How I Built Cheap Garden Railway Carriages (16mm Scale)

[@wellingtonnorthjunction3911]

That is a good narrow guage toad break van

[@leslieaustin151]

Long live scratch-building! Well done, they look “real”, rather than ‘perfect-model’. The original narrow gauge railways must have had some really knocked about stuff as rolling stock. Les

[@joshw6226]

Cheers Les, that’s exactly my view too. Most narrow gauge lines were never the finished article and that’s my mantra for my modelling. Best wishes, Josh

[@alexanderwhittaker3622]

You are right not to be a perfectionist because at normal viewing distance these must look ace.

[@greatwesternproductions2857]

I’ve recently considered buying some IP Engineering kits to get started in the 16mm world, that’ll certainly be interesting given my limited modelling capabilities. Great to see how you built Toad - the future looks bright for the Washing Line Railway (powered by LEDs of course). Keep up the good work :)

[@scottc287]

The best part of having limited modelling capabilities is that after you build your first model they will have improved exponentially! After the second one you'll be bragging to all your friends.

[@joshw6226]

Thank you very much! I agree entirely with you Scott, it’s amazing how much improvement you can make after the first one. I always use the mantra that narrow gauge railways were never the finished article. Many used ramshackle old chicken sheds on wheels - they rarely had nice paint jobs and every vehicle in a train could be in a different state of repair. That’s what makes narrow gauge so enticing and gives the artistic license when modelling in my view. Best of luck to you 2857!

[@canalboating]

Great stuff Josh, just shows what you can do if you put your mind to it, may not be to the taste of the rivet counters but it's your railway and at a few quid a carriage who can argue with that keep the vids coming

[@joshw6226]

Thanks very much. I agree. It’s very satisfying building your own stock and there’s always room to add details and customise as skills develop. I will likely revisit these two when I feel more confident as a modeller and add extra detail.

[@clivel1958]

I use the arts and craft rhinestones as rivets about £1 for a thousand on ebay

[@Terrys-Steam-and-Bricks]

Nice. Especially since you will have something on your line that nobody else anywhere has.

[@rat4032]

He deseves more subs

[@joshw6226]

Very kind, thanks!

[@stephencordell6661]

Another fantastic and inspiring video, like you I’ve started to build a cheap garden railway on a budget, remit was to build it as cheat as possible. I chose GN15 which is basically 16mm same as yours but uses OO/HO track and running gear, so megger cheap. Like you I build all my own rolling stock, normally poster board then plank it with lolly sticks, coffee stirrers, tongue depressors, BBQ skewers, cocktail sticks etc amazing what you can produce from nothing just takes some imagination and just as much fun as the £1000’s of pound railways the rivit counters run. Keep up the good work, love the videos, more people need to follow in your footstep. 👍

[@joshw6226]

Absolutely love this Stephen. I seem to get more excited about coffee stirrers and lolly sticks than I do about ready to run locomotives these days! Ha ha! Really glad you liked the video and be sure to stick around for more. Best wishes Josh

[@stephencordell6661]

@@joshw6226 lol I know it’s mad, I even look at The packaging when I buy food etc to see what I can make it into. Found some nice corrugated cardboard that will make a corrugated tin roof! Looking forward to the next video.

[@clivel1958]

@@stephencordell6661 The corrugated plastic they use they use to separate layers of chocolates is pretty good as well and waterproof.

[@watchfordpilot]

Josh, I've been enjoying your channel and watching your project grow. I've also taken great inspiration from your rolling stock build and had a go myself. I now have a scratch built 'beer wagon' :). I'm going to post a video of the build but as you were key to me getting started would like to give you a mention if you're happy with that? Thanks in advance.

[@joshw6226]

Hi there, great to hear that! How did you enjoy the process? I found it really enjoyable. I would of course be happy with that :) I have taken a long break from KZbin but you have inspired me to get going again. Can’t wait to see the video! Best wishes, Josh

[@watchfordpilot]

@@joshw6226 Thanks Josh! Yes, I did enjoy it and leaned quite a lot in the process. I'll be adding in a short section on lessons learnt as well as a few outtakes :) Cheers and looking fwd to your next episode.

[@billthomas8205]

Great video, Josh - thank you for the inspiration!

[@joshw6226]

Thank you Bill! Be sure to check out my other videos of you liked this one. Best wishes, Josh

[@user-bv7um1ds7y]

A few questions for you, as I'm building coaches in a similar manner, what thickness of card did you used? I'm using 4-ply Bristol sheets. I have noticed that when treating with the diluted PVA the sheets are warping, and after a few coats it's still quite flexible, did yours suffer the same?

[@joshw6226]

Hi there, I did find it some warping which can be frustrating. I try and make quite a solid frame to hold the sides in place firmly and this seems to go some way to remove the warping but I am yet to find a 100% effective method. I think shellac is the best method but I don’t have experience of using it. Also, are you coating the sheets before you have cut them? I only coat once the vehicle has been made and therefore is held in place. Hope it works out! I use a similar card. In fact I believe it was simple artist mounting card from The Works shop. Best wishes.Josh

[@user-bv7um1ds7y]

@@joshw6226 Thanks for the reply! After doing a few test pieces and trying different materials and adhesives I realized what the problem was. The card I was using was far too thick, I was trying to treat each layer with PVA what I should have been doing was making my lamination and then treating it as on piece, it solved most of my issues and treating the model once it was assembled had a similar result! Good luck with your modelling and thanks again for the reply. Cheers, Artyom