HINTS AND TIPS - THE FOLLOW ON
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Quick Tips Pt1
From the Victorian N Scale Collective (Melbourne Australia)
To remove paint from urethane and whitemetal castings, just use caustic soda mixed with warm water - John
To easily saw cut through Lead Weights in locomotives, paint some turpentine on your hacksaw blade – Chris Pearce
Last edit: by xdford
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Quick Tips Pt 2
From the Victorian N Scale Collective (Melbourne Australia)
Soft Wire brass for hand rails can be purchased from craft stores, notably Spotlight and Lincraft here in Australia, (Jim)
Strong Handrails for locomotives can be made from .008†to .010†music wire, very cheaply in rolls (Chris Pearce)
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Quick Tips Pt 3
From the Victorian N Scale Collective (Melbourne Australia)
Making roof Fans or other details for your models can be easy… all you need is an existing model with the desired shape with some sort of modelling clay such as plasticine, Blu Tak or DAS Modelling Clay and Plastibond. Press your fans into the mould material, being careful how you remove the “master†from the mould. Mix the plastibond to the right mixture, pour into your mould and let it set. Once it has set remove carefully from the mould and carefully file to size.
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Quick Tips Pt 4
From the Victorian N Scale Collective (Melbourne Australia)
The best glue for Urethane models to time of writing anyway is either the ZAP range or Loctite 406. Most other Superglues to date give way too easily (Phil)
To locate small parts on a model for glueing, just use a toothpick with a small amount of Blue Tack on it. Then you can dip the part in a small dob of glue and locate it easily on your model. ( Ian)
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Use of Old Biros Pt 1
From Trevor Gibbs
While pondering what to add into Hints and Tips to get this far ( I am almost embarrassed to tell you it was quite a few years ago as you read this) I was staring at my pen. The pen was one of those "kilometrico" numbers but any brand cold be adapted to do these "tricks". I was also building some dummy signals and LED lamp posts from small lollypop sticks which while they work well, look a bit bland. It occurred to me that the Pen when it spent its life as a pen, instead of becoming landfill could have a number of parts recycled.
I have been using Biro tube for years to provide a drive sleeve for my can remotorings but the insert that holds the ink tube and roller could be drilled out and placed over my lamp post and signal sticks to become a passable lamp post or signal post base. The ends of Bic Biros could be made into larger flower tubs when placed open side up or small manhole covers when turned into a road surface. A red coloured end could provide a disk to make a round sign for a petrol/gas station or even a Coca Cola type sign.
The hexagonal tube of Bic Biros or round tube for that matter could become pillars for a building depending on your scale and the tubes themselves can become loads for flat wagons and cars. Round Biro Tubes can become small culvert pipes under your track.
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Several Methods of making Road Signs Pt 2
From Several Modellers
5. Taking a few digital photos, use paint to extract the sign parts and print them using either methods 1,2 or 3
6. For road signs I use card stock. My old inkjet printer seems to do this sort of thing very well. For street signs such as Parking ones I back it with aluminium foil so the reverse side has a metallic finish. The signs in my shop windows and the overhanging signs and sandwich boards outside my buildings are also printed on card stock.
7 I print mine on photo paper & color the back with a silver "sharpie" marking pen This gives the tarnished weathered look as the silver is not quite a bright silver.
With a bit of imagination, you can use similar techniques to make low relief building fronts, backdrop scenery or images for your card building surfaces.
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Use of Old Biros Pt 2
From Trevor Gibbs
Clear hexagonal tubes can be used for small bay windows on buildings or in Z and T scales a hexagonal green house. You could glue several tubes together to make a larger scale greenhouse in conjunction with some clear plastic which could have come from old jewel cases from CD's or DVD's.
In larger scales the brass coloured taper at the writing end of a Bic Biro could be transformed into weather shield caps or “pole umbrellas†for signals and tops of flag poles. Tubes could represent water or drain pipes once emptied and given an appropriate coloured paint. Thicker tubes could be the basis of a water crane in OO or HO. Different thicknesses of metal at the water column joints could be represented by using shrink tubing over the tube cut neatly to make a collar. Refer back to H&T numbers 213 and 214 and you will see how to make a searchlight from the cap of a Bic Biro. The same strategy could be used to make a headlight for a locomotive in a larger scale,
The point of this exercise is to show that we need merely look sideways at many of the objects we were otherwise going to throw out for a host of details that could benefit our layouts and the cost is zilch. You can be fairly creative using some ideas from others here and there and developing your own from them.
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Several Methods of making Road Signs Pt 2
From Several Modellers
5. Taking a few digital photos, use paint to extract the sign parts and print them using either methods 1,2 or 3
6. For road signs I use card stock. My old inkjet printer seems to do this sort of thing very well. For street signs such as Parking ones I back it with aluminium foil so the reverse side has a metallic finish. The signs in my shop windows and the overhanging signs and sandwich boards outside my buildings are also printed on cardstock.
7 I print mine on photo paper & color the back with a silver "sharpie" marking pen This gives the tarnished weathered look as the silver is not quite a bright silver.
With a bit of imagination, you can use similar techniques to make low relief building fronts, backdrop scenery or images for your card building surfaces.
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Underlay & Track-laying Pt 1
From Brian Macdermott
I use the following products and methods.
1. The usual 2" x 1" framework, with 10mm wood fibre insulation board screwed to the framework. I'm afraid there is no trade name on the fibre board I use.
2. Cover the fibre board with wallpaper lining paper - the heavier the grade the better. Pin down with track pins about every two square feet (or enough to prevent it moving).
3. Work out roughly where the track will lay using Peco templates or actual track and mark this with pencil.
4. Obtain 'Fun Foam' from Hobbycraft - often on special offer. These are A5 and upwards and about 2mm thick, but very 'dense'. Don't worry about the glaring colours (pink etc.!).
5. Lay and pin the foam over your marked out area, extending beyond the edges. A couple of pins per sheet is ample.
Last edit: by xdford
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Underlay & Track-laying Pt 2
From Brian Macdermott
6. Paint the foam area with a dark coloured emulsion.
7. Pre-spray or paint your track with track colourings.
8. Lay track.
9. With a sharp scalpel, cut away the residue foam without cutting through the lining paper below. (Can be done with care.) Cut at an angle to give a shoulder. Touch in the now exposed areas with dark emulsion.
10. Ballast the track.
You will find that lining paper, foam and paint act as an insulator against any wet methods of ballasting and track weathering etc. The other bonus is that the lining paper 'floats' above the fibre board and acts as a sound deadener, enabling one to hear the 'clickety clack' as trains roll over track joins.
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Underlay & Track-laying Pt 3
From Brian Macdermott
This may horrify layout building professionals, but works well if you have a permanent layout. If you are making gradients or high embankments with the fibre board, it needs strengthening as below.
1. Cut the board to the shape and length required. A Stanley knife with new blades is ideal.
2. Cut some strips of 1" wide thick card (Hobbycraft - about 34" long).
3. Lay the board on a flat surface, and glue the card strip along the lower half. Pin this to the edge of the board. Do the same on the other edge. You will be amazed how strong it is when dry.
4. Cover with lining paper and 'Fun Foam' as above.
5. Cut foam-centred board to different depths to allow a gradient, or same size depths for an embankment.
6. Glue these to the fibre board and then glue your strengthened boards to those.
7. Lay track etc. as above.
It will not stand you leaning on it, but it will hold fast and strong for a long, long time.
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Flower Bed edges , Lineside Conduit, Square Downpipe etc
From Trevor Gibbs
Again as you read this a few years ago now, I was looking at the rim of a piece of plastic container I was about to cut up for making signals at the time and thought that the rim could make a retaining wall edge or flower garden edge or even lineside conduit, depending on its size, or in the larger scales Square (actually rectangular) downpipe. Upside down could make a horse trough or flower bed in the smaller scales. Sunk into the ground makes a smooth inspection pit for a garage area.
The rims are freely available for the effort of cutting them from your otherwise spent containers and come in a variety of shapes and with a colouring of paint will have the origins of the model masked very well.
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Model Railway Operating Guides Pt1
Adapted from the NMRA web site authored by Cliff Robinson. Keith Gutteriez, David Barrow and Richard Kamm
1 - Understand the Layout
Try to understand the layout setting, philosophy and the owners rules of operation. Obey them even if you do not agree with them or you can think of a better way.
2 - Ask Questions Ask questions if you are unsure.
3 - Understand Uncoupling Guidelines Understand the uncoupling guidelines. Ask if it is OK to handle carriages and wagons or not.
4 – Do not Handle Locomotives Do not handle the locomotives. If it leaves the track, ask the host what to do. If he wants you to re-rail it, look before handling. Be careful of grab irons, valve gear and other detail parts!
5 - Understand Owner’s Rules Understand the owner’s rules for placing or removing faulty carriages, wagons and locomotives. Above all, tell someone if you are having trouble with the equipment.
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The Layout Environment No 1
From Nick Stanbury
Several readers of MREmag and other publications and Web Sites have commented on or questioned the effects of humidity or heat on a layout’s environment. These are two important considerations that really need to be considered together. I am no expert but can offer some thoughts in note form on the basis of my practical experience, mostly gained when layout building several years ago in a previous home (in sunny East Sussex).
1. Even in a ‘living room’ environment with the benefit of reasonable insulation and regulated heating (or cooling) and ventilation, the ambient room temperature and humidity can vary quite significantly. In addition to the external effects of changing seasons and weather (which can never be excluded completely), the people using the room will emit heat and water vapour which will have at least a temporary influence.
2. If the layout is in a basement, cellar or roof-space, or outside in a shed or garage, it is likely to suffer much more extreme variations in temperature and humidity unless the immediate environment is exceptionally well insulated and finely-controlled heating and ventilation is available. In comparison with the ‘living room’, it is likely that a true basement (as distinct from a cellar) will have a fairly even and reasonably comfortable temperature but suffer from higher humidity. A cellar will be even cooler and will often be distinctly damp, depending upon the surrounding ground and the extent of any waterproofing in the walls. On the other hand, a layout in the roof-space will suffer little from dampness (unless the roof itself leaks!) but will be uncomfortably hot or cold for much of the time!
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Hints & Tips No.845
Model Railway Operating Guides Pt2
Adapted from the NMRA web site by Cliff Robinson. Keith Gutteriez, David Barrow and Richard Kamm
6 - Understand Radio or Telephone Rules
Understand any radio, telephone verbal communication rules. Listen before speaking!
7 - Check Your Way Bill listCheck your lists before leaving the yard and during the run to determine and anticipate wagon forwarding and switching problems. Try to know what you are going to do before you do it.
8 - Run At Prototypical SpeedsRun the train at prototypical speeds and do not run too fast! Try to match prototypical stops and starts. Do not reverse the locomotive while it is moving.
9 - Stay With Your TrainStay with and/or keep an eye on your train particularly with walkaround layouts. Do not stand at the end of aisles and watch the train disappear in the distance. The whole point of "walk around" layout planning is to try to create the illusion of really being in the cabin of your steam or diesel locomotive.
10 – Do not Block the AislesDo not stand in the narrow parts of aisles. Also, do not try to carry on a conversation or distract yardmasters or operators when they (or you) should be doing something else.
Last edit: by xdford
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The Layout Environment No 2 (cont)
From Nick Stanbury
3. It is generally easier to add heat rather than remove it but, in either case, true temperature control or air conditioning is potentially both difficult to arrange and expensive in areas not within the ambit of any household facility. Whilst extremes of temperature will scarcely worry the layout-owner when he is not building or operating the layout, they may play havoc with its infrastructure and the models themselves. The same is true of variable or generally high humidity, although a simple dehumidifier can help considerably (see below).
4. Some care needs to be taken when constructing baseboards as all timber products are susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity. Whatever is made can be permanently affected (e.g. distorted) by the cumulative effects of subsequent changes in the environment in which it is housed. If used, softwood, chipboard, MDF etc. will all shrink or expand at varying rates; WBP plywood is probably the most stable common baseboard material (and has other advantages too in terms of strength and lightness).
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Hints & Tips No.847
Model Railway Operating Guides Pt3
Adapted from the NMRA web site by Cliff Robinson. Keith Gutteriez, David Barrow and Richard Kamm
11 - Know Clearance Points
Know clearance points. If a siding only takes three wagons, do not try to put four into it! You will save yourself considerable embarrassment if you observe the fouling point for all points and avoid throwing the points under a wagon or locomotive.
12 - Pull Before PutIn general, perform pickups before setouts. Check the way bill list carefully and you might save yourself some time down the road by pre-blocking a wagon or two for the next town.
13 - Obey SignalsObserve and obey signals. If a signal is not working, assume it is displaying its most restrictive aspect and be governed accordingly.
14 - Report ProblemsReport maintenance problems to the “train controllerâ€. Do not shout it out! The host probably has a list to keep track of problems. Report your difficulty as tactfully as possible.
Last edit: by xdford
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The Layout Environment No 3
From Nick Stanbury
- Track will also expand and contract with varying temperature – and almost certainly at a different rate from the baseboard materials. Rail joints can open or close, perhaps permanently, and rails anchored by soldering (e.g. at baseboard joints) can become stressed to the point of failure. Some years ago, I found this out a few months after I laid the track on new baseboards – the timber had clearly expanded (presumably by absorption of moisture) despite the layout being in an inside ground-floor room and all rail joints were too open – the opposite of what one might reasonably expect. One preventative measure, which I adopted reluctantly, is to divide-up full (yard) lengths of plain track by inserting an intermediate joint.
- The above comments apply in principle to other facilities such as a modelling or DIY workshop. Good quality tools and machinery do not take kindly to variable temperature and humidity and will soon rust or otherwise deteriorate if it is not otherwise possible to protect them, e.g. in properly designed storage cabinets.
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Model Railway Operating Guides Pt4
Adapted from the NMRA web site by Cliff Robinson. Keith Gutteriez, David Barrow and Richard Kamm
15 - Locate Points Before Throwing
Locate points before throwing. If necessary, get despatcher permission to unlock and throw mainline or passing siding points.
16 - Leave Points Aligned Correctly Before leaving a town, be sure points are aligned correctly and locked if appropriate.
17 - Be Patient Be patient with other, especially new, operators. We all had to learn sometime.
18 – Do not Distract the Other Operators Do not engage in non-operating related conversations in the layout room during timed operations.
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The Layout Environment No 4
From Nick Stanbury
Although I have not needed to use a dehumidifier in a layout room, I have used one in a damp basement room; it worked well. A ‘room sized’ portable unit will cost £150 – 200 new and is typically rated 200 – 250W, which if left on overnight will use about 2kW of electricity, not expensive to run even if no off-peak rate is available. If needed, a humidity-controlled extractor fan can be bought for as little as £7 or so and its running costs will be negligible.
I apologise if some of my points appear obvious but they will serve their purpose if they help anyone to review the location and environment of an intended (or existing) layout before anything or anyone suffers avoidable damage or discomfort.
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