• 7:48

    Creating Lumber Stacks Pre-1960 Style

    MRA Contributing Editor Martin Tärnrot makes lumber stacks for flatbed cars – the type of lumber stacks that were made when everything was done manually, before 1960. The lumber was stacked on the car manually and then a cage was built around the lumber to keep it in place during transportation. OLD AND NEW METHODS…

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  • 9:01

    Realistic Lumber Stacks

    MRA Contributing Editor Martin Tärnrot makes realistic, scale-correct lumber stacks (post 1960 style) that you can put on your layout, on center beams or bulkhead flat cars. THE OLD WAYS There are a few ways to build lumber stacks, including scratch building them from thin pieces of lumber, gluing them together and wrapping them. This…

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  • 11:11

    Scratch Building a Shed

    Martin Tärnrot takes us step by step through making a shed from scratch. Martin has a 1950s-style sawmill in his layout, and this shed is used to dry and store sawdust. The shed includes a window for light and a plate roof. Martin shares his techniques for modeling this type of building. PLANNING AND PAINTING…

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  • 8:06

    Creating Water Surface Effects

    Martin Tärnrot shows how to create model railroad water surface effects, focusing on surface effects typically seen after motorboats, such as swells and turbulence. MATERIALS When creating model railroad water surface effects, a transparent gel is the base material. Martin uses a medium-strength gloss gel from Liquitex. It’s white when it comes out of the…

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  • 9:09

    Hacks and Tricks for Reliable Operation

    Martin Tärnrot presents some hacks and tricks to improve the performance and reliability of your model railroad, focusing on three important areas: trucks and wheels, couplings, and tracks. TRUCKS AND WHEELS Why replace wheels? If you have plastic wheels, you’ll get a lot of operational benefits in terms of increased reliability by changing to metal…

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  • 7:02

    Simple Details That Make Your Locomotives Unique

    Model Railroad Academy Editor Ron Marsh shows how adding just a couple of details enhances the realism and prototypical look of a locomotive or piece of rolling stock. These details can also take a nice but ordinary locomotive and make it completely special to your layout. THE LOCOMOTIVE Ron recently bought a brand-new Atlas model…

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  • 16:09

    Model Railroad Maintenance Hacks

    It may not be the funnest part of the hobby, but model railroad maintenance and cleaning is necessary in order for model trains to run smoothly. From cleaning up the ballast, to the turf, the landscape details should be secured down so they don’t end up on the tracks and cause problems during operation. Similarly,…

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  • 5:26

    Modeling Gravel Roads with Martin Tarnrot

    In this video Martin Tarnrot demonstrates his method of making HO scale roads, and in particular, gravel roads. There are many methods to achieve a nice looking result, but the method he has used throughout my entire layout. For this video instruction, Martin made a small diagram, made from two inch thick Styrofoam. He prefers…

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  • 7:11

    Working with Curved Easements with Martin Tarnrot

    In this video with modeler Martin Tarnrot, he will discuss how to add curved easements. This adds to the appearance of the railroad and the functional reliability. The subroadbed is a 12 mm thick plywood sheet. This first step in laying the track is to mark the centerline of the track. He uses a homemade…

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