Little Queensland

12/06/2026

Two steps back to take three steps forward.

Miniature building is on hold for a little while as we transform our workshop from a bare tin shed—sweltering in summer and freezing in winter—into a fully insulated and lined workspace.

It's turned out to be a bigger project than we originally anticipated, but every sheet we put up gets us one step closer. It will be well worth the effort when it's finished, giving us a far more comfortable workspace and helping us be twice as productive.

Sometimes you have to pause the work you love to create a better place to do it.

31/05/2026

The Bundaberg CBD street lights are one of those little details that instantly say "Bundaberg" to locals, so Richard has been busy recreating them for Little Queensland.

Each lamp post has been 3D printed with a 1mm hollow running up the centre of the post, allowing LED wiring to be threaded through for working street lighting. The lamp itself is printed in white resin and, when illuminated with a warm yellow LED, captures the look of the real lights surprisingly well.

To make installation easier, the base of the post is hollowed out to accept a toothpick or piece of wire. That gives a strong mounting pin and makes it simple to "plant" the lights into the streetscape.

We've also added the colourful Buy Bundy Region banners that hang from many of the real street lights around the CBD. They're tiny in HO scale, but they add another little touch of Bundaberg character.

It's always the small details that help bring a model town to life.

27/05/2026

A simple way to put stripes onto your trains when masking tape won't stick or seal

Send a message to learn more

18/05/2026

A tour of our Little Queensland layout, still very much a work in progress but the Bundy section is starting to look the part.
Having just finished celebrating Heritage Month by posting one building a day we thought we'd put all those buildings into context and show you why we're making them 😃

11/03/2026

When the lights come on and the evening train rolls past the platform… the miniature world suddenly feels very real.

06/03/2026

Our little 3D printed plants are starting to appear on the Bundaberg railway station platform.

The process is surprisingly simple. We start with a reference photo of the plant we want, then ask ChatGPT to generate a clean, clear image of it — or sometimes we just describe the plant in words and let it create one from that.

That image then goes into Hitem3D, which converts it into a 3D model. Straight out of Hitem the model isn’t quite printable, but after a couple of small tweaks in Rhino3D it prints beautifully.

And out come these perfectly formed little pots.

They’re ideal for platform scenes and station gardens, and it opens the door to making all sorts of plants that are part of the look of Queensland. Banana and paw paw trees are definitely on the list — they’re such a familiar sight in old Queenslander backyards.

We’ll put together a how-to video shortly for anyone who’d like to try making their own. Rhino3D has a 90-day free trial, so it’s something anyone can experiment with.

It’s a fun little workflow — photo to model to miniature plant.

22/02/2026

Progress on the railway station slowed a little when our laser cutter gave up and we had to wait for the new one to arrive.

Now that it’s back up and running, the windows are finally going in. It’s a fiddly job — as most things are in HO scale (and yes, N would definitely be worse!).

Each window is layered: laser-cut paper into the recess, 0.5mm clear acrylic for the “glass”, then a 0.5mm frame with a sticky backing. The frames are primed with plastic primer, painted, and carefully fitted over the glazing. The windows also have a top sash. The doors are similar — contrasting panels cut, primed, painted and inserted. Only a few are in so far, but it’s getting there.

The signs are scaled and ready to print — we just need to track down photo paper that works with our laser printer.

Once all that’s done, it’ll be time to wire in the lighting.

It was nice to lift the station off the workbench and sit it in place to see how it’s coming together. We’ve done a few ballast tests too, though that can’t be finished until the station is permanently positioned, as the ballast will sit right up against the platform.

Slowly but surely, it’s starting to feel like a station.

19/02/2026

We got a memory on our page today from 3 years ago.
Wow, just 3 years ago we were still building our room, turning a 3 bay shed into a bespoke lined, insulated, airconditioned, carpeted train room.
It's bloody scary looking back at all that work and very glad we're not there now!
This was our first foray into model trains and making buildings - nothing like being ambitious from the start by launching into a 7.5m x 6m room build 😁