Customer Reviews

HO Railroad from Start to Finish (Model Railroad Handbook, No 36)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had been struggling with how to start railroading for about 6 months when I ran across this book at the library. I finally have some direction and the available know-how to get going. The book covers the most basic subjects of how to get started as well as a few more advanced subjects. It's a must for new modelers!

If you are considering entering the world of Model Railroading you must have this book. It will guide you from an empty room to a fully functioning railroad. Lots of tips and step by step make it very easy for a novice to make a pretty nice layout. Î can't recommend this enough.

If you don't have any background in model railroading than this book is a good place to start. It will read great the first time through but don't expect to ever go back to it for reference later down the line. Concepts like control panels, wiring, switches, etc. are all left vaugely discussed, and for this reason it can be frustrating. Make sure you buy this is conjunction with another book better detailed in any areas you don't understand (like wiring).

Building a model railroad is fun but doing more than the "oval track" needs some skills that all starters to not have. Often, modelers learn by doing and learn a lot from mistakes. This is valuable experience but it is also frustrating. This book attempts to address this problem by presenting the construction of a very modest but still well though out layout that is simple.

This book is made up of reprints of a series of articles from MODEL RAILROADER MAGAZINE. It starts with a simple idea. The layout must be simple to build and not too messy. Each article covers a different facet and the result is a nice little railroad.

Among the topics considered are the building of the table, laying track, building basic plastic kits of buildings, building of some basic car kits along with Kadee couplers, adding specialized track, adding streets, simple kitbashing of plastic structure kits, adding a backdrop, adding water features, weathering, building relief and scenery, control systems, scratchbuilt wood structures, metal structure kits, using mirrors to make a scene look larger, making rocks, adding foliage, building a tunnel, adding signals and operating of the railroad in a realistic manner. Each article is simple but teaches foundational skills.

It is well done.

Having borrowed the book from the library several times, it was a pretty clear winner, before I bought it. My 11 year old son uses it as his main resource for the model railroad that it is still largely germinating inside his head, but that I have no doubt will eventually be a reality.

this book answers a lot of questions. Its very imformative. well writen with lots of pictures. explains things that a person that had never really thouth about. I enjoyed it.

As you would expect its a beautifully illustrated guide and informally written to boot. The only shortcoming for someone as raw as I am is the lack of detail in amounts used to create differing depths of colour and texture if landscape creation. Terms used eg 'latex paint' require some interpretation on this side of the Pacific but all in all I have been able to translate nearly all tools and materials. However a very basic term 'builders yellow glue' has me and a number of hardware stores in Australia a bit bemused. The book is an excellent investment and deserves your attention.

This is an excellent book showing how to start from the very beginning to build your own railroad. Very helpful, easy to understand with pictures and diagrams. Great basic training and resource for parts and accessories.

This is a Grest book full of ideas to make a realistic model, especially if you are an apartment dweller and don't have a lot of space. Great plans for a foam core board layout.

awesome book nice detal but a little old and dont do every thing they say in there i read it alot nice layout desighn makeing it a bit bigger tho so get it nice book they make it by sections so its pretty long