A quick and simple method to get rid of the plastic new freight car look is to spray a light coat of Dullcoat.  This will take away the 'toy' train look of your layout.  If you don't have any Testor's Dullcoat you can use any Matte Finish spray to get the same results.  Just a simple spray to each side and let dry.  This can be done to any plastic kits also.

Yes!  You could win $250 for 1st Place,  $100 for 2nd Place, or $75 for 3rd Place in the Walthers Magic of Model Railroading Contest.  Photos [ ... ]

Scratch building is defined in Wikipedia as “The process of building a scale model "from scratch", ie. from raw materials, rather than building it from [ ... ]

The sawmill has a permanent place in our hobby as an industry built in the sticks. The location of these structures usually is located far from civilization [ ... ]