Hints & Tips No. 2150
Making Models using impure “black” and “white”
By  Will Chapman
 
I NEVER use pure black or pure white anywhere on a layout, as in my opinion they make a model look unreal and 'model-like'.   White can be toned down with a wash of very dilute brown or weathered black paint, and for black use a 'weathered black' such as that produced by Rail Match.  Pure black (eggshell or matt, never gloss) is limited to pristine locomotives and very clean black cars!

Hints & Tips No. 2151
Rail Joiners on Smaller Track
By  Wayne Toth
 
On the upper level of my layout, I used Micro Engineering code 83 rail on Central Valley tie strips.  I could not find any code 83 rail joiners locally, so bought some M.E. code 55 joiners.
I used the face of a cut-off disc to make the foot of the rail narrower, then used the same method to reduce its thickness, too, removing material from the bottom.  The small joiners then slipped on easily, and after soldering four lengths of rail together, installed the rail, using contact cement, onto the already-in-place tie strips.
This should make all scales rail joiners work satisfactorily. The advantage to this method is that there's no need to file or cut depressions in the ties upon which the joiners sit to eliminate the slight bump that they would otherwise create.

Hints & Tips No. 2152
Correct Modelling of your chosen Era
By  Dave Starr
Era correctness.  Your best bet is photographs.  Google will find a lot of 'em.  There is very little color available before 1945, so for earlier periods you have to guess at colors but a lot of buildings pre 1945 were still standing well into the 70’s and 80’s as is.  Old magazines  are good sources, and you know the latest date of any photograph from the date on the magazine cover.  Automobiles are distinctive.  Back in the good old days, when Detroit employed stylists, most people could tell the year of a car with just one glance.  Many can still do that with model cars. Buildings last for ever, so a modern railroad will run past buildings that may date back to the American Civil War.  Certain building styles, white glazed brick gas stations and McDonald's Golden Arches for example, have definite dates.  The white glazed brick gas stations in North America were replaced with less conspicuous red brick in the 1970's.  McDonald's dropped the Golden Arches in the 1980's.  

Hints & Tips No. 2153
Keeping Moulding Sprues after completing that kit Pt 1
By  Various Modellers
Although this seems like common sense, some of you might tend to discard your sprues after removing the parts from them.  I put mine back in the kit box after separating all the parts, or what I think are all the parts!  In constructing my last two structure kits, I search all over for a little part and lo and behold it's still attached to its sprue looking like an injection molding.  This spells grief for those of you who hastily chuck your sprues!  I save them anyway to make spare parts with later. (Rob Spragg)
Sprues make for fantastic gutters or tubes to put on flat gondolas, etc.  There are plenty of ways to use them.  Keeping a few of different sizes and diameters is invaluable. (Leor Kass)

Hints & Tips No. 2154
Keeping Moulding Sprues after completing that kit Pt 2
By  Various Modellers
I always save the sprues.  They make great styrene welding rods by dipping them in Testors Liquid Cement.  Having the proper color welding rod really helps. (Mel Perry)
I keep a stash of them and I have found them useful in a number of kitbash projects. They are easy to cut, drill, file, paint and glue.  (Simon Roy)
There is the old trick of holding a sprue over a hot light bulb (or for the daring, a lit candle) and when the plastic starts to soften, pull it apart to create strands of plastic - great for plugging holes and if you're lucky, the correct color to boot. (Dave Nelson)

Hints & Tips No. 2155
Keeping Moulding Sprues after completing that kit Pt 3
By  Various Modellers
I had a truck bolster that was too large for a 2-56 screw.  I filled the hole with a piece of scrap sprue and cemented it in place with liquid cement.  After it dried sufficiently, I re-drilled a 2-56 tap hole and used the screw to tap the threads in the hole.  Cheap and easy - the screw tightened down the truck quite nicely before I backed it off to allow enough rotation in the truck. (Tom Stage)
 I save most all of mine. Sometimes I will cut them up a little into long straight pieces (where the sprue may be two pieces at 90 degrees, or even a full box shape) to make them more compact foor storage, but you never know what pieces of sprue material will come in handy for making detail parts or plugging holes, or any number of uses. Rarely if ever does any of it go in the trash.(Randy RInker)

Hints & Tips No. 2156
Quick Painting of Scenery Base Colours
By  Rick Wade
I used to paint my basic scenery colour in the conventional way and took a lot of time doing that. Now where it is possible, I have a colour in a squeeze bottle (in my case a recycled sauce/ketchup bottle) spread some paint then use a foam brush to even it out … much quicker!  You can check out the technique with a demonstration on https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=112&v=d21xjEKFWZQ

Hints & Tips No. 2157
Attaching Fascia to Foam
By  Richard Reimer
I have built a lot of modules and dioramas that are all foam with hardboard or ABS fascia. I use the spray foam insulation to adhere the two materials. it works great. Apply a good layer of foam insulation on the edge of the Styrofoam and apply the wood against it. You can hold the whole thing together temporarily together with duct tape, or similar, until it sets. Once the foam has hardened you will not get the hardboard off again without breaking either the wood or the original foam.
Just do not get the foam on your hands as it will not come off them either!

Hints & Tips No. 2158
Blocking Light from Shining Through Buildings
By  Several Modellers

 Regardless of what colour you might want in the interior, paint it black completely, then overpaint with interior colours. The black coat should be thick and viscous.  If necessary, fill gaps, etc. with an acrylic painter's caulk before using the black. (Blair Smith)

 Either cover the interior with an opaque paper and tape the joints or cover the interior of the facade and all visible joints with aluminum foil. (Peter Fredericks)

I  have used modelling clay to seal light leaks. I glued some stock near the top edge of the building to support the clay and then applied clay to the area with some of the clay sticking slightly up beyond the walls.  When I push the roof down it compresses the clay and creates a light-tight seal. I use non hardening clay so that if you don't first succeed then just remove the roof and adjust the clay.  My using the non-hardening clay I can also remove the roof if I need to replace any of the lighting.  (Rick Wade)

Hints & Tips No. 2159
Removing Cast On Details
By  Rob Spangler
When I remove Cast On Details on my rolling stock,  I like using curved scalpel-type blades.  They lack hard edges adjacent to the part of the blade that touches the surface, so you're less likely to gouge it.  X-Acto # 10, 12, 22 and 25 are examples (I prefer the 10 and 22).  If you can get some, actual medical scalpels are great for this kind of work.  Some have very small blades that can reach into tight areas.    

Hints & Tips No. 2160
Making Stone Walls using Foam Core
By  Paul O’Brien
First thing is to get some white foam board at the dollar store (note from Trevor - mine is free at my friendly picture framer). Next peel off the paper cover on both sides. This can be facilitated by wetting the paper. You can use the board as a single layer or glue two pieces together with PVA glue as I did.
Next get some cheap or very much at the end of their life ½” brushes and cut off the bristles right down to the metal binding. Using a drill remove the bristles down below the metal at least 1/8”. This leaves the metal binding exposed which will make the stone impressions in the foam board. You can make few different brushes and bend the metal into different profiles. Mark the tools you now made with different markings so then you will get different shape stones.
After you make all your impressions in the foam to form your wall you have to paint on the colors that you want. Make notations of the steps you use and the colors so that you get uniform walls.  The stones would have been gathered from the local area and therefore relatively the same colours.

Hints & Tips No. 2161
An Easy possibility for a “Naked” Curve
By  Phil Duncan
I had a corner of my layout that I could not readily reach for shunting a siding  and where an embankment or hill would have looked out of place.  So I followed the railway with a road that “edges” near the railway but does not follow the same curve. A fence and a very small rise in the hill area and a couple of cars and the scene looks believable except for the abyss the cars would fall into at the beginning and end of the short section of road.

Hints & Tips No. 2162
Mockups for Buildings … with a difference
By  Michael Liddicoat
Like many, I use boxes to represent buildings when planning scenes on my layout.  Recently I have started to cover these in photographs of the relevant structures I am intending to model, printed on to plain paper.  This allows me to think about combinations of buildings, colours, and the placing of track, roads and cameo scenes.  It also means I have “buildings” in place while I get around to making them.

Hints & Tips No. 2163
Avoiding Shadows on Backdrops
By  Rick Wade
Room lighting can cast shadows on your backdrop ruining pictures and viewing. A shadow of a tree or structure looks horrible on the backdrop. I have a tip on how to eliminate lighting shadows on backdrops and have used this method successfully on my previous layout. The trick is to leave a small (2 - 3") gap between the back of the benchwork and the backdrop / wall. Next, place a light or lights underneath the layout where the light can shine up in the gap onto the backdrop. I used can style uplights with standard (dimmable) bulbs. The uplights must be connected to a dimmer so that the light level can be varied to a level that "erases" the shadow. Finally adjust the uplight light level and presto! - the shadow is gone! If possible have light flood every square inch from every angle.

Hints & Tips No. 2164
 Using plaster to make dirt (and rocks) where you can control the exact colour    Pt 1By  Rick Wade I have been using plaster dirt on my layout with success.  The problems with using real dirt are: 
1.) Finding the correct "finished" colour; that is, what colour it will be when glued in place; 
2.) Contaminates - the things in natural dirt such as bugs, metal, and other nasty things that must be removed; 
3.) Matching dirt - colours can vary from batch to batch, and 
4.) Real dirt + water = real mud.

Common plaster can be used as a substitute for dirt and rocks.  There are some costs involved and a little time; however there are a number of benefits: 

1.) Complete control of the finished color; 
2.) You can make more at any time without going some place to get dirt; 
3.) Complete control on the size / grade of the finished product; 
4.) No contaminates to worry about in the finished product, and 5.) Fine plaster "dirt" + water = wet fine plaster dirt that does NOT turn into mud.

 The process if fairly easy to make the plaster dirt.  I use common plaster that I happen to purchase at the local hobby store with a discount coupon.  I take a 1 gallon plastic milk jug and fill it with water.  To the water I add liquid cement color.  You can get the colors in many big box and hardware stores.  I use the liquid but I suppose you could use powdered color; however, I haven't tested that.


Be sure to shake the bottles vigorously as they have a lot of solids that settle in the bottom.  Also be careful as these colors stain everything besides cement…such as your clothes, you hands, your floor….etc!  Be sure to shake you gallon jug of colored water each time you use it to make a batch of plaster and shake it often as the solids will settle to the bottom.  Oh, and make sure the cap on the jug is tight before shaking (don't ask me how I know!)

Hints & Tips No. 2165
Using plaster to make dirt (and rocks) where you can control the exact colour    Pt 2

By  Rick Wade

I prepare piece of plywood for pouring by covering it with the non-stick type aluminum foil.  I mix the plaster with the colored water making to the consistency of pancake batter.  I then pour it on the foil in a thin layer and let it dry thoroughly - usually a couple of days.  When dry I remove the plaster from the foil and break it into pieces for the fun part - using my hammer!  I drop the pieces of plaster in a wooden box I made for the purpose and smash them into dirt.
Next I use various screens to get the various grades / sizes of materials - from rocks to fine dust the consistency of face powder.  For the finest grades I use a discarded (make sure it's discarded!) piece of stocking / panty hose.
How do I know what the final color will turn out to be? - by testing.  I color my water being careful to note the formula, make a small batch of plaster, smash it up, glue it down to a piece of cardboard, wait for it to dry, and then if adjust the formula and try again.  It only took a couple of tries to get the color I wanted and I can reproduce it anytime I like since I know the exact amount of color(s) to add to a new batch of water.
The next time that you need some dirt consider using plaster - it's a great alternative to using real dirt.  Real dirt is free but casting plaster as distinct from plaster of paris is so cheap that it the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Hints & Tips No. 2166`                        
A Different Gutter Making method
By Michael Liddicoat
 
Cut a bamboo skewer in half lengthways.  Using a cutting disc on a rotary carefully cut a groove the full length.  Finish it off with a small round file and you have a nice, long and cheap length of guttering ready for painting.

Hints & Tips No. 2167
Finding Lost Screws

 By Dennis Austin

 For you guys losing screws on the floor and cannot find them, I found a 4 inch thick magnet on an adjustable handle during a sale at Harbor Freight.  It is powerful!  You would be surprised what it can find in the carpet or between the grout lines of tile.  When one of those tiny screws gets away I can get that tool and sweep it above the floor and anything metal gets found real fast.

A Note from Trevor - From Peter Mac - 

Most small screws from railway modelling etc. (maybe just here in UK) are brass and brass isn't magnetic !!! I've often used magnets to find dropped items but alas, fail completely if the item isn't magnetic

A Note from Trevor - 

You can gather small non magnetic bits using one of the portable hand held vacuum cleaners with a piece of stocking mesh as a filter -  you will not get absolutely everything up but between a magnet and a vacuum, you will stand a better chance of finding the small bits!

Hints & Tips No. 2168
Stripping Fine Wire
By Jose Ramirez
When I need to strip fine wire, I take to the insulation with a match. then peel burnt mess between two fingernails. No broken strands!

Hints & Tips No. 2169
Keeping Building sides square
By Dave Hattersley
I use Lego blocks when I assemble Building Walls whether they are a kit or scratch built from wood or styrene.  I make a right angled wall in Lego about the height of the building and clamp the walls of the kits using small spring clamps. I can then glue internal corners knowing the walls are perfectly square.