HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Sources of Thin Wire
By Mike Boydon
I having seen the prices some places try to charge for thin wire, (at current values like £1.85 for 2 metres of "handrail" 0.33mm) I suggest finding a supplier of wire (and thread) for people doing craft work in beads, this site for example has wire down to 0.2mm and sell in 50g reels, a reel of 0.2mm diameter wire contains 179metres, a 0.315mm reel carries 72.1 metres, prices for 50g reels are around £3
http://www.stitchncraft.co.uk/acatalog/Coloured_Coated_Copper_Wire.html
Probably worth members doing a search on "beading wire" in their own country; some craft shops in UK sell it, some dearer than others, sometimes as much as 3X so it is worth your shopping around.
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Some useful Substitute Tools Pt 1
By Several Modellers
Use a glass plate from an old microwave to work on models. The raised edges keep stuff from flying out.
I use a cardboard box outside for spray painting my shells. I place it inside the box. The spray is blocked in 6 directions.
I have 2 tool boxes.One is large and one small. The small is for my regularly used tools and the larger box holds tools like track saws,rulers,square,cordless Dremel etc.
I use a 2x4 1/2" plywood panel with felt glued on to one side as a work surface on a desk. It keeps the desk surface from getting paint/glue/nicks.
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Some useful Substitute Tools Pt 2
By Richard Cowman
If you do not have water close to your work area, a mouthwash bottle that you squeeze to get a measured amount is a good clean water supply for rinsing water base paint from brushes. Fill the bottle with water and squeeze up a cup full. Rinse the color of the brush, dump the dirty water into another container, refill the cup to wash the next color out of the brush.
Parmesan cheese containers make great scenic foam shakers, as do other larger holed spice containers.
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Supporting Models while Painting
By Marlon Mernda
When I used to build car models, I just used a bent wire clothes hanger to hold the bodies when I painted them. It was bent to also act as a stand while the paint is drying. This kept the lower edges from making contact with anything while drying. I use the same method for painting my railroad freight cars and locomotives.
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Some useful Substitute Tools Pt 3
By Chris Billett
3 15" pieces of 1x3 lumber screwed together in a U shape and lined with foam rubber make a great work cradle.
Mount a desk lamp with a flexible neck or moveable arm on to a spring loaded clamp. insert a 1500 lumen CFL bulb. Now you have light wherever you need it.
Save the fake credit cards you get in the mail. They work really well for mixing and spreading adhesives or paints. They also work well as drawbars when cut into strips as the plastic is really strong.
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Cutting Styrene Sheet when scratchbuilding
By Tom Stuart
Cutting a straight line in styrene just takes technique. If you are cutting clapboard cut on the backside so it is smooth. You need something to make the cut square to the edge. It is worth imvesting in a tool to do that. You can put together whatever block you have that has square corners along with your straight edge. Do not worry about wasting styrene. Cut some practice pieces until you are happy.
Make your cut by making a shallow cut with your sharp hobby knife. Turn the knife over and use the back of the blade to scribe a deeper line. Again, this is a matter of technique. If you press too hard the blade might wander slightly and give you a crooked line. When the line is partly through bend the the styrene with the cut on the outside and it should snap along the line. You can dress the line with sandpaper or a file.
Remember that most scratch builders know what their mistakes are but others will look at it and not notice. If you do make mistakes put a tree, bush, or barrel next to it and no one will ever notice.
Last edit: by xdford
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Cementing Strips when scratchbuilding
By David Lotz
When cementing trim or fascia strips to a structure or wooden car model, leave about a half-inch or more of excess trim to use as a handle. Hold the excess while you apply cement and place the part in position. Cut off the excess length after the cement has dried.
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Clamping When Soldering
By David Lotz
Want to clamp down a complex assembly like a switch frog, metal gate frame or underframe while you flow-on the Solder? Use a block of wood, and pin the parts in place with aluminum map pins that are sold by larger office supply stores. The solder will not stick to the map pin heads (but it will stick to the metal pins), so use the head itself to push the part down into the wood. The heads also act as small heat sinks. so they can be used to hold smaller parts away from larger solder joints.
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Precise Radial Reference Marking
By David Lotz
If you need to mark a line around a plastic tube or card board mailing tube for a silo or similar, use a block of wood or a stack of wood or plastic scrap to position the pen or pencil at the desired height. Hold the marker against the tube and slowly rotate the tube to draw a perfectly horizontal line around the tube. (Obviously, one end of said tube must be perfectly square for this system to be effective.)
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Repairing Window Shades and Curtains
By Bob Montague
One day you are looking at some structures on your layout and notice that some window shades and curtains have disappeared - dropped off because the glue or cement dried up between the "glass" and paper window dressing. I found that by applying kids' stick glue to the front of the drapes and pressing them to the back (inside) of the clear plastic, the material can be shifted to proper position, is colorless, and because of its composition, does not dry out, causing separation. With a hole in the base, one can drape a window even after the structure has been assembled. Window dressing makes a big difference in the final appearance, especially if the building is lighted at night.
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Retrieving Ground Foam
By Ron Lamparis
Part of the process of applying ground foam to scenery includes vacuuming up the excess after the glue or matte medium has dried. That can waste a lot of material. You can recycle the stuff if you use a nylon stocking over the extension tube of a household vacuum cleaner.
Wrap the nylon stocking around the end of the tube with about 4 inches of the stocking hanging into the vacuum tube. Wrap a rubber band around the outside of the tube to hold the stocking in place. Turn on the vacuum, and the ground foam will be trapped inside the stocking. Dump the contents of the stocking into a jar so the ground foam is ready to reuse. If you use different colors of foam or a variety of textures, you may want to vacuum between each application to keep the material separate.
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Mixing Paint in Bottles
By Tony Horvatin
To aid in properly mixing up solids which have settled out in model paint jars, first stir up the bottom, then drop in a steel nut or a ball bearing, close the lid and shake to mix. The ball will pulverize and evenly distribute the pigment throughout the paint volume. The nut or ball may be left in the jar for its next use until finished. Ball bearings (about 118 inch in diameter) are usually available in surplus shops, or a 6-32 hex nut may be substituted for the ball. Also, remember to use brass nuts in water-base paints to avoid rusting.
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Cementing Strips when scratchbuilding
By Ray Montague
What happens to the fireplace match after the fire has been lit? It usually goes into the flames . . . a great contribution. But not at my house! I shake first, then break off the burnt end, and then it goes into the "wood scraps" box to later become building material. Admittedly, it is rather coarse cut lumber, but it makes HO scale 8x8-inch timbers . . . almost tie (sleeper) size. I generally sand all four sides before using, and it serves well for roadside guard railing, heavy fence posts and poles. Soaked in hot water, it can be bent into a shallow curve or chopped into short sections for a tighter radius. It is not basswood, but neither is the price.
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If you use cards and waybills when walking around with your train…
By Several Modellers
How do you take waybills and train operation cards with you? One idea is to use a carpenters apron and keep the cards together. Another is to use a small paper clip attached to a lanyard that you hang around your neck yet have them close to you.
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Applying Ground Foam in Small amounts
By Marlon Mernda
For applying ground foam (fine) to small places, I snip the end of a soda straw and trim it to shape so that it resembles a small shovel.
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Containers for Spreading Ground Foam/Scatter
By Richard Cowman
I have often recycled spice containers which works well for spreading ground foam but be a little selective. In some containers, the holes are too small. Parmesan cheese shakers work as well as the purchased ones from hobby dealers. Some are almost as big and have both shaker holes and a spoon size hole.
Try different sizes to see which suits the product you are trying to spread. Also, if you are trying to add "just a little" or making it the major base coat, you will use different shakers.
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Making Layout Fascia Labels Pt 1
By Jim Leighty
I am considering using "Word" to make some text blocks, have them laminated and gluing them to the facia with some type of glue that did not melt the plastic laminating material. I also was considering using a large sheet of sticky label material sold at Staples and printing directly on these sheets. A paper cutter could be used to cut the labels to size and then stick them to the fascia. I wanted to label the various town names, important locations, and give visitors and operators information about my operations
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Making Layout Fascia Labels Pt 2
By Dave Husman
For my labels, I used Excel and/or Open Office Calc rather than Word. It has all the same fonts and colors but it is really easy to put borders around the labels.
I laminate the labels I make and attach them to the fascia with double sided tape.
I also use Excel or Open Office Calc to generate all sorts of forms (switch lists, train orders, clearances, train registers, etc.) that are useful for my railroad.
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Brightening and Darkening Model Building rooms
By Mike Lehmann
Rooms that are dull can be brightened by cutting white paper to line them, which is often easier than painting them once they are assembled. If an LED is giving too much glare off a floor or just in general in a "room" I often take my punch tool, take thin white plastic sheeting and punch out a "lampshade". I use a dot of CA to glue it to the bottom of the (presumably downward-pointing) LED. If you need more extreme control, I've done the same thing with black construction paper. And you can always add more resistance in the form of additional resistors which will lower the tone of the LED.
Last edit: by xdford
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Colours for Fascias Pt 1 By Dave Nelson
The choice for colours of a fascia is not really between dark and light colors but rather to prefer tones and shades that are calming and neutral and avoid grabbing the eye such as primary colors –and absolute white – tend to do. As a Rule of thumb: if it is a color used on national flags, banners at auto dealers, or children's cereal boxes, avoid it for fascias. If it is used for doctor's office waiting room furniture, military vehicles, and business computer cases, it is probably OK.
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