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Magazine Articles By Paul Scoles

2012 National Narrow Gauge Convention Preview

This preview articles covers Dave Woodrell's Sn3, Dale Kreutzer's Sn3, Di Voss' HO-scale, Bob Christopherson's Sn3, Roger Nulton's S-scale, and JJ Johnston's HO-scale layouts, with photos of each.

Building the Railmaster C-19

The author describes how he builds these kits, providing lots of tips along the way. Includes some construction photos.

Burr Stewart's BN Along Puget Sound

The layout measures 30 feet by 33 feet and is set in 1973. It is an around-the-wall layout with a large L-shape peninsula. It also has sections that are double-decked..

Kitbashing the Kerosene Refinery at Rio Dell

The author started with mock-up parts and then eventually built this model of several small buildings that fit a vacant part of this layout. Several close-up photos are included.

Narrow-gauge Rotary

Rotary plow model on the author's Pelican Bay Railway & Navigation Company layout. The model was made from an Athearn rotary blade and a Roundhouse side-door caboose body.

The Consolidated Republic Mining Railroad

This L-shaped layout features a 1:32 scale tram railroad built by Greg Wright. This unique scale requires a lot of scratchbuilding (including the engines), but that was exactly what the owner wanted. Includes a trackplan and many close-up photos.

The Northbound Local

The layout fills most of the 22' by 46' basement, and this narrow gauge line is set in 1895 in California. The article's photos take you on a tour of the layout.

The Pelican Bay Railway & Navigation Company

This layout article was inspired by the author's friend purchasing a new digital camera "that had to be tested". Includes a description and lots of close-up photos of the author's 1895-era layout set in Northern California.

The Scenery Clinic Part II

This installment discusses ground cover, specifically hills and creek edges.

The Scenery Clinic Part III

The author describes approaches to modeling ground that is far more common in the real world. The focus is the area under a trestle bridge. Includes are a good number of progress photos.

The Scenery Clinic Part IV

This installment covers how to model a cut bank.

The Scenery Clinic Part X

Paul discusses how he attaches track feeder wires under the rail so that they are no visible when the track is installed on the layout.

The Scenery Clinic Pt VII

This installment covers how to model water using Magic Water®. Paul shows how he creates the illusion of fast-flowing water by painting white foam around rocks.

The Scenery Clinic Pt VIII

In this installment, Paul shows how he makes douglas firs.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. IX

How to model deciduous trees.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. V

This installment covers how to model a river bank.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. VI

In this installment Paul covers how to ballast track. Included is a sidebar on how to model service roads.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XII

This installment covers how the author built rocky cliffs using plaster castings.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XIII

This installment discusses how Paul paints his castings to make them look like realistic rock.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XIV

Using paver sand for ground cover and track ballast.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XV

This installment covers how to model water using Mod Podge, and includes building some small trees.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XVI

This installment covers how to model deciduous trees using sagebrush armatures and SuperTrees material.

The Scenery Clinic Pt. XVII

This last installment covers the final details of the diorama. The author covers debris, adding vehicles, and grass tufts.

The Scenery Clinic XI

Making rock castings from molds.

The Scenery Clinic: Painting Flexible Track

In this introductory article the author announces that he will be starting a series of articles on how he does scenery work. He has been giving clinics at shows for 30 years. In this installment he describes how he built the base for the diorama used in the article. The main topic is about how to make flextrack look more realistic by painting the ties and the rails.