How To Jump Start Your Model Railroad Scenery

Landscaping, scenery building or “scenicking”, it is one of the pure and unique delights when railroad modeling. It’s creating the land/ terrain wherein the tracks and the train pass. It is artistic not because you need to make it beautiful, but because of the challenge of model railroad scenery to make it as natural, as life like as possible in a 1:48 model, using synthetic materials. This is the epitome of the enjoyment normally found of such designing and creating hobby experience.

However railroad modeling is harder, trickier, and requires more involvement. That is because of several factors: you buy your materials in real world currency, you design and build what could be irreversible constructs, imperfections to your design might impede in the actual mechanical operations of the train on the railroad, and unlike sim games like SimCity (or more appropriately Railroad Tycoon), there is no save/ reload function. If you mess up bad, you may have to redo the entire endeavor. And you should know that the materials for model railroad scenery are really, really expensive.

Just like any other designing and building activity, you need to plan and plan and plan –even if your project doesn’t come larger than your welcome mat. While this hobby might not require you a degree in architecture or engineering, the designing still does benefit health to a well thought of and executed plan.

So first things first, how skilled are you as a miniature hobbyist?

Are you a washout or an expert? If you’re just starting, it helps if you familiarize first with smaller model railroad scenery. A single track detail would do. Of course you can make these small segments with the aim of expanding to a larger working detail later on, going along as you improve your building skills. Or you could just build to perfection the small model railroad scenery.

Simple popular layouts for model railroad scenery consist usually of just a straightforward oval track. There might be several curves and lattices for aesthetic reasons but the bottom line is it always returns to its original starting point. Such detail would maybe demand just a hillock or a patch of trees here and there. For trees, there are miniature tree models from CanyonCreekScenics that costs $50 more or less. For landscapes you can either buy ready-made or make one yourself. I suggest you try to build one first, as more satisfaction ebbs with every successful detail you make. Try experimenting using papier-mâché, polystyrene or Styrofoam, or plaster impregnated fabric. Remember that while it depends really on your skill, skill is always acquired.

Detailed layouts may look prettiest as finish product, but it requires obviously more skill. Fantasy in model railroad scenery have been an all-time choice and a less complicated one, accurate layouts or historically accurate layouts are fast becoming the more popular choice for model railroad scenery. That is due to its likely attractive feature –observers are more likely to study more a model railroad scenery that’s modeled somewhere than to a model railroad scenery fashioned out of pure imagination. But then, it requires for the hobbyist considerable skills.