkled with glitter powder. There are four on the tree glowing garlands made of SMD LEDs in housing 0603, 11 in each. The garlands can blink (a primitive circuit based on a transistor and a capacitor), there are two modes: normal - a simple glow, and blinking.

Snow is made from ordinary baking soda, mixed with diluted PVA glue. The paving stones in the square are from Auchagen.

Ice glowing cubes – sculpted from plasticine and copied from CrystalLine 940 transparent resin. Blue and white LEDs are “cast” into the resin.
The figures are Preiser, painted independently. There are not enough figures - in general, very few “winter” ones are produced in TT. I think I’ll remake some more of the “summer” figures...

Decorative gifts under the tree are cut out of cardboard and covered with paper from candy wrappers.

The car is “Moskvich” from Herpa. Snowman - made of foam balls.

In general, the process of creating the square took a month - mostly in the evenings and weekends. If only I didn't have to go to work... :)

The houses in the photo are not part of the diorama - they are simply placed for the background.

Square during the day

Christmas tree on four sides: