HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON

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Hints & Tips No.1772


Painting Narrow Walkway edges


by Mel Perry




I have attempted to paint the walkway edging on some of my engines several times and give up because my hands are not steady enough to to do that type of detail painting. What I needed was a miniature paint roller. I searched the Internet without any luck looking for one. Then I had an idea, the 1/2" diameter Dremel cotton buffer/polisher wheels. I slipped the 1/8" Dremel shaft in a 1/8" ID brass tube and I had a miniature paint roller. On my Dremel paint roller, the steel shaft is 1/8" in diameter. I did 14 locomotives with the roller. The only thing I had to be careful with was keeping the 1/8" Dremel shaft in the brass tubing when I rolled on the paint. I use the Automotive Pin Stripe Tape for a lot of stuff but the foot railing on my locomotives is just under 1/32” thick so my only choice was paint. The 1/32” yellow tape makes super road striping. That beats masking tape and paint easily.

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Hints & Tips No.1773


Picking LED's for Lighting


by Gus Burford


'White' LEDs come in a variety of colours ranging from 'bright' white to 'warm' white. “Bright white” likely have a blueish tone to them and they are great if you are simulating florescent lighting but they do not model incandescent lighting at all well. You can diffuse them and change the colour by simply painting them with a light coat of beige paint.


Or, you can buy LEDs for peanuts on eBay. My last purchase of 500 - 3mm warm white LEDs worked out to less than 3 cents each. The only caution is that you should be able to see the colour value of the LEDs in the listing. For warm white you are looking for something in the 3000 range. The higher the number the brighter the white. If the seller is simply saying "warm white" you are taking your chances.

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Hints & Tips No.1774


Detaiiing insides of Open Door Industries Pt 1


by Roger Woodcock


For those buildings like garages, loco sheds etc where an open door adds visual interest, paint the interior matt black. Viewed from a standard distance – or even close up – this will make the contents stand out. Make up shelf units and work benches with strips of our old friend – food packaging . Glue with superglue. Add tiny objects to the shelves. These can be modelled in plasticine and dipped in glue to harden. Or little chips of plastic – tiny offcuts do equally well. Such shelf items are very small and will be inside the building so vague shapes will suffice. Paint in suitable colours to represent stacks of cans, oil containers, batteries, exhausts – whatever is suitable. Invest in tinlets of silver and gold paint. You’ll get good use out of them for this and for all sorts of things in the future.

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Hints & Tips No.1775
Detaiiing insides of Open Door Industries Pt 2


by Roger Woodcock


Add some signs and posters. Mounted inside, detail will not be seen so content is relatively unimportant unless they are hung near the door. If you light your buildings this could look amazing – all the detail picked out with shadows too. Stuff like oil cans can be simply a small plasticine blob with wire for the handle and spout


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Hints & Tips No.1776


Using Pampas Seeds for Grassing


by Duncan McNeil


The feathery seeds from pampas grass makes good clumps of bush grass for OO/HO or elephant grass for N scale. Clumps makes good bamboo. Paint with simple school poster paints, or dye in a poster paint/ water 30/70 solution. Use hairspray if you want a fixative.


Dried tea leaves and coffee grounds make good scatter material. Sift them with a sieve for different grades. Dye them with poster paints.

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Hints & Tips No.1777


Modelling Granite Crags


by Jack Rogers


"If you want to model craggy weathered granite on cliffs or outcrops I have found chunks of pine bark make a very good representation. I get mine from pine bark mulch, set in plaster gives a very realistic look even close up. If you want sandstone then a few passes with a wire brush and a spray with an airbrush of whatever colour you prefer also looks pretty good.

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Hints & Tips No.1778


Adjusting LED's for Lighting up Buildings


by Trevor Gibbs


Insides of buildings can be economically lit by using LED's but you cannot always get the right “look” for the level of lighting. You can save yourself a lot of grief with a couple more cents expenditure relatively speaking. My own voltage supply is 12 volts and I used a 1 K resistor for most lights and that is usually OK but sometimes it could be a bit dim.


For such situations, I would suggest using say a 620ohm resistor and a 1K trimpot in series. That way, you can adjust the light intensity to that which you find acceptable for your particular lighting conditions and leave it permanently set! Why the 560ohm resistor? Just to ensure your LED's have some degree of protection.

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Hints & Tips No.1779


Making PVA Glue work faster and better


by Several Modellers


A trick I use with wood joints etc is to rub the two faces of tabs etc together until it feels a bit harder to work with/move etc and you cut the drying time exponentially. This goes for all sorts of joins and has the advantage of reducing the amount of glue running . (Trevor Gibbs)


The thing to watch with PVA is the shrinkage as it dries, which could leave the surfaces bowed slightly. To counter act this glue some very thin card or paper on the backside of whatever you are gluing. (Mick Spencer)

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Hints & Tips No.1780


Possible Details for a large loco depot


by Several Modellers


Details for a large loco depot would/could include…


Spare wheel sets and a crane or forklift to lift them.


A load tester which is a dynamic brake section on a stand with a bunch of cables.


Traction motors either new which will be sealed up or used ones heading out for rebuild.


A few main generators sitting around wrapped up or unwrapped.


Stands to hold MU cables .


Yard speakers and some other misc details. In modern times lots of the track is covered with pig mat which is used to catch oil and grease from leaking into the ground.


Barrels for antifreeze oil and other lubricants.


If you are modelling a shop that does rebuilds or scrappings, entire cabs or hoods could be sitting around awaiting to be parted out or added to a unit inside.


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Hints & Tips No.1781


Using Baby Food Jars as Weights for Gluing


by Ed Howard


I had a bunch of baby food jars which I filled with play sand and they make excellent weights for holding down foam, cork or track if you are using glue to attach any of these. They have just enough weight but not too much to damage track or push track out of gauge. An unexpected side benefit I have found is that PVA glue you use does not stick to the glass jars if you use a little too much.

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Hints & Tips No.1782


Making Flex Track look more realistic


by Jim Jamieson


I make my flex track look a little more realistic where I have removed quite a few ties were from each section and spread out the rest, leaving some a little bit crooked. It has been a tedious task but the track on my module is finally painted and ballasted. I painted the sleepers an earth colour and rails are painted dark rust. It takes some time but I paint and weather track just like any other model. The ballast is sifted material from the actual area and affixed with the standard method of wet water and diluted white glue. Boring job but it has to be done.

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 Hints & Tips No.1783


Cleaning Super Glue from models and track work


by Several Modellers


I sometimes use a single edged razor blade and shave glue residue off the surface of track. Bob Straw
Acetone on a Paper Towel, and you may have to follow up with a Scotch Bright while it's still damp to get the fine residue. Just watch out for the fumes and skin contact. Acetone is potent (toxic) stuff. Ray Doran
I used fingernail polish remover. I guess that it is acetate. But it worked too. Kevin Anderson


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Hints & Tips No.1784


Use for a Dead Biro


by Several Modellers


I use old dead biros as a scriber to indent grout between pathways to give printed out cobble stones a texture. Work slowly but steadily to follow the lines. You can also use the biro to give texture to stone buildings. I also use them to make expansion lines in concrete pathways.

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Hints & Tips No.1785


Tissue Paper for Tarpaper Roofing


by Larry Miller


I have had very good success using a single ply of tissue paper, cutting it to 3/4" wide strops and allowing flat black paint to soak through it and set it in place as it dries. A few edges of the completed tar paper roof can then be painted with gloss black to simulate roof patching tar.

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Hints & Tips No.1786


An assessment of materials for modelling street railways


by Nick Biangel


I have tried different methods to model street running. I have used plaster which to me is a nightmare, dirty, messy and nasty. I have used styrene, not too flexible. It just happen that the other day I was in Wal-Mart getting some office supply stuff and I saw this black poster board 28" x 22" It was thick but not too thick for HO and great for O scale, which I am modelling now. It worked perfectly. Cleaned, sturdy and very easy to work with. What I did to cover the seams was to use water putty. Excellent! It comes in a powder and you use the amount you want to use. I did my mix on the thick side. Waited about ten to fifteen minutes to let it dry just enough to smooth it out with a damp rag. Once it was dried I sanded it and painted.

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Hints & Tips No.1787


An easy Paint Bottle Holder


by Jan Bouli


I make my paint bottle holders from florists foam, very easy to use , you just press the bottle in the foam , the foam keeps the shape of the bottle pressed into it . These foam pieces can be bought cheap at dollar stores or large florists stores. I have several for different sized bottles, and I use larger sized ones to stick in small tools like knives , tweezers and micro files.


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Hints & Tips No.1788


Soldering for trackwork


by Eric Hansmann


 I have always hated soldering. Before diving into the latest layout project I realized I would have to do lots of solder work. I needed to develop a process to excel in soldering and minimize my efforts.he basic tools I used in most of the soldering situations on the current layout project.
  •    A    30 or 40 watt pencil soldering iron
  •    Resin    core flux
  •    Solder    â€“ a silver bearing type is recommended
  •    A    small flat head screwdriver
  •    Wire    strippers
  •    Flush    cut nippers
  •    Needle    nose pliers
  •    A    jeweller’s file
I recently attached electrical leads to several yard tracks. With all the toolsat hand, here are the steps I followed.
  1.    Clean    surfaces, if needed. A wire brush in a motor tool can clean rail    quickly.
  2. Apply    small amount of flux. A    small dot of flux on a small flat head screwdriver is all you need    for most applications.    
  3. Tin    parts with a small amount of solder.    Pre-tin    the wires.    
  4. Hold    parts together and apply heat. Add a small amount of solder if    needed.    
  5.    Clean    up after parts cool.
There is often a bit of solder or flux to remove after parts have cooled. A flat jeweler’s file can remove excess solder from the top of the rail or along the tread. The rail needs to be smooth for optimal equipment performance.
I try to remove as much flux as possible from the work area. Fold a paper towel a couple of timesand dampen the towel with isopropyl alcohol. Rub the top and sides of the rail where you can see flux residue. Pinch the wet paper towel around the soldered parts to remove as much flux as possible. Cleaning off the flux can lead to better paint adhesion on the parts when you paint the rails.

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Hints & Tips No.1789
Making a crude lunch counter stool very quickly and easily in OO/HO scale
By Several Modellers
 A standard paper punch makes a hole about the right size for a lunch counter stool. If it will not be seen from the side, but mainly from above, then punch some holes in sheet plastic and use the centres for stools. Crude, but should work well. It will not be contest quality, but many interiors need not be super detailed. (Patrick Burke)


I have seen some good results using nails with the seat painted glossy red/blue/green and the shaft of the nail painted silver. (Bruce Dodd)


In HO I use the beaded pins that are used for sewing. the beads are plastic now not glass. I file the top flat and paint them. The pin part is ok for the stool stem. (Neil Kramer)

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Hints & Tips No.1790
Making a Waterfall
By Fred Locastro
 
Extrude beads of silicone from a caulking gun onto a sheet of plastic so that they are in contact side by side but leave slits between the beads. Once cured peel them off the plastic and dry brush with white paint. Makes for a realistic water fall.

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Hints & Tips No.1791
Making a Waterfall
By Edward Brooks
I make my wife save the dryer softener sheets for me after she uses them. They make excellent lightweight hard-shell scenery for use on portable modules.
 The sheets are made of a very tough fibre that will hold a very thin layer of plaster. This makes it possible to dip the sheets in the wet plaster, pull them through a pinched thumb and fore-finger to remove the majority of the plaster and leave a very thin, even coat over the sheet. Since the sheets are much stronger than a wet paper towel more force may be used so the resulting plaster layer is about half as thick and therefore a lot lighter in weight, yet still strong enough to make a sturdy support for scenery work.

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