Hints & Tips No.1956

Hints & Tips No.1957

White Glue for Small Windows

by Ted Petrie


Small windows can also be done by stretching a bubble of white glue across the opening. It does not necessarily produce perfectly smooth 'glass' like plate glass and on a humid day, it can turn white again, though that is temporary.

I tend not to do this for buildings but it makes good auto glass. Because it conforms well to the shape of the opening. It makes pretty good curved glass.

Hints & Tips No.1958

Hints & Tips No.1959 Set up good lighting, it will make all the other tasks easier.
You can not beat putting real track in place to see what it actually looks like but do not try to cram too much in.
You can loose lay the track, i.e. don't actually clip it together, while you are doing a look see to get the overall concept.
I would put the major curves in first as they are usually the main limiting factor on how the layout evolves; use the biggest curves you can get away with. You do not need all the track at this stage as you can plan a side at a time.
Mark the track course on sheets of paper laid on the boards, you can replace these if they are wrong. You can download real size templates for track from the Peco web site to avoid buying points you don't need. Incidentally, Hornby and Bachmann track is the same height as Peco Code 100 track.
When you are happy with the layout, connect it up and run a train to see if there are any issues you have not spotted such as run arounds or sidings being long enough, or passing traffic fouling each other. Put paper or card foot prints of large buildings down, do they look right?
Only when you are utterly convinced it is right do you start laying cork

Hints & Tips No.1960 I have used Peco code 75 for many years, in my eyes it does look better than code 100 but I guess this is a personal choice - and then Peco flexi track. This will enable you to put in gentle curves where set track might not fit the bill. It is easy to use, we have laid 129 yards of it in my loft!
Regarding underlay, I have found it is often better to cover a large area of board first and not rely on track-wide strips as plans change! My preferred cork is widely available 1/16th sheet.
Get one circuit running as sure as eggs the layout will develop by itself!
Lastly, remember that your arm can only reach about two feet away from you to put errant vehicles back on the track so maybe track should be laid nearer the front or middle.

Hints & Tips No.1961 If you lay even a single main line, try to put in all the points and other 'special work' on it whilst you are doing this, so you do not have to rip up bits of track later on to put in a set of
points. This would apply to all tracks that you lay.

Hints & Tips No.1962 I found that one of the cardboard trays that you get from the big chain coffee shops for carrying 4 disposable cups makes a very useful cradle for putting models in while you work on them.
Due to the various undulations in the tray/holder you can position the model so that the various sticky-out-bits (technical term) do not get damaged and the model can be balanced or held quite satisfactorily.

Hints & Tips No.1963

Hints & Tips No.1964 I also save the bits of rock and asphalt that get stuck in the tread of my shoes.

Hints & Tips No.1965 The easiest way I find to make a control panel to do it is with a clear piece of plexiglass/acrylic or "lexan". Use striping tape on the back side of the plexi to replicate the track plan, drill your holes for the switches, then spray paint the back with a contrasting color. White, silver, or gold striping with a black or dark green stands out, and with the paint on the inside it will not get scratched. I used to get the striping tape at a model airplane hobby shop.

Hints & Tips No.1966
On paper buildings I use basswood (not balsawood) shapes to strengthen it and square it up. I have dozens of paper shipping containers that have basswood bracing inside to make sure they do not wilt or collapse.

On plastic buildings I use Evergreen or Plastruct tubes or shapes to stiffen up and square the walls at the same time. For a metal building I would use K&S (and I do have some metal Suydam buildings) if bracing was required. When using K&S with plastic or other resins, you should use super glue or epoxies to make sure the parts stay glued. My hobby shop carries K&S as well as full displays of Plastruct and Evergreen shapes.

Hints & Tips No.1967
An even coat of cheap interior latex paint will seal extruded foam and protect it from just about any scenic materials you might use. I always start any construction on foam with dirt coloured latex paint. This also protects foam core board from warping when used for construction of buildings. This material it is foam covered by paper so anything that is water based could cause it to warp so painting ONE side may cause the material to warp.

Hints & Tips No.1968 I use Peg board along the full length of my work bench which is 4 feet (1200 mm) long . I picked up all sorts of peg board holders at a garage sale and a few others at a home improvement store. I looked at what I had and experimented with what I could hang on it. I use the top or bottom halves of Athearn and MDC freight car boxes to hold knives and another box for my smaller files. A plastic fishing tackle box holds a lot of my miscellaneous stuff.

Hints & Tips No.1969 I organise myself by frequency of use and then by facet. I have three levels of storage

1. Immediate -    a drawer in my workbench holds the tools I use every day - the    knife, the favourite needle nose pliers, square, pin vise, scale    rule, tweezers.
2. Nearby -    drawers under my layout are organised by facet, and contain tools    and materials that I use less often. For example, I have a scenery    drawer that contains all the scatter materials plus the squirt    bottles, sieves, brushes and spoons. Another drawer contains boxes    for electrical, trackwork, car modelling, painting and so on.
3. Far - some tools go into a box in my    attic. For example, I have a rolling road for when I'm building a    locomotive. During such a project, it would move into the immediate    or nearby drawer, but most of the time I'm not building locomotives.    

Hints & Tips No.1970  MV Lenses are a Resin product with a foil backing that resemble scale light lenses. Excellent for class and marker lights as well as Headlights and Ditch Lights if you do not want them to be lit. They come in Quite a few sizes and colours including Clear, Red, Green, Amber & Blue. However I installed clear MV lenses on a locomotive and over a period of 4 years the lenses gradually yellowed. However, I realise that if I had properly stored the unit on its shelf AWAY from the sunlight coming into my hobby room, they would not have yellowed so severely.

Hints & Tips No.1971

Use 91% alcohol when misting to wet things. It is much more powerful than the lower % stuff. Woodland Scenics ballasting needs ALL the help it can get and this works well.

ALWAYS clean your spray head immediately after applying the matte medium with it. Alcohol can cut and clean it if it gets clogged, but better yet is a thorough rinsing by spraying clean water through it until you are certain the matte medium is flushed out. You can then screw it back onto the matte medium bottle, just do not spray through it until you are ready to do the next batch. It will be ready to go when prepared like this.

Hints & Tips No.1972 I have large ketchup/Tomato Sauce and mustard bottles that have those twist tops on them. You can really adjust the flow of the wetting agent and white glue by just twisting the top ever so slightly. I get a lot of miles out of filling those babies once. I think they are about 1 Litre in size. When I am done I just run the top of the glue one under hot water to make sure it does not glue shut.
Having such large containers really speeds things up. It would take a lot of squirts with an eyedropper to empty one of those containers and cover as much track.

Hints & Tips No.1973

I had a problem with a detailed interior that is well lit in a HO scale Migros supermarket. Migros staff wear orange, at least tops or sometimes full dress. So I took some standard Preiser figures in appropriate poses and painted orange outfits on them. Easy to do.
 
Mc Donald's and KFC staff wear coloured uniforms so I suggest getting some similar colour paint and modifying suitable figures.

Hints & Tips No.1974
Using a Barbed Wire Fence as a “Safety Barrier”
by Graeme Nitz

I built a “barbed wire” fence from inch-and-a-half wire brads and some fine wire. I drove the brads in so that there was about a half-inch poking out. Cut off the heads with a Dremel motor tool, and grind them round so no one gets cut.
Then string three strands of the wire and solder each joint. This has caught quite a few pieces of rolling stock from falling into oblivion. It was two or three inches from the edge.

Hints & Tips No.1975
Creating “Safety Barriers” for Layout Edges
by Several Modellers
If you want to be totally safe, then your fence should be at least as high as the height of the roadbed plus the height your highest piece of rolling stock. This means that for anything to hit the floor it would have to “pole vault” over the fence. (John Garaty)
If it is possible for you, use trees, telegraph poles or otherwise strategically placed scenery to prevent your equipment falling off your layout, instead of a “visible” barrier (Geoffrey Pepper)