Building a Realistic Diorama for Model Trains!

[@jacobcote1]

The perspective makes it look so cool

[@TopRailroad]

Thought so too! Much appreciated

[@chrissharp5073]

A great way to photograph your locos especially with an outside natural background. Excellent demonstration on how to achieve a great diorama. Thanks for sharing.

[@theglimpse3785]

That looks amazing, very well done!

[@Top-Trains-1943]

That is a very nice diorama you made there I really like how the locomotive looks at the beginning of the video and the Exquisite detailed that you added is just phenomenal

[@TopRailroad]

Thank you! 😁

[@shawnpowell5876]

Great video and tutorial of the diorama you created! I've thought about wanting to do one myself and after seeing this has turned a light bulb on in my head! Thanks again for sharing your videos with us along with your time and effort my friend! Nice job..

[@TopRailroad]

I’ll have get that email made so you can send me what you make! Thanks as always man

[@shawnpowell5876]

@@TopRailroad ABSOLUTELY my friend and always enjoy videos.

[@Aberdude8]

Nice! Amazing how you boiled down a bunch of your techniques in one video. 😉

[@TopRailroad]

Yeah! I’ll have to get more advance with the next haha

[@donaldwagner4764]

Great job looks great.

[@BNSF1458]

Wow, this looks really fun! I think I might try making one next time I'm at my RR club, plenty of spare stuff there to be used!

[@TopRailroad]

Hey you watched it! Haha, yeah I bet you could easily make something with all the stuff at a RR club

[@Phoenixknight79]

I love this video, cause I don't have the room for a full layout, I build dioramas to do my photography with my HO scale model railroad.

[@cloa9431]

Simple easy too do for any one great thanks nice job

[@Rayzor66]

Looks real real good 👍

[@TopRailroad]

Thank you 😁

[@tas7997]

Looks awsome! 👍

[@toolguybak]

Fabulous!

[@roskgo1193]

That diorama looks awesome. The only thing I would suggest to make it even more realistic is adding the sunshade to you locomotives, though I've got one that doesn't even have sunshades so I can't complain. It looks awesome either way

[@TopRailroad]

I appreciate it! And I know haha, I still have them in the Atlas box. Probably should stop being lazy and put em on

[@roskgo1193]

@@TopRailroad I went to put some on one of my units and learned that it didn't come with any when I bought it, probably what I get for buying off of ebay. I also need to put the sunshades on my alco unit but haven't got there yet either lol. Either way though that locomotive looks awesome!

[@TopRailroad]

Oh yeah that’s one downside to eBay shopping sometimes. Thanks though man! 😁

[@roskgo1193]

@@TopRailroad anytime, I love seeing how your railroad is progressing. Inspired me to work on a new plan for mine!

[@TopRailroad]

That’s awesome to hear! I get inspiration from watching others as well

[@MP-16productions]

I love your vids

[@TopRailroad]

Thank you :)

[@NorthAtlanticRails]

That looks beautiful!

[@fredsmith6758]

Hi bro. I like the way you made your diaroma. When I get more 40' boxcar's. I'm gonna make you one of my Christmas 🎄 vacation boxcar's. And send it to you.

[@connormcguire4365]

A tip I got from Model Railroader might help with your road lines. If you mask something off, paint the base color first, let it dry, then apply the new color. This way the base color seeps under the tape and seals it so the new color is very precise. So repaint the grey over the tape, let it dry, then do yellow. Should eliminate the problem of inexact lines here and in the DQ parking lot.

[@TopRailroad]

Good tips! I’ll have to remember that for the future

[@thomasmaster5603]

Great job 👍

[@TopRailroad]

Thanks Thomas 😁

[@timkubik3936]

Very cool video to display your rolling stock. Keep the railroad rolling, and with experimenting on a display with different materials to see how they act together on a diorama. Next question, have you thought about HO scale sugar beets? In the late 80's early 90's the Union Pacific was still sending unit trains of dried beet pulp it was compressed into rectangle shapes into covered hoppers then shipped to export to the Port of Vancouver, Wa. And those trains came from can you guess, came from the GW Rwy. in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

[@TopRailroad]

Thank you and true dioramas are good for experimenting . I have actually thought about it. When I started my layout 6 months ago it was inspired by the sugar factory in my town. After doing some reasearch awhile back I learned that the sugar mills dont transfer sugar beats anymore, and the yard is more of just an exchange between the GW and BNSF. Of course I could be wrong but since my layout is more in modern times (still need to rebrand my engine or course) I decided just to use it as it is now. I do still see covered hoppers in the yard still but also tank cars, center beams, and lots of box cars. I wish I knew more about the ops there though. Thanks for the cool info on that!

[@davestrains6816]

Looking awesome!!

[@TopRailroad]

Thanks Dave!

[@NicholassTrainChannel]

Awesome diorama mate. I like dioramas as you can experiment with new techniques that you havent used yet and see how it goes before doing it on the actual layout. Nice one. - Nicholas.

[@TopRailroad]

So true! Thanks man 😁

[@johnathanlewis2049]

Looks great!

[@davidparker4028]

Hey mate the diorama came out really cool so simple but so good👍. How you did the track was clever made it so much more realistic great tip. Good on ya mate👍🙂.

[@TopRailroad]

I appreciate it David!

[@AbelG8781]

Looks very good! I'm about to do a very similar dio like yours, one little suggestion, I would've used a bit more foam to the sides to avoid catching the black part when taking close ups. Towards the emd shot of the car and BN unit, you can kind of see a bit of black which is not too noticeable but having the camera over the static grass would be insane!

[@bradhamrick7748]

Good Very Nice Job

[@TopRailroad]

Thank you!

[@gacj2010]

Oh man .. you are blessed with skills I wish I had ..really .. its your vision and ability to replicate .... man you are good. You never disappoint us ...

[@TopRailroad]

I know you could do it as well! I appreciate the great comments :)

[@davidwayneprins]

thinking of joining a local HO modular train club. If I do and wind up building a module, I'm likely going to use alot of these techniques.

[@TopRailroad]

That sounds awesome!

[@VintageRenewed]

Something you might think about in the future Since your using foam you can actually just carve the foam in such a way that it looks you have a separate roadbed when really it is all part of the foam Along with this you are able to carve it Incase you wanted to make it look like the track was on a small hill above the road or across a ditch from the road

[@TopRailroad]

That’s actually a really good idea, I appreciate the tip!

[@bryanmeyer-cunningham3171]

Good vid love it!

[@TopRailroad]

Thanks man!

[@jeffmorgan1229]

I'm making 3 inch roads on my layout, your road does look realistic but I'm dealing with lack of space, so I'm going to have to stick with 3 inch roads. Also, For the basic vehicles are you using hot wheel size cars. I am, mainly because of price. I know they are not to scale but that what I am using.

[@TopRailroad]

3 inch roads are still realistic, cause sometimes in the real world there’s lack of room too! I currently don’t have any Hot Wheels on my diorama or layout but I do collect them as a separate thing. Even though they aren’t to scale like you said they still fit in pretty well. Plus there only a dollar! 😁

[@elmerandkevin8379]

nice vid. By any chance do you still have your bnsf dash 9 from the 4x8 series?

[@TopRailroad]

Sadly I did sell it a little while ago. I had no plans to install DCC and I needed the money

[@In2-Tech]

Is the dirt Woodland Scenics or something? And you mixed it how?

[@TopRailroad]

The dirt is actually from my backyard. I bake it to kill any microorganisms. Then I sift it with that small strainer to get out all the large stuff. Then I use powdered grout mix that’s a very light tan. And I mix just a little till I get the color shown in the video. The mixture is 80% dirt pretty much. You can get the grout mix at Home Depot or Lowes

[@AstroKnight118]

cool beans, man

[@unionpacficrailfan7536]

All you need now is to buy another BN train like the one you have and con them up on the big layout for switching and use them to display on your diraroma

[@FARMERJARED14]

Wonder if a heat lamp would speed up drying

[@CSX1113-TrainsMore-kf8ge]

Wish you had more likes.I make dioramas to

[@Phoenixknight79]

what is that tape called again and where did you find yours?

[@TopRailroad]

It’s called pop dot tape and I always get mine at the Dollar Tree in the crafts section!

[@ajayerickson4061]

why did u have to cut the tracks

[@andrewl9191]

So I had the problem, I think, with my layout where the acrylic paint bled into my ballast while I was putting it down. I had acrylic paint on the sub roadbed and the camo earth brown on the track, but the sub roadbed I think bled into the ballast during the application of alcohol before gluing. Has anybody had a problem with this? It's one of the reasons why I've stared using latex paint for the sub roadbed. Dropping by right now though because I'm going to do something almost just like this for a short promo video.

[@justinbricker9491]

HOW DID U DO THAT, btw thanks for the love

[@justinbricker9491]

Nvm

[@glennwood9569]

do you use a hot wheels car?

[@TopRailroad]

Not for this diorama, but you could if you want. The sizes aren’t to big of a difference. I do love Hot Wheels though

[@brandonmoss8519]

About new train like new csx dash 8 older on eBay

[@unionpacficrailfan7536]

I just built my own today

[@TopRailroad]

That’s awesome!

[@brandonmoss8519]

You getting it

[@TopRailroad]

I wish I could get it but it’s not in the budget right now :/

[@brandonmoss8519]

You still have bnsf dash 8 right

[@TopRailroad]

No I sold it awhile back sadly. I do plan to get a new engine here soon though but DCC instead

[@brandonmoss8519]

Ok be bnsf or csx or can and cp

[@TopRailroad]

Probably BNSF

[@joshuawood5984]

Joshua woods

[@ALStudio3D]

Believe me. A 5 dollar static grass bag sold in us hobby shop comes at me with a cost of 50 dollars. An atlas track comes at around 100 dollars a piece. For me it's not worthy at all to make dioramas and layouts. So all I can do is keep watching yourtube videos ✌️✌️ that's what happen when people elect commies to reign.