Tag: featured
Grinched | N Scale Post-Christmas Layout | Part 6
Welcome back to Grinched, our post-Christmas N scale project layout. See what we did there? Rather than say we’ve run well over schedule we simply changed the description of this layout to a post-Christmas project. Enough of that, let’s not dwell on or get bogged down by calendars! Kidding aside this really does illustrate that, […]
Grinched | N Scale Christmas Layout | Part 5
Welcome back to Grinched, our N scale Christmas layout build. But wait, today is December 26th, wasn’t this layout on a finish-by-Christmas deadline? Well yes, yes it was. The 12 Days of Christmas actually begins on the 25th and ends on January 6th, so we could say I’m MILES ahead of schedule, we could say […]
Grinched | N Scale Christmas Layout | Part 4
With the Christmas clock ticking down on us, let’s get to our wiring and scenery. I have to admit I was slightly apprehensive about wiring up the PC board to feed all the lighting. As I mentioned previously, this is my first crack at a PC board if it doesn’t work, there’s no time for […]
Grinched | N Scale Christmas Layout | Part 3
In the last Grinched article, we showed the buck converter adjustable power step down module that we’d be using to power the string of Christmas lights around the tree lot. In this article we’ll see how it’s going to fit in to the layout as well as some of the lights we’ll be using. For […]
Grinched | N Scale Christmas Layout | Part 2
For this installment of Grinched, our Micro-Trains themed Christmas layout, trees take front and center. I was going to use commercially available trees but I wanted to try something a little special for this layout and furnace filter trees seemed a good idea. I’ve never made furnace filter trees before but I do like tall pines, […]
Grinched | N Scale Christmas Layout | Part 1
What says Christmas more than an 18” round Christmas pizza layout? That’s what I thought too, so let’s jump into our new layout project in N scale that we’ve cleverly titled “Grinched”. This Christmas layout is based on the pizza layout we started last year, which makes a (sort of) good argument for procrastination. This […]
The Haunted Hamlet Layout | Final
We’re happy to officially say “Happy Halloween” with our completed MTL Haunted Hamlet N scale layout and just in time too! This was a fun project and one I’ve been meaning to build for several years now. I’m actually looking forward to Halloween next year so I can go back in and polish up some […]
The Haunted Hamlet Layout | Part 4
In this Haunted Hamlet update (as we’re more terrified than ever of our deadline!), we get all our electrical business sorted. As much as I’d like to say I’m an electrical whiz, this was actually my first time tackling LEDs that weren’t plug-and-play, and I found the learning curve a little tricky. Math was never […]
The Haunted Hamlet Layout | Part 3
In this installment of the MTL Haunted Hamlet build, we get down to fleshing out the layout, and we begin with the layout base. I wanted to give the layout a good authentic Halloween feel. As we wrote earlier, the base inspiration came from a rustic serving tray with rope handles. I do like to […]
The Haunted Hamlet Layout | Part 2
Last time in the Haunted Hamlet build, we got our layout base together and rough arrangement of the buildings in place. This time out, we’re finalizing some of the hamlet’s details. Even on a layout this small, I want to have a sense of a place; roads that come in and out of town, like […]
