Starter kit suggestions

Woodland Scenics has a complete landscape kit. Maybe that is what you are looking for? Sorry for my below average computer skills. I tried to insert a link, but I don't think I got it right;

https://woodlandscenics.woodla...s.com/show/item/S926

You might also try to find a kalmbach book called Scenery for Model Railroads by Bill McClanahan.  It is mostly geared to HO and N scale, but most of the material will apply to our scale as well.

Probably for a Christmas layout, a trip to Menard's to buy Christmas village accessories would be easy, and fun.  But if you want a more "realistic" or year-round layout,  there are many choices.  Plasticville, used on that auction site might be a good consideration - fast to assemble, and inexpensive.  It is however not really O scale- here is what Wikipedia says:

Plasticville is a brand of plastic toy train building sold in the United States, made by formerly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Bachmann Industries since 1947 (although they were first advertised in 1946). In 1984, Plasticville as well as the entire line was taken over by Kader Industries of Dongguan, China and made entirely in China.

Plasticville buildings are a simple design, made of walls that snap together, permitting them to be assembled without glue and easily disassembled again for storage. Out of the box, Plasticville buildings are usually two-tone, with building walls of one color and the doors, windows and roof molded out of a different colored plastic. With few exceptions, Plasticville buildings are styled after 1950s suburban buildings, and the product line has not changed since the late 1950s.

Most Plasticville buildings are 1:64 scale with 1:48 scale doors, a design compromise that allows them to be used with O gauge, O27 gauge, or S gauge train layouts without looking far off-scale. This allowed one product line to serve Lionel's low-end and high-end product lines as well as American Flyer's product line in the 1950s. Later, as HO scale gained popularity, Bachmann produced a line of 1:87 scale buildings for that standard.

@Mike Wyatt posted:

Probably for a Christmas layout, a trip to Menard's to buy Christmas village accessories would be easy, and fun.  But if you want a more "realistic" or year-round layout,  there are many choices.  Plasticville, used on that auction site might be a good consideration - fast to assemble, and inexpensive.  It is however not really O scale- here is what Wikipedia says:

Plasticville is a brand of plastic toy train building sold in the United States, made by formerly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Bachmann Industries since 1947 (although they were first advertised in 1946). In 1984, Plasticville as well as the entire line was taken over by Kader Industries of Dongguan, China and made entirely in China.

Plasticville buildings are a simple design, made of walls that snap together, permitting them to be assembled without glue and easily disassembled again for storage. Out of the box, Plasticville buildings are usually two-tone, with building walls of one color and the doors, windows and roof molded out of a different colored plastic. With few exceptions, Plasticville buildings are styled after 1950s suburban buildings, and the product line has not changed since the late 1950s.

Most Plasticville buildings are 1:64 scale with 1:48 scale doors, a design compromise that allows them to be used with O gauge, O27 gauge, or S gauge train layouts without looking far off-scale. This allowed one product line to serve Lionel's low-end and high-end product lines as well as American Flyer's product line in the 1950s. Later, as HO scale gained popularity, Bachmann produced a line of 1:87 scale buildings for that standard.

And Plasticville is the greatest source of kit bashing components almost anywhere.

Woodland Scenics (WS) and Scenic Express (SE) are great sources for what you are looking for and you should browse their websites or get a catalogue to see what they have. WS also has some excellent scenery instructional videos on their website that will provide you with loads of ideas and techniques.

I’ve looked at some of the plastic like houses and other kits to add to more town section of the track. What are some some good tool and paint kits for doing modeling?

@Richie C. posted:

Woodland Scenics (WS) and Scenic Express (SE) are great sources for what you are looking for and you should browse their websites or get a catalogue to see what they have. WS also has some excellent scenery instructional videos on their website that will provide you with loads of ideas and techniques.

I’m going to get the woodland scenics landscape kit and their earth color kit for starters.

Sounds good.

There are a few threads on the Forum, one fairly recently, that you can search for and which deal with a basic assortment of tools a hobbyist might have on hand.

You should also check MicroMark's website. They have a voluminous selection of modeling tools and accessories as well as a good selection of paints and chalks. Depending on what you are doing, inexpensive latex paints (big box stores) or acrylics (Michaels/Hobby Lobby) are perfectly acceptable and work great for many projects.

CTT’s second to the last issue, had an article on what every hobbyist should have in their toolbox.

@JDFonz posted:

CTT’s second to the last issue, had an article on what every hobbyist should have in their toolbox.

By yours truly.