Hints and Tips - The first 499
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Modelling Brick Walls Pt 2
By Rob Pearce
Once I am happy with the colouration of the brick, I set about applying the mortar. To do this the wall must be laid horizontal. I then take a mixture of stone and white enamel paints to obtain the correct mortar colour, and thin them with roughly 3 parts thinner to one part paint. Using a fine brush I apply a drop of this into a corner of the mortar line, as accurately as possible into the recess. The paint is so thin that capillary action carries it along the recess to follow and fill the mortar lines.
It almost always happens that some of the mortar paint sits on the brick faces. This can be wiped off with a tissue before it dries, but not too soon or you will draw it out of the lines. It sometimes helps to very lightly moisten the tissue with thinners or white spirit. Now the wall must be weathered according to its age and location. For this I use the Carrs weathering powders, applied with a brush then dusted off by blowing on the model. Finally I fix the weathering with an airbrushed coat of matt varnish. The end result can look quite impressive.
Hints & Tips No.374
Preserving Your Foliage and Lichen for Tree Construction
From the Victorian Model Railway Society
One useful treatment for plants to be used on layouts when preserving them for use is this pickling solution. Take your ingredients as a pickling solution in the form of 1 part glycerine, 1 part acetone, 1 part denatured alcohol(methylated spirits). Immerse your lichen in warm water, soak for several minutes, remove and gently knead. After water is removed soak in pickling solution for 24 hours. Remove, Dry and colour.
Note that you will need to add more Glycerine to the solution as more plants are processed.
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Bending Sheet Metal
From the Victorian Model Railway Society
When folding sheet metal such as 0.010" (0.25mm) brass you should scribe a line on the outside of the fold if you want the outside to be a 'square' corner. If you want the inside to be square and the outside slightly rounded (because of the stretched metal on the outside following the bend), you should scribe on the inside.
Hints & Tips No.376
Fencing 1
By Several Modellers
If you use a bought fence like Ratio's flexible fencing consider painting it whilst still in the plastic 'frame.' When you cut it from the frame, cut some 'planks' off, and some off on one side and half through on the other or have signs of rotting at the base so that it looks a little dilapidated.
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Soldering Rails
By Rob Pearce
To ensure a sound electrical contact the feeder wires should be soldered to the rail. However, nickel silver is not an ideal metal for soldering. The slightest bit of muck will prevent it from tinning, and with this in mind I do not trust the solder joint as a mechanical joint. The solution I have adopted to these problems is to drill a hole in the rail.
This serves two purposes :
* The hole is clean, fresh and therefore "tinnable"
* The wire is held mechanically in place
I drill a hole with a 0.8mm PCB drill starting from the outside of the rail and at an angle of roughly 45 degrees down. This should be done between sleepers, and on flexible track try to pick the gap where adjacent sleepers are not linked. The hole then emerges from the bottom of the rail into open space.
This allows a feeder wire to be inserted from below. Allow the tip of the copper core to come flush with the outer edge of the rail (or just proud by a hair's breadth) and solder it in place. Use a hot iron with a fine tip, applied to the rail and wire end together, and fine flux cored solder directly into the hole. Gravity and capillary action will take the solder down and the whole operation is over in a couple of seconds. This means the heat does not have a chance to spread enough to damage the plastic sleepers.
If this is done properly the only visible sign will be a very small trace of solder on the outer edge of the rail. Once the rail has been painted rust colour (for weathering) this becomes practically invisible unless you know where to look.
Hints & Tips No.378
Making a Footplate
By Iain Lamb
I made a footplate specifically for a 4F but the technique will apply to other engines. Modelling one is quite straightforward. Firstly – as per the Hornby Instructions sheet – “From underneath, remove screw which attaches the drawbar to the tender chassis.
IMPORTANT – In this case and many others the locomotive and tender are permanently wired together. Do not try to pull them apart and take care not to strain the wires.
Turn the locomotive and tender onto their wheels and carefully lift off the tender body, from the front, to release the rear body clip. Using scrap paper make a template of the surface area of the cab floor and add 1cm to cover the eventual link to the tender.
Accurately cut the paper to give a snug fit inside the cab including the contours beneath the fire-box. When satisfied that a good fit has been created, cut back the extension to about 8mm from the end of the cab floor. Re-move the template and draw a curve at the tender end to avoid the eventual footplate catching the edge of the tender when on curves. On my model I came in by 3mm at the outer edges.
When you are satisfied that your template is correct use it to create from thin card or plastic an actual footplate. Try it for size and if happy glue to the cab floor. When dry, paint the footplate Matt Black. At this stage I also took the opportunity to paint the hand-rails (not forgetting the tender ones) using Precision paints tinlet No M 411 “Steel”.
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