HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Gluing Roofs to Card Buildings
by Paul Calleja
A good way to make sure that the roof of a model building you are making is glued on properly is to weigh it down. I use a pair or heavier side cutters or pliers straddling the roof to assist this.
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Filter Recycling for N scale Ballasting
by Geoff Court
I use Brita Water Filters for ballast. When the filter is finished its cycle, allow to dry for a few days to let the water drain out. The contents are a black and a greyish white colour, very fine and ideal for N Scale.
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Aquarium Gravel for Ballasting
by Jack Skewes
Aquarium gravel comes in different sizes, is all natural, and looks much more like real ballast instead of the all one colour kitty litter. It is also very economical.
Hints & Tips No.1753
Using Templates when Track Planning
by Dave Nelson
Remember that when doodling track plans, nothing is as misleading as a line to represent track. You can cram all sorts of lines together but when it actually comes to recreating those lines on paper with track on roadbed, it can be very disappointing to learn that what seemed spacious and impressive on paper is toy-like and cramped in reality. This is particularly so when drafting a double ended staging yard - you can have turnout after turnout but then see that some of those storage tracks hold only three cars or so – at the cost of an awful lot of money for turnouts, controls, etc. Similarly when doodling with a pencil you can create a very nice industrial siding - which you then learn is too short to hold even one 40 ft basic US box or flat car!
Playing around with real flextrack and (perhaps Xeroxed copies of) turnouts, plus cereal cardboard mockups of your chosen structures, might be as good for planning purposes as putting a track plan down on graph paper.
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Making Footpaths and Sidewalks using Styrene
by George Ball
I started out with 3/32 (2.5mm) styrene. Cut to width and then scratched lines with a nail every 6 scale feet. Drew on the lines with a #2 pencil. Painted with Craftsmart Suede. Let it dry and added another coat.Then I used a thin wash made up of Flat Black paint and water. Only about a drop of paint in a small medicine cap of water. Dip a small wide brush in the water and wipe most of it off on a newspaper. Brush across the width of the sidewalk until you get the color you desire. Let it dry. Repeat wash if necessary. Practice on a few scraps to get the technique just right. You might need to go over the lines with a pencil after you paint and before you wash.
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Using Card Buildings
by Jack Rouse
One of the problems I have found with card kits is the folding. All of the instructions tell you to score lightly on the printed side, this invariably leaves a white line or similar that is completely alien to the building. The answer has been to use a felt tip or crayon to colour in the line.
An old sage at our club showed me a different way of doing this and leaving no line to colour, and it is really simple. Instead of scoring on the printed side, turn the item over, and make two light scores, they should be the same distance apart as the thickness of the card you are using, in most cases 2mm.
When you have done this, pick out the card as deep as possible, leaving the card only about 1/2 mm thick where it needs to be bent, having done that, carefully bend the card into position and hold it, you can even after after a bit of practice get really neat corners, with no white lines, and the brickwork carries on around as in the prototypes.
by Doug Dickson
You can prick two holes through the line from the front, turn over and score down the line between the prick marks. Exact, and with the score in the inside to help the bend. The prick holes should be not very apparent when the bend is made.
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Making “Water†look Deep for Harbours and Other Maritime areas
by Crandell Overton
I make a base of plywood and seal it with acrylic craft paints, going from light green nearest the banks to a charcoal/blue for the deepest part in the middle. I pour two layers of two-part epoxy mixed really thoroughly, and measured very carefully first. I have also tinted the pours, usually the top pour, with a half-drop of Hauder Green (which I get from Walmart , here in Canada) and I add a pinch of Plaster of Paris to make it look a bit turbid.'
Once both layers have cured, each for a minimum of 12 hours, I top them with gel gloss medium and stipple the surface with the side of a foam brush.
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Weighting open vehicles
by Jim Bernier
Coal wagons can be notoriously lightweight, even Athearn US style ones with the weights.
I use #9 lead birdshot glued in the 4 discharge bays, with scale coal on top - looks like leftover coal and brings the weight close to the NMRA specifications.
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If everything lights up but the loco will not move…
by Dave Starr
A good bet is hardened grease in the works. If the locomotive has been stored for a few years, the grease hardens up like fat, and gets sticky enough to completely stop the motor. To fix, open the locomotive up, clean out all the old grease with a solvent (charcoal lighter fluid, paint thinner, or alcohol ), re-lubricate and reassemble. Don't use the more active solvents like lacquer thinner, MEK, or acetone because they are so active as to dissolve plastic. The shell on diesels often comes off for just a little prying around the frame. Occasionally you have to unscrew the couplers. Steam engine shells are usually held on with a screw down the stack, or a screw up from underneath the cylinders, and a screw up into the cab. There is a site, HOseeker.com that has a lot of instruction sheets, which often have exploded views. Relubricate with light oil (3in1 works for me) everything except the gears, which want a light grease. I use white lithium grease from the autoparts store. Vaseline will work too. Go easy on the lube, otherwise it gets flung off moving parts and makes a mess.
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Making Concrete Floors in an Engine Shed and other areas
by Several Modellers
I make my concrete floors with Balsa sheet. It is easy to work with and it looks good after Acrylic concrete coloured paint. As a bonus , it weathers well too. ( Mel Perry)
I make my concrete floors with Styrene sheets and strips, also painted with Concrete coloured paint, (Bill Garrison)
To simulate the drop pit and under locomotive inspection areas, I use Printed Circuit Board or Vero Board with rails soldered to it, suitably split for polarity. The pit is relatively easy to make doing this (Jack Cuthbert)
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Making a Drop or Inspection Pit in an Engine Shed
by John Gibson
To simulate the drop pit and under locomotive inspection areas, I use Printed Circuit Board or Vero Board with rails soldered to it, suitably split for polarity. The pit is relatively easy to make doing this and gives the appearance of depth if painted a darker colour. The approaches are covered with strips of Card or styrene painted Concrete.
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Hints on Using Rock Moulds
by Guy Cantwell
Let the plaster sit in the mould until it is just ready to set. It will begin to stiffen - at that point apply it to the hard shell. It should get warm to the touch. Don’t let the mould sit for too long on the hard-shell after is has set. When the plaster has hardened but not totally cured, pull the mould off and immediately dunk the mould in water and clean it. If you let the mould dry out, the residual pieces of plaster left in the mould will be very difficult to remove (you can ruin the mould).
When placing the moulds on the hard shell try varying the angles and orientation of the moulds so that the eye doesn’t pick up the same rock pattern over and over. Those of us who have been doing castings for a while can spot repetitions a mile away. As you gain experience you will see what I mean. Try to disguise the shapes by placement and orientation to get more mileage from your moulds.
Plaster work takes some experimentation to get it right. You might try just making some practice castings with the mould and letting them set up without applying them to the layout so you can get a feel for the process. You can use these casting later for testing your colorants before you apply them to the castings on the layout.
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Using Recycled Biscuit Packaging for Corrugated Iron
by Trevor Gibbs
While you are munching your way through your next packet of biscuits, have a look at the packaging and see if it may be appropriate for making Galvanised Iron structures. Painted up, these sides could be a very cheap source of galvanised siding
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Connect LEDs to Light Tubes of Optic Fibre
by Ed Jamieson
Recently, I have been using Tacky Glue for my "light pipe" connections. It dries clear but flexible and if I need to scrape it off it comes off clean. In many cases I'll also back this up with a sleeve of heat shrink tubing as Reinhard suggests but the clear tacky glue helps transmit the light.
This stuff comes in other varieties and it is handy for gluing details and sticking little people's feet to the ground.
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Cutting Tar Paper Roof with a Fabric Cutter
by Lee Mangion
A lot of model buildings have a tarpaper look to them but I prefer to use Kleenex for the true look. I know how hard it is to try to cut Kleenex’s with scissors but thanks to my wife she had the perfect solution. She does a lot of sewing and she gave me a round cut blade that has a round wheel (fabric cutter wheel) that is as sharp as any e-acto knife and when using a metal ruler for a straight cut you can slice Kleenex to any width you need. The next step would be to place it permanently to where you need it. I simply lay the individual strips where I need it and then use any brush with flat black paint needed to stick it to the roof or and other application.
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Using Milk Containers as Spreaders
by Tony Fielding
If you have a quart/litre size cardboard milk container, you can use it as a large area spreader or as an open funnel. Just cut off the top part, then cut the container down one corner then the opposite corner. What you end up with is basically a ‘v’ shaped half container that you can use for spreading scenic dirt or grass material cover over a large area with a measure of control. With a pint sized containers, just cut off the bottom and use it as a funnel when you fill other larger containers.
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Making Coal Loads with Card and Charcoal
by Tony Fielding
For making coal loads; get a piece of corrugated cardboard and cut to fit the inside of your gondola car. Take a charcoal briquette and crush it into small pieces and powder. Take the cut cardboard and place it on a flat surface and apply a layer of white glue on one side and then pour the crushed charcoal on it. When dried, take the cardboard and tap it on its side to knock off loose material. and then apply another layer of white glue and again pour crushed charcoal on top of the first layer and let dry. You can repeat as you feel needed. But on the last layer you want to spray it with a coat of either varnish or plastic spray to give it a gloss sheen as coal has.
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Using Card on buildings or signs
by Tony Fielding
In need of thin stiff cardboard for some of your buildings or signs? You could use the cardboard from some of the food containers that you buy at the market. (Like mashed potato mix or pancake/cake mixes, cornflakes and other cereals.) Just open the containers and lay flat. Spray a thin layer of adhesive on the unlabelled side of the cardboard and apply the printed building material flat on the adhesive. Lay a lager piece of paper on top and press down firmly on all areas of the cardboard. When dried, cut out the printed shapes and assemble as required. You could spray paint the label side of the box with either white or a dark colour paint before you cut and assemble the structure.
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Using Aquarium Sand for Ballasting
by Peter Hatherly
I use aquarium sand as a ballast around tracks, but I add coffee grounds to add a little more brown to the white of the aquarium sand, One part coffee grounds, one part fine aquarium sand & three parts medium aquarium sand. Looks real good on HO track.
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Making Coal Loads with old Venetian Blind Slats and Charcoal
by James Leigh
I use old plastic Venetian blind slats. They will not warp when you add the glue. I also made a jig out of 1/8″ styrene the same size as my gondolas to make my coal loads. I use charcoal. This works great and very realistic. One thing I would suggest: If you plan to load and unload the coal, use super glue (CA) on several steel finishing nails to the plastic slats before adding the coal. Then you could remove the load with a magnet without derailing your car. When you are holding an operating session with your fellow operators, you can load the empties at the coaling station and unload at the destination. It makes for more realistic operations
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Another Source of Charcoal
by Jeff McFarlane
For model coal I collected old respirator cartridges which are filled with charcoal. I used this around a mine I have built and as loads in gondolas.
Hints & Tips No.1771
Another Source of N scale Ballast
by James Thomas
I found a great item to use as ballast for N gauge scale is finch and canary gravel. It is basically off-white in colour, but has darker pieces in it. Being larger than sand yet smaller than regular gravel, it is the perfect size for such a small scale.
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