1. Free Model Release Form
2. Free Modeling

This page is very much “work in progress” and I will be adding more information here as the project progresses.

Free Model Release Form

This site currently has 26 free downloadable model railway resources, with more to come as soon as is feasible. About this site All too often, when building a model railway, one has great difficultly in getting hold of certain critical things, such as backscenes, brickpaper, details, etc. Posted in Resources by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, November 01, 2020 at 17:39:25 AST.) RESOURCE: 3rd PlanIt by El Dorado Software. I have been asked many, many times what software I use to create my track plans, and 3D renderings. For those of you that don't know, I have been using 3rd PlanIt by El Dorado Software exclusively for over twenty. Modelling an obscure prototype in a niche scale Biography 'Trevor is a lifelong model railway enthusiast. He finds every scale, gauge, prototype, era and theme fascinating - and has built layouts to indulge.

Below are a number of videos depicting the prototype during the 1960's. These videos provided useful insights when developing the station signs and other features of the model railway. They also demonstrate how the railway simulates the operations and atmosphere of the prototype remarkably well despite its compact nature. Victorian Model Railway Society A20968K Prototype Modellers Forum Please note change of date to Sunday 16 September 2018 Early Bird Registration Discount Register before 31 July 2018 for $70.00 or from 1 August 2018 for $80.00. Thornbury High School, Dundas St, Thornbury. A proud sponsor of The Prototype Modellers Forum The Victorian Model.

Design:

I looked at three design tools;

SCARM, a free tool see www.scarm.info

XTrackCAD, more complex than SCARM in that is fairly complex but appears to be very well supported. Like SCARM it is open source and is available via www.xtrkcad.org.

AnyRail, which sits somewhere between the two in that it is easy to use, supports multiple layers and has a great set of track templates. There is a free version that is limited to 50 objects but there is a charge for the full version. It is available via www.anyrail.com.

There is a good discussion of various tools over at the Model Rail Forum however after trying three I invested in a full copy of AnyRail as I found it really intuitive and it has helped me learn a lot about the mechanics of layout planning.

Baseboards:

The first stop for anyone wanting great advice has to be Brian Lambert’s article. This one page is a real treasure trove of information.

I also found a book by Ronald Plybus “Designing and Building Model Railway Baseboards”. It is available as a paperback plus there is a Kindle edition. While I am a big fan of the Kindle, this kind of book is something that needs to be on a shelf. For more details and links to both new and used copies see here. Whilst the book felt somewhat narrow in focus, it is still a useful source when considering baseboards, especially if you are looking to build a layout you hope to exhibit.

Looking around at suppliers, Woodshop Direct look pretty good. I’ll be posting more about my experience with these guys as they provide cut to size for a variety of timbers.

Welcome

Welcome to the website and the wonderful world of Chinese prototype model trains! I hope you enjoy your visit and find it a useful resource for our great hobby. While the website focuses on model railways, I have also included the 'prototype pages' which contain railway photographs, videos and reports from my travels to China. Please note, the site is best viewed at 1920 x 1080 screen resolution, but should be perfectly viewable on the more common laptop resolution of 1366 x 768. Users of Internet Explorer 10 may experience some problems with some features of the site, particularly quick reference menus in the encyclopedia. No such issues have been detected in other web browsers.

Site Updates

14 April 2019 - Three new locomotive reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • Charming Model Studio's stunning 6K Class electric locomotive • Charming Model Studio's brilliant 8K Class electric locomotive • Charming Model Studio's disappointing NY6 & NY7 Class diesel locomotives 03 April 2019 - Apologies to all my followers over the past couple of years for the lack of updates. I have been experiencing some severe time restraints. Finally some news for you all. • The Model Encyclopedia's have been updated with over two years of missing models! • The Model news page will be cleared out and updated in the next couple of days (pending information request). • Two newtrip reports have been added since the last update. You can find my December 2017 trip here and October 2018 trip here . Plans for the future of the website are as follows : • The Prototype pages will be gradually moved to a new website and removed from here. This includes the photograph galleries, trip reports and video galleries. Many of these featuers will be improved on the new website. • My new layout will be added to the Modelling Projects pages shortly! • I currently have a backlog of 63 model reviews to complete for the Model Encyclopedia. • Chinesemodeltrains.com will move to a new server with a refreshed look. I am currently exploring different ideas and graphic design before migrating to the new server. This will include a redesign of the model reviews including a rating system and video. I am aiming to have the transition towards December 2019. A lot of work ahead! 10 November 2018 - New trip report from October/November 2018 has been added to the prototype pages. 04 January 2018 - New trip report from December 2017 has been added to the prototype pages. 28 December 2016 - New trip report from November/December 2016 has been added to the prototype pages. 07 September 2016 - New locomotive review added to the Model Encyclopedia • CMR Line's very impressive SS1 Class electric locomotive 09 - 13 August 2016 - Lots of new model reviews added and more on the way! • CMR Line's new P64K Class box car • CMR Line / Train Garden's new NX17K / NX17AK Class flat cars • CMR Line's / Train Gardens new Type 99A Main Battle Tank • MTC's new die-cast DF4C Class diesel locomotive • Red Star Model's double unit DF11Z Class diesel locomotive Coming soon!! Orangutan's YZ25B Class passenger cars Orangutan's XL25B Class baggage cars CMR Line's B15E Class refrigerator vans Charming Model's 6k Class electric locomotive (with DCC/Sound) N27's Golden Eagle railcars 03 June 2016 - New locomotive review added to the Model Encyclopedia • Bachmann China's new DF4DK Class diesel locomotive 01 June 2016 - New road vehicle review added to the Model Encyclopedia • Switcs DD6129S05 Commuter Bus 31 May 2016 - New locomotive review added to the Model Encyclopedia • Link Model's C70 Class hopper I've also updated the upcoming models page. 14 May 2016 - New April 2016 trip report has been added to the prototype pages. 07 January 2016 - New locomotive review added to the Model Encyclopedia • Bachmann China's NJ2 Class diesel locomotive 03 January 2016 - Two new locomotive reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • Orangutan Models SS7D Class electric locomotive • CMR Line's SS3B Class double unit electric locomotive 30 December 2015 - Two new locomotive reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • CMR Line's HXD3D Class electric locomotive • CMR Line's HXD1D Class electric locomotive 29 December 2015 - New locomotive review added to the Model Encyclopedia • CMR Line's SS6B Class electric locomotive 28 December 2015 - Three and a half new model reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • Bachmann China's HO scale RW 25T class soft sleeper cars (Includes BSP, Standard & Tibet versions) • Bachmann China's HO scale YW 25K class hard sleeper cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YZ 25T class hard sleeper cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YW 25T class hard sleeper cars - Information only 26 December 2015 - Three new model reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • Bachmann China's HO scale SYZ/SRZ 25B/K/Z class double decker hard seat/soft seat cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YZ25K class hard seat cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YW25G class hard sleeper cars 23 December 2015 - Merry Christmas & best wishes for 2016. Five new model reviews added to the Model Encyclopedia • Bachmann China's HO scale RZ22 class soft seater cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YW22 class hard sleeper cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YZ22 class hard seater cars • Bachmann China's HO scale XL22 class baggage cars • Bachmann China's HO scale YZ25G class hard seat cars 19 October 2015 - New September 2015 trip report has been added to the prototype pages. 28 April 2015 - The Model News page has been updated again including some bad news regarding Bachmann China. For a full list of updates, please click here

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