How to build Road and Railway Signs in HO Scale

[@josefbuckland]

I’m fascinated with the concrete foundations you have for the signs. Love to know how you made them. I’m currently still up to track laying on my channel and just started putting orders in for ballast etc that should be ready to commence first Quater of 2023 but any foundations that can be set in place like signals etc is what’s commencing at the moment. I like your videos like my fellow Aussie Luke Towan the productions are slick!

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you Joseph! I am glad that you found my techniques helpful and hope that you can build similar structures for your model train layout. I am a big admirer of Luke - learned a lot from his video. He is definitely the 'very first' model railroader-youtuber who made it - a greaet inspiration for many. Cheers! Kaustav

[@MMRails]

Great job! Thanks for the GIMP tips. I use that program all the time. Your results are incredible.

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you Mark - I am glad that it helped. Yeah, after the new subscription based licensing of PS, it only makes sense for you to use it if you're a professional photographer. GIMP is the way to go. Hope you're dealing with this crazy new time with some quality model making and your family and finances are safe. Stay put. Cheers! Kaustav

[@TheCreativeModellerHO]

Very nice! 👌

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thanks for the visit

[@varunsinha775]

Superb job

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you! 🙏

[@varunsinha775]

@@TrainsandDioramas welcome

[@mr.e1944]

The weathering really helped to make the signs look real. I never weathered any of my signs yet, but it looks well worth the time.

[@stevenkelley9002]

Very well done.

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you kindly!

[@gerdeguelle1967]

nice video thanks for the info .

[@TrainsandDioramas]

ger deguelle Thank you! I’m glad that you’re enjoying the little tips and tricks.

[@mksrailroad6333]

These signs are awesome..

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you and glad you like them! They really bring the feel of the locale and makes the scene easily recognizable. Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

[@mortenolesen1772]

You are spoiling your fans. Brillant video and very info packed, love the vid concept too. Instead of styrene I use sewing needles Luv luv luv

[@TrainsandDioramas]

That's a great idea, really! For round poles, that will be perfectly to the scale too. Thank you for stopping by Morten. And I am glad that these little experiments keep you entertained. :) Cheers, and stay safe!

[@outlawrailroad3702]

what a awesome how too thank youfor sharing cheers Ron.B

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Any time! Glad that you enjoyed it. :) Cheers!

[@vinendranadhvarma7472]

Super brother

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you! I am glad that you're enjoying the videos. 🙏🍻

[@vinendranadhvarma7472]

I want to make the engine But how to make engine there is no engine making video

[@williambryant5946]

Those signs look awesome! Very easy method to make as well. How do you keep the weathering powder on when applying the dullcoat with a brush? Does it not take it off? Great video. 👍

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you William! Glad that you liked it. The weathering powder is actually dry pastel. Pastel has it's own property to adhere to a good extent on a pre-painted surface, so it stays put. I actually weathered some of my rolling stocks 6 years ago and didn't even put any protection, but the weathering is still pretty much intact. It is a great medium for weathering.

[@ВалерийФилиппов-д8о]

Class.

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you! 🙏🙏

[@colossalbigfoot256]

Thank you very much for this info. I’m doing 1/64 car tags and they lost so much quality. This is a definite winner for me!

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Glad it helped! Yeah, the technique can be used for variety of miniature projects - 1:64 should be in that sweet spot where you can balance it to keep pretty much the same quality. Cheers!

[@MrVbobby]

Getting rid of clean edges is the most important part of weathering. I worked for many years painting sets for movies and TV, I worked for Universal, MGM, 20th Century Fox, and at Paramount for 6 years unusual unless you are really good anyway in Hollywood we called it aging. if you don't get rid of some edges you just have a sign that is fairly new but just dirty. So for your letters or icons like trains and such use the color that is just behind them and dab them on the edge now it will look some chipped away or got so old it faded away. when you get the hang of this your signs will have a whole new look without it I'm afraid it is quite amateurish. Don't get me wrong the majority of your work is really great I am just trying to help you move up with us pros. I have literally worked on hundreds of sets and some of them were miniatures that would really amaze you, for instance navy ships that were as big as a car and floated in man made oceans with wave makers rain makers and really powerful wind makers dry ice in the water for fog and smoke machines for smoke add a few charges and you have explosions. Most signs of the type your working on are made of aluminum and do not rust of course the poles would probably rust and by the way rust is burnt umber raw umber raw sienna and burnt sienna. using dark and light helps give dimension.

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Thank you Robby for the detailed contructive criticism - cannot appreciate enough. I will definitely try your methods the next time I am building signs like these. I have always been fascinated by the miniatures used in sets and movies - It is amazing what you can achieve with miniatures and I am really excited to now know someone who did that for a living, thanks for finding me. I might come to you with many more question in future. 😎🙏 I mostly followed various photographs of the real thing and simply tried recreating them. I did show edge damage in some of the signs, but not all since I wanted to keep a variance. That also brings the factor of rust on the plates itself - there are still many signs in India where the plates are galvanized steel and over the years the heavy humidity causes rust and corrosion in them. We are now moving fast into plastic signs which eleminate corrosion all together, bypassing even the aluminum route. As for improvement in my next model (along with your recommendations), I think I will have to move to metal /etched poles and boards because both the paper and the styrene strips were too thick for the scale. I hope you will enjoy my next road /railway signs. Cheers! Kaustav

[@MrVbobby]

@@TrainsandDioramas Feel free to contact me anytime with questions. I have painted and worked on space ships battleships all types of army vehicles. Full size replicas of things like the supreme court the congress. I have painted the oval office 3 times but have never been to Washington DC I spent many years working in Hollywood and although I am retired now all those tips and techniques are still up their in my head. The minitures I've worked on have varied in size from very small to very large

[@mksrailroad6333]

I did not find any shops selling styrene (only can import through online which is costly) where can I find styrene sheets & strips in India?

[@TrainsandDioramas]

Unfortuantely, there is no ready supply of Styrene here in India and it either has to be imported, or brought back during personal visits to countries where it is available. However, before I got hold of styrene, I managed to build everything from cardboard and if done right, you can achieve great realism and it has superior longivity. Here is an example of everything that I've built using card stock: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpi6dJWGedZrj80

[@mksrailroad6333]

@@TrainsandDioramas Thanks for reply. Yeah! Currently that's what I am using now. I also uses PVC sheet (flexible one which will be used for cheap doors) sometimes.

[@mksrailroad6333]

@@TrainsandDioramas Can you make a video or something where generally you buy the stuff from like scenary materials , track, trains etc. This may be helpful for beginners like me and who wants to start a hobby in India.

[@TrainsandDioramas]

MKs Railroad Yeah, I was thinking about a series to show what can be do be using commonly available material that is within the reach of anybody. Let me work on that.

[@jovetj]

Pro Tip: Gimp is pronounced with a hard G, as in _garden_ or _green._ :)

[@TrainsandDioramas]

LOL! Thanks Joseph. :) English is a funny language and with all different localized nuances it's difficult to keep track - especially for someone like me who never had a formal training in the language itself and learned it by interacting with people all over the globe. I think at that moment I was more influenced by the British - Indian side of the pronunciation than American. 😁 Cheers!