# 2nd Generation Father Son HO train set 4x8



## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi there! 

I am Sean a 32 year old father of a 1 year old boy Shane!

When I was a child my father and I built this 4x8 HO setup, and I enjoyed it a lot!!! I spent hours and hours playing with it! I grew up and the train set sat still, till recently when my dad hauled it across the country to me and my son! Dad had to cut the 4x8 to get it here, hence the boards on the underside. 

I set it up quickly and filmed this video, so this is the "before" shot and you will see my updates each week!!! 

I love this hobby because there is no right or wrong, as long as you enjoy it. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-8qwe3DpDE

Shane age 1 year old loves to watch it go round and round, but he is far too little to let him touch it yet. 

I have a funny story about my little brother and my set back when we were kids... I was about 11 and he was 3. I took him down to the train set thinking he was old enough to have some fun with it. We had a great time, played for a hour or so and then went outside. The next day I came home and my little brother ran up to me and said "lets go play with the trains!" So we went down and I will never forget the carnage when I flicked the light on... A hurricane had demolished the whole set, buildings were overturned, people were broken in half, trains were damaged... 

But when I angrily looked over at my little bro and he was smiling ear to ear I just melted and smiled myself... I let him enjoy the damaged setup for a few years and then we rebuilt it together when he was old enough to play gentle. 

So the plan for this buildup is to keep it relatively low budget, get it running well, and keep him from playing un-supervised until he gets older when we can build it up better together.

And I will not try to be too much of a perfectionist with this build at this point due to the fact that it will get fixed up a few times as we go. This phase is all about building the foundation and getting the base landscape in place. 

Here are some pics of the progress I have made in the past few weeks since I started: 









River banks roughed out:



I couldn't help but set up some trucks:




had a roll over just before I was going to pour the fake water:


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Hi, Sean, and welcome.

That's a great project for you and your son. Don't sell him short, BTW. My youngest boy has been doing actual work / operations with his very own HO layout since he was about 4-1/2 years old. Now that he's older, he's doing more of the work himself, but don't be afraid to let him do as much as he can!


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Thank you for the advice!


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Progress! 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qBxCv4y5hqs&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Welcome to the site, nice of your Father to haul it to you.

Nice ideal making it fold up on the wall on a hinge. But it must take a lot of time taking everything off then putting it back on? Or do you leave it down?

The hole in the middle is good for a little person but it then takes away from valuable space that could be used for something?
I am wondering if I could even fit up into the hole and move.


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

big ed said:


> Welcome to the site, nice of your Father to haul it to you.
> 
> Nice ideal making it fold up on the wall on a hinge. But it must take a lot of time taking everything off then putting it back on? Or do you leave it down?
> 
> ...


Thanks, 

I am just a thin guy so I fit in the center fine, and it is perfect for kids. I lowered it 3 inches lower than I had it as a kid. 

I only plan to fold it up against the wall once a year or less (if we have a party or something), so yeah it would be a pain but the wife likes that it is not permanently taking up the space. 

Here are some pics. Water effects is not yet dry and need to do another 1/4" deep layer of water in the lake and then pour the river once I get the banks painted green, and my rocks added to the river bed. Coming together though I am happy!


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

You really only need about 1/8" of water material to simulate water, not the 1/2"(?) you seem to be doing. You may also find that acrylic gloss gel will work better for your river, since it stays where you put it and you seem to have a bit of a slope there.

Is there enough space for your planned terrain (never mind structures) with the layout folded? It doesn't look like it from your pictures.


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

The train set is coming along slowly, almost done the simulated river bed then to pour the fake water. Have the drag strip roughed out, and pouring the pavement right away. Have guardrails, bleachers etc on the way! Drag racing starting light tree is ready. 

Ordered a few buildings and stuff, I am having fun!

The roads around the layout will be gravel. 





Drag strip staging area crosses over the tracks but some filler smooths out the transition, some pavement over top and it it should be cool.


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)




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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Made the first pass on the drag strip today, it is not complete but getting there:


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Sean

You sure are doing a craftsman like job on your scenery.
Very neat and attractive.

Don


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi Don, 

Thanks for the compliment, I had some issues and learned a lot so far with this project. It is a lot of fun, and my son is enjoying the process as well.


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Made some progress on the train set, still lots of work to do...

I decided this controller was far too ugly have visible so I rigged up a building to cover it up when not running the train:





Got started on the car junkyard, will do a dirt ground treatment and setup gravel roads around the layout. The pavement is almost done, just needs another coat of paint and need to fine tune the rail crossing a bit. 







The drag strip is setup and looks good: 








I still have some buildings I need to assemble, many of the buildings I placed on here for the pics will not be used in the final layout. I just wanted to put some buildings on and check out how it looks so far. 

Thanks for looking I am having fun with this project and Shane loves watching the trains go around and around and smiles each time they come out of the mountain!


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

More progress...


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

I like it! The idea of a drag strip is a good use of dead space on a larger layout. Never would have thought of that!


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Thanks! As you can see i really wanted my son to have fun playing with toy cars on the layout...

He loves watching the train go around!


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Some progress on Shane and Sean's father and son Train set:


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Shane is almost 2 years old now and he loves the train set!!!


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

Very nice, I see your son helping out. What a wonderful experience and memory. I like the way your river water sparkles. What did you use or do to get that effect?


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

jlc41 said:


> Very nice, I see your son helping out. What a wonderful experience and memory. I like the way your river water sparkles. What did you use or do to get that effect?


Hi there thanks! I used "realistic water" for the water but it was too clear and smooth for my liking so I added "water effects" on the whole river and used a brush to texture it. It turned out pretty good I think! I just want to add some extra water effects on the bottom of the waterfall to smooth the transition into the river as it is too abrupt. I will use wax paper to keep the water effects from sticking to the river then peal off the wax paper after so I can have a good transition and still be able to remove the mountain.


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

Thanks


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

Looks like a lot of fun! Good for you tailoring your layout for the little guy, My boy is ten now and he enjoys our trains very much. Good job.


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## redman88 (Nov 25, 2015)

I know with my 3 year old he will be running his train as soon as I can get JMRI setup. Just last night I had him pull the lever for a switch for me as he was on that side of the table.


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## sean Buick 76 (Sep 16, 2015)

Just an update on the train set... I have not added anything to the set i am just letting the little guy play with it. He plays with it every day, and enjoys it a lot!


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