New to On30, but don't own anything of it, but hope to.

[Santa Fe buff]

Ah, On30, what would be considered a good sized layout, and can it stand the rain out side, refering to a garden railroad, or just an outdoors train? Now this layout must by scaled by and HO 4x8 one, so I know it's average, unless I can just use it outdoors, I already now the balasting skill from a magazine I bought, and that can be my reefer.

[ebtnut]

I would treat On30 as I would treat HO models - they really aren't designed for regular outdoor use like most of the Large Scale equipment.  You can do On30 on 4x8, since most all the Bachmann equipment will negotiate 18" curves. 

[Woody Elmore]

The buildings are larger and the clearances need to be adjusted.

[Santa Fe buff]

No no, I want a sized up version, I don't want those sharp 18 degree turns, I want some smooth ones that the GPs don't have to overhang like a tower on. I just need a lot of more money, thanks to my parents, my 20 bucks I got 2 days ago is turning into 27, and soon over 30, if I keep my mind set to it, in about a couple months more a max a year, I should be able to buy some On30 things, but I have no layout. That leaves,
Can you set it up on a wooden table that is well coated? My E-Z track for HO is set up on there as a temp. until we finish my room and put my layout, HO- and currently rotting on top of my dad's Grand Prix- in my room. Perhaps two layouts, but can some one post the exquation to turn like an HO engine, into On30, or show the difference? Thanks.

[Jim Banner]

Is it possible to build an On30 layout on a shoe string?  Absolutely!  And you can have loads of fun doing it.  The one thing you will probably want to buy is a decent locomotive.  I recently bought a brand new 2-6-0 for $37 and expect it to be the basic power for my new layout.  (I am new to On30 as well.)  Just about everything else you can build at very little expense or you can adapt from H0.

Take track for example.  I find On30 track to be expensive.  My solution is to hand lay used H0 rails on hand cut cedar ties.  An equally good, and easier solution is to use H0 track as is and apply lots of ballast, enough to cover the outer ends of the ties right up.  (I learned that here on this board.)  Speaking of ballast, I used a lot of river sand screened with a piece of fly screen on my H0 layout.  I am thinking of trying ground up kitty litter on the On30 layout, just to see if it works as well in O scale as it does in G scale.  But if that doesn't work, back to the river bank for more sand.

For scenery, plaster of Paris is great for a permanent layout, and cheap too, if you buy the 50 pound bag from your local drywall supplier.  For a portable layout of the sort I want to build, styrofoam is a better choice for scenery.  But it doesn't have to be the expensive blue or pink closed cell stuff.  The white bead board will work about as well, particularly if you put a thin coat of plaster over it.  If there is some house construction going on in your area, you might even be able to get some left over drywall joint cement for free if you talk to the drywallers and tell them what you are doing.  With joint cement, just make sure to use a very thin coat or it will shrink and crack when it dries.  But you only need a thin layer to give the final surface over styrofoam.

If the final coat of plaster on you scenery is stippled with an old paint brush, you can paint it to make good looking grass/bushes/green stuff without the expense of ground foam.  If you accidentally scratch it so that the white shows through, a bit more paint instantly takes care of the problem.  And if you want to add ground foam some time down the road, you can do that too.

Trees add a lot to a layout, making a small layout look much larger.  There are a number of excellent methods for making trees - weeds, twigs and foam, hemp rope and wire, and the old stand by furnace filter and skewers.  Making trees while watching t.v. is a nice, relaxing combination.

What layout would be complete without buildings?  Kits at a hundred dollars a pop are a little rich for my budget.  Fortunately, I have been carrying on a life long love affair with scratch building and find I can make something similar using wooden stir sticks, glue, some glass from a picture frame and a few dabs of paint for maybe a buck, total cost.  You can see an example I posted a while back by clicking on this link:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,5976.0.html

Lastly is the rolling stock for your locomotive to move over your scenicked layout.  This too can be scratch built, anything from simple flat cars or ore hoppers right up to passenger cars with complete interiors.  Bachmann has made their On30 trucks available to run your cars on, or in a pinch, you can use H0 trucks.  In narrow gauge, the car bodies hang so far over the trucks that it is difficult to see exactly what truck is used.  And if you want, you can replace the H0 33" wheels with H0 36" wheels as more appropriate to O scale.

This is by no means a complete guide to building a layout on a tight budget, but it is a start.  It can lead you to a nice looking, good running layout that show cases your skills and ingenuity,  You will not get the instant gratification that running down to the local hobby shop and buying all the pieces can bring.  But is can bring you a deeper gratification, a pride in what you yourself can do, and a set of skills that will be serve you well for a lifetime. 

[Joe Satnik]

Jim,

If there are any cats around, kitty litter for ballast is not a good idea.

SF,

American HO is 1:87.1 scale, O is 1:48. 

87.1 divided by 48 is 1.81. 

So your O scale buildings and scenery have to be 1.81 times as large as your HO buildings and scenery.  To enlarge your HO scale building plans (drawings) to O scale, set your photocopier to 181 %.

The reason things work out (ie, locos end up being about the same length) is that the On30 prototypes are much smaller than the HO prototypes.

Some plastics deteriorate in the sun.  Outdoor track (and anything else left outdoors) would have to be UV ray resistant, waterproof, and withstand extremes of temperature.  I suppose a coat of exterior paint would help the plastic ties and roadbed.     

I'm not sure if anyone specifically makes HO or On30 track for outdoors.

Your rails would need cleaning/light oiling more often than indoors.  You would need to solder feeder wires to every section of track, as dirt, oxidation, expansion and flexing would quickly render slip on rail connectors useless for conducting electricity.     

Only 2 rules apply to layout size:

1.  Any place on your board must be reachable. 

For most humans this is around 2.5 feet, or 30 inches from the edge.   Double that (= 5 feet) for width if accessable from both sides.  Larger layouts have "pop-up" holes cut out for access.  (Crawling under the table "gets old" as you get older.)   

2.  If you want more than 22" radius (circles or ovals), you will need a board wider than 4 feet. 

5 feet width will give you 28" max radius in HO/On30.  So the magic number seems to be 5 ft. width.   A ping-pong table is 5 feet wide.  Get a used one cheap in the classified ads.  Another way is to use your carpentry skills to join sheets of plywood or blue/pink insulation together (with smooth and level joints) to get 5 feet width. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik       

[David(UK)]

All Peco track is UV resistant!

[C.S.R.R. Manager]

My current On30 layout is 24" x 18", built on 2" of pink insulation foam.  Curves are about 6" radius, and the Bachmann 0-4-0 Porter and Gas Mechanical handle it fine, along with the 4-wheel mining cars and repainted Thomas mine cars.

Pretty much anything is possible in On30.  You will find lots of inspiration here:
http://www.carendt.us/index.html